Madison, the first week of March, 1961
Madison in the Sixties
The Spring primary on March 7 brings double-barreled bad news for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Monona Terrace auditorium and exhibition hall.
In the morning, construction bids are opened for the ambitious project which the city approved in 1954, but which opponents have delayed since then through litigation and legislation. And it’s quickly evident that their plan to kill the project through economic pressures was a good one, as more than six years of inflation knocked the budget completely out of whack.
In November 1954, city voters approved $4 million in bonds for the project which the world-famous architect said would marry the city and the lake. The city parking utility later added $1.5 million, for a total budget of five and a half million, and the project finally went out to bid earlier this year.