Vilas

In 1904, Colonel William Freeman Vilas and Anna M. Vilas gave this park to the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association to be held in trust for the city of Madison. At their request, it was named Henry Vilas Park in memory of their son, who died of diabetes in his early twenties. The park includes 60 acres, with twenty-five acres of high ground and thirty-five acres constructed out of the bog, including four acres of water surface in the form of lagoons. Landscape architect O.C. Simonds designed the park. Henry Vilas Zoo began there in 1911 with Thomas C. Richmond’s donation of five deer, and in the years that followed, contributions from the city of Madison, the Zoological and Aquarium Society, the University, the Audubon Society, and the community supported its expansion and helped it gain recognition as one of the finest small zoos in the country.

Madison, Wisconsin · United States