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

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Felson Thesis MS UW Madison