First Settlement
History
This neighborhood is southeast of the Capitol Square and is the location of the first Euro-American settlement for what became Madison.
In 1837, Eben and Roaslie Peck built a boarding house on what is now S. Blair St. for the builders of the first state capitol. Their log cabin was the first Euro-American house in Madison. The neighborhood grew and contained a mix of housing types.
Post-World War II, the State redeveloped two blocks in the neighborhood for new government office buildings, next to a block that the City has redeveloped as a surface parking lot.
City plans in the 1960s-1970s marked the entire residential neighborhood for redevelopment to new uses. In the late 1970s, Madisonians began to move back into what was a blighted neighborhood to fix up the houses. The reinvestment grew the neighborhood again and residents organized to save this early residential part of Madison.
Following the recommendations of the 1995 First Settlement Neighborhood Master Plan, the Common Council named this our 5th historic district in 2002.
