Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association (MPPDA)

Begun informally in 1892 and incorporated in 1894, the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association (MPPDA) raised private funds to develop and maintain scenic drives and parks in and around Madison. Until 1931, the association functioned as the city's unofficial parks department. MPPDA's influence extended beyond park development, however, to other areas of civic life where it set standards for public service.

Former board member Carolyn Mattern developed a brochure, available from Historic Madison, to provide a brief overview of the association's history and to serve as a guide for touring its accomplishments. The parks this association created and managed during the period 1899 to 1931 are largely intact. Contemporary visitors can readily appreciate the parks' scenic and historical qualities.

Many of the participants of the association are included in Historic Madison's two cemetery books.

• 1892 - Lake Mendota Drive from Willow Drive to Spring Harbor; Owen Parkway and Drive

• 1897 - Farwell Drive extended to Governor's Island and Farwell Point

• 1899 - Tenney Park

• 1900 - Vilas Circle (now Bear Mound Park)

• 1903 - Yahara River Parkway and Locks; Olive Jones Field

• 1904 - Henry Vilas Park, Edgewood Drive to Woodrow Street

• 1905 - Brittingham Park

• 1906 - Steensland Bridge built over Yahara on East Washington Avenue

• 1908 - West and South Shore Drives

• 1909 - Burrows Park, developed much later than the land donation

• 1910 - Vilas Park zoo

• 1911 - Monona Assembly Grounds, later Olin Park

• 1922 - Madison Parks Foundation eventually results in Olbrich Park and the UW Arboretum

• 1925 - Stewart fountain completed above the zoo

• 1926 - Madison adopts its first tree ordinance

• 1927 - Glenway Golf Course

• 1938 - MPPDA completes transfer of its property and resources and dissolves