Michael Olbrich

Michael Olbrich (1881 – 1929) was an attorney whose work with the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association had a profound impact on Madison. While earning a law degree from the UW he was head of the joint debate team that, in 1904, defeated Michigan for the first time. His brilliance brought him to the attention of another celebrated debater, Robert M. La Follette Sr. Meeting La Follette deeply impressed Olbrich, triggered a lasting interest in politics, and provided him with a mentor whose cause he championed throughout his life. He nominated La Follette for president at both the 1912 and 1916 Republican conventions. He was also deeply influenced by John M. Olin. “In Olin, Olbrich found both inspiration and a model for uniting a career in law with a passion for social betterment and a love of nature.”

Michael served as executive counsel for Governor John J. Blaine. A lover of wild flowers, concerned about urban development along the eastern shore of Lake Monona, he bought land on both sides of Starkweather Creek in 1916 and gave it to the city in 1922, envisioning the park which today bears his name.

In the 1920s Paul Stark suggested creation of an 800-acre arboretum; Olbrich took up the idea, insisted on at least two thousand acres, and became the first spokesman for turning the south shore of Lake Wingra into a nature preserve. In a speech to his fellow UW regents in 1927 he advocated trading university land for the Nelson farm and other land in the area, and they agreed. In May 1928 Olbrich made an impassioned speech about his plan to the Madison Rotary Club; Aldo Leopold was in the audience and vowed to help; Joseph W. Jackson, the presiding officer, was “set on fire.” Said Olbrich, “this Arboretum will bring back into the lives of all confronted by a dismal industrial triangle whose forces we so little comprehend, something of the grace and beauty which nature intended all to share.”

He did not live to see his dream realized. After laboring under severe mental strain for a year on a court case in Montana he was attacked by the flu, which left him despondent and depressed. He committed suicide after being hospitalized for several weeks.

The stone gates at the Nakoma entrance to the Arboretum are dedicated to Michael Olbrich.

Mark Gajewski