A Few Laps Around Tenney-Lapham

On one summer's day I found myself with a couple hours to blow as my car was being deep cleaned in preparation for a lengthy trip. While a cup o' Joe from the shiny new coffeehouse down the street sounded good, I was by this time already fully caffeinated. And so I hit the pavement.

The first thing that came to mind was to take a couple snaps for a pair of then and now scenarios. A reader had directed me to the Madison Railroads Instagram page and I thought it'd be fun to take a look at what the streetscapes looked like now in a couple of the old photographs.

This first picture shows a train crossing Dickinson Street in 1965.



I believe I managed to take my snap from more or less the same spot.



A few blocks east at Dickinson and Wilson Street was this scene back in the late 1960s.



And here's the intersection sans railroad tracks today.



It is weird to contemplate trains traveling right down the center of Wilson Street but so it was. For more about trains – passenger rail – in Madison, checkout my blathering and other people's really neat photographs here.

Just up the street I ducked down Northern Court and found Stateline Distillery. I hadn't sampled their spirits at the time but have since come to appreciate their gin.



Across the street was this anthropomorphized glass block.



Back up Dickinson I went where I detoured to check out the seemingly abandoned warehouse on the 1400 block of East Washington. I think it's owned by the Mullins Group. Quite recently I learned that this building used to be the Red Dot potato chip factory. There is a room on the south side of the building that you can peer into. When I did so, I saw a few artistic ditties leaning against the wall.



Crossing East Washington I found myself in the Tenny-Lapham neighborhood. The Tenney half of the name is for Daniel Tenney who was a member of the Madison Common Council and an important early figure in the formation of Madison parks. Increase Lapham was a naturalist who resided in Milwaukee. He mapped the Wisconsin Territory, charted Native American effigy mounds, and studied the flora and fauna of the state. In addition to having half a neighborhood named after him, there's also an elementary school and a beer.

I zipped over to the Yahara River Parkway and down to the shore.



Being in a train mood, I decided to check out the rails that traverse the Yahara River.



I'm not sure when the second set of tracks was removed. There was a pile of disused timbers (a.k.a. – sleepers) slowly decaying away off to the side as well as a cement base for what I presumed was a signal. Tucked away in the trees was a utility pole which presumably powered the signal at some point.



Down by the river were more remnants of railroading past. A section of conduit came to an abrupt end while what I figured was the base of a pile(?) stood empty.



Back down to East Wash I moseyed around the building that is home to the Parched Eagle Taproom and the Art In.



The building is home to perhaps the most positive, self-image boosting sign in the city.



Back to Dickinson and northwards where I poked around all of the sheds around Dayton and Mifflin. I recalled an article in Isthmus about the Trachte Bros. Company who made metal buildings in Madison from 1919 until 1986.



Were any of these sheds Trachte Sheds? Indeed some were.



I felt a bit sad that, despite having lived just down the street for a few years, I couldn't recall ever having checked out this part of the neighborhood during that time. Better late than never, I suppose.

Next stop: trying to find the house I used to live in.

A few more laps