218 E Mifflin-1957
This structure is the most lackluster on our tour. Walking back towards downtown you see more and more parking structures like the ramp here. By 1929 26.7 million Americans were registered drivers. The idea suburbanization had spread from Chicago up to Madison. People started developing further and further from downtown. Ranch and Split Style houses fill neighborhoods in suburbs 15-20 minutes away by car. Homeownership grew from 44% to 61% between 1940-1960 and the majority (84%) of these houses were built in suburbs. While people were wanting to live out of the city, many still had jobs downtown or wanted to reap the benefits the city has to offer the suburbs did not. This parking garage, along with others close to the center of downtown, was built in 1957 to accommodate the influx of not only drivers during this time. The baby boom left cities trying to accomodate more and more people and a garage housed many more vehicles than previous typical lots.
100 State Street-1974
The 70's and 80's brought concern for social justice and how the government viewed the public. Madison as a city has been known to be very socially progressive and active. In 1970 alone Madison recorded a number of protests including protesting GE recruiters on campus, the Teaching Assistants Association going on strike, protests of the Vietnam War, and protests of violence on college campus. While many areas during this time period moved away from the appreciation of public space, Madison took a progressive step to make State Street a more functional public space for pedestrians by not allowing cars or traffic to use the street. Problems with urban and social disorder were not avoided by Madison but instead the trend was challenged. State Street has character with storefront shops and foods with second story living and office space. Public transportation and officials are among the few of permitted vehicles allowed on state street. I think it is interesting to compare Madison to the national trends happening at this time. While suburbs of Madison did follow the trends of increased sprawl design and privatization of higher end neighborhoods, Madison itself did not change in that direction. Today State Street looks much like it did in the 70's and 80's with bars for night life and shopping and good food for the day. This area is appreciated by not only the students at UW Madison but Madison's general public and community as well.
1950's- Transportation
