2026 Conference Lodging & Attractions

The City

Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Before Europeans, humans inhabited the area in and around Madison for about 12,000 years. The Ho-Chunk called the region Teejop (Ho-Chunk pronunciation: [teːdʒop]) meaning 'land of the four lakes' (Mendota, Monona, Waubesa, and Kegonsa). Numerous effigy mounds, constructed for ceremonial and burial purposes more than 1,000 years earlier, dotted the rich prairies around the lakes. Dugout canoes found near many small lakes and rivers are prompting new anthropological research projects.

Madison’s origins date to 1829, when former judge James Duane Doty bought over a thousand acres of land between Lakes Mendota and Monona to build a city in the Four Lakes region. When the Wisconsin Territory was formed in 1836, Doty lobbied hard to make Madison the capital, offering incentives to legislators. He named the city after President James Madison and its streets after the signers of the U.S. Constitution. Though it existed only on paper, the legislature chose Madison as the capital on November 28, 1836, due to its central location between major settlements across the territory.

(Source)