Madison, Wisconsin, USA
1906

Madison, a city, the capital of Wisconsin and seat of justice of Dane co., is pleasantly situated on an isthmus between lakes Mendota and Monona, 82 miles W. of Milwaukee and 132 miles NW. of Chicago, on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul and other railroads, in lat. 43 5' N., Ion. 89° 20' W. Elevation, about 800 feet. It stands in the centre of a broad valley, surrounded by heights, from which the city can be seen at a distance of several miles. The capitol is a beautiful structure, standing on ground 70 feet above the level of the lakes and in the centre of a public park. On College Hill, 1 mile W. of the capitol and about 125 feet above the lake, is situated the University of Wisconsin, open to both sexes, which was instituted in 1849 and had in 1902-03, 2870 students. With it are associated the Washburn Observatory (lat. 43° 4' 36" N., Ion. 89° 24' 28" W. ) and a library containing 80,000 volumes. Other institutions of the city are the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, and the State Historical Society, the last with a museum and a library of 135,000 volumes and 130,000 pamphlets. The city is the seat of an asylum for the insane. It has stereotype- and other foundries, machine- shops, carriage-factories, and manufactures of farming- implements, tools, boots and shoes, dynamos, sash, doors, blinds, etc. Lake Mendota, which lies on the NW. side of the town, is 6 miles long by 4 miles wide. Its depth is sufficient for navigation by steamboats. Lake Monona, on which are held the Monona Assemblies, is rather smaller. When this place was selected for the seat of government, in 1836, it contained no building but a solitary log cabin. Pop. in 1860, 6611 ; in 1870, 9176; in 1880, 10,324; in 1890, 13,426: in 1900, 19,164.

Lippincott's New Gazetteer: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World, Containing the Most Recent and Authentic Information Respecting the Countries, Cities, Towns ... in Every Portion of the Globe Publisher J.B. Lippincott Company, 1906

Visit Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Discover the people who lived there, the places they visited and the stories they shared.