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The Madison Isthmus is where the downtown and near east potion of Madison, Wisconsin is situated, between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona. It is located between Madison's northeast side to the east and the University of Wisconsin campus to the west.
After visiting the area in 1829, land speculator and judge James Duane Doty purchased 1,200 acres (490 ha) of land on the isthmus. By 1836 Doty had convinced the Wisconsin Territory legislature to relocate the capital to the site from its original location in Belmont. Construction of the Capitol began the following year, in 1837. [1]
The southwestern portion of the Isthmus is home to the Wisconsin State Capitol, State Street, and Madison's main business and financial districts. [2] The Yahara River crosses the isthmus at its northeastern end, connecting Lake Mendota to Lake Monona.
The street grid within the isthmus is laid out in a southwest-to-northeast pattern. Three main arterial roads connect east and west Madison along the Isthmus: U.S. Highway 151 (US 151, East Washington Avenue), East Johnson Street, and East Gorham Street. The Williamson (Willy) Street business district is also located completely on the isthmus.
Madison is one of only two major U.S. cities built on an isthmus, the other being Seattle, Washington.
Madison is the capital city of the state of Wisconsin and the county seat of and largest city in Dane County. As of the 2020 census, the population was 269,840, making it the second-most populous city in Wisconsin after Milwaukee, and the 80th-most populous in the United States. Madison is named for American Founding Father and President James Madison.
Monona Terrace is a convention center on the shores of Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin.
U.S. Highway 151 (US 151) is a United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of Iowa and Wisconsin. The southern terminus for US 151 is at a junction with Interstate 80 (I-80) in Iowa County, Iowa, and its northern terminus is at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The route, from south to north follows a northeasterly path through the two states.
Lake Monona is a freshwater drainage lake in Dane County, Wisconsin, surrounded on three sides by the city of Madison, Wisconsin, and on the south east side by the city of Monona, Wisconsin. It is the second-largest of a chain of four lakes along the Yahara River in the area and forms the south shore of the isthmus that forms downtown Madison. The name 'Monona' is a word believed to mean 'beautiful', although the lake was originally named by the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) 'Tchee-ho-bo-kee-xa-te-la' or 'Teepee Lake'.
State Street is a pedestrian zone located in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, United States, near the State Capitol. The road proper extends from the west corner of land comprising the Capitol westward to Lake Street, adjoining the campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison at Library Mall.
Lake Mendota is a freshwater eutrophic lake that is the northernmost and largest of the four lakes in Madison, Wisconsin. The lake borders Madison on the north, east, and south, Middleton on the west, Shorewood Hills on the southwest, Maple Bluff on the northeast, and Westport on the northwest. Lake Mendota acquired its present name in 1849 following a proposal by a surveyor named Frank Hudson, who claimed to be familiar with local Native American languages; Lyman C. Draper, the first corresponding secretary of the Wisconsin Historical Society, proposed that 'Mendota' could have been a Chippewa word meaning 'large' or 'great.'
James Duane Doty was a land speculator and politician in the United States who played an important role in the development of Wisconsin and Utah Territory.
The Yahara River is a tributary of the Rock River in southern Wisconsin. It is about 62 miles (100 km) long, and drains an area of 536 square miles (1,390 km2). Via the Rock River, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River. The Yahara River links the lakes around which the city of Madison was built.
The flag of Madison, Wisconsin, includes a sky blue background with a diagonal white stripe that goes from the bottom left corner to the top right which symbolizes Lake Mendota, Lake Monona and the isthmus between them. At the center of the flag is a black cross, which symbolizes the four lakes, as well as the cross shape of the Wisconsin State Capitol. The gold circle in the middle represents the Wisconsin State Capitol's dome.
First Capitol Historic Site is a free-admission historic museum located outside Belmont, Wisconsin, United States. The museum includes two of the buildings first used by legislators to meet in Wisconsin Territory. Currently owned and operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society, the site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
State Trunk Highway 23 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The route is signed as a north–south route from Shullsburg to Wisconsin Dells and as an east–west route from Wisconsin Dells to Sheboygan. With the exception of freeway segments between Sheboygan Falls and Sheboygan, an expressway segment between Sheboygan Falls past Greenbush to Fond du Lac, a freeway concurrency with Interstate 39 (I-39), and an expressway segment concurrent with U.S. Highway 151 (US 151), the highway is generally either two-lane surface road or urban multilane arterial. WIS 23 provides access to several important Wisconsin destinations, such as the House on the Rock, the Wisconsin Dells area and various state parks.
State Trunk Highway 42 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs for 135 miles (217 km) north–south in northeast Wisconsin from Sheboygan to the ferry dock in Northport. Much of the highway is part of the Lake Michigan Circle Tour from the eastern junction with U.S. Highway 10 (US 10) in Manitowoc to its junction with WIS 57 in Sister Bay. WIS 42 parallels I-43 from Sheboygan to Manitowoc, and parallels WIS 57 throughout much of the route, particularly from Manitowoc to Sturgeon Bay, meeting the northern terminus of WIS 57 in Sister Bay.
State Trunk Highway 81 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs east–west in southwest and south central Wisconsin from Cassville to Beloit. Between Brodhead and Monroe it run concurrently with WIS 11 for 13 miles (21 km). The route was originally designated as a state highway in the early 1920s, but there were three different designations along the route. It was not signed as WIS 81 along the entire route until 1934.
WTLX is a commercial radio station, licensed to Monona, Wisconsin and serving the Madison metropolitan area. The station is owned by Good Karma Broadcasting, LLC, and runs a sports radio format as a network affiliate of ESPN Radio, sharing most programming with Milwaukee based WKTI-FM identifying jointly on air as ESPN Wisconsin. Studios and offices were on North Pinckney Street in Madison for 5.5 years from mid-2016 to the end of 2021. Jason Wilde stated on December 21, 2021 during an episode of Wilde & Tausch that the show that day was the last show from that studio as the radio station was going to be moving to a new location. The transmitter is off Tower Road, using an antenna on the water tower at the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison.
U.S. Highway 12 in the U.S. state of Wisconsin runs east–west across the western to southeast portions of the state. It enters from Minnesota running concurrently with Interstate 94 (I-94) at Hudson, parallels the Interstate to Wisconsin Dells, and provides local access to cities such as Menomonie, Eau Claire, Black River Falls, Tomah, and Mauston. It then provides an alternative route for traffic between northwestern Wisconsin and Madison and is the anchor route for the Beltline Highway around Madison. Finally, it serves southeastern Wisconsin, connecting Madison with Fort Atkinson, Whitewater, Elkhorn, and Lake Geneva. The West Beltline Highway and the segment between Elkhorn and Genoa City are freeways, and the segment between Sauk City and Middleton is an expressway. The remainder of the road is a two-lane surface road or an urban multilane arterial. Between Hudson and west of Warrens, the road closely parallels the former main line of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway, now operated by Union Pacific Railroad.
The Robert M. Lamp House is a residence built in 1903 two blocks northeast of the capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for his lifelong friend "Robie" Lamp, a realtor, insurance agent, and Madison City Treasurer. The oldest Wright-designed house in Madison, its style is transitional between Chicago School and Prairie School. In 1978 the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The Bernard-Hoover Boathouse was built in 1915 on the shore of Lake Mendota on the isthmus in Madison, Wisconsin. Today it sits in James Madison Park - the oldest standing boathouse on Lake Mendota, a remnant of an era when commercial boating thrived in the "city of the four lakes." In 1981 the boathouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The 26th Senate District of Wisconsin is one of 33 districts in the Wisconsin Senate. Located in south-central Wisconsin, the district comprises of Downtown Madison, Wisconsin as well as most of the city's near west, south, east and north sides. The 26th also includes the suburban cities of Monona, the villages of Maple Bluff and Shorewood Hills, and most of the village of McFarland, in central Dane County. The district contains landmarks such as the Wisconsin State Capitol, the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus, the University of Wisconsin Arboretum, historic Forest Hill Cemetery, Edgewood College, Monona Terrace, Camp Randall Stadium, and the Kohl Center.
At least eight special routes of U.S. Route 18 (US 18) have existed.
The Jenifer-Spaight Historic District is a historic neighborhood a mile east of the capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, including houses built as early as 1854. In 2004 the district was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).