1103 Spaight St. 1887 One of the three original city of Madison parks
Madison Landmark National Register of Historic Places
The entire Block 180 of the original plat of Madison. In 1848 Block 180 was designated as the
village of Madison’s cemetery. It was soon realized that it would be too small so Forest Hill
cemetery was purchased. In 1877 all of the burials that could be found moved. In 1883 the site
was made a city park, Madison’s first. It was named after
Mayor Harlow Orton, former mayor and a supreme court
justice. In 1887 the park was officially opened. Orton Park remained the city’s only public
park until the turn-of-the-last-century.
