Here was Madison's first African-American neighborhood

Here was Madison's first African-American neighborhood (HMMFW)

Location: Madison, WI 53703 Dane County
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Country: United States of America
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N 43° 4.869', W 89° 22.738'

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The Madison Heritage Series

John Hill first set eyes on Madison while visiting a relative who was attending the University of Wisconsin. He moved his family here from Atlanta in 1910 to join a modest community of about 140 African Americans.

In 1917, Hill bought a house and attached grocery store at Dayton and Blount streets from Reverend Charles Thomas, pastor of St. Paul's African Methodist Episcopal Church. Thomas had purchased the building, formerly used as a boarding house and meeting hall, from civic leader John Turner.

John and Amanda Hill operated Hill's Grocery for more than 50 years. Their daughter, Freddie Mae, was the UW's first African-American graduate. Their neighbors included the Miller family, who worked to improve the lives of African-Americans in the city, and Benjamin Butts, a former slave liberated by Wisconsin troops during the Civil War. The Hill building has been designated a Madison landmark for its rich cultural history.

Sidebar:
Churches have played a vital role in African-American neighborhoods,offering community, shared worship and mutual assistance. Founded in 1902, the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church is one of the oldest African-American congregations in Wisconsin. Organizers bought the original building from a Norwegian congregation and moved it to land donated by founding member William Miller at 631 East Dayton Street. One pastor of the church supplemented his meager wages by opening a grocery nearby, later selling it to church trustee John Hill. Hill's Grocery became a neighborhood institution, operated by a single family longer than any other grocery store in Madison.

Details

HM Number	HMMFW
Tags	Black History, Churches and Religion
Year Placed	2006
Placed By	City of Madison
Marker Condition	No reports yet
Date Added	Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014 at 1:06pm PDT -07:00

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Locationbig map

UTM (WGS84 Datum)	16T E 306345 N 4772573
Decimal Degrees	43.08115000, -89.37896667
Degrees and Decimal Minutes	N 43° 4.869', W 89° 22.738'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds	43° 4' 52.14" N, 89° 22' 44.28" W
Driving Directions	Google Maps
Area Code(s)	608
Closest Postal Address	At or near 669-699 E Dayton St, Madison WI 53703, US
Alternative Maps	Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap