USA > Wisconsin > Dane County > Madison > A history of Madison, the capital of Wisconsin : including the Four Lake country : to July, 1874, with an appendix of notes on Dane County and its towns > Part 21
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The property now (1874) belongs to the Madison Manu- facturing Company.
Dr. J. WARREN HUNT, in his Wisconsin Gazetteer, pub- lished in 1853, says of Madison: " The present population is about 3,500, with 700 dwellings, 26 stores, 15 groceries, 11 taverns, 2 large printing offices and a book bindery; a grist mill with eight run of stone, 3 saw mills, one iron foundry, a woolen factory, an oil mill, 2 steam planing mills, a hominy mill pro- pelled by steam; a bank, the first organized in the State; three churches, with three others to be built during the present season ; and mechanical shops of all kinds."
1854. On the 8th of April, a meeting was held to organize the Madison Institute, under the new charter, at which time a system of by-laws was submitted, and an election held to select officers for the year. The following persons were elected: J. H. LATHROP, LL. D., President; G. P. DELAPLAINE, J. R. BALTZELL and W. A. WHITE, Vice Presidents; FRANK H. FIR- MIN, Recording Secretary; B. F. HOPKINS, Corresponding Sec- retary; J. J. STARKS, Treasurer; H. A. TENNEY, Librarian, with a board of twelve Directors. A spacious reading room was opened in the third story of Bruen's Block, and the tables well supplied with the periodical and newspaper press of the day. A department for debate was organized and a series of lectures to be delivered during the winter months.
The village corporation election took place in March, and . the following persons elected: SIMEON MILLS, President; P. H. VAN BERGEN, G. C. ALBEE, G. M. OAKLEY, resigned, and CHAS. WEED, elected, MICHAEL FRIEND, J. LIVESEY, A. BISHOP, Trustees; D. NOBLE JOHNSON, CLERK; D. CLARK, Treasurer; D. C. BUSH, Assessor; and I. E. BROWN, Marshal; and at the
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FOUR LAKE COUNTRY OF WISCONSIN.
election of town officers, on the 5th of April, JEHU H. LEWIS, E. SUMMERS and H. J. HILL were elected Supervisors; J. DON- NELLON, Clerk; E. DOERSCHLAG, Treasurer; DAVID HOLT, Superintendent of Schools, and A. OGDEN and A. B. BRALEY, Justices of the Peace.
In April, 1854, DAMON Y. KILGORE was engaged as Princi- pal of the public school, and commenced his labors in the small brick school house on Washington avenue, now known as the " Little Brick School House." On the first day there were twenty-three pupils present, of different grades, speaking different languages and presenting a variegated appearance. For various reasons, several of the pupils were sent home the first day to be prepared for school in a proper manner (a judicious use of soap and water), most of whom returned in the afternoon very much improved in appearance. The number gradually increased until the house would not accommodate the pupils, and the school was removed to the basement of the Methodist church. Here the school was no less crowded than before. In the winter term, there were two hundred sixty- seven pupils in one room. This term, he was assisted by his sister, Miss ABBY L. KILGORE.
In the mean time, efforts were being made to incorporate the village of Madison into a separate school district. On the 25th of September, 1854, a meeting was held and a committee con- sisting of W. B. JARVIS, C. ABBOT, D. J. POWERS, G. P. DELA- PLAINE, S. G. STACY and W. A. WHITE was appointed, whose duty it was to procure the passage of an act by the next legislature for the more efficient and permanent organization of the vil- lage of Madison as a school district.
The following notice will show the result of the efforts of the committee, and the first organization of the present Board of Education:
" SCHOOL MEETING .- Notice is hereby given, that, pursuant to an act entitled ' an act incorporating the village of Madi- son into a separate School District,' approved February 13, 1855, a meeting of the qualified voters of said district will be held at the school room, in the Vestry of the Methodist church
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HISTORY OF MADISON AND THE
on Tuesday February 20, 1855, at 7 P. M., to select six persons as the Board of Education of said village, and for the transac- tion of such other business as may come before them under the provisions of said act. D. S. DURRIE,
"Clerk of School District No. 1, Madison."
DAVID H. WRIGHT was elected Chairman of this meeting, and FRANK H. FIRMIN, Clerk. Six School Directors were elected, who should constitute the Board of Education of the village of Madison, comprising the following gentlemen: SIM- EON MILLS, W. B. JARVIS, L. J. FARWELL, J. Y. SMITH, D. H. WRIGHT and W. A. WHITE.
In the month of May, 1854, a fire proof stone building was put on the grounds belonging to the Court House, for the offices of the county clerk, register of deeds and judge of pro- bate. The building was of stone, one story high, 44 feet in length by 27 feet in width. The work was performed by A. A. BIRD, the contractor.
The Capital House was completed and occupied this season. Mr. T. STEVENS took charge as landlord on a lease for a term of years. He furnished the house in a superior manner.
The railroad bridge of the M. and M. Railroad Co., begun the previous year, was finished in the spring of 1854, and the first train of passenger cars came across the bridge on Thursday the 18th of May. The track, however, was not laid up to the depot until the Monday succeeding; and on Tuesday the 23d, the cel- bration took place.
The following is an extract from an article in the Daily State Journal of that date relative to the celebration:
"Never was a day more auspicious. The heavens were cloudless, the air warm but not sultry, and in the golden floods of sunlight, the wide landscape of lake and forest and prairie, which forms the charming environment of our village, was 'like a bright eyed face that laughs out openly.' We trust that this is an omen of the success and future prosperity of the rail- road, and the enterprising, public spirited men under whose auspices it has been thus far steadily pushed forward.
" There was a larger turnout from the country than we had
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FOUR LAKE COUNTRY OF WISCONSIN.
anticipated. By 10 o'clock, our streets were filled with teams, and the sidewalks crowded with people. A great many of them were men who had settled in the country at an early day and had never seen a locomotive railroad.
" By one o'clock P. M., the grounds about the depot were thronged with people anxiously obeying the injunction so com- mon along railroads, and looking out for the engine. We should judge that at least two thousand persons from the coun- try were about the depot and at the end of the bridge where the railroad crosses the bay. There were conflicting reports respecting the time when the cars would arrive, and the people had assembled rather earlier than they would otherwise, for that reason. Bright colored parasols, ranged in groups along the shore, lent liveliness to the scene.
" The train did not arrive until a little after two o'clock, and many were growing impatient at the delay. At length, the unmistakable whistle of the engine was heard, and the long train, with two locomotives at its head swept grandly into sight - thirty-two cars crowded with people, and drawn by two locomotives. At the rear of the train were several racks, oc- cupied by the Milwaukee Fire Companies in gay red uniforms, with their glistening engines. Bands of music attended them, and, at intervals, as the train moved slowly across the bridge, the piece of artillery, brought along by the firemen, was dis- charged. It was a grand but strange spectacle to see this mons- ter train, like some huge, unheard of thing of life, with breath of smoke and flame, emerging from the green openings - scenes of pastoral beauty and quietude - beyond the placid waters of the lake.
" From two thousand to two thousand five hundred people were on the train. On reaching the depot they were welcomed, in a brief address by A. A. BIRD, Esq., the President of the Day, which was responded to in appropriate manner by A. FINCH, Jr., the attorney of the railroad company. E. B. DEAN, Jr., and THOMAS REYNOLDS were the marshals. A procession was formed, and the multitude proceeded to the Capital Park, where tables were spread and a dinner prepared. The comple-
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tion of this road has infused fresh vitality and energy into every channel of business, and has already doubled the trade and will speedily double the population of Madison. It is to be continued on to the Mississippi and completed at the earliest time practicable."
The Regents of the University, at their meeting in February, 1854, appointed a committee to advertise for bids for the con- struction of the second dormitory building on the plan of the first. The contract was awarded to Messrs. A. A. BIRD and W. LARKIN, who, with good and sufficient sureties, undertook to complete the building on or before the 1st of June, 1855, for the sum $18,000.
The north half of the edifice will contain sixteen study rooms, with bed-rooms and closets attached. In the other portions of the building, north of the south entry, are four public rooms, one in each story, thirty-six by twenty-three feet; on the lower floor, the laboratory; on the second, the cabinet of minerals and. specimens in other departments of physical science; on the third, the philosophical chamber; and on the fourth, the lib- rary. The extreme south wing is to be finished for residence, or for occupation for such studies as may be deemed expedient.
In this year, Gov. L. J. FARWELL sold to the State one hundred acres of land on the north side of lake Mendota for the location. of the " Hospital for the Insane." It is about three miles from Madison by a direct line across the lake and six miles by car- riage road. The grounds also adjoin the track of the Chicago and Northwestern railroad. By an act of the legislature, ap- proved March 30, 1854, the Governor was authorized to appoint commissioners to prepare plans and let a contract for the erec- tion of a lunatic asylum, substantially on the plan of the asylum in Worcester, Mass., both in respect to design and ex- pense. In pursuance of this act, Gov. BARSTOW appointed com- missioners and a superintendent. The contract was awarded to ANDREW PROUDFIT, and the work commenced. On the as- sembling of the legislature in 1855, that body annulled the contract on the ground that the plan adopted was much more extensive than had been authorized, and bore no particular re-
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FOUR LAKE COUNTRY OF WISCONSIN.
semblance to the Worcester Asylum, as well as for other reasons. The result of this action was that the work was suspended. It was revived in 1857, as will appear hereafter.
During the year 1854, a new bridge was built across the Yahara, or Catfish; and Ex-Governor L. J. FARWELL extended Washington avenue through his lands to the distance of a mile towards the northeast. This magnificent avenue, which has been opened by the individual enterprise of Governor FARWELL is now more than two miles in length, graded to a level, eight rods in width, and has a double row of trees - the inner row, cotton wood, and the outer, maples - upon each side. It ter- minates at a point where the various roads coming into town from the east, northeast and southwest, converge. When with- in a quarter of a mile of the Capitol Park, it ascends by a smooth and easy grade, the summit of the elevation crowned by the Capitol.
The erection of the " Lake Side Water Cure," by DELAPLAINE & BURDICK, was commenced in November, 1854, to be com- pleted June 1, 1855. The site selected for this institution is one of surpassing beauty, not equalled in this country, if in any other. The grounds comprise a beautiful oak grove of fifty acres, situated immediately across the west point of Lake Monona or Fairy Lake, about two miles south of the Capitol, and one mile by water, and commanding a fine view of the city of Madison, the lakes, and the surrounding country. Over the grounds, just on the edge of the grove, flows a large and beautiful stream of water, long known for its purity, from which the institution will be supplied. This stream has its source in never failing springs.
The building stands upon an eminence about fifty feet above the water, and six hundred feet distant from the shore. The main building is ninety-two feet in length by forty in width, and four stories above the basement, capable of accommodating from eighty to one hundred guests. There are piazzas extend- ing the whole length of the building on the first and second stories. There is also a wing forty feet by thirty-eight, and two stories in height, which is principally devoted to bath-
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HISTORY OF MADISON AND THE
rooms. The house is warmed throughout by steam heat - there is also connected with the engine, apparatus for cooking, washing, drying, ironing, supplying reservoir, etc., only one fire being necessary for the whole establishment.
Dr. JAMES E. GROSS was resident physician at its opening. For some reason, the institution was not a success, and was subsequently altered and adapted for a public house; as such, it has been well patronized. It is occupied only as a summer hotel, and is a favorite resort for visitors from St. Louis and other southern cities.
In the month of February, the Madison Hydraulic Company was chartered, and was fully organized. Its object was to fur- nish the inhabitants a full and certain supply at all times of pure fresh water. In doing so, arrangements were to be per- fected to take water from Lake Mendota of a depth of at least twenty feet, and, by steam or other power, force it into a re- servoir upon a hill in the rear of the University buildings - this hill being about forty feet higher than the Capitol park. A six or eight inch pipe to convey the water east - the whole length of State street - sending off smaller branches at the intersection of streets. It was supposed that water could be conveyed into the third stories of every building about the park, and much higher on the lower grounds. It was also proposed to have two or more fountains in the University grounds, facing the village, and four within the Capitol park. The whole ex- pense not to exceed $40,000. The officers of the company were, H. A. TENNEY, President; W.M. A. WHITE, Secretary, and LEONARD J. FARWELL, Treasurer.
It is to be regretted that the company did not succeed in carrying out their plans. There was not a sufficient amount of stock subscribed to warrant the undertaking, and the pro- ject was abandoned.
The Bank of the West was organized March 20, 1852, with a capital of $100,000. S. A. LOWE, President, and W. L. HINS- DALE, Cashier. The bank commenced business on the second floor of BRUEN's Block.
The Dane County Bank was organized, and went into busi-
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FOUR LAKE COUNTRY OF WISCONSIN.
ness, October 2, 1854; capital, $50,000. L. B. VILAS, President; L. J. FARWELL, Vice President; N. B. VAN SLYKE, Cashier; S. V. CHASE, Teller; J. H. SLAVIN, Bookkeeper, and W. F. VILAS, Messenger.
The following table exhibits the growth, in population, of Madison, since the first settlement:
1837,
- 62 I
1844,
216
- 2,306
1838,
283
2,973
1840,
1853, -
ยท 4,029
1842,
146 172
1846, IS47, - 1850,
632 1,672
1854, 1851, - 1852,
5,126
About 1,000 buildings have been erected here since. 1847; a portion of them of dressed stone and elegant style, with some of the finest blocks in the west. The projected number this year (1854), is 350.
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HISTORY OF MADISON AND THE
CHAPTER VII.
HORACE GREELEY'S VISIT 1855. -- ELECTIONS 1855-'61 - GAS LIGHT AND COKE CO. - GRACE CHURCH HISTORY, CONTINUED - SCHOOLS, 1855-6- PUBLIC AND PRIVATE IMPROVEMENTS - CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH HISTORY, CONTINUED - FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATIONS, 1855-61-INCORPORATION AS A CITY, 1855 - BUSINESS FIRMS - PEAT BEDS - CITY HALL - UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS - HOSPITAL FOR INSANE COMMENCED, AND NEW STATE CAPITOL PROJECTED - ORGANIZATION OF MILITARY COMPANIES - NOTICE OF HON. T. W. SUTHERLAND -OF COL. JAMES MORRISON -CITY IMPROVE- MENTS - REBELLION HISTORY, 1861.
IN the month of March, 1855, HORACE GREELEY visited Madison, and in May, BAYARD TAYLOR made a visit. Both of these gentlemen wrote flattering letters of their impressions, to the New York Tribune. Mr. GREELEY writes:
"Madison has the most magnificent site of any inland town I ever saw, on a graceful swell of land, say two miles north and south by a mile and a half east and west, rising gently from the west bank of one of a chain of four lakes, and having another of them north northwest of it. These lakes must each be eight or ten miles in circumference, half surrounded by dry, clean oak forests, or rather 'timbered openings,' which need but little labor to convert them into the finest parks in which fair homes ever nestled. A spacious water-cure estab- lishment has just been erected in one of these forests across the lake south-eastwardly from Madison, and shows finely both from the city and the railroad as you approach it. The Capitol is toward the south end of the built up city, in a fine natural park of twenty acres, and is not worse planned than most of our public buildings. The University crowns a beautiful emi- nence a mile west of the Capitol, with a main street connecting them a la Pennsylvania avenue. There are more comfortable private mansions now in progress in Madison than in any other place I have visited, and the owners are mostly recent immi-
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FOUR LAKE COUNTRY OF WISCONSIN.
grants of means and cultivation, from New England, from Cincinnati, and even from Europe. Madison is growing very fast. * She has a glorious career before her."
In consequence of the numerous favorable reports regarding Madison as a place of business, published in eastern papers, no western town was more prominently brought before the pub- lic. Some of these newspaper correspondents were so profuse in their compliments about the beauty and advantages of Madison as a place of settlement, that a marked effect was no- ticed in the increase of population and the advancement in the prices of real property, not only in the village, but in the ad- joining country.
The following persons were elected corporation officers for the year 1855: P. H. VAN BERGEN, President; L. J. FARWELL, H. A. TENNEY, WM. CARROLL, L. W. HOYT, J. G. GRIFFIN and J. SUMNER, Trustees; D. NOBLE JOHNSON, Clerk; ALONZO WIL- cox, Treasurer; D. C. BUSH, Assessor, and I. E. BROWN, Mar- shal. At this election, 522 votes were polled. The contest, although warm in some respects, had nothing to do with politics.
On the 17th of January, an act of the legislature was approved incorporating the Madison Gas Light and Coke Com- pany; L. J. FARWELL, SIMEON MILLS, JULIUS P. ATWOOD, FRAN- CIS G. TIBBITS, DAVID ATWOOD,. HENRY PARKINS, SAMUEL MARSHALL, N. W. DEAN, B. F. HOPKINS, LEVI B. VILAS and DAVID J. POWERS, being the corporators, and who were consti- tuted the first Board of Directors. The directors, at their first meeting, elected J. P. ATWOOD, President; B. F. HOPKINS, Sec- retary, and L. J. FARWELL, Treasurer. At the same meeting, held January 20th, a contract was entered into with H. PARK- INS & Co., to erect the necessary buildings for the sum of $35,000. The work was faithfully performed, and on the 10th of July, a celebration was had in the village, at which time, two two thousand to twenty-five hundred persons attended in front of the Capitol. Speeches were made by M. H. ORTON, W. N. SEYMOUR, J. W. JOHNSON, C. ABBOT, A. A. BIRD, and L. B. VILAS.
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HISTORY OF MADISON AND THE
The gas works were located on the low ground, northeast of the Capitol, on lots 1, 2, 3 and 4 of block 151. This enterprise, in the hands of the company, did not succeed as well as had been anticipated. The works were subsequently leased by the company to B. F. HOPKINS, under whose energetic and skillful management, the gas was soon conducted through the prin- cipal streets of the town, and within two years, had over five miles of pipe laid, and the enterprise became a decided success.
The election of town officers took place, April 4, with the following result: H. J. HILL, Chairman; R. T. WHITE and R. T. DAVIS, Supervisors; WILLET S. MAIN, Clerk; C. G. MAYERS, T. REYNOLDS and GEO. A. BARWISE, Assessors; G. C. ALBEE, Treasurer; DARWIN CLARK, School Superintendent; WM. WELCH and W. F. BAKER, Justices of the peace. .
In the month of May, Ex Gov. L. J. FARWELL commenced building an octagon house, three stories high, each side twenty-five feet in length, making the whole circumference two hundred feet - of dressed stone. It is situated on Lake Monona, three-quarters of a mile from the capitol. The barn and stable is of similar architecture, of stone, one hundred and sixty feet in circumference, the walls of which were early com- pleted. JOHN T. MARTIN, Esq., commenced building nearly the same time, a fine two story stone residence a short distance east of the former. Gov. FARWELL occupied his residence for a few years when it was sold to SAMUEL MARSHALL, and subsequently was enlarged and altered for a "Hospital for Wounded Soldiers " during the war, and more recently occu- pied as the "Soldiers' Orphans' Home."
In April, 1855, the Rev. J. B. BRITTAN, of Dayton, Ohio, vis- ited Madison, and was invited to take charge of the parish of Grace church. The invitation was accepted, and he entered upon the duties of his charge June 1, 1855. The chapel, en- larged and refitted at an expense of $1,000, was occupied for the first time on Sunday, the 17th of June, 1855. The chapel being soon found inadequate to the wants of the parish, a sub- scription was set on foot, headed by a generous friend in the
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FOUR LAKE COUNTRY OF WISCONSIN.
amount of $1,200, and soon reaching the sum of eight thou- sand dollars, for the erection of a church edifice. A plan was agreed upon, and on the 25th of September, the same year, the foundation was commenced.
The building committee were ex-Gov. L. J. FARWELL, W. A. MEARS, H. K. LAWRENCE, P. H. VAN BERGEN and I. W. DE FORREST.
The following account of the building is given in the newspapers of that time. It is in the Gothic style, and com- posed of a tower, nave and chancel. The main entrance is through the tower by two large and massive doors. The tower is twenty-two feet square, forming a spacious vestibule. It will be a prominent feature of the structure, and is located at the corner of the nave -fronting on the corner of Carroll street and Washington avenue. It is supported at the angles by mas- sive buttresses, diminishing as they ascend, and terminating in handsome panneled and foliated pinnacles, at a height of eighty feet from the sidewalk. The whole height of the tower and spire is one hundred and forty feet wide, and the building will comfort- ably seat six hundred persons. The walls are thirty-three feet high, and the highest point of the gable on which is fixed a neat Greek cross, is fifty-six feet. The east front is lighted by a large trillioned window, twelve feet by thirty, and supplied with stained glass. The sides and ends are supported by heavy buttresses which add to its strength and symmetry. These buttresses terminate in foliated pinnacles. The chancel is twenty-two by eighteen feet, and flanked on respective sides by an organ room and vestry, and is connected with the nave by a broad and high arch. It is lighted at the end by a triple lancet-window, with stained glass like the one in front.
The interior is to be furnished in tasteful and costly style; the ceiling to be an elliptic Gothic arch, richly adorned with stucco work, composed of heavy ribs-interlaced Gothic arches running from the apex of the ceiling to the springing, and ter- minating there on elegantly carved corbels. The interstices of the ribs are to be ornamented with carved bosses. The pulpit is of octagonal form, and located on the south side of the chan-
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HISTORY OF MADISON AND THE
cel arch, and is entered from the vestry; on the north side of the chancel arch is the reading desk and organ. The nave is thirty-six feet high from the floor to the apex of the ceiling. The plan was designed by Messrs. J. & A. DOUGLAS, of Milwau- kee, and the whole is estimated to cost, when completed, $16,000. It is to be of cut stone, and when finished, will be one of the finest edifices in the country.
The size of the building will be 112 by 74 feet. The nave, 80 by 42 feet, containing 80 pews, and will comfortably seat 500 persons.
The building was in readiness for public worship early in 1858; the tower, however, being incomplete and the basement unfinished. The cost of the church, as then completed, was about $22,000. In October, 1861, the Rev. Mr. BRITTAN having having accepted an appointment as chaplain in the army, ten- dered his resignation as rector, to take effect November 1, which was accepted.
A Madison paper of April 11, 1855, referring to the improve- ments going on, says:
" Never before was the building mania in Madison more ap- parent than now. Go where you will - visit whichever part of town you may - and you see on all sides - in every nook and corner - apparently upon every lot, the most active busy- bustle preparations for building. You pass an untouched, vacant lot in the morning, and at night you will find it strew- ed over with building materials-a foundation laid, frame raised for a good sized house, nearly clapboarded, and partly painted. This is what we saw last week. There are now no less than 150 and perhaps 200 buildings commenced and in the various stages of completion, in this town, to-day, and yet building has barely commenced. It seems that everybody is coming to Madison, and everybody who does, must build. One stimulus to building this season, is the fact that materials, etc., are much cheaper, as we are informed, than usual."
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