As early as the 1990s, Madison began experiencing steady economic growth and has undergone a minor recession than other parts of the state. A local third party, Progressive Dane, was founded in 1992. Among the policies supported by Progressive Dane have been an inclusionary zoning ordinance, which was later abandoned by the mayor and a majority of the council, and a city minimum wage. Several members of the party sit on the Madison City Council and Dane County Board of Supervisors, and it aligns itself with both the Democratic and Green parties.
High-tech companies are driving the boom in Madison, many of them fostered by UW–Madison in partnership with local businesses and entrepreneurs to transfer academic research into real-world applications, especially biotechnology. The area’s high level of education attracts many companies to Madison, taking advantage of its skilled workforce. Madison’s population over 25 has a bachelor’s degree in 48.2% of cases.
Spent a lot of time in the State street area in the early 90’s. Fun street performers like Art Paul and the Cross Dressing lip sync guy. Had a great vibe. I was back a few weeks ago and it seems to of lost that. Could just be me though.
Art Paul remains a State Street staple.
Art Paul is still there
As someone who lived in Wisconsin in the 90’s then moved away in 2000, I’m going through these pics thinking “yeah, these are just pics of Madison… w-wait, is Madison no longer like this?!”
Someone who’s newly acquainted with Madison probably wouldn’t see much of a difference looking at these pictures besides the general 1990s -> 2020s transition. There are a couple blocks that are radically different with strips of shops etc replaced by a giant apartment building or whatever, but for 25-30 years of change it’s kinda got the same vibe I think.
That was my era. It almost hurts to look at these pictures.
I graduated from the UW in 1970. At that time it was just called the University of Wisconsin. How about some pictures from the 60s?
By the way I just realized, you can get a bit of a time capsule image of State Street, from about halfway between Frances and Gilman to the Cap Square, if you go to Google Maps street view. It’s from 2007 but it looks a lot more similar to how it was when I moved here in 1999 than it is now. I’d guess it’s closer to how it was in 1990 than it is now, honestly. Sometimes I forget about The Exclusive Company. 🙁
At some points it may revert to the most recent 2019 images but you can change it back to 2007 by selecting “see more dates”.