60 Fun Facts About Madison, Wisconsin

The city is named after which US president, who died in June 1836, months before it became territorial capital?

Founder James Duane Doty also named the streets after the other 38 signers of the US Constitution.

The Ho-Chunk name for the Madison area, Teejop, means what?

The four lakes are Mendota, Monona, Waubesa and Kegonsa, and the prairies around them were dotted with effigy mounds built more than a thousand years earlier.

Which speculator lobbied legislators with buffalo robes and cheap lots to make his swampy 1829 purchase the capital?

By the final vote roughly half the legislators owned Madison lots; a business partner called Doty 'a liar, a calumniator and a swindler'.

Madison is Wisconsin's second-largest city. Roughly what was its population at the 2020 census?

The wider metro area holds about 708,000 people, and as of 2024 it is the fastest-growing city in the state.

The State Capitol's exterior dome, the largest of its kind in the world, is made of what material?

The Bethel white granite was quarried in Vermont, and the dome itself was modelled on the US Capitol's.

What is the official name of Daniel Chester French's gilded statue atop the Capitol dome?

She is constantly misidentified as 'Miss Forward', which is actually a different statue on the Capitol grounds; her outstretched arm symbolises the state motto.

Why is the Capitol still the tallest building in Madison?

Nothing within a mile may exceed the 187-foot columns around the dome, which preserves the view from most of the city.

The current Capitol was built between 1906 and 1917 after its predecessor did what?

It is the fifth building to serve as Wisconsin's capitol; the very first had an ill-fitting tin dome mocked as 'Doty's Washbowl'.

In which year was the University of Wisconsin founded, the same year Wisconsin became a state?

Governor Nelson Dewey signed the act on 26 July 1848, and the first class of 17 students met the following February in a female academy.

What is the full name of UW's mascot, Bucky?

The 'U' does not stand for Ulysses, whatever the legend says; the Alumni Association insists 'the U. stands for U'.

Camp Randall Stadium stands on ground that served what purpose during the Civil War?

The camp was also a military hospital and a prison for captured Confederates; the stadium built there in 1917 is the oldest in the Big Ten.

At Badger home football games, when do the students 'Jump Around' to the House of Pain song?

The stands physically shake; the song's writers originally offered it to Ice Cube, who turned it down.

Which team is the Badgers' opponent in the most-played rivalry in college football's top division?

The Gophers handed Wisconsin its worst-ever loss, 63–0, in the programme's second season, and the teams have met more than 125 times since.

Which Badger running back won the 1999 Heisman while setting the NCAA career rushing record?

'The Great Dayne' powered back-to-back Rose Bowl wins; Alan Ameche was the school's first Heisman winner in 1954.

Which NBA team did Herb Kohl, the senator who gave $25 million for the Kohl Center, own?

The arena opened in 1998 and hosts men's basketball and both hockey teams; the money came from the Kohl's department-store fortune.

The Dane County Farmers' Market, held Saturdays around Capitol Square, is America's largest market of what kind?

Mayor Bill Dyke founded it in 1972 to bring the county's urban and rural cultures together; only people who grow or make what they sell can have a stall.

What is unusual about admission to Henry Vilas Zoo?

The Vilas family gave the land in 1904 on condition it stay admission-free forever; it is one of only ten free zoos left in North America.

The Memorial Union Terrace's iconic metal chairs feature what design on their backs?

They come in green, yellow and orange, and replicas are sold to alumni who miss sitting on the lakefront with a pitcher of beer.

Olbrich Botanical Gardens' gilded sala pavilion was a gift from which country's king?

It was a gift to the university via the Thai chapter of the Wisconsin Alumni Association and King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Which satirical newspaper was founded by two UW students as a weekly print paper in Madison in 1988?

Founders Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson ran it from Madison until 2001; it is now based in Chicago.

Which health-records software giant, founded by Judy Faulkner in 1979, is based in Verona, Wisconsin?

Faulkner started it with a $70,000 investment; it was based in Madison proper until moving to Verona in 2005.

American Girl dolls were launched in Madison in 1986 by which founder?

Mattel bought her Pleasant Company for $700 million in 1998, and she later helped fund the Overture Center.

Which meat brand bought a Madison plant in 1919 and made the city its headquarters in 1957?

It was a family business for decades before Kraft took it over; the plant's closure was a blow to the east side.

Which bicycle maker, headquartered in nearby Waterloo, began building steel touring frames in 1976?

The Madison area also hosts Mongoose and Pacific Cycle, fitting for a city rated a platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Community.

Otis Redding's plane crashed into which Madison lake in December 1967?

He had recorded '(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay' days earlier; the cause of the crash was never determined.

Which Saturday Night Live comedian was born in Madison in 1964 and attended Edgewood High School?

He grew up in Maple Bluff and honed his act at Chicago's Second City before five seasons on SNL.

Which three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, author of Our Town, was born in Madison?

His father was a newspaper editor turned diplomat, and the family later lived in China.

Which Scottish singer fronts the rock band Garbage, formed in Madison in 1993 with Butch Vig?

The line-up has never changed, and the band has sold some 17 million albums.

Butch Vig's Smart Studios in Madison recorded which 1991 debut album by The Smashing Pumpkins?

Nirvana also cut early Nevermind tracks there; the studio closed in 2010.

The 1970 Sterling Hall bombing at UW targeted which military-funded unit?

The blast killed physics researcher Robert Fassnacht, who had nothing to do with the target, and marked the peak of Madison's Vietnam-era unrest.

The Mifflin Street Block Party began in 1969 as a street protest against what?

Seventy people were injured and more than 100 arrested at that first party, and it turned into a mainstream bash by the late 1970s.

Which activist arrested at the 1969 Mifflin Street Block Party became mayor in 1973?

He served three separate stints, the last ending in 2019, and Bill Dyke was the mayor whose police had arrested him.

What is Madison's official city bird?

The council adopted the lawn ornament in 2009 in honour of a 1979 student prank on Bascom Hill.

How many plastic flamingos did UW students plant on Bascom Hill in the famous 1979 prank?

The bird now appears on the badge of the city's soccer club.

The city's first professional soccer team, founded in 2018 as a USL League One club, is called what?

'Forward' is the state motto, and the club's logo carries a pink flamingo.

The Madison Mallards, who play at Warner Park, compete in which summer baseball circuit?

It is a collegiate summer wood-bat league; the Mallards arrived in 2001 after several minor-league clubs failed for lack of fans.

The Great Taste of the Midwest, held every August since 1987, celebrates what?

It is the second-longest-running event of its kind in North America, and tickets sell out within hours.

Harry Steenbock's 1923 patented process used ultraviolet light to boost which nutrient in milk?

He spent $300 of his own money on the patent, and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation was created in 1925 to manage it.

Which UW president first articulated the 'Wisconsin Idea' in 1904?

Progressive governor Robert La Follette routinely tapped campus researchers to write legislation under the same philosophy.

By 1876 the Wisconsin Historical Society had the largest library west of which city?

Founded in 1846, it is the oldest historical society in the US to receive continuous public funding.

Which Petronas Towers architect designed the Overture Center for the Arts, opened in 2004?

Its entire $205 million cost was covered by gifts from Jerry Frautschi and Pleasant Rowland.

In 2015 Madison received which Bicycle Friendly Community level, shared by only five US cities?

About 5% of Madison workers cycle to work, helped by paths that link to the Capital City, Military Ridge and Badger state trails.

Roughly how far west of Milwaukee does Madison lie?

Chicago is 122 miles to the southeast, which is why the city was picked as a capital halfway between the eastern settlements and Prairie du Chien.

William Evjue founded The Capital Times in 1917 after the State Journal abandoned which anti-war progressive?

'Fighting Bob' ran for president on his own Progressive ticket in 1924, and Evjue considered him a hero.

What is Madison's free alternative weekly, founded in 1976 and named after the strip of land downtown sits on?

Its circulation is about 65,000; the city also runs one of the oldest volunteer radio stations in the country, WORT.

Dane County Regional Airport shares its site with which Air National Guard base, named for a pilot killed in 1941?

During World War II it trained radio operators and mechanics for the Army Air Corps.

Which zoologist documented Lake Mendota's first toxic algae blooms in 1882 and founded Wisconsin's limnology school?

Birge later became university president; the lake's average freeze date is 20 December, after which ice-boaters take over.

Which Madison residence, Frank Lloyd Wright's first 'Usonian' design, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

Built for Herbert and Katherine Jacobs, it was Wright's answer to affordable middle-class housing.

How many Frank Lloyd Wright buildings does Madison have, more than any city outside the Chicago area?

Wright grew up partly in Madison and briefly attended UW; his Unitarian Meeting House serves the nation's third-largest Unitarian congregation.

What is Frank Lloyd Wright's lakefront convention centre, proposed in 1938 and finally opened in 1997, called?

The county board rejected the original design by a single vote, and Wright kept revising it until his death in 1959.

Madison's official Amtrak stop is actually in which town, about 28 miles to the northeast?

The Empire Builder and Borealis call there; the city itself lost passenger rail when the Milwaukee Road stopped in 1971.

Which pizza chain originated in Madison?

Glass Nickel Pizza Company also started here, alongside a beer-hall tradition inherited from German immigrants.

Besides Mendota and Monona, which smaller lake lies entirely inside Madison, linked to the Yahara chain by a creek?

Wingra Park's boathouse rents paddle boats and canoes, and Henry Vilas Zoo sits on its shore.

Downtown Madison sits on an isthmus between which two lakes?

The 'Lake, City, Lake' geography gave the city its trademark, and the Capitol dome rises from the isthmus's high point.

In which town did Wisconsin's territorial legislature meet in 1836 when it chose Madison as capital?

Madison then existed only on paper, but its spot halfway between Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien won the vote.

In which year was Madison incorporated as a city, with a population of 6,863?

It had been a village since 1846, when just 626 people lived there.

What is the east-side intersection named for the tavern where Civil War troops made their last stop?

It sits where Milwaukee, East Washington, Winnebago and North Streets meet on the east side.

How many years in total did Paul Soglin serve as mayor of Madison?

The onetime student activist first won City Hall in 1973, four years after being jailed at the Mifflin Street Block Party.

Which governor's 2011 bill curbing public-union bargaining sparked mass protests at the Capitol?

Wisconsin Act 10 abolished almost all collective bargaining for public workers and drew tens of thousands to Capitol Square.

Which historic downtown movie palace stands a block from the Capitol on State Street?

Listed on the National Register, it is recognised as the city's best-surviving movie palace.