Orton Park History

Orton Park comprises the entire Block 180 of the original plat of Madison. The settlement of Madison was officially recognized as a village in 1846 and in 1848 Block 180 was designated as the village's official cemetery. In 1857, however, shortly after Madison became a city, the land that is now Forest Hill Cemetery was purchased for that purpose. In 1877 all of the burials that could be found were removed from the old village cemetery and re-interred at Forest Hill. In 1883 the old cemetery site was declared an official city park, the first in Madison. It was named after Harlow S. Orton, one of Madison's former mayors and a supreme court justice at the time. In 1887 the park was officially opened. Orton Park remained the city's first public park until the Madison Parks and Pleasure Drive Association started its campaign to add parks to the city at the turn of the last century.

Orton Park was designated a City of Madison landmark on October 6, 1975, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.