Madison, Wisconsin

Where Madison is

Madison is the seat of Dane County, at 43.07°N, 89.40°W in south-central Wisconsin. Downtown occupies a narrow isthmus less than a mile wide between Lake Mendota to the north and Lake Monona to the south, and the capitol stands on the highest point of it, with streets radiating outward. Two smaller lakes, Waubesa and Kegonsa, lie to the south, all drained by the Yahara River toward the Rock River and the Mississippi. The city is about 860 ft above sea level. Interstates 39, 90 and 94 pass to the east. Madison is on Central Time.

How it became the capital

Wisconsin Territory was organized in 1836, and its first legislature met at Belmont, in the lead-mining district of the southwest. James Duane Doty, a judge and land speculator, had bought the isthmus and platted a city he named for James Madison, who had died that year. He persuaded the legislators, reportedly with offers of lots, to pick his empty site over Milwaukee, Green Bay and other real towns. The legislature first met in Madison in 1838, and the city stayed the capital when Wisconsin became the 30th state in 1848.

Population

Madison had 269,840 residents in 2020, the second-largest city in Wisconsin after Milwaukee, at 577,222. Green Bay, the third, has about 107,000. The Madison metropolitan area, covering Dane and three neighboring counties, has about 680,000 people out of the state's 5,893,718, and it has grown faster than the Milwaukee area in every recent decade. The University of Wisconsin occupies the western end of the isthmus.

The capitol

The Wisconsin State Capitol is the third on the site; the second burned in 1904. The present building, designed by George B. Post and Sons of New York, was built between 1906 and 1917. Its white granite dome rises 284 ft, only a few feet lower than the US Capitol, and is topped by a gilded bronze statue named Wisconsin. Its four wings point toward the corners of the compass. A city ordinance limits nearby buildings to the height of the dome's base, keeping it visible from the lakes.

Distances to other cities

Related maps

• Wisconsin map — the whole state with borders, cities and counties.
• Wisconsin county map · blank Wisconsin map · printable Wisconsin map.
• All 50 state capitals on one map, and the state capitals quiz.
• Midwest region · East North Central division · Central Time Zone.