Felson Thesis MS UW Madison
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The University of Wisconsin Campus:A case study of human action and landscape change
A thesis submitted in partial fulllment of the requirements for the degree of
By: Alex Felson
at the UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON 2005
Master of Science (Land Resources)
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Dr. William J. Cronon Frederick Jackson Turnerand Vilas Research Professor of History
I hereby approve the following thesis, entitled, The University of Wis-
consin Campus: A case study of human action and landscape
change, to be submitted byAlexander J. Felson for the fulllment of
the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (Land Resources)
at the University of Wisconsin--Madison.
Date
Advisor Approval
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TABLEOF CONTENTS
Introduction
I Campus walk
II The early formative years: Responding to a glacial landscape
Human scale and Agency
III Vegetation changes : towards an identiably human campusHuman action and/or inaction and campus landscape change
IV Planning, preservation and management: human
agency and campus development
Realized plans, piecemeal planning and unintended results
Conclusions
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Front cover, aerial, 1990s. PC, 8/1/4 Overall from east.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank a number of people for their role in completing this project.
Thanks to my wife Janine Coye Felson for her support and encouragement, and to
my mother, Nancy Felson, for her wonderful editing and moral support throughout.
Thanks also to my advisor, Dr. William Cronon for his encouragement and guidanceand to Dr. Evelyn Howell and Dr. Arnold Alanen for their roles as members of my
thesis committee. Thanks also to my original advisor Bill Tishler, for his advice and
feedback. I would also like to thank Jim Miller and Barbara Borns of the Institute for
Environmental Studies for encouragement and support. Bernard Schermetzler of
the UW Photo Archives and Michael Clayton of the Botany Department were also
very helpful with historic images. Thanks to Frank Cook, Daniel Einstein, Dr. David
Cronon, Karen Lawrence, Dr. Phil Hamilton and Bruce Allison for their thoughtful
ideas in interviews as well as their advice.
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Introduction
Campus landscapes provide a unique arrangement of human artifacts
within a park-like setting. The balance of human control with biological
autonomy produces a rich texture of human, vegetative and geological events.
This conguration creates a convenient opportunity to observe and evaluate
multiple factors that dene and mold landscape conditions in human-dominated
environments. Utilizing a multi-disciplinary approach that relies on theories and
practices from ecology, environmental and landscape history, and geography, this
thesis investigates the major factors that have shaped the campus landscape of
the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
The thesis originated as a walk through the campus focusing on
signicant trees and natural areas. As I poured over historic images and
other primary resources, I began to realize the value of the landscape itself
as a primary document that records and subtly expresses the blend of human
activity, biological factors, and the physical terrain. Intrigued by this capacity
of landscapes to absorb and express disparate events and occurrences, I
reoriented the walk so that it would enable me to map these out and to analyze
their interconnections and signicance. Four broad topics emerged: 1) geologyand vegetation; 2) master plans and design; 3) history: activism, politics
and economics; and 4) culture, social factors and ideals. These topics are
interspersed throughout the specic sites I traversed in my walk through campus.
Over time, as the thesis took form, I also examined the feedback between
the development and the preservation of the land, as well as on biological
resilience and other non-human factors contributing to landscape change. In
particular, I asked what insights we can gain for future planning and development
from an in-depth investigation of the campus landscape, looking for patterns
and events that explained landscape evolution and land-use changes. Thus
the physical campus itself becomes the primary historical document. Other
research materials include historical photographs, maps and campus plans
from the University of Wisconsin Archives and the State Historical Society
Photo Archives, journal entries, newspaper articles, books and interviews.
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Chapter 1
THE EARLY FORMATIVE YEARS:
RESPONDING TO A GLACIAL LANDSCAPE
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Isthmus: City
The city of Madison and the University of Wisconsin owe much of their existence
to a cunning land speculator, Judge James Doty. Passing through the region in 1829,Doty looked past the thick brambles and expansive marshland. Casting his glance
out over a at swampy landscape with bodies of water on both sides and several
strategically located hills, Doty was able to imagine the potential of this terrain
envisioning the relationship of water, land and topography as a site for a new city.
Doty purchased the isthmus (1,200 acres of land), anticipating that he could
convince a young congress to choose this site as the future territorial capital. 1 He
also commissioned a map that would represent the fully matured capital. With this
scheme, he intended rst to persuade the First Territorial Assembly into selecting this
location and to attract land speculators and settlers to invest in a site, which, at that
time, remained completely unpopulated and undeveloped.
In October 1863, at the First Assembly held in Belmont, Wisconsin, Doty
passed out buffalo robes to the councilmen and made gifts of choice land parcels on
the isthmus to inuence the vote. Already, Councilman Joseph B. Teas (who later
aided in locating the college in Madison) had substituted Madison early in the session
for the proposed capital location of Fond du Lac. The alternative location, propelled
by Teas and Doty, passed through the various deliberations throughout the session
and the Assembly chose the isthmus over other sites.While Dotys initiatives fostered the creation of Madison, the features of the
land and their unique spatial layout must also have truly distinguished the site and
inuenced the decision. An aerial view of Madison today shows the features in the
land that caught Dotys attention. The isthmusa narrow strip of land set between two
bodies of water would provide a rm boundary to the city. The size and proportion
of the strip of land would also t the scale required to create an environment of streets
and buildings. The two lakes forming the isthmus were themselves distinct features
that would play a fundamental role in the development of both city and campus.
Elongated hills, known as drumlins, found both on the isthmus and throughout the
surrounding region were also signicant land features. Originally, much of this strip of
land was marshy, but two ridges running the length of the isthmus allowed passage
and provided high ground from which Judge Doty could view all of the landscape
elements.
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Glaciers
The Wisconsin Glaciers produced the spatial organization of drumlins, lakes
and land to which Doty reacted. These features, now part of our everyday experienceof the campus, were made over 13,000 years ago when thick ice sheets, estimated
at more than 2,000 feet deep over parts of Madison, moved northeast to southwest
across the future state of Wisconsin. The powerful movement transported boulders
and sculpted the terrain.2 The slow grinding motion generally reduced the topographic
relief and also produced a wide variety of characteristic landforms and geographic
features.
The glaciers lled in parts of an ancient riverbed that ran through central
Wisconsin, to create a chain of four lakes running north to south. 3 The two
northernmost lakes, now Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, together formed the
isthmus. Glaciers also produced various prominent drumlins, including Bascom,
Observatory and Capitol Hills. The terminal moraine, or front edge of the moving ice
sheet, stopped just southwest of Madison and left a long ridge of debris. These hills
and lakes and their spatial composition are now ingrained in the very form of the city
and campus. They create the geologic canvas and underlying framework on which
layers of urbanization have occurred.4
As a result of Dotys choice, the City of Madison and the University would add
a new stratum to the existing layers of geology. Buildings and roads would comminglewith glacial artifacts, and the remnant soils and sandstone of past seas. The deposits
of glacial till would dene land-use patterns, particularly farming, across the state.
Dotys reaction to the glacial features exemplies how cultural understanding
is translated into the planning and physical construction of urban space. In this case,
Doty skillfully assessed how well the restrictive boundaries of the isthmus would
accommodate the scale of a city. His early involvement in maneuvering the site
through political circles and in commissioning a paper map both inuenced the growth
and layout of the campus. Dotys tremendous impacts on the direction of Madison
suggest the importance of early participants in landscape change.
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Fig 1. This paper city of Madison rendered before anything really existed on the isthmus illustratesJudge James Dotys perception of the land and what his long-term intentions were in its development.A grid of roads running parallel and perpendicular to the isthmus edge is applied to the land. Blocksare wider than they are long, perhaps relating to the elongated shape of the isthmus.
Fig 2. Comparing Dotys map to an 1867 birds eye view of Madison, it is surprising to see how muchof his original design came through.
BASCOM HILL
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Choosing a Site
During the 1836 meeting of the First Assembly, initial proposals for a territo-
rial college were made. At the time, congressional members were concerned mostlywith colonizing the last piece of the northwestern territories and viewed the develop-
ment of a college as a minor concern. While members actively disputed the loca-
tion of the capital, a bill passed quietly with a unanimous vote to place the college in
Belmont, Wisconsin. This held for only two years.
In 1838, the subsequent Assembly, with greater interest in the future of the
college, passed a second bill locating the territorial college at or near Madison.5
Legislators also included a resolution requesting a land grant from the United States
Congress to support the new college. The United States Congress agreed to the re-
quest and pledged a quantity of land not exceeding two entire townships [72 square
miles].6 The public lands were not selected until 7 years later in 1845.7 Three more
years would pass before the Constitution of 1848 called for the establishment of
a State University, at or near the seat of state government.8 The Constitution pro-
posed the creation of a board of elected members, known as the Board of Trustees,
to oversee the organization of the school and the sale of land to generate a univer-
sity fund.
The Board was interested in obtaining about fty acres, bounded north by
Fourth Lake, east by a street [Park Street] to be opened at right angles with King [State]Street, south by Mineral Point Road [University Avenue], and west by a carriage way
from said road to the lake.9 They negotiated for the purchase of over 150 acres of
land representing a quarter section of land offered by a New York landowner named
Aaron Vanderpool. The Board claimed that this section was more than enough land
for the proposed university layout. Vanderpool sold the land at the high price of $15
an acre plus the addition of the taxes for the present year, and a commission of 2
per cent.10 Shortly after the purchase the Board admitted that the quarter section
did not include all the land they were interested in for the purpose of establishing the
college and that additional parcels were needed. The Board undoubtedly wanted to
obtain extra land to trade or sell so as to generate early prots for the workings of the
school.11
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Fig 3. The diagram above provides a generaloverview of the extent of glaciation until 2.4 millionyears ago (mya). Declining temperatures beginningroughly 50 mya eventually created an environmentcold enough for the periodic southern advancementof the great continental ice sheets.
Fig 4. The diagram above illustrates the glacialadvances, or lobes, extending into Wisconsin. Tem-peratures did not decline continuously, but uctu-ated between warmer and colder conditions, lead-ing to as many as 12 to 15 ice sheet advances overthe last 2.4 million years (see timeline Fig. 7). Theglaciers never entered the driftless area (see aboveright). The Green Bay Lobe retreated as recently as9,000 years ago.
Fig 5. The thickness of the ice sheet varies, butcan be several thousand feet. The glacier aboveMadison is estimated to have been about 2,000 feetthick, or almost half a mile.
Fig 6. The till covering much of the glaciated land-scape is unstratied. The matrix of sand, silt andclay in this nely ground soil make for superb agri-cultural land. Stratied drifts also occur in certainconditions, for instance in the outwash material,streams, and deposits within the glaciers.
Previous glaciationbetween 25,000 and790,000 years ago
Driftless Area
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Fig 8. As glaciers move they scour the ground, ripping up bouldersand pulverizing them into sand-sized to rock-sized particles. Erodinghilltops and lling in valleys, glaciers reduce the relief in the landscape.The sliding of heavier thicker areas of ice towards thinner areas occursin a conveyer belt-like motion, moving sediments along with it.
Fig 9. The grinding motion of the glaciers produced a varietyof characteristic landforms and geographic features across thelandscape. The four lakes were once part of a larger single lakeformed from an ancient river valley that remained as the glaciersretreated. The line where the glaciers stopped their advance canbe seen on the map above as the Johnstown Moraine.
Fig 10. Drumlin Topography. Notethe steepness of the eastern fac-ing slope and the more gradualslope of the western side.
N
Years BeforePresent
Glaciation
Fig 7. Glacial timeline.
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The construction of an open-ended mall over the slope of Bascom Hill, and
the natural orientation of the slope towards Capitol Hill transformed the slope into a
hallmark of the campus with a exible space large enough to hold ceremonies and
gatherings. At the same time, it exists as a large tilted plane directed towards the city.Functionally and symbolically, the design provides a space that links the campus to
the public and the government.
This semi-public forum has provided a gathering place for students, faculty,
administration and the public at large since the earliest campus days. Events have
ranged from marching practice for soldiers of the Civil War, anti-war protests, to a
forum for the Civil Rights Movement, gay and lesbian activism, and many other rallies.
Students and the public continue discovering new uses for the lawn and continue to
use it for educational and political purposes. The once innocent glacial landform has
become a social and political forum and a charged land feature in human society and
memory.
The process through which a geologic aspect of the land becomes incorporated
and recongured into a cultural site is clearly illustrated in the remaking of this glacial
drumlin into the University of Wisconsins Bascom Hill. At once an unbiased outcome
of a geologic phenomenon that rst produced the lakes, isthmus and drumlins, the Hill
has also become vested with cultural relevance and intrinsically linked to the identity
of the University.
Sandstone
The sandstone used to construct the rst buildings on campus, are not linked
to the glaciers, but to the geologic history extending 500 to 600 million years prior to
glaciation. The formation of this material, called Madison sandstone dates back to a
time when large water bodies covered this entire region. Slowly and methodically over
time, these seas deposited silt and sand into thick sediment layers.16 The accumulated
layers were compacted into thick sedimentary rock. Most of the sandstone was later
covered with dolomite, a second type of sedimentary rock, and again with the glaciers.
Weathering and erosion exposed some sandstone, such as Maple Bluff along Lake
Mendota.
A quarry located two miles away in Shorewood Hills provided the hardened
sandstone used to construct the rst campus buildings.17 At the time, the material
was a common and well-liked local and inexpensive building material.18 Somewhat
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Fig 12. The simplicity of Bascom Malls design and the sensitivity to existing conditions allow us todayto read the geological landform through the designed space.
Fig 11. The design of the rst buildings followed an architectural movement from Italy, the renaissancerevival, based on Greek classical principles.
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strapped for money in its earliest years after an effort to sell land did not go as well
as planned, the college also decided to take advantage of the lower cost material.
The contractors for these rst buildings were able to bid lowest on the construction of
the buildings because the materials were close at hand and less costly than marbleor granite. In fact, the lowest bidder owned several quarries. The sandstone was
excavated and cut into large building blocks. In the end it still took ten years to
complete all three buildings. Two dorms proposed to ank North and South Halls
were never built.19
Conceptualizing the sandstone as a geological feature of the land and the
sandstone as a building material (now embedded in the campus) provides a new
cultural interpretation of this geological remnant. We relate to the deposited sediment
as architecture-- 2 x 3 blocks of rough sandy material congured to form inhabitable
structures. The sandstone not only represents an architectural component; it also
represents a historical component of the land. The beautiful light sand-colored stone
that weathers over time is both visual and tactile and gives Bascom Hill some of its
historic character. Unearthing a layer of the organic silt and transforming it into a
functional building material links the University directly to events occurring millions of
years ago.
The historic and cultural relevance of sandstone is unlikely to have been a
preoccupation of the early builders. Sandstone was chosen at the time for its economic
and practical value. Indeed, in the context of development, natural features of theland are oftentimes valued in economic terms. As such, we dene useful elements of
nature as natural resources and in turn unitize, commoditize, sell and trade them in
our markets.
Understanding Scale
Landscape scale was critical to the early development of the campus. This well-
studied concept is dened variously as the landforms of the region in the aggregate,
or the land surface and its associated habitats at scales of hectares to many square
kilometers, or simply as a spatially heterogeneous area.20 Landscape scale is
larger and of a greater range than urban scale. The scale of the campus could be
considered somewhere between a landscape scale and a typical urban scale because
the buildings are spaced out in a park-like setting.
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Fig 13. The elongated hills known as drumlins scattered across a large area of Wisconsin, are one of thetopographic glacial remnants. As many as 5,000 drumlins (including Bascom and Capitol Hill) exist withinthe Green Bay glacial lobe. Note the general northeast to southwest direction. Because these hills formunder ice sheets as thick as several thousand feet geologists are still uncertain whether the landforms area product of erosion or deposition. The olive green represents unstratied glacial till. The dark green rep-resents the terminal moraine.
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The glaciers produced a particular set of large-scale landscape features.
Doty capitalized on these with his proposed plan for the city, developing urban
space situated in relation to the lakes, hills and isthmus. While the earliest designs
responded to these big landscape elements, they often ignored the smaller scaleanomalies on the land including the various Native American relics, creeks, wetlands
and remaining workers graves located on College Hill.21
The original design for the campus responded to the glacial scale terrain, with
the open-ended mall placed to take advantage of the drumlins gradual northeastern
slope facing the city. The design and layout of campus buildings, paths and roadways
t site-specic circumstances at the landscape or glacial scale, while also catering to
human scale needs, include factors such as walkways widths, safety concerns and
circulation patterns.
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Fig 15. South Hall, 1892. The use of sandstone in these rst buildings was more economic and prac-tical than intentional. Those responsible for using the stone were unlikely to have considered thelinkage to the past; they were simply responding to what was available. This economic and practicalrelationship to nature dominates human society today. We dene useful elements of nature as naturalresources. They are unitized, commodied, sold and traded in our market systems.
Fig 14. The city with the campus in the background in 1880. The houses in the foregrond are locatedon the site of the present day Peterson and Humanities Building. Main, North and South Hall as wellas Music Hall and the rst Science Hall are visible in the picture.
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Chapter 2
VEGETATION CHANGES:
TOWARDS AN IDENTIFIABLY HUMAN CAMPUS
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Fig 16. Aerial of campus from the east, 1940.
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Vegetation changes
There are no considerable portions that can be called timber land, it being almost
entirely oak openings or prairie. I. A. Lapham, 184622
There is no difculty in making roads, as the burr-oak openings can be traveled
through anywhere, and there is nothing to do but blaze the trees and beat down the
luxuriant grass by use. Col. William H. Trimble 1838 Letter23
With the founding and subsequent development of the University of Wisconsin
campus, students and faculty added a new stratum to the existing layers of geology
and vegetation. Campus buildings, roads and infrastructure as well as sports areas
and landscaping advanced slowly across the purchased land and brought organization
and identity to the site. Human impact on campus vegetation was sporadic and site
specic because the campus developed in a piecemeal fashion. As occupation
increased, the landscape became a complicated mix of human artifact and evolving
landscape conditions.
Although the city and campus arose on land that had been visited and
intermittently inhabited for centuries, Madison remained largely rural and unorganized.Campus vegetation was less inuential than the larger scale spatial organization of
glacial remnants, including lakes, drumlins and valleys, to which early surveyors,
campus board members and architect responded. Scattered oaks, prairies and
marshland were removed or otherwise incorporated to accommodate campus growth.
The subsequent vegetation conditions were partly plannedsuch as the lawn at
Bascom Hillbut also an outcome of disturbance and recovery, as buildings, roads,
and recreational areas spread.
Oak savanna and prairie ecosystems had dominated the land for many
centuries leading up to settlers arrival and prior to campus establishment. Fires were
integral to the spread and maintenance of these widespread southern Wisconsin
landscapes.24 Research has also shown that Native American tribes, who shed
and hunted seasonally on the isthmus, periodically set re to the land to improve
hunting conditions. The re setting practices were integral to the establishment
and maintenance of prairie landscapes. The tender plant stalks attracted game for
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hunting.
The European settlers arrival in the area and the deportation of the last Indian
tribes to reservations in the 1830s changed the traditional relationship between
prairies and people. With the privatization of land and the construction of permanentsettlements, re became an unwanted element, and active suppression occurred.
Without res, more competitive plants, known as pioneer species, out-competed
prairie grasses. Within a few seasons the oak savanna and prairie ecosystems
lost their dominance, and a thick layer of brambles and fast growing shrubs and
trees undoubtedly overtook the grassy plains. The end of pre-settlement re-setting
practices brought signicant changes to campus vegetation.
Fig 17. The University of Wisconsin Arboretum, Green Prairie.
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Fig 20. Prairie burning, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Fig 19. Root depth of common prairie plants.
Fig 18. Major plant communities of Wisconsin in 1840.
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Bascom Hill
Bascom Hill is a brush tangled hillside where small game scurried along hidden
paths. John Lathrop, rst University Chancellor, 1849-185825
The time interval between settlers arrival and re suppression in the late 1830s,
on the one hand, and the initial development of university grounds in the 1850s,
allowed early stages of pioneer succession to occur. Lathrops above description of
Bascom Hill supports this notion. A similar metamorphosis from a prairie landscape to
brambles probably took place on most of the campus, especially with the occasional
grazing that occurred on the land. In the case of Bascom Hill, the decision to develop
a large rectilinear lawn abbreviated the processes of succession. Brambles and oaks
were cleared and grass planted as part of the original 1850 campus plan. Since
its inauguration, the 160,000 square foot lawn has been mowed in perpetuity and
is maintained as a meeting ground and student lounge. Maintenance is key to theongoing appearance of Bascom Mall; mowing, weeding and reseeding have kept the
lawn in a relatively xed condition for 150 years. If current management practices
ceased, disturbance species would undoubtedly invade the sod-covered drumlin.
For most of campus history, two double rows of American elms set at 140 with
the trees in each allee spaced 30 apart, lined the face of the drumlin. The two allees
Fig 21. Engraving of Madison from Bascom Hill, 1858.
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were part of the original 1850 campus plan. The design created beautiful walkways
up and down Bascom Hill on either side of the lawn framing views towards the city.
Roughly one-third of the 700 saplings planted between 1851 and 1852 died in the
rst two seasons. Replanting occurred in 1854. The next planting did not occur foranother 30 years, in the 1880s.26
The American elm was the tree of choice at the time. Like many other
successful urban trees, it developed in the oodplains.27 The majestic elm, with its
vase-shaped branching, shapely trunk, and grayish bark, quickly became a favorite
with city dwellers. By the 1940s and 50s the elm was an icon of the American city,
planted on main streets and throughout neighborhoods across the United States. In
the city of Madison, American elms graced State, Langdon, Park, Charter and Elm
Streets, as well as University Avenue.
The glory of these elm-lined avenues and streets took a terrible turn from
the 1930s onward with the introduction of a fungus, known as Dutch Elms Disease,
transported from Europe to the United States through Cleveland on an infested log.
Elm tree roots grow almost as wide as their canopy, and often overlap and graft with
the roots of nearby elms, thus creating ample opportunity for spreading to occur. The
easily transmitted and fatal Dutch Elms Disease spread rapidly, moving from tree to
treeeither in the mandibles of the Elm Bark Beetle or through underground root
systems.28 Dutch Elms Disease wreaked havoc on elms across the nation.29
Using a costly serum researched and developed on campus, the Universityof Wisconsin preserved elms on Bascom Hill long after most had died across the
country.30 The Physical Plant also maintained a rigorous preventative effort, pruning
infected areas and digging trenches around elms to separate roots. In 1999, out of
over several hundreds elms, sixty-eight remained living. The Physical Plants recent
decision to halt the costly injections on the remaining trees leaves the elms to survive
on their own.31 The University Grounds policy is to replace dying elms on Bascom Hill
with red oaks pruned to imitate elms.
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Fig 23. Elms by Music Hall, 1998.
Fig 22. Bascom Hill and City Map, 1867.
Fig 25. Bascom Hill from Main Hall, 1940s.
Fig 24. Elm and South Hall, 1998.
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Fig 30. Distribution of smaller European elm bark beetle (Scolytus multistriatus) as of 1974.
Fig 26. Quercus rubra (Red oaks) replace elms, 1998.
Fig 29. Ageing elms by Education Hall, 1998.Fig 24-28. European elm bark beetle andbrood galleries with central egg gallery.
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Muir Woods
This is an area of virgin forest, in which venerable oaks predominate. The Universityand alumni have always been most solicitous for its preservation as a forest. Grant
Cottam, 196432
Muir Woods is lled mainly with oak, maple, cherry, hawthorn, hickory and other
hardwoods. During the cold winters of 1865 through 1870, students and faculty living
in the newly built dormitory, North Hall, collected wood from the forest to supplement
their poorly functioning central stove. Today it serves as a place of leisure and an
educational site for botany and ecology students.
Opinions differ as to the historic evolution of this woodland parcel. A predominant
view is that Muir Woods changed from prairie grasses to thick woods, like much of
the campus. An alternate view proposed by Dr. Arthur Hassler, emeritus professor
of Limnology, is that forests covered Muir Woods before 1850. Hasslers argument
is based on observations of similar conditions in Southern Wisconsin, where forests
grow on northern slopes and the amount of sunlight does not support prairie grasses.33
University inhabitants active collection of wood here early in campus history may
support the forested argument although thirty years of re repression from 1850
onward would allow time for vegetation growth.Muir Woods remained undisturbed until 1961 when the Universitys Board of
Trusteesvoted unanimously to remove a third of the forest to construct the Social
Science Building.34 This decision emanated from the need for additional space in
response to student inuxes after WWII.
Replacing the forest with the Social Science building catalyzed more stringent
preservation regulations across the campus. By 1964, the proponents for the
preservation of the Woods were nally able to persuade the University to designate
the remaining forest a biological eld station.35 Since the Social Science Buildings
construction, no intrusion has occurred, and the Woods remain intact, only suffering
from soil compaction and erosion due to heavy foot trafc.
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Fig 31. Muir Woods before construction of the Social Science Buillding, 1940s.
Fig 32-33. The Carillon Tower was one of the few structures built during the depression, 1932.
Shown during the removal of Muir Woods, 1961, and with the Social Science Building, 1985.
Fig 34. Carillon Tower seen from the west, where Van Hise and Ingraham Hall now stand, 1950s
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Chadbourne Hall Oaks
The repression of res in the 1830s led to a proliferation of white oaks across
the campus. A photograph taken of the area south of Bascom Mall where the womensdormitory, Chadbourne Hall, is located illustrates this pattern. The photograph shows a
hillside crowded with healthy even-aged oaks. These similarly aged stands resemble
vegetation recovery after clear cuts or elds left fallow, and indicate that the trees
germinated around the same time. In this case, the previously existing widespread
oaks had produced an abundance of acorns, which were more capable of germinating
and maturing after re repression.
The life cycle and growth patterns of oaks are intimately associated with prairie
habitat. Oak saplings, for example, develop thick, deeply grooved re-resistant bark
after ten years of growth, protecting them from periodic burning. Fires also thin out
the growth of young oak saplings and result in the typical wide-spaced and open-
grown oak savanna. Squirrels, with their harvested and buried acorn caches, are
responsible for a large proportion of germinating oaks as well.
Although the construction of buildings, roads, and lawns, has led to the removal
of many oaks, several can still be found in pockets across the campus today, some
older than the university. The remaining oaks serve as points of reference, providing
a window into the landscape of the past. Many of the remaining campus oak exist
in clusters, not as individual specimens. The clusters typically arose from squirrelcaches and differ from the specimen trees growing in prairie landscapes.
Presidents Oak
The 300 year-old Presidents Oak is the oldest tree on campus and one of the
few survivors from the landscapes earlier oak populations. The tree germinated long
before settlers arrived, sometime in the early 1700s, and unquestionably had its share
of res before the 1830s. Now at least seventy feet tall and four feet wide, the slow
growing and venerable oak is living its last years as a campus celebrity and acting as
a gatekeeper to the outdoor museum on Observatory Hill.36
Human pressures on oaks have changed considerably during the lifetime of
the Presidents Oak. Throughout its rst one hundred and fty years, the oak lived
among forbs and grasses, surviving occasional burns and encroaching tree species.
Between the 1830-1850, livestock grazed on the campus, trampling and compacting
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the ground. Around the trees 150th birthday, suppression of res occurred, allowing
pioneer species to compete for soil, nutrients and sunlight. During the Civil War,
soldiers training in Camp Randall used the tree for target practice. Gradually, through
its second century of life, buildings and roads spread across the land and led to thedemise of many similarly aged oaks. The Presidents House (1855) and Washburn
Observatory (1870) construction on Observatory Hill in close proximity to the tree,
improved the oaks chances of survival. Experimental farming occurred on the north
and south hillsides adjacent to the tree and included orchards in the early 1900s.37
The Presidents Oak is unique because of its age. Even though campuses tend
to evolve more slowly than typical urban space, retaining the land, upon which the Oak
is found, undisturbed for 300 years was no easy feat. Volatile real estate conditions in
city environments coupled with pollution, salt and compaction make it difcult to grow
most trees in highly urban conditions, especially along streets.38 According to soil
scientist, Phil Craul, seven years is the life expectancy of the average tree in an urban
setting.39 Altered soil conditions, road improvements and campus expansion all lead
to instability. The Observatorys location on the hill deterred development and thereby
helped to ensure the Presidents Oaks survival.
Fig 35. View along sidewalk at Park Street amongst oaks, 1920s.
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Fig 37. Oak stand growing around Ladies Dormitory, 1892.
Fig 36. Aerial of Park Street and University Avenue showing the oak stand growing around LadiesHall, and future site of Chadbourne Hall, around 1890.
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Euthenics Oak
Abby L. Marlett, director of Home Economics, planted a very large bur oak in the
exact location of an original white oak which was located in front of the Home Economicsbuilding, about 500 feet from the Presidents Oak. The original white oak succumbed
to wind around 1927, after living through the schools rst seventy-ve years. Marletts
choice to place the bur oak in the exact location of the original replicated an otherwise
wholly biological pattern of tree seedling dispersal and growth. Her decision to replant a
large specimen suggests sentimentality for the quality of the prior tree. She reproduced
a landscape condition and in so doing in effect memorialized a historical feature of the
land.
Marlett solicited the aid of campus landscape architect Franz Aust, along with her
students, to design and cultivate a owering garden surrounding the oak. The plantings
transforms the individual tree into an intimate garden space, with a bench for sitting under
the tree. This enhances the tree and gives the land added value. It could also ensure
the trees long-term preservation. Continued care and protection have encouraged the
oak stationed in front of the Home Economics building to gain considerable stature over
its seventy-seven years. The mature tree and the surrounding garden produce a rare
moment of respite on an extremely small amount of land. Under the tree, a small bench
situated within the garden provides an escape from the adjacent 19-story building.
Picnic Point
Picnic Points history illustrates, on a small scale, the process by which time
disguises evidence of human occupation of land. One might assume that this richly
vegetated peninsula was spared from roads and structures; this, however, is not the case.
Picnic Points condition when settlers arrived was most likely marshland and meadow.
Farmers purchased the land and cultivated it in the late 19th century. A pleasure drive
wound its way along Picnic Point in the late nineteenth century. Two partners worked the
land and grazed their animals here over several years, following the turn of the century.
In 1925, they sold the land to a wealthy lumberman, who, in 1935, after a re consumed
his farmhouse, sold it to the University. After purchasing the peninsula, the University
constructed a beach and changing house but left most of the land fallow. Vegetation
invaded, and overtime, forests grew.40 Few obvious traces remain on the land of these
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Fig 39. Aerial photo of Observatory Hill and surrounding campus indicating the oaks spreadout in the landscape, 1894.
Fig 38. A general map indicating single and clustered oaks on UW campus in 1998.
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Fig 43. Original Euthenics Oak on left.
Fig 40. 2nd Euthenics Oakbeing planted in 1927. Euthen-ics is dened as the study of theimprovement of human function-ing and well-being by improve-ment of living conditions. Fig 42. Presidents Oak, 1997, after
losing lower limb.Fig 41. Presidents Oak,1970s.
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historical shifts.
Presently, the Lakeshore Nature Preserve (LNP) is discussing adding yet
another layer to the accumulating history of Picnic Point. The LNP is interested in
converting this area from a forest into oak savanna. Such an alteration would requiretree removal, weeding, and burning, with a long-term maintenance plan.
Picnic Point illustrates a common landscape quality where the contemporaneous,
seemingly natural form obscures historical conditions. The toil and cultivation that
once occurred on this spit of land is now covered under years of plant growth. Today
exercise corridors slice through the re-grown forest. As is true for Picnic Point,
landscapes are invariably layered with history, and their previous conditions are not
always distinguishable.
Agricultural Campus
Dane Countys donation in 1862 of 195 acres of land extending west from
Bascom Hill ensured the UW-Madison campus as Congress choice for the new
agricultural land grant college.41 Congress wanted to incorporate agriculturalists
into universities in order to refashion farming into a science. The school would
train agricultural students and provide short-term courses for farmers. Successful
experimental crops, fruit trees, and agricultural inventions were to be made available
to farmers throughout the state.The agricultural school successfully brought farming practices into the
classroom and carried new inventions and technologies back to the countryside.
Initially, farmers were not easily convinced of the utility of academic science for their
profession. Several early professors, including Stephen M. Babcock, F. H. King and
Harry Russell, were inuential in convincing farmers of the importance of combining
theory with experimentation.42 They traveled around the state using the scientic
method to solve agricultural problems. They also developed several important
inventions that brought recognition to the school.
A large portion of the campus, including Observatory Hill and the western
campus, was cultivated as experimental farmland. As part of the federally funded
school, farming techniques, food storage, and the domestication and hybridization of
plants and animals were researched and improved. For the land itself, this initially
meant the removal of trees and stumps on the western campus in 1868. Annual
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Fig 45. Picnic Point viewed from Observatory Hill showing experimental farms, 1913.
Fig 44. Picnic Point viewed from Observatory Hill, 1890s.
Fig 46. Aerial view looking west, 1940.
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harvesting, tilling and fertilization were necessary for maintaining the experimental elds
of corn and wheat as well as apple and pear orchards.
The Agricultural Schools experimentation on campus began a long tradition of
local research. These experimental farms, along with Muir Woods, Lake Mendota, the
Arboretum, and the specimen trees scattered across campus, transformed the landscape
into an outdoor classroom and research station, where botany, horticulture, limnology and
agriculture students received hands-on training.
Today, many of the elds and research sites have succumbed to development in
the form of buildings, roads, sports elds and parking lots. Experimental farms have been
relocated to less populated areas.43 The educational function of the campus landscape
Fig 47. Aerial view looking east, 1930s.
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Fig 49. Aerial view of Observatory Hill with experimental orchard, about 1955.
Fig 50-51. Views of agricultural elds on campus, 1894 and 1912, Showing King Hall expansion.
Fig 48. View looking west towards 10 Babcock (Horticulture Garden), 1890s.
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itself is less apparent, although some horticultural gardens, and agricultural practices
still occur as well. For the most part, the campus is maintained for its aesthetic value
with lawns, gardens, parking, roadways and circulation paths taking up most of the
space for multiple users. Nonetheless, recognizing the landscape, and not just thebuildings, as a potential educational tool, is an important historical precedent that
suits college campuses. There has been some effort, rst by the Arboretum and now
by members of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve to push for restoring areas within the
campus as oak savannas. Furthermore, Campus Ecology run by Daniel Einstein has
initiated experimental testing to reduce salt use and other environmental efforts, and
thus reintroduced the role of experimentation to the campus.
Linden Drive
Linden Drives history provides an example of the instability of urban space for
vegetation and the impact of societys changing needs. Workers built the drive in 1880
and lined it with two rows of American lindens spaced 20 apart. In 1908, these mature
trees created a beautiful narrow canopied allee. In the 1908 Master Planreacting
to the drives existing treesthe designers, Cret and Laird, identied Linden Drive as
the Great Mall, seeing it as a densely foliated corridor connecting Bascom Hall to the
Agricultural campus.44
The 20 span was beautiful, but too narrow. In 1916, responding to automobiletrafc and parking problems, Linden Drive was widened and the southern row of trees
removed, thus undoing the original effect. A second row was planted 48 from the
remaining lindens. These new lindens only lasted a decade. In 1927, the Wisconsin
General Hospital developed roadside parking on the south side of Linden Drive
necessitating the removal of the trees. Automobile pollution, winter salt, construction,
pedestrian compaction and the limited land for tree roots led to the death of several
more lindens.45 Linden Drive never recovered the healthy canopy that had warranted
its designation as the Great Mall.
Road and building construction in man-made environments often overshadow
the importance of quality vegetation and trees. Trees are often casually removed to
make space for urban growth. On the campus, there has been no exception, Linden
Drive being one such example. Similarly, in 1981, the widening of Park Street led to the
demise of several mature elms. Examples such as these illustrate the complexity of
balancing development needs and environmental concerns. Establishing the value of
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Fig 52. View of original 20 foot wide Linden Drive between 1902-1910. The southern row oftrees (right side of image) were removed later to make way for cars and parking.
city trees is not straightforward. Much of the value is hidden behind peoples personal
health and quality of life. The environment is often subordinate to development,
particularly when a market-based approach is used. The tough conditions and volatile
circumstances in which city trees live, has led practitioners using fast growing short
lived trees.
Autumn Purple Ash
This tree is an example of how horticultural varieties originate. G. W.Longnecker, the campus landscape architect from 1926 to 1967 and professor of
horticulture, recognized this trees form, the beauty of its orange to purple fall colors,
and its seedless nature. In 1955 he brought grafts of the ash to the UW Arboretum
and to several nurseries. Working together, they transformed this unknown
specimen into a trademarked cultivar. The tree became a commercial commodity for
the UW known as the Autumn Purple Ash. Millions of seeds have sold nationwide,
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bringing income to the University and distributing identical copies of the tree to strip
malls, streets, suburbs, and parks across the country.
The Autumn Purple is an example of one of many actors that we have cast
into the generic landscape we are creating and spreading across the United States.This landscape is concocted of items imported from all over the globe, including
trees, rocks, owering plants, and bushes. These species are marketed and sold
based on looks, hardiness and fast growth under stressful conditions. They do
not take part in the traditional competitive evolution and adaptation to a particular
environment.
Human action and/or inaction and campus landscape change
In order to understand the evolution of the campus landscape, the social,
economic, political and ecological processes occurring over time must be taken
into consideration. Vegetation across the campus landscape has evolved through
human agency and the resilience and inevitable growth and decay of plant biomass.
Layered over the glacial topography, vegetation has been repeatedly altered with
many changes occurring at recognizable intervals within human generations. The
combined effect of human and non-human biological inuences can be read in the
current landscape conditions through observation coupled with historic images, maps
and campus histories.46
Humans inuenced plant growth and composition long before the formation
of the university. Native Americans contributed to the spread of prairies through
re-setting practices. Early settlers cleared forests for farming and introduced
domesticated grazing animals, and town developers lled marshes and replaced
vegetation with buildings and roads.
The time interval between human actions also impacted the growth and
evolution of campus vegetation. Prior to the founding of the University, the intervals
between human disturbances were infrequent enough to allow recovery to occur.With the founding of the University, changes were more frequent and the ability for
biological growth to occur was reduced. Buildings, roads, circulation paths, sports
and agricultural elds, lawns and woods altered or replaced brambles, oaks, prairies
and marshlands. Elm allees and manicured lawns were implemented on a large scale
throughout the campus.
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At the same time that people impacted the land, the inherent biological processes,
such as succession, seed dispersal and self-propagation also affect vegetative growth.
Human activity and biological events coincide and merge in the campus landscape
producing an integrated cultural and biological fabric. This interaction can be understood
as a landscape dialogue where the land responds to human action or inaction and vice
versa.
The appearance of the campus vegetation today is a mostly an outcome of high
maintenance. Bascom Hills manicured lawn for instance has been maintained for over
150 years. Many other areas are mown and kept as open lawns or used for sports. Muir
woods is partially managed as well, with the seasonally removal of common buckthorn
(Rhamnus cathartica). Signicant efforts are made to preserve the appearance of the
campus landscape and to prevent the land from changing or otherwise returning to a
previous condition.
Fig 53. Home Economics Building (1912) with the Autumn Purple Ash in front (Photo taken in 1920s). This
was one of several buildings that Cret and Laird designed on Campus.
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Chapter 3
PLANNING, PRESERVATION AND MANAGEMENT:
HUMAN AGENCY AND CAMPUS DEVELOPMENT
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Fig 55. Comparable view in 1985 after Van Hise Hall was completed in 1967.
Fig 54. View looking west towards the Agricultural Campus, before 1930.
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The Evolving Campus
With the implementation of the original buildings and the open-ended mall
by the 1860s, the campus landscape took on a strong cultural and architecturalexpression. Buildings, roadways, paths and green spaces together articulated a new
order to the land. Beginning as early as 1862 and onward, the campus expanded
through land acquisitions, government grants and private gifts. Master planning also
played an integral role in campus development. Likewise, active and well-connected
presidents, faculty, and board members, along with the campus architect, exercised
agency at various moments in history to direct campus growth. Finally, student
population increases, war and depression impacted the rate of campus change.
Master planning documents found in the University archives not only provide
insight into the values and attitudes of planners and university members at the time,
but also reveal an extensive collection of forgotten dreams. The majority of planned
proposals for the campus were never implemented. And yet, extensive research and
planning went into these un-built plans. Studying the university landscape through
photographs, plans, oral histories, primary and secondary resources reveals a more
piecemeal process of campus growth.
Preservation efforts since very early in campus history have contributed to
making the campus landscape today. At several intervals in the past, forward thinking
individuals on campus, through activism, documentation and perseverance, haveimplemented preservation efforts that led to the safeguarding of specic components
of the landscape. Many of their actions went on to inuence state regulations and
even inform nation-wide movements. Management has also played an important,
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1851
1890
1920
1870
1900
1930
1880
1910
1940
Fig 56. Campus student population growth 1851-2005.
Fig 57. Evolution of roads and paths on campus 1851-2005.
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Fig 58. Evolution of buildings on campus, 1851-2005.
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although perhaps less public, role in the development of the campus.
The Indian efgy mounds
We live surrounded by monuments which point to the almost forgotten past, telling of
our remote predecessors, the mound builders.47
Indian efgy mounds were once prevalent on the hilltops and shorelines
around the Four Lakes Region including the city of Madison. They are part of a
thousand year old tradition with the largest variety and number originating in the Late
Woodland Tribes period (8001100 AD).48 Archeologists and historians debate the
purpose of these mounds. They might have been constructed to honor a spiritual or
seasonal gathering, to memorialize important individuals or the phenomenon of death,
or to indicate direction and identify territories of different tribal animal clans. Human
remains were found in several excavations, occasionally with soil imported from far
distances.49 Unfortunately, settlers mostly disregarded these subtle formations, and
within a single century, 80% of the estimated 1,500 mounds in the region were built
upon or succumbed to agriculture.50
Several animal and circular shapes can still be found across the university
grounds. The bird and turtle mounds on Observatory Hill are two of 38 extant efgies
(including the Arboretum).51
Construction of Main Hall between 1857-1859 coveredat least two mounds on Bascom Hill, while the construction of Agriculture Hall in 1902
also buried several conical mounds.52 A linear mound and panther efgy located
below the turtle mound were leveled during the construction of Observatory Drive
around 1922.53 Other mounds on campus can be found close to Lake Shore Path and
around Picnic Point and Eagle Heights.54
The preservation of the remaining mounds on campus and in Dane County can
be attributed to the efforts of Charles E. BrownState Historical Society curator for
half a centurywith the help of Increase A. Lapham. Lapham identied and mapped
Dane County mounds between the 1840s and 1850s. Brown later excavated and
catalogued these and other mounds in the area.55 Their efforts in the nineteenth-
century to document and promote these efgies as historical monuments slowly
changed public attitude towards them, and eventually helped preserve the remaining
mounds.56 It still took decades to enact laws backing the preservation efforts. In 1903,
the Wisconsin Archeological Society was founded with considerable participation
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from Charles Brown. Markers were placed on the turtle and bird efgies in 1914.
The National Historic Preservation Act (1966) and Madison Landmarks Commission
(1970)two legal acts that helped recognize unique historical relicswere passed
several decades later. More stringent protection came with the Burial SitesPreservation Law (1985), providing tax exemptions for land with existing human burial
sites.57 The perseverance in documenting the mounds and publicizing them, were
essential to preserving the archaeological features.
Chamberlain Rock
The glaciers churning 13,000 years ago transported a large boulder from Canada
to the base of Observatory Hill.58 Known as an erratic, this is one of many similar
boulders brought down by the glaciers.59 T.C. Chamberlin esteemed geologist and
campus presidenthad several men toil with pulleys and a wagon to drag the sixty-
ton boulder to the top of Observatory Hill for display.60 The act of moving this heavy
rock to a conspicuous site not only underscores the immense strength of the glaciers
in contrast to human engineering, but also illustrates Chamberlins commitment to
educating students about local geology.61 His conscious decision to move the erratic
into full view infused the boulder with cultural identity and gave meaning and value to
the land on which the boulder resides.
Observatory Hill: Outdoor Museum
Even while development pressures have engulfed other parts of the campus,
Observatory Hill has retained much of its original character and condition. Two major
constructions on the Hill, namely the construction of the Presidents House (1855) and
of the Washburn Observatory (1870), may have contributed to its preservation.
Observatory Hill is steeped in artifacts illuminating both human and geological
history that have contributed to its intrinsic value. From the efgy mounds, glacial
erratic, 300-year old Presidents Oak, to the Observatory and the expansive views of
the surrounding glacial landscape, this centrally located drumlin has become an ad
hoc outdoor museum. The Hill effectively and visually represents the concept of the
landscape as a historical document.
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Fig.62. Aerial looking west, 1940.
Fig 63. Chamberlain Rock, 1998.
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Fig 64. Aerial photograph, 1894.
Fig 65-67. Historic artifactson Observatory Hill.
Fig 68. Above: Topographic map, 1941.
Fig 69. Right: Aerial photograph, 1999.
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1 Washburn Observatory
2 Agriculture Hall
3 Presidents House
4 Presidents Oak
5 Chamberlain Rock
6 Efgy Mounds
6
5
1
4
3
8
7
2
7 Elizabeth Waters
8 Van Hise
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Lake Shore Path
The Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association (MPPDA) founded in
1892 developed and preserved city parks and pleasure drives within Madison andthe surrounding countryside.62 Law professor and founder John Olin worked with a
forward-thinking academic community in the late nineteenth century to push an act
through the Wisconsin legislature that would encourage private landowners to donate
money and land to the city for parks and drives.63 Olins strong ties to prominent
Madison residents, particularly Daniel K. Tenney, Thomas E. Brittingham, George E.
Burrows and William F. Vilas, assisted the MPPDAs cause.
Through the efforts of MPPDA, park acreage went from three and a half acres
in 1900 to over 150 acres in 1908. This expansion includes many contemporary
parks.64 Other signicant accomplishment of the group included the development of
the unpaved scenic route running along Lake Mendota for carriage use. This route is
known as Lakeshore Path.
Automobiles did not exist at the time Lakeshore Path was developed. By 1908,
however, their widespread use quickly became a serious issue. As pressure grew
to convert pleasure drives into vehicular roadways, the MPPDA became actively
involved in the debate. They lost the battle on most routes, but kept Lakeshore Path
and Picnic Point automobile-free.
Over the last century, Lakeshore Path has served new functions for itssurrounding community. In the 1930s, a few decades after the MPPDAs initial efforts,
dormitories and the student union were built, making the Path indispensable as a
pedestrian corridor, connecting student housing to the campus. Subsequent land
donations and acquisitions extended the Path further west along the Lake, creating
a recreation corridor that extends several miles through and beyond Picnic Point.65
In the 1950s and 1960s, there was renewed interest in allowing vehicles on the
Path. Arthur Hasslers strategic placement of the Limnology Building at the head of
Lakeshore Path quelled this growing campaign. It is important to recognize that it took
considerable activism to keep Lakeshore Path from possibly being transformed into
yet another paved vehicular drive.
Activism and foresight were responsible for preserving and enhancing land
around the city and campus for future generations. Residents watched as the
surrounding farmland succumbed to housing and urban infrastructure; they felt
compelled to preserve the landscapes they cherished.66 The willingness of early
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Fig 70. Lakeshore Path around 1900 when the MPPDApreserved it as a pleasure drive. Their efforts led to the cre-ation of most parks in Madison.
Fig 71. Lakeshore Path, around 2004.
Fig 72. Lakeshore Path behind Agriculture Hall, before 1941.
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wealthy inhabitantsbusinessmen and landownersto donate land and money to
develop the parks and pleasure drives evidences the cultural value that was attached
to the landscape.
Madison-Sauk City Stage Road
Several existing roadslike the glacial drumlins and lakeplayed formative
roles in the initial campus layout. One such road, the Madison-Sauk City Stage Road,
known today as University Avenue, served as the southern border of the original 50-
acre purchased land.
Until about 1940, buildings predominantly remained within this boundary for
almost a century.67 The Stage Road connected Madison to Sauk City and served as
the major artery running through the isthmus. As the City grew and trafc increased,
Madison-Sauk City Stage Road became a busy four-lane road, and, at one time,
included a trolley system.
Between the 1940s and 1970s, the university spread across the road. By
1970, several departments including chemistry and zoology had already constructed
buildings across University Avenue. This expansion raised concerns among campus
planners over pedestrian safety.
Because University Avenue runs along the length of the southern campus,
conicts between pedestrians and trafc affected multiple intersections. Startingin 1959, campus planners began to develop various solutions, including: relocating
the entire roadway to a railroad corridor two blocks south and transforming the
original avenue into a pedestrian mall; sinking the road underground and creating a
trafc tunnel with buildings above; and, spanning the road with pedestrian bridges.68
Taking into consideration economic cost, planners eventually decided upon the least
disruptive plan to separate trafc before it reached the campus. They proposed
converting University Avenue into a one-way road and utilizing the railroad corridor
to shift lanes running the other direction to Johnson Street a block away.69 One-
way movement reduced stopping and starting to improve trafc ow and simplify
pedestrian intersections.
The evolution of the old Madison-Sauk City Stage Road to the University
Avenue illustrates the impact on development of artifacts embedded in the landscape.
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In many ways, University Avenue poses one of the most signicant dilemmas for
campus planners. The 1959 and 1973 master plans both studied the roadway
conditions and proposed solutions. The innovative solution of shifting trafc using
a railroad corridor was a cost-effective and efcient strategy, however it remained ashort-term solution. Today, students still must traverse four lanes of fast-moving trafc
in order to get to classes. In a 1996 Campus Master Plan, wide pedestrian bridges
spanning University Avenue were again being contemplated as a solution to this
ongoing concern.
Fig 73. University Avenue in the early 1908.
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Agricultural Campus
When the UW-Madison campus was selected as Congress choice for a newagricultural land grant college,70 a large portion of the campus, including Observatory
Hill and land to the west thereof, was cultivated as experimental farmland. The
expansion almost quadrupled the size of the original campus. For many years, until
the 1930s, large elds with experimental crops, fruit trees and domesticated animals
shared the land with students and faculty. The funding available through government
programs to public institutions was certainly a critical factor in the Universitys
development.
The experience of the early experimental farms inspired a long tradition of local
research, transforming landscape into an outdoor classroom and research station.
The agricultural school continues to maintain a small amount of experimentation
and research on campus to date. Botany, horticulture and limnology are all taught
to students utilizing the campus for hands-on training. Muir Woods, Lake Mendota,
the Arboretum, and the specimen trees scattered across campus provide outdoor
laboratories for this to occur.
Fig 77. Aerial view looking east across agricultural elds, around 1890.
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Fig 78. Aerial photograph showing extent of original elds, 1999.
Fig 79. Map of Agricultural Campus, the original 40 acre tract expanded to 235 acres in1866 when Dane County donated land for the new college of agriculture, 1875.
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Henry Mall
The City Beautiful Movement, an outgrowth of the 1893 Worlds Colombian
Exposition held in Chicago, inuenced the 1908 Master Plan. The Plans architectsrejected the traditional piecemeal development of the campus, proposing massive
buildings and a partial overhaul of existing structures and roads instead. Their
Plan included large-scale civic buildings positioned along major axes to create a
symmetrical and ordered layout.71 The plan also positioned buildings on an outer ring
to create a strong interior space. The design included an orchestrated arrangement of
buildings with areas between buildings and a grander gateway.
A second signicant aspect of the master plan, followed loosely for years, was
the proposal to use distinct building materials to identify academic zones on campus,
including the humanities, agriculture and the sciences. The architects took their cue
for color and materials from the Bascom Hill sandstone. The humanities would be
placed on the lower campus and constructed using sandstone and brick; the soft
sciences would remain on Bascom Hill with sandstone; the applied sciences would sit
next to Bascom Hill and be built out of tan brick; and the Agricultural Campus situated
around Henry Mall would use a darker brown brick. These zones were articulated
throughout the campus, and remain somewhat intact even today.
The 1908 Master Plan was the rst of several campus plans that were
laboriously developed and then mostly disregarded. In this case, the two mainfeatures implemented were Henry Mall72, the implementation of which was due in part
to the hiring of Cret and Laird as architects to design a building. Reecting upon the
1908 Master Plan and what was actually constructed reveals some telling factors of
the utility of master plans.
Master plans are far-reaching proposalsblueprints for physical development.
They provide guidance for construction and landscaping as well as innovative solutions
to existing problems. For the University, the master plans in effect re-conceptualize
the campus. As with the 1908 Plan, there is a notable distinction between the ideas
promulgated and actual construction. Master plans are not necessarily strictly
implemented. Even if implemented, the process is often piecemeal. For instance,
Henry Mall was not formed in a single effort. The surrounding buildings that give the
Mall its denition materialized at different times. As a result of the passage of time,
the politics, economics and living conditions that originally informed the masterplan
will change and often inuence the direction of the plan.
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Fig 80. Cret and Laird Plan of 1908 showing location of Henry Mall in relation to BascomMall. Note the distinct and grand entry proposed by the architects.
Fig 81. Cret and Laird rendering of 1908.
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Fig 82. Aerial photograph showing Henry Mall with existing housing to the east and the original Wiscon-sin High School in the foreground by the Mall, early 1920s.
Fig 83. Henry Mall with cars, 1941. One of the failings of Henry Mall is the ongoing struggle with
soil quality which continue to lead to the death of trees planted here. The European Mountain Ash,
planted after the completion of the Mall around 1915, succumbed to the hot and dry climate by 1933.
Pin oaks were then planted, but their sensitivity to alkaline soils led to their death in 1962. The crab
apples existing today suffer from disease and structural damage.
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Muir Woods
From early on in campus development, Muir Woods assumed a cultural identityas the campus woodland. The 1941 and 1954 Master Plans praised the Woods as
a natural remnant and important research area. However, in 1961, after years of
reverence, the Universitys Board of Regents voted unanimously to remove a third
of the forest to construct the Social Science Building. With the return in the 1950s of
WWII soldiers entering college, the demand for space buttressed by the activism of
President E. B. Fred, trumped the sentiments to preserve the Woods. Nonetheless,
in 1964, the University designated the remaining Woods a biological eld station73 and
to date the Woods have existed largely intact.
Why was opposition against the Social Science building so strong when
subsequent building projects across the campus solicited little to no opposition? Van
Hise Hall construction, for example, removed evergreens planted early in the 1890s
and several original oaks. In 1995, the law building expansion led to the death of two
large elms on Bascom Hill. The University requested that they be preserved; however,
construction and vehicle compaction led to their demise shortly after completion of the
building. Although these arboreal deaths were unintentional, stronger regulations
could have insured survival. Muir Woods afliation to the campus as a forest, and its
presence on the University grounds since the schools origin are possible reasons forthe strong reaction.
The change in attitude towards Muir Woods illustrates the effects that population
growth and changing socioeconomic and political conditions can have on land. In this
case, the wavering attention to historical signicance and beauty is linked to a shift in
the political arena and a post-war inux in population. Preservation and aesthetics
were ultimately subjugated to the demand for space and development. This event
further teaches that the value of green space uctuates over time dependent upon
changing economic and political conditions. As such, open land exists in a more
volatile state than land on which buildings roads or other developments are already
situated.
The contrast between the surviving Woods continued presence and the
less attractive Social Science Building also provides a visual reminder of what was
removed. With increased urbanization on campus, green space such as Muir Woods
gain in value. Still, with the example of Muir Woods, even a highly valued land parcels
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Fig 84. Campus Master Plan of 1941 illustrates campus zones.
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Fig 86. Capital Times cover indicating heated decision over partial removal of the Woods, 1961.
Fig 85. Muir Woods with Bascom Hill in the foreground in aerial, 1941.
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without buildings, can eventually fall to development. During periods of growth and
prosperity people appreciate the value of nature and green space, but external factors
such as depression or war in the case of Muir Woods can cloak this sentimentality.
Campus Natural Areas and Arboretum
The removal of part of Muir Woods inuenced the development of more
stringent preservation regulations across the campus. One signicant outcome
was the designation of the Arboretum Committee as overseer of all campus natural
areas. In the 1990s this role was transferred to the Lakeshore Nature Preserve. The
Arboretum Committee and, subsequently, the Lakeshore Nature Preserve have
inuenced discussed the development of restored landscapes including oak savanna
and prairies across portions of the campus despite the associated management and
maintenance issues related to revitalizing such systems.
The idea of restoration has historical precedent in the activities of Aldo Leopold,
a naturalist, teacher, writer and founder of the Department of Wildlife Ecology at the
University of Wisconsin. Leopold reintroduced the traditional technique of burning
land to encourage the growth of a particular biological plant community as a means of
restoring prairie landscapes. First setting res on his own land in central Wisconsin,
Leopold eventually teamed up with A. F. Gallistel, G. W. Longnecker and Grant
Cottam, to initiate the rst biological station in the country to explore and implementtechniques for prairie ecosystem restoration.74
The approach of the Arboretum Committee and its successor the Lakeshore
Nature Preserve reect the attitudinal change inspired by the events relating to Muir
Woods and the Social Science Building. As well, it draws upon a historical precedent
of using landscape as educational and experimental grounds.
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Campus Planning Commission and the Bascom Hill Subcommittee
In 1945, responding to concerns relating to campus growth following increasedenrollment, the University created the Campus Planning Commission (CPC). The
CPC was formed to review building and construction proposals and allocate funds
for landscape maintenance. The CPCs early role on campus ranged from acquiring
privately owned land parcels abutting the campus to deciding to inject diseased elms
on Bascom Hill with an experimental serum. Through their efforts, the UW successfully
purchased sites along University Avenue, and the east side of Henry Mall, and near
Library and State Street Mall.75
In the 1970s, the Campus Planning Commission appointed the Bascom Hill Sub-
committee (BHSC) to investigate building expansion around Bascom Mall. Several
schools including the Business and Law Schools requested permission to construct
new buildings or additions on the Hill. The appointed sub-committee challenged
these requests, recommending instead that Bascom Hillas the original site of the
University and the emblem of the Schoolbecome the center of undergraduate study.
They recommended that graduate schools should develop their own distinct locales
in other parts of the campus. The BHSC passed regulations including building code
enforcement and green-space maintenance plans to preserve the Mall.
In the end, the Law School was still successful in obtaining permission tobuild.75 The Law Schools proposed 1996-1998 addition moved quickly through the
bureaucracy in contrast to the Art Departments request for a new building which had
been determined as a top priority through statewide voting but was never realized.76
Governor Tommy Thompsons presence on the Law Schools Board of Directors
certainly contributed to the success of the Schools proposal and addition. As this
event illustrates, politics and personal connections have an important role in pushing
projects through the bureaucracies, and in challenging established practices. While
the BHSC did not control the Law Schools proposed addition, it did limit the extent of
the buildings footprint. In any case, the building construction led to the sacrice of
two 150 year-old elms.
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Fig 87. Campus Natural Areas map, 2005.
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Fig 89. Library Mall showing the State Historical Society, eld and walking path with the former YMCAnext to the Armory, early 1900s.
Fig 90. Aerial of Library Mall after the Memorial Union was built, 1940s.
Fig 91. Rendering of lower campus by campus architect, 1908.
Fig 92. Library Mall aerial photo, 1973.
Fig 93. Quonset Huts and parkingon Library Mall, 1945.
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Fig 94. Library Mall Aerial Photograph, 1999.
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According to Phil Hamilton, the cycling of committee members, boards of
director, and even university presidents during the years of analysis and planning led
to communication and commitment problems that ultimately derailed the project. In
his words, it was like throwing a ball at a moving target.83 Committee members found
themselves re-explaining the circumstances to new faces and rallying recent recruits.
Another signicant factor, clear in retrospect, is a general unwillingness of decision-
makers to vote for plans calling for a complete rehabilitation of a site. It is much
easier to preserve something that exists, or to construct buildings individually than to
completely remake a space. In the end, the extensive diagrams and social controls
proposed for the lower campus required a considerable amount of imagination and
trust to support. This contrasts with the proposed preservation scheme for Bascom
Hill where the Board of Directors could see what they were voting for when they
decided on preservation.84
Fig 96. State Street postcard, Memorial Librarywas built on the site of the Co-op on the left,
which moved across the street.
Fig 95. State Street Mall, before 1981 whenState Street became a pedestrian mall.
Fig 98. Widening Parks Street, 1981.Fig 97. Park Street, 1890s.
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Fig 99. Lower Campus Master Plan, Murray Mall, 1973.
Fig 100. Lower Campus Master Plan rendering showing Murray Mall, 1908.
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Fig 101. Lower Campus aerial photograph, 1973.
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Memorial Union
An early response to a smaller scale landscape condition can be found in the
design of the Memorial Union Terrace. Sited on the former backyard of universitypresidents, the design took advantage of the ageing white oaks scattered around the
large grassy yard extending down to the lake. The design and subsequent construction
of the terrace, begun in 1936, incorporated these native oaks as well as the local
prairie-style rock planters (horizontally laid) into the terrace. The preservation of the
original oaks and the layout of the terrace based on the location of the trees coupled
with the use of local and complimentary materials illustrate a sensitive and site specic
response.
While the Italian Renaissance building known today as the Memorial Union
adheres mostly to the original drawings, the existing terrace is completely different
from that envisioned by the campus architect, Arthur Peabody. Peabody intended to
plant a formal garden--which would have led to the removal of the oaks--to complement
his architectural design.85 Its formal plan disregarded much of the existing landscape,
except for maintaining a strong connection to the water. The terrace in contrast is
much less formal than the architects original plan.
The beauty of the resulting terrace is due to a seemingly insignicant
suggestion by the rst Union Director Porter Butts. Seeing the opportunity for a higher
quality space, Butts took advantage of his position as Director and encouraged thepreservation of the existing oaks in the design of the terrace. Butts was not responsible
for the ensuing design, but his insistence changed the direction of the plans and the
subsequent actions on the land. In the end, the preserved trees informed the spatial
organization and the choices of material for the terrace. A document in the University
Archives suggests that Charlotte Peabody, Arthur Peabodys daughter, developed the
Union Terrace design.
By preserving the existing trees and bringing them into a newly dened (and
highly used) space, pieces of the sites history became part of the new terrace. Like
textures in a patchwork quilt, these pieces of the land are stitched together with the
newly built fabric to create a new and different form. In integrating the existing trees
as well as the topography sloping toward the water, the designer provided references
to the past, suggesting what the area was like before the construction of Memorial
Union.86 The soil level in the planters provides