Tonyawatha Springs Hotel

On lake Monona 4300-4500 Winnequah Rd.
formally opened on July 9, 1879, destroyed by fire in 1895


In 1879 Dr. William H. Jacobs, the owner of the Park Hotel in Madison, decided this land was a suitable place to build a summer resort. It eventually consisted of many buildings, including separate guest cottages. A gazebo-like structure with a bottling house was built over the spring, and a small band pavilion stood on the bluff. A separate building housed a billiard room and bowling alleys. A light "ornamental Swiss design" was chosen for the two-storied frame hotel. The central portion contained a dining hall, office and reception room on the first floor, with parlors and ladies' drawing room on the second level. A veranda surrounded the entire building. Although it was quite a drive by horse-drawn carriage from Madison to the hotel, the guests were not out of touch with the city. The hotel had one of the first telephones in the area, with a direct line to the Park Hotel across the lake; and mail was delivered by boat. Madisonians could board a steam yacht for 20 cents round trip and be transported across Lake Monona to the hotel and later enjoy dancing on the grounds. Tourists from as far away as St. Louis, Kansas City, Louisville and Chicago traveled by rail to Madison and were summer regulars at this resort, escaping the heat of the larger cities. At eight o'clock on the evening of July 31, 1895, a fire broke out in the hotel and spread quickly through the building, completely destroying it within two hours.