5 E. Wilson St. Built 1916 Madison Landmark
Georgian Revival
Frank Riley
Started in 1909 when F.W. Montgomery persuaded some friends to form a gentlemen's club.
This building opened in 1918, and was visited by former president Teddy Roosevelt.
In the 1960s, the club declined to act on the membership applications of two prominent Jewish
Madisonians, Gordon Sinykin and Myron Gordon. Media coverage of the controversy forced
the club into allowing the membership. Women were welcomed a decade later.
Endangered in the 1990s when Monona Terrace needed hotel space, but the membership refused to move
the club.
A book about the club:
"A Place With Purpose: 100 Years of the Madison Club" by Muckian (2009)
