Historic Homes
The Vilas neighborhood evolved out of the Wingra Park and Oakland Heights Additions to Madison. The Wingra Park Addition was platted in 1889 and was the first of Madison's "suburbs" for people wishing to move away from the increasingly crowded isthmus. The land was originally owned by William Fish, one of Madison's most successful building contractors. When he was unable to sell many of the lots to prospective home owners he sold these remaining lots in 1893 to H.C. Adams, H.C. Thom and C.E. Bross who developed the properties. In 1897 the electric streetcar line was extended down Breese Terrace to Monroe Street, and these lots became more desirable because of easy access to public transportation.
In 1896 Edward Riley purchased land adjacent to the Wingra Park Addition and formed the Oakland Heights Addition. Both the lot size and building size in the Oakland Heights Addition were somewhat smaller than in the Wingra Park Addition, but local residents and outsiders considered both additions as one. These were annexed by the city in 1903 and the variety of architectural styles makes this region one of Madison's most interesting.
For more details, see "The Greenbush-Vilas Neighborhood: A Walking Tour" by Timothy Heggland, a Madison Heritage Publication.
A consistent appeal of the Vilas Neighborhood has been the small-town atmosphere created by area businesses. Many of the businesses are within walking distance of most residents. It has been said that the life of the neighborhood is related to the businesses along Monroe and Park Streets. The neighborhood is bordered by Edgewood schools, the Vilas zoo, Randall Avenue, Regent Street, and Monroe Street.
1630 Madison Street. This house was built in 1928 in the English cottage style and is somewhat unusual for the neighborhood in that it is veneered in brick. It was built for S. Christ and Mary Pedracine as a home and office for their carpentry and contracting business. Christ helped work on the woodwork in the state capitol. The kitchen has been recently remodeled, but much of the rest of the interior has been refurbished in the original style of the house. The newly-landscaped backyard provides an isolated area of tranquility in the heart of the city.
1628 Madison Street. Built in 1917, this foursquare home has had many alterations over the years. When the present owners bought the house in 1987, it had been used for student housing for about 20 years. The living room remains as it was when it was purchased. The kitchen, dining room, bathroom and back porch addition have been remodeled. Still a work in progress, much of the first floor has been gutted and updated for modern needs.
Walk by 1609 Madison, the former bungalow home of Florence and Edwin Witte. Witte, a student of John R. Commons, went on to draft this country’s Social Security Administration Act under the Roosevelt administration.
Walk by 1603 Jefferson, the Leslie and Grace Burd House. Built in 1897, Burd was then the clerk of the UW Board of Regents. Theirs was the first home built in Oakland Heights. The house typified smaller Queen Anne-style houses of the day, but its Dutch Colonial gambrel roofs with their Palladian window groups looked to the future revival styles. The house appears in the Heggland booklet.
1614 Jefferson Street. This gambrel-roofed building was erected in 1898. Much of the first floor is original, including the floors, interior pocket doors and leaded glass window facing the street. The fireplace has been reproduced as closely as possible using photographs of the original. The original owners had extensively documented both the interior and exterior in photographs and many of these are reproduced and on display.
1413 Mound Street. This Victorian house was built in 1898 when much of the area was still undeveloped. It was expanded with an addition to the rear in the 1920s. At some point it was converted into a two flat for students. The current owner purchased it 25 years ago and reconverted it back to a single-family home. The interior is decorated with many Victorian features in keeping with the building's architectural style and includes interesting local stained glass window panels and many international decorative items.
Walk by Madison’s newest park, Bear Mound Park. Bear Mound Park received its sign in September of this year. It is on the 1400 block of Vilas between Drake and Mound streets. It includes a nearly 200-year old oak tree, an effigy mound, solstice rocks, and a lovely place to sit. Neighbors began to create native prairie sections on the mound this year. Unfortunately, heavy summer rains and hungry birds destroyed most of the planted seeds.
1527 Vilas Avenue. This Georgian, prairie-design home was designed by Law and Law. It was built during 1919 and 1920 and was originally owned by Dr. and Mrs. Dreher. The second owners have lived here since 1971. The playhouse out back was built before WW II. The house contains many art works by three generations of family artists and family heirlooms from the turn of the century. The owners also have a before-and-after remodeling photo book you can see before leaving the home. Be sure to enjoy the garden on your way out of the house.
Walk south on Grant for a block to see Cora Tuttle’s former home at 1206 Grant. She was the only woman architect known to have designed buildings in Madison prior to WWI. The house was built in 1909, combining the American Craftsman and Bungalow styles. Four others in the neighborhood later commissioned Ms. Tuttle’s work for their homes. Her house appears in Tim Heggland’s booklet.
1720 Vilas Avenue. This Queen Anne house was built in 1894 and was one of the first in the neighborhood. It was built for Laura and Prof. Edward Kramers, a world-renowned pharmaceutical chemist and dean of the Pharmacy School from 1892-1935. He had a hand in the design of the house and specified that each room should have two exposures. The house has been restored to its basic original design. The house also originally had a "pharmacy garden" where Dr. Kramers studied plants of medicinal value. The garden was later moved to Camp Randall and then to the area of what is now Eagle Heights.
1011 Grant Street. Prominent Madison architects Claude and Starck designed and built this Tudor revival house in 1909 for Maud and Prof. Adam Millar. Some changes have been made (the former library is now a dining room and the former dining room is now a family room) but much of the interior has been maintained including the cherry wood cabinetry, the woodwork around the fireplace mantle, the window seating as well as the original fixtures in the kitchen and upstairs bathroom. The interesting stone patio in the back yard dates from the 1930s. Note the original blueprint elevation drawings on display.
Walk by 1006 Grant, the August Cornelius and Della Larson house, built in 1911, for a comparison of architectural styles. It was also designed by Claude and Starck and is a textbook example of Prairie Design. Larson was an insurance executive for the Central Life Assurance Society’s Wisconsin office. He was also a one-time president of the Randall Bank, currently the Associated Bank on Monroe Street. This house is in the Heggland booklet.
Source: Tess Mulrooney, Historic Madison, Inc. of Wisonsin's HMI's 23rd Alternate Parade of Homes
Annie Stewart Memorial Fountain
At the end of Erin Street, above the black bears in the Vilas Zoo, is a fountain. Water no longer pours from the marble conch shell cradled in the mermaid's arms, but it once did. The water filled a basin that today collects leaves, a sorry memorial to Annie Stewart, in whose memory the fountain was erected.
The site was given to the city in 1911, and Frederic J. Clasgens, an artist who studied with Rodin, was selected to design the fountain. He devised concentric circles and shallow basins, spilling into a concrete basin and capped by a Triton, a mermaid and a porpoise. Water filled smaller shells at various levels, to provide drinking water for adults and children.
Mary E. Stewart provided funds for the project, but she never saw the completed memorial to her daughter, Annie. Frank Stewart, Annie's father, was a clerk in federal court. He and his wife died before World War I, when work on the fountain was interrupted. Finally, in 1942 1,500 pounds of Vermont marble was shipped to Clasgens in Cincinnati. He sculpted it and shipped it on to Madison. The fountain was completed in 1925.
E.N. Warner, president of the Park and Pleasure Drive Association, said of the fountain that year, "It will be highly cherished and admired by the Madison citizens and the thousands of visitors from other parts of the state and country who come to the park each year."
But the fountain, and memory of Annie Stewart, have not survived well. By 1931, vandals had attacked the fountain with sledge hammers or other similar tools. They destroyed the Triton figure and the drinking fountains. No attempts were made to restore them.
Source: Westside Stories, Vol. 2, No. 33, May 2nd 1987
Addendum to the fountain story: Sally Miley, the one-time Alder of the 13th District, tried during her term of office to generate interest in restoration of the fountain. About 1991, a donor was found to underwrite modest repair work. At that time some cement work was done but the project was halted when it was learned that the fountain could not be repiped. The original water system was gravity-based, with water flowing from the fountain to the zoo and then recirculated to the fountain, a system no longer feasible. Somewhat later, an unrealistic bid on statue repair was received and nothing further has been done.
Source: Tess Mulrooney
Bear Mound Park
As recently as 1999, "Bear Mound Park" was referred to as "Vilas Circle" or "the Mound," a city-designated traffic circle. This name change is one of the many changes that transpired as a result of a Park Master plan for the circle area. Here's a bit of the recent history, a brief summary of some of the Master Plan, and a word on how you can become involved.
In the spring of 1995, Vilas neighborhood residents united their efforts to save three oak trees from being removed by the city of Madison. After gathering over 100 signatures to save the trees, and a series of meetings with our alder and city forestry personnel, our "Tree-t Me to Life" preservation campaign seemed futile. In November, 1996, then Alder Napoleon Smith and residents requested a "stay of execution" until an adopt-a-park or long-term option could be explored.
Finally, in August, 1997, a study was conducted using ground-penetrating radar by the HoChunk Nation confirming evidence (verbal reports by long-time resident Virginia Heimerl and archeological documents by C.E. Brown) of a burial site northeast of the bear effigy adjacent to one of the oaks proposed for removal that was once marked by a round mound. This confirmed the likelihood this oak tree was a rare Native American Marker tree - highlighting the cultural and historical significance of the tree and circle itself. The information was presented to the Parks Commission who agreed with residents that the oaks should be saved. The Parks Commission encouraged us to develop a plan for the area..
A neighborhood committee drafted a Master plan outlining various issues, options, and recommendations for what would become a "special facility" park - using recommendations by Mark Leach, UW Arboretum oak savanna specialist; Virginia M. Kline, former U.W. Arboretum ecologist; and Rich Henderson, DNR savanna expert. It was an intense, cooperative effort between the city of Madison Parks Division and residents that took place between September and December, 1997. After many VNA meetings, VNA walking tours, and neighborhood leafleting of plan summaries, a final plan was voted on by the neighborhood on January 6, 1998. (This Master plan can be viewed at the Monroe St. branch library.Our overall goals for the park are to foster the long-term health of the oak savanna structure (and especially the oak trees themselves), to preserve and respect the cultural and archeological features and values of the park, and to maintain the traditional uses of this unique park, which include strolling, picnicking, quiet contemplation, nature observation and various rituals and ceremonies. The master plan calls for maintaining a mix of both open (sunny) and wooded (beneath tree canopy) areas in the park and includes more new plantings of white oak, burr oak, and shagbark hickory saplings. It did result in the removal of shade-tolerant trees that were threatening the health of the old oak trees. In keeping with the archeological and cultural values, the park plan suggests the marker tree be allowed to live out its natural life. There are guidelines for long-term maintenance of the Bear Effigy Mound, such as encouraging the city to use a small hand mower, and preserving the line of sight and integrity of the equinox rocks.
In the spring of 1999, the city and neighborhood purchased and planted three white oak saplings and a shagbark hickory. These seem to be in good health so far. As for the restoration of the prairie and savanna areas, last spring went as expected. It is a five-year project as it takes time to grow a prairie. The seeds and seedlings must take hold and push out any other intruding plants; so in the beginning you have a mixture of weeds and native species that we planted. This year we hope to see some of the benefits of last year's seeds and plantings: Black-eyed Susans, White Milkweed, Blazing Stars, Goldenrod, Butterfly weed, White Prairie Clover, Bergamot, Liatris, and Asters to name a few. Rich Henderson, the prairie restoration specialist with whom we are working, feels we are off to a great start. This spring, we will repeat a similar process of performing a controlled burn in both areas, spreading more seed, and then adding some plantings.
Volunteers are needed to assist with the restoration work. Throughout April and May we plan to have weekly volunteer work parties in the park doing seeding and plantings. June and July work groups tend to focus on watering and weeding. Then, in the fall it is important to remove more unwanted weeds and invading shrubs and trees (e.g. ragweed, mulberry, elm, buckthorn, honeysuckle, box elder) from the restoration areas and the rocky park edges.Source: Eileen Thompson and Dave Sample
Edgewood (More in institutions)
This property was once the site of Governor Cadwallader Washburn's estate. He left the property to the Dominican Sisters. This group was founded by Samuel Mazzuchelli, an Italian priest who came to Wisconsin in its pre-statehood days and founded Catholic church sites in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa. The college has named its Biology station on the Park and Pleasure Drive in his honor. The campus contains a grade school, high school and a college which was ideal for its education-degree emphasis.
Affiliation and Growth
Founded by Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters:
1927 - established as a junior college for women
1940 - began offering four-year teacher education program
1985 - began offering graduate programs
School Motto: Cor ad Cor Loquitur, "Heart Speaks to Heart"
Enrollment
Undergraduate: 1,500
Graduate: 500
Academic Calendar
Fall and spring semesters, two-week winterim, summer session
Henry Vilas Park
The inspiration for what was to become Henry Vilas Park came from a public suggestion made in 1903 by Wingra Park developer and then U.S. Congressman H.C. Adams and local physician Dr. Edward Kremers. Their dream was to have the 25-acre parcel of land along the north shore of Lake Wingra secured as a public park. This plan was then conveyed by John Olin, the president of the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association, to one of Madison's wealthiest men, former U.S. senator and postmaster general William Vilas (1840-1908). Vilas and his wife Annie considered Olin's proposal on a trip to Europe in the fall of 1903. When they returned, they agreed to purchase the land for $18,000 provided that the association raise $10,000 for its improvement, secure and build a road (now Edgewood Drive) along the portion of the Lake Wingra shore belonging to St. Clara College (now Edgewood College), dredge Wingra Creek, and name the park after the Vilas' deceased son, Henry. The Association immediately accepted the Vilas offer and engaged Chicago landscape architect O. C. Simmonds to plan the new park. Besides the land given by Vilas, 50 acres of bog along the lakeshore was to be converted into park land by dredging fill from the lake. A four-acre portion was to become a lagoon. The work to realize this plan continued for the next 13 years and resulted in a 65-acre park that has long been one of Madison's most cherished resources.
Source: The Greenbush-Vilas Neighborhood: A Walking Tour, 1991. Published by the Madison Landmarks Commission and the Brittingham-Vilas Neighborhood Association.
Henry Vilas Zoo
The creation of the Vilas Park Zoo happened by accident when the Association was offered a herd of five deer in 1910. A decision was made to house them at Vilas Park and the new zoo opened in 1911 with a collection of "nine deer, three ground hogs, three wood chucks, two guinea pigs, two rabbits, two white rats, one raccoon, one eagle, one squirrel and one toothless red fox." With the continuing support of the Association and the Vilas family (who gave a total of $82,500 by 1920) this became the nucleus of what is today Dane County's most popular tourist attraction.
Source: The Greenbush-Vilas Neighborhood: A Walking Tour", 1991. Published by the Madison Landmarks Commission and the Brittingham-Vilas Neighborhood Association.
Lake Wingra
Wilderness lake though it appears to be in its setting of park and arboretum, Lake Wingra is not the lake it was at the time of settlement. Early Lake Wingra was surrounded by an expanse of wetlands that included about three times the area now covered by the lake and extended east all the way to Monona Bay. These marshes made the lake a paradise for wild rice, ducks and game fish, and a favorite hunting and fishing ground for Winnebago Indians right into the first decade of this century. "Wingra" is a Winnebago word meaning "duck lake."
Changes beginning in the first few years of this century have altered the lake almost beyond recognition. These have included dredging, diking and damming. By 1919, a dam at the head of Murphy's Creek established the lake's water level at about one foot lower than its original level, thus drastically reducing the size of the lake. The lake was separated from its largest marsh by a dike, which is now McCaffrey Drive in the University of Wisconsin Arboretum.
These changes profoundly affected the nature of the lake and the kinds and numbers of fish as well as plants and other animals in it. Yet today, the lake and the Arboretum together create a treasured wilderness backyard for the surrounding neighborhoods. Fish abound. Muskrat houses stick up among the lily pads, the marshes provide perfect nesting places for ducks and redwing blackbirds, and on a quiet day one might even spot a great blue heron rising majestically from the shallows.
Today, changes still occur in the lake. Rapid changes in vegetation and fluctuations in fish populations continue—partly as a result of the impact of man—a legacy of more than half a century of drastic alteration of a delicately balanced community of plants and animals.
Source: Walking & Biking Through the Dudgeon Monroe Neighborhood, 1979. Published by the Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood Association & the Madison Landmarks Commission.
The Monroe Street Fine Arts Center (More in institutions)
The Monroe Street Fine Arts Center is a non-profit community-based organization formed in 1996 to bring arts classes and arts experiences to children and adults of all ages. The Center offered its first classes in February, 1997. Its location includes five music studios, two art classrooms and a small stage. Nearly 1,000 students have already benefited from private lessons and group workshops. The Center welcomes children,
families and individuals of all ages who want to explore and participate in the arts.
UW Arboretum
The University of Wisconsin (UW) Arboretum brings into the surrounding neighborhoods a hint of the wilderness landscape that European settlers found here more than a century and a half ago.
The Arboretum was established in 1934 after several decades of determined effort by a coalition of citizens interested in preserving open space for the rapidly-growing city and UW scientists who wanted to establish an arboretum for teaching and research. Much of the land now included in the Arboretum was farmland when the University acquired the first parcels in 1932, and the history of the Arboretum since has been a story of pioneering effort to put nature back together again by re-establishing a collection of plant communities native to Wisconsin.
As you walk west from Wingra Park you first come upon Ho-neeum Pond (a Native American name meaning sanctuary), created by dredging in 1940. Walk a little further and you will discover the Wheeler Council Ring, designed by Jens Jensen, one of the country's early conservationists, as a memorial to his grandson, a landscape architect student who died just before his graduation. The area around the Council Ring is an excellent bird watching area, especially during spring migrations in April and May. In the days before Arboretum development, the clear water from the spring just below the Council Ring was bottled and sold as mineral water by Leonard Gay, owner of the spring and the land around it at that time.
Still further west and bordering on Monroe Street with its stone wall is the duck pond, which has one of the springs that feeds Lake Wingra. Mallard ducks have become so domesticated that they no longer migrate and can be found here the year round. The stonework which borders the pond was designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
The arboretum stretches for 1240 acres and includes, besides its two large horticultural areas, prairies, wetlands and deciduous and conifer forests.
Source: Walking & Biking Through the Dudgeon Monroe Neighborhood, 1979. Published by the Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood Association & the Madison Landmarks Commission.
UW-Madison
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is the original University of Wisconsin, created at the same time Wisconsin achieved statehood in 1848. It received Wisconsin's land grant and became the state's land-grant university after Congress adopted the Morrill Act in 1862. It continues to be Wisconsin's comprehensive teaching and research university with a statewide, national and international mission, offering programs at the undergraduate, graduate and professional levels in a wide range of fields, while engaging in extensive scholarly research, continuing adult education and public service.
The Vilas Neighborhood is within walking distance of Camp Randall Stadium, the Fieldhouse, Union South, the Engineering School and other University buildings. Many residents of the Vilas neighborhood are students at the University or employed as faculty or staff.
Contributed by Tess Mulrooney, 2004