Sad History of Monona Mounds

The photo shows one of the large burial mounds of the Outlet mound group on the former Hoyt property at the foot of Lake Monona. The photo was taken in 1913 by Charles Brown and is owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

There once were some 20,000 Indian mounds in Wisconsin, which is home to the a nearly unique world class collection of effigy mounds. In the 4 Lakes region alone there some 1500 mounds built in groups or clusters mostly near the shores of the Four Lakes. Despite the vigorous efforts of Charles E. Brown in the early 1900's, about 80% of these mounds were destroyed. Nonetheless, the several hundred remaining mounds make this area the richest in the world for Indian mounds.

Brown, the first state archaeologist, devoted his career to the preservation of Indian mounds. He figures prominently in an early, and in my opinion decidedly unhappy episode in the history of Monona. In the late 1920's Brown and local area activists formed the Lake Monona Wild Life Sanctuary Association to purchase a preserve the 22-acre wooded tract known as Frost Woods. The Ho-Chunk chief Oliver Lamere opened his summer home in the area to the group for 'Feast and Pow-wows'. The group proposed alternate-use plans for the property, including a multi-purpose cultural and nature center, a wild life sanctuary, an outdoor museum, a wild life school, a perpetual campground for the Ho-Chunk and a recreational area for youth organizations. Despite raising funds for three years, the group fell short by $12,000, the land was sold for development, and the woods and many mounds destroyed. On February 26, 1931, Brown was quoted in Wisconsin State Journal thusly:

In 25 or 50 years Madison will, I am sure, regret this lost opportunity to rescue almost the last of our native Woodlands around the lakeshore.

To add insult to injury, in the early 1940's in the large Outlet Mound group, so named due to its location near the outlet of Lake Monona into the Yahara River as it flows toward Upper Mud Lake, was also threatened by residential development. These mounds were just located just blocks from Frost Woods. Through Brown's efforts funds were raised and a cooperative developer named Charles Riley agreed to preserve the single large Outlet Mound. The Outlet Mound located in Indian Mound Park between Midwood and Ridgewood Avenues is thought to be the oldest mound in the 4 Lakes region.

In 1948, street construction crew accidentally "cut into the edge of a burial mound when making a drainage ditch for Midwood Avenue" (Monona in the Making at page 92). Four skeletons were uncovered and sent to the State Historical Society. Years later a story has it that Mayor Dick Lichtfeld found a box of bones in a city building and dramatically presented them at a city meeting. The bones were interred in a tribal ceremony.

The Outlet Mound is a conical mound. This type of mound was created when Indians placed their dead in a crypt. When the crypt was full, the family would collapse the crypt and cover it with earth, which naturally took a conical shape. Conical mounds were precursors to the famous effigy mounds.

My point is not that Monona did worse than other parts of the Madison area, but rather that choices are made and opportunities are either seized or lost. Brown's words echo through the years.

I am indebted to the following sources 1. Charles E. Brown and the Indian Mounds of Madison by Robert A. Birmingham, Journal of the Four Lakes Region, Volume XIII, 1996. Find it at: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/archaeology/historic-madison-volxiii_1996.pdf

2. Monona in the Making by Dorothy Browne Haines, 1999, Historic Blooming Grove Historical Association.

3. Lectures of Robert A. Birmingham at a UW Continuing Education Course.