Westmorland Park, Madison, Wisconsin

At the heart of a gem of a neighborhood.

Photo credit:  Retiring Guy 

Westmorland

Photo credit:  Retiring Guy

Photo credit:  Retiring Guy

Description from Westmorland Neighborhood Association homepage:  Westmorland is a vibrant, friendly neighborhood situated among similar communities on Madison's near west side. Our boundaries are from Mineral Point Road to the north, Midvale Boulevard to the west, the Southwest Pedestrian/Bike Path to the south, and Glenway Street to the east. In the heart of our community is Westmorland Park.

Photo credit:  Retiring Guy

History of the Westmorland Neighborhood

My favorite slide.

Even with the algae bloom, Madison always looks MAHvalous from this vantage point

Parches Expanse of Lawn, Madison Wisconsin

Park Tower, Madison Wisconsin

LINK

What's it like to live there?

Hulking Over Housing

December 4, 1986

Take the day off. Read the papers. Update geography notebook. Bus to Capitol. Lunch with JoAnna at Bauman's Deli. Visit to Marina condo. Walk along State Street alone. Visit University Book Store. Photocopies at Madison Public Library. Roses. Ride home. As I expected, dress is not JoAnna, but others three are well-received. West Towne. Peppino's. The Honeymooners on TV.

Autumn on State Street in Madison Wisconsin

A View of the Isthmus from Olbrich Park

Targeting the Hilldale Moonscape

Here's what it looks like now

The White Building view

The Ghost Condo view

Madison's Elmside

Here's a piece of Madison history that I discovered while biking -- just meandering around the near-east side. The Simeon and Maria Mills House is located in the hyphen-happy Schenk-Atwood-Starkweather-Yahara neighborhood, a little more othan 2 miles northeast of the Capitol Square.


The closely related Italianate and Italian Villa styles of architecture were extremely popular in the mid-to-late 19th century.



According to Historic Madison Inc., Madison residents referred to this Italianate mansion as "Mills' Folly". At that time, the location was considered an inconceivably long commute into town.



A February 6, 2006, Capital Times article notes that the Elmside area became a "streetcar suburb" in the early 20th century.

Elmside and University Heights are classic examples of "streetcar suburbs", an especially appealing urban development form of the early twentieth century. Streetcar suburbs could provide leafier refuges for those who did not like the more tightly developed urban core, but because most streetcar customers walked to their homes when they stepped down from the trolley, development still needed to be relatively compact. About eight homes per acre was average. Moreover, most of these streetcar "suburbs" were suburban only in the sense that they were somewhat less urban in design then the central city. It is important to note that these new neighborhoods were still within the municipal boundaries of the city, not separate municipal entities altogether.

Retiring Guy Goes to the Capitol

To check out the Christmas tree in the rotunda.

Oops! I guess I misspoke. It's officially referred to as the State Capitol Tree. (Coal in the stocking to whomever thought up this stilted phrase. )

Enjoy the pics and links to background information.

Wisconsin State Capitol time line


Wisconsin State Capitol Historic Structure Report

Pictures of the previous state capitol

Take a tour.

The place of origin of this year's tree.

News release from the

Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation

Getting the tree ready.

Check out this great photo on Flickr.

(Event that just took place:

Swearing in of new members of the

Wisconsin State Patrol)

A view of State Street from the west entrance to the Capitol. As I walked to the Lake Street ramp, the researcher in me wondered how many current business along State Street were in operation when I moved to Wisconsin in 1978 -- or even when JoAnna and I moved to Middleton in 1986. I feel another photography excursion coming on.