Sunday, September 15, 2024

SOLD OUT

Read Madison Magazine article by Doug Moe about our tours and 50th anniversary!

Monroe Street runs through this vibrant near-westside neighborhood. Discover how changing modes of transportation influenced the development of this streetcar suburb that includes a forgotten Frank Lloyd Wright house, Storybook houses inspired by 1920s Hollywood, and early 20th-century Prairie School style homes, plus a 1905 Queen Anne and a 1959 split-level. Commercial buildings on Monroe Street where early neighbors banked, bought food and household necessities, and had their prescriptions filled are highlighted on the tour.

Streetcars and buses transported early neighborhood residents to the University of Wisconsin campus and state-government offices, businesses, and shops on the Capitol Square. Freight and passenger trains ran along the Illinois Central Railroad tracks on the northwest border of the neighborhood.

Dudgeon-Monroe was popular with university professors, lawyers, state employees, and business owners, as well as their families. Nearby public and parochial schools, places of worship, and Wingra and Vilas Parks contributed, and continue to contribute, to the neighborhood’s appeal.