How as Madison changed over the years? (Milwaukee, Fitchburg: apartments, insurance)

[Angorlee]

This is a question to all you Madisonians(correct me if there is a better term). I remember in the late 60s it was a politically charged place with a lot of ungliness due to the Vietnam war. Then it changed into a different scene in the mid 70s. Without having lived there(accept for a few summers in the late 90s) it seems that there was more social exchanges on the avenue during the 80s and 90s than there is today. Maybe there is a book written on this. I suppose crime rates would give an indication of some trends although crime rates tend to rate the negative.

[Hotbug]

Crime rates in madison have been reflective of the demographic changes there. Everything else followed.

[spectator80]

in the 60s, the entire population of dane county was less than the current population of madison alone. it seems to me that madison is no longer a relatively sleepy (albeit politically charged) midwestern college town, but rather a true metropolitan area with a quickly diversifying (racially, politically, etc.) population.

[badger74]

Crime and demographics also have impacted schools negatively.

Discussion : Average ACT scores drop to 15-year low in Madison

[liveurdream]

The culture is the same. Madison was a liberal city in the 60s and remains the same today. The biggest changes is the size - more people. The city started growing when the factories in the small towns in WI started to dry up. People from small towns in Wisconsin, mainly the youth, end up moving to Madison, Milwaukee, or the Twin Cities for work. Verona, Fitchburg, Waunakee and Sun Prarie are growing because people in the area don't have any other place to go to for work. Thus, people start small businesses, the schools grow, crime increases, etc.

At the end of the day Madison is still a small city with cornfields right out of the city. You can be by an insurance or bank, drive two miles and be out in the country.

[Chelito23]

I think some people that live in Madison aren't even aware of the changes. They seem to be trapped in time so to speak, in a Madison that hasn't existed "since their kids were in school" or since they were here for school. What I mean by that is, many people still live in the city, but as they grow older, their lifestyle remains consistent and they no longer have new interactions or trips to unfamilair neighborhoods or stores like they did when they had younger children in school and interacted with people from different backgrounds (not just their immediate neighbors like now). These residents don't get out to new places as much, they aren't familiar with the schools anymore, they don't shop at the same stores due to traffic and crowding and other issues...so for them, they still see Madison as it was in the 80s, because for them, it hasn't changed. But that doesn't mean the city hasn't changed.

I can speak first hand to this, growing up in a middle class household on the far west side. My mom shopped at Woodman's as did most of the moms she associated with. She volunteered at the schools, took us kids all over to different parks for soccer games and sporting events, etc. Now, she obviously no longer does this...and she doesn't shop at Woodman's, like her friends anymore, because it is congested and she percieves the other shoppers as being much louder and aggressive than what they used to be. Obviosuly, the lowest discount grocery in Madison attracts all kinds of people, but I see that a larger segment of their customer base is no longer middle class like it once was. And nothing wrong with that, it is just a social and demographic change and evolution of the aging suburban area it is in surrounded by somewhat affordable housing. But nonetheless, this is a nod to change that has made it to Madison...and many people, instead of immersing themselves in it, go to somewhere else that is more their pace, style or familiar to what they knew....so now my mom shops at Sentry or one Copps I believe...which have a clientel much more similar to what Woodmans' used to look like in the 80s.

I think a more eye opening description is this: Madison went from being a big, liberal university and government town to a small city with the same characteristics. While the city is still driven by education and politics, there are now bonnified suburbs, there are more people living in the area, there is sprawl in most areas around the city....the city has grown quite extensively. People on City Data mention often that there are corn fields 5 minutes from downtown...well I suppose in ONE direction you hit corn if you go south...due to that area being the 9 Springs Greenbelt and not being zoned for deveolpment, but in other directions and along all other main corridors there is sprawl for a good 20 minutes. Likewise, it is only logical to see corn fields outside of the city...this is the bread basket of the nation. Outside of other cities in the North East you see forests, in the south swamps, on the plains cattle. So I don't use that as a litmus test to gage how big or small Madison is or if it has changed or not.

There is a tendency for people to try to downplay Madison on this forum for some reason and make it seem smaller and rural and more unpleasant than it is. I have noticed that a lot pf posters try to portray those stereotypes on here, not quite sure why. If they think that is how Madison is now, boy would they have hated it 30 years ago when it really was that way. Now it has improved and diversified to an extent.

People are still somewhat isolated, but that is a regional issue I think that is somewhat common to the upper midwest. There is a denial of many negative things that ocurr in Madison by it's own residents...but there is also more realization that crime is more prevelent and real now. I think the city is losing its innocence so to speak as it diversifies and transitions from big town to small city.

Likewise, the city was historically lily white. That has changed as well. The public schools are minority and poverty majority now. Overall, the city may only be 75% minority, but remember, from being lily white, that is a noticeable difference. It is even more pronounced when you are outside of the UW-Downtown-governement bubble where it is predominantly white: white policitians, white UW students from rural Wisconsin or white suburban areas across the midwest, well to do white residents that live in this area of the city, etc. I know, some people think the UW is the epicenter for diversity, but it is not. This is probably why the same people think all of Madison is so white, they just assume that downtown is as diverse as it gets and demographically, it isn't. There is a cross section of people from different lifestyles...but most people living, working and interacting there are from similar bachgrounds. Madison's real diversity is seen in areas with growing population and more affordable housing and apartments on the South, Southwest, Far East and North sides. The downtown core has the same feel as it used to IMO, with a few new buildings and condos and hotels...but not too much has changed overall.

The city has also continued to grow landwise, annexing many outlying areas. There has been infill development as well on former tracks of land that the univeristy owned (or owns) and they are now thriving busines and industrial parks.

Madison has changed quite a bit, and I would say for the better. It isn't quite as sleepy, quite as homogenious, quite as insulated as it once was. These adjectives can still be used to describe the city, but now they must be done so using asteriscs...seeing that they are no longer universals that are applicable to the entire city.

I would say that overall, people still view Madison as how it was a couple of decades ago, and the locals' perspectives will take some more time to catch up. People describing Madison based on 4 years at the UW from a couple decades ago is also dated and limited to the downtown bubble. The younger generation of today that is from Madison has a very different view of the city than the older segment as well.

[mrs.cool]

If anyone on here grew up in madison and is on facebook, there's a group now called "If you grew up in madison, you might remember...." It's very interesting. And a lot of people have reconnected with people they knew growing up.