The New International Encyclopædia/Madison (Wisconsin)

MADISON. A city, the capital of Wisconsin and the county-seat of Dane County, 83 miles west of Milwaukee; on the Chicago and Northwestern, the Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul, and the Illinois Central railroads (Map: Wisconsin, D 5). A widely noted educational and summer resort, it lies in the attractive Lake country (at an elevation of 788 feet above the sea, and 210 feet above Lake Michigan), between Lakes Mendota, Monona, and Wingra, and near Lakes Waubesa and Kegonsa. A system of beautiful parked suburban drives, carefully macadamized and nearly thirty miles in length, is maintained by popular subscription. The State House, whose chief attraction is a handsome dome, stands in a well-kept park. The finest building in the city—indeed the finest State structure in Wisconsin—is the library and museum building of the State Historical Society, situated a mile west of the State House, opposite the State University campus; it is an Ionic, colonnaded structure, built of Indiana limestone, and cost $700,000. The society's reference library of 240,000 volumes is one of the most famous of American libraries. Within the building are also housed the libraries of the State University and the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. There are, in addition, a free public library (for which a new building, donated by Andrew Carnegie, is (1903) being erected) and the State Law Library (in the State House), besides those of several educational institutions. Madison is the seat of the University of Wisconsin (q.v.); and the State Hospital for the Insane and the State fish hatchery are in the suburbs.

The city has wide-spread commercial interests throughout southwestern Wisconsin, and manufactories of agricultural implements, machinery, tools, flour, boots and shoes, carriages and wagons, and electrical appliances; there are also several large printing establishments engaged chiefly in manufacturing law-books and ready-print newspapers. The government is administered, under revised charters of 1889 and 1901, by a mayor, biennially elected, and a unicameral council which controls elections of subordinate officials. The water-works are owned and operated by the municipality. Population, in 1890, 13,426; in 1900, 19,164.

Soon after the organization of the Territory in 1836 this site was chosen for the location of the State capital; and the first house, erected in March, 1837, was for boarding and lodging the workmen on the projected Capitol. In 1839 the necessary Territorial building had been built, and since then Madison (named for President James Madison) has been the regular seat of government. It was chartered as a city in 1856. Consult Durrie, A History of Madison (Madison, 1874).