Madison’s Forgotten City Fades Into the Woods

by Allison Torres, age 16

Most cities are separate from the wild and natural elements that surround them. But there are still some interesting forgotten spots that humans no longer use. One such place is right here in Madison. While it’s now fading into the forest, Madison contains a lost city called Lake Forest.

Back in the early 1900s, developer Chandler B. Chapman had extensive plans for a city he called Lake Forest. Hidden in the underbrush, the lost city is deep within the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum.

Chapman wanted to build an 800-acre suburb with its own gas, electric, water service, schools, playgrounds, and even streetcars. There were also plans for restaurants and a civic center. However, his ideas didn’t work out because the ground was always wet and muddy. Due to this, whenever work crews built roads or foundations for homes, they all sank. After encountering this problem several times, they stopped building.

From 1911 until 1922, Chapman and the Lake Forest Land Company planned for 1,000 lots designed for young families. Before the project was scrapped, only six houses had been built. Only one of these home sites can still be spotted. The university purchased the land in the 1930s.

To get to the lost city, you’ll have to explore and use some legwork. Go to the Martin Street entrance of the arboretum, pass the gate, and there you will find a map that indicates the lost city. After following a trail that’s really more of a path, you will find the original road that leads to the Lake Forest site.

Today, the remains of Lake Forest can be found deep in the Arboretum and covered by trees and brush. The decaying remnants of Madison’s lost city are examples of history in our midst. The story of Lake Forest adds a layer of mystery and a disappearing ghost town to the list of unusual places that help make up Madison’s history.

[Sources: City Cast Madison; Isthmus; UW-Madison]