Notable buildings include the Wisconsin State Capitol, and the Monona
Terrace meeting and convention center, based on a design by Frank Lloyd
Wright. Wright, who spent a brief time as a student at the University, also
designed other buildings in Madison, such as the Unitarian meeting house. In
the summer time, on Saturday mornings, the Dane County Farmers' Market is on
the Capitol Square.
Madison has three identities—state capital, college town, and working-class
city—which blend and synergize. Madison will always be associated with the
name of "Fighting Bob" LaFollette and the Progressive movement. La
Follette's magazine, The Progressive, founded in 1909, is still published in
Madison today.
Two daily newspapers, the Wisconsin State Journal and the Capital Times, are
published in the city, which is also the home of a free weekly alternative
newspaper, Isthmus. The Onion satirical weekly was also founded in Madison.
In Madison during the sixties, thousands of students and other citizens took
part in antiwar marches and demonstrations. These protests were the subject
of the documentary The War at Home (http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=52754).
The counterculture was centered in the neighborhood of Mifflin and Bassett
streets, referred to as Mifflin-Bassett or Miffland. The area contained many
three-story apartments where students and counterculture youth lived,
painted murals, opened vegetarian restaurants and co-operative grocery
stores, and used illegal substances. The neighborhood often came into
conflict with authorities, particularly then-Mayor Bill Dyke (who was later
to run for vice-president with segregationist Lester Maddox). Tom Bates
writes in Rads that Dyke's attempt to suppress the annual Mifflin Street
block party "would take three days, require hundreds of officers on overtime
pay, and engulf the student community from the Southeast Dorms to fraternity
row. Tear gas hung like heavy fog across the isthmus." In the fracas,
student activist Paul Soglin, then an alderman, was arrested and taken to
jail. Later, Soglin was to become mayor of Madison, serving from 1973 to
1979 and from 1989 to 1997.
In 1996 Money magazine identified Madison as the best place to live in the
United States. It has consistently ranked near the top of the best-places
list in subsequent years (the list is published annually by the magazine),
with the city's consistently low unemployment rate being a major factor in
its ranking.
Notable people associated with Madison include Thornton Wilder, Eric Heiden,
Tyne Daly and Chris Farley all born in Madison; Charles A. Lindbergh, who
entered a mechanical engineering program at the University of Wisconsin in
1920, did poorly, and dropped out to become a barnstormer; and musicians
Steve Miller (who attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Otis
Redding (who died in a 1967 plane crash in Madison).
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of
219.3 km² (84.7 mi²). 177.9 km² (68.7 mi²) of it is land and 41.5 km² (16.0
mi²) of it is water. The total area is 18.91% water.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there are 208,054 people, 89,019 households, and
42,462 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,169.8/km²
(3,029.7/mi²). There are 92,394 housing units at an average density of 519.5
persons/km² (1,345.4 persons/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 83.96%
White, 5.84% African American (most of whom reside in such neighborhoods as
Allied Drive, Broadway-Lake Point, and Worthington Park), 0.36% Native
American, 5.80% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 1.67% from other races, and
2.32% from two or more races. 4.09% of the population are Hispanic or Latino
of any race.
There are 89,019 households out of which 22.1% have children under the age
of 18 living with them, 37.0% are married couples living together, 7.8% have
a woman whose husband does not live with her, and 52.3% are non-families.
35.3% of all households are made up of individuals and 7.1% have someone
living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is
2.19 and the average family size is 2.87.
In the city the population is spread out with 17.9% under the age of 18,
21.4% from 18 to 24, 32.2% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 9.2% who
are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 31 years. For every 100
females there are 96.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there
are 95.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $41,941, and the median
income for a family is $59,840. Males have a median income of $36,718 versus
$30,551 for females. The per capita income for the city is $23,498. 15.0% of
the population and 5.8% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the
total people living in poverty, 11.4% are under the age of 18 and 4.5% are
65 or older.
