Exploring the Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood

Exploring the Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood -- page 6

Can You Find These Treasures?

photograph © Daryl Sherman 1	photograph © Daryl Sherman 2
photograph © Daryl Sherman 3	photograph © Daryl Sherman 4
photograph © Daryl Sherman 5	photograph © Daryl Sherman 6
photograph © Daryl Sherman 7

Answers:
1. 3206 Gregory Street
2. 806 Woodrow Street
3. 2130 West Lawn Avenue
4. 2202 West Lawn Avenue
5. 2142 Keyes Avenue
6. 2220 West Lawn Avenue
7. 2318 Monroe Street

Street Name Derivations

GENERAL NOTE: It has been common practice in Madison that surveyors or developers of land name streets, which are then approved by the city council.

ARBOR: Named for the adjacent Arboretum.

BALTZELL: John R. Baltzell (1827-1893) was from Fredericktown, Maryland. After graduating from Princeton, he came to Madison to practice law. He served as city attorney and police justice, and in 1879 was elected mayor. Formerly called Marston Street after the Marston farm [See Site 25].

BRIAR HILL: Named after the plat name for the area.

CHAPMAN: Chandler Burnell Chapman (1870-1945) was an associate of Leonard W. Gay (1895-1946), who owned and developed much of the land from Commonwealth Avenue to Glenway Street.

EDGEWOOD: Named after the Villa Edgewood, the former Ashmead and Marshall mansion that Gov. Washburn gave to the Dominican Sisters in 1881.

FOX: Dr. Philip Fox (1840-1932) was a Madison physician and surgeon, whose family came from Indiana to Dane County in a covered wagon in 1843. Dr. Fox was a surgeon with the Second Wisconsin Infantry Regiment in the Civil War.

GILMORE: The Reverend Frank A. Gilmore (1865-1919) was a Unitarian minister in Maine, Massachusetts, and Madison. Here, he served on the library board and the hospital board.

GLENWAY: Named for the Glen, now the Glenwood Children's Park [See Site 18]. It was once called Swain Road, for the Swain family who used to own the Plough Inn [See Site 19].

GREGORY: Jared Comstock Gregory (1823-1892) was a lawyer from New York, who came to Madison in 1858. He served as a Regent of the University of Wisconsin for twelve years, was elected mayor of Madison in 1873, ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1881, and served as the Postmaster of Madison during the first term of President Cleveland.

KEYES: Elisha W. "Boss" Keyes (1828-1910) (pronounce to rhyme with 'pies') was an influential head of the State Republican Party just before 1900. He was appointed Postmaster by President Lincoln in 1861. He also served as a University of Wisconsin Regent, state representative, and municipal judge. Keyes was a stockholder in the West Lawn Company.

KNICKERBOCKER: Named for the Knickerbocker Ice Company of Chicago that operated an ice house at its southern end from 1895 to 1920.

LEWIS: Named after Lewis J. Schumacher, who in 1914, was the first to build a house on this street (806).

MONROE: Originally Monroe Road [See Site 31], so-named because it led to Monroe, Wisconsin.

PICKFORD: Henry W. Pickford (1854-1935) was born in England. After farming, he became a printer, and was on the Madison Board of Realtors.

SHELDON: Russell A. Sheldon (1822-1907) had a farm on what is now this street.

SPOONER: John C. Spooner (1843-1919) was a United States Senator who had been attorney for the Omaha Line railroad in Hudson, Wisconsin.

SPRAGUE: UW Civil Engineering Professor Ray Sprague Owen (1878-1967) was the surveyor of the land on which the street stands. Owen's mother's name was Flora Sprague.

TERRY: Jared H. Terry (1838-1923) was born in New York in 1838. He came to Spring Green to teach at a private academy about 1863. He was superintendent of schools in Mineral Point for nine years and came to Madison to live in 1889. [See Site 5]

WEST LAWN: The West Lawn Company developed the plat from Breese Terrace to Commonwealth Avenue, between Monroe and Regent Streets.

WESTERN: At the time of its naming it was the western edge of the City of Madison.

INFORMATION UNKNOWN: Commonwealth, Copeland, Crandall, Cross, Minakwa, Prospect, Woodrow, and Wyota

Neighborhood Timeline

Long ago Lake Wingra and surrounding wetlands formed by springs

Long ago Late Woodland Indians build linear, cone, and effigy mounds

Long ago American Indians use prairie fires to establish oak savanna to enhance hunting

Long ago American Indians establish campsites around Lake Wingra, including current site of Dudgeon School, and develop trail system between lakes, part of which would become Monroe Road

1834 Government surveyors simply number Madison lakes one through four as they move north from the Illinois border

1838 Legislature designates Monroe Road as Wisconsin's first public road

1850s Site of today's Glenwood Children's Park is an active sandstone quarry, likely supplying stones for the Plough Inn and Villa Edgewood

1850s Plough Inn constructed

1855-57 Villa Edgewood constructed

1860 Jeremiah Marston purchased his farm

1864 Marshall Hall, behind the present Edgewood High School, built as a carriage house and servants' quarters

1871 Marston Home constructed on current Dudgeon School site

1872 Chase Home constructed

1881 Edgewood Academy of the Sacred Heart opens

1886-88 Illinois Central Railroad constructed

1888 Last passenger pigeons hunted near Lake Wingra

1889 Right of way purchased for the Lake Wingra Ice House

1889 Larkin Home constructed

1893 Villa Edgewood destroyed by fire

1894 Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association incorporated

1894 Rail spur to present day Wingra Park constructed to transport ice from the Knickerbocker Ice House

1895 Knickerbocker Ice House begins operation

1897 Electric streetcar service extended from University Avenue along Breese Terrace and then west on Monroe Street as far as Harrison Street and across the Illinois Central tracks at Harrison

1903 West Lawn Company begins marketing 50x120 foot lots

1904 Edgewood Pleasure Drive established

1904 Senator and Mrs. William F. Vilas donate land to develop Vilas Park and Zoo

1907 Marston Farm purchased by Wingra Land Co. for development

1914 Westminster Presbyterian congregation builds church at intersection of Spooner and West Lawn

1914 Withey Home constructed

1915 Randall Bank established on Monroe Street

1916 Kinne Home constructed

1917 Lake Forest Land Company begins dredging for the 'Lost City' which ended up nearly draining the Vilas Park lagoon

1917 McQuillen Home constructed

1917 Donkle Home constructed

1917 Ward Home constructed

1920 Western part of neighborhood begins rapid development

1920s Garage Homes a common sight

1925 Bus service extended along Commonwealth Avenue and then west on Monroe Street

1924 Bryant Home constructed

1925 Gay Home constructed

1925 Wingra Land Co. builds Gay Commercial Building and four three story apartment buildings at 2801-2821 Monroe Street

1927 Dudgeon School constructed; Marston Home moved to Baltzell Street

1927 Present Edgewood High School constructed

1928 Allen-Edgewood viaduct constructed

1928 Rail spur put in to access fuel and lumber company at intersection of Copeland and Gregory Streets

1930 Glenwood Moravian Community Church constructed

1930s Farming to supply food for Edgewood's students ceases on the campus

1934 UW Arboretum established

1935 Madison streetcars replaced by buses; tracks removed; Monroe Street widened

1937 Percy's Service Station constructed

1937 Conklin Company turns former ice house property over to City of Madison for use as a park (Wingra Park)

1938 Wheeler Council Ring constructed by Civilian Conservation Corps

1938 Second story added to Dudgeon School

1938 Monroe Street Fire Station constructed ~

1940 Arboretum plants Sycamore tree on Arbor Dr.

1940 Ho-nee-um Pond (west of Wingra Park off Arbor Drive) created by dredging

1941 Parman's gas station opens

1942 Mallatt's Pharmacy opens on Monroe Street

1944 Fire destroys lumber company at intersection of Copeland and Gregory Streets

1948 Temple Beth-El constructed

1949 Glenwood Children's Park dedicated

1951 First traffic signal installed on Monroe Street

1954 Dudgeon School enrollment peaks at 574 students from kindergarten through eighth grade

1967 Madison Theatre Guild opens in old Fire Station #7

1968 Madison City Council votes to ban motorboats on Lake Wingra on weekends and holidays

1969 Sacred Heart Academy demolished on Edgewood Campus

1971 Dudgeon Elementary School closed as a public school

1973 Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood Association established

1975 Plough Inn and Glenwood Children's Park designated Madison Landmarks

1976 Randall Bank relocates to intersection of Monroe and Spooner Streets

1980-81 Illinois Central stops using rail line; freight service resumes on publicly owned tracks

1982 Religious Society of Friends moves to Roberts Court

1983 Desilting pond established near intersection of Glenway and Monroe Street

1986 Michael's Frozen Custard opens on Monroe Street

1989 Jensen's Garage and Millin's Market close pending demolition for Knickerbocker Place shops

1989 Wingra Park Boat House burns down

1992 New Wingra Park Boat House dedicated

1991 Wingra Oak Savanna restoration begins

1995 Knickerbocker Place opens

1997 D-MNA Capital Fund Drive raises money to help restore the Council Ring at the Glenwood Children's Park

1997 Former Illinois Central Rail line officially abandoned and Wisconsin Department of Transportation designates the corridor for Rail-to-Trail conversion

1998 Parman's removes gas pumps and underground storage tanks

Waking Up To A Walk-Around Neighborhood

Contentment kept me company today.

Everything I needed could be seen from my windows.

My daughter had soccer. Cut through backyards
and the park loomed. Poured chocolate milk for
one stopper, two goalies and three forwards.

Desired poetry. Any poetry. Strolled beside the Indian
mound and the library opened its arms. Gwendolyn
Brooks was waiting in the rotunda.

Hungered for the flavor of fiddles. Crossed campus
and found Kentucky bluegrass rising to the rooftops.
Saw a golden pheasant dancing in the courtyard.

Had a yen for cumin and coriander. Sauntered under
chili pepper ristras and dined with the lizards
on the southwestern desert.

Craved the sound of the wind rushing through the pines.
Took the wooded lane along the shoreline and heard
the trill of the redwing among them.

Yes, a perfectly provincial day.

Everything could be seen that I needed.

by Shawn Schey
D-MNA Resident

Can YOU find these places???

Contributors This booklet has been developed by many inquisitive history and ecology enthusiasts dedicated to discovering treasures in the Dudgeon-Monroe neighborhood:

Greg Armstrong	Robert Gay
William Barker	Mel Grinstad
Paula Benkart	Susan Hanley
Mary Hanley Breitung	Maggie Jungwirth
Pam Peckham Bjorkland	Shirley Lake
Bill Buenzli	Tim Lee
Meredith Chiles	Bill Mallatt
Richard Davidson	Sue Reindollar
Douglas Evans	Julie Wickland

Evaluators
Tim Heggland
Gary Tipler
Ann Waidelich
Don Waller

Photographers
State Historical Society: 19
UW Arboretum: 11, 12, 13
Kathryn Lederhause: 23
Shawn Schey: 1, 3a, 4, 5, 8, 20, 25, 28, 32, 33, 34, 35
Daryl Sherman: 3b, 6, 7, 10, 15, 17, 24, 26, 27, 29, "treasure" photos

Digital Imagery
Bill Barker

Maps
David Carlson

Cover Design
Maggie Jungwirth

Editor
Heather Putnam

Coordinator
Char Thompson

MHP Series Editor
Katherine Rankin

Printing
Sprint Print

This project was developed with the cooperation of Historic Madison, Inc., and funded in part by a grant from the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission, with additional support from the Madison Community Foundation.

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