Area elementary school students present history of Greenbush neighborhoodCommunity members and students joined forces on Tuesday to showcase the history of one of Madison's oldest and most well-known neighborhoods.
Fifth grade students from Randall Elementary School, led by teacher Mark Wagler, along with assistance from local historians, organizations, the UW Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures and UW students from two different classes worked together to put on a presentation of the past, present and future of the Greenbush neighborhood at the Italian Workmen's Club, 914 Regent St.
According to Wagler, whose students have worked on different cultural projects over the past few years in Dane County and throughout Wisconsin, he was inspired to take on the Greenbush neighborhood as a cultural project.
Last year a psychiatrist who did a book on how urban renewal has affected communities came through Madison and we said, ‘let's show her urban renewal here on Park Street, here in the Greenbush area,'\ Wagler said.
The Greenbush neighborhood is bounded by a triangle of major roads: Park Street to the west, Regent Street to the north and West Washington Avenue to the southeast. The current neighborhood is part of the historic Greenbush addition, which served as the first home of many Italian and Eastern European immigrants to Madison at the close of the 19th and the early 20th centuries.
The fifth graders made models of historical Greenbush buildings and gave slide shows about the neighborhood while community members talked about the future of the area, including a proposed museum.
UW-Madison students also collaborated with students in Margaret Nellis' Health, Community and Action class presenting ideas on how to involve students from the University's new Smith Hall with the Greenbush community. Professor Sam Dennis' landscape architecture class also presented, sharing their ideas for open green space in the neighborhood.
Wagler said he hopes the presentation opened up some eyes and ears about the neighborhood.
""My biggest dream is that UW students realize that this is a great, safe place to come to and hang out in,"" Wagler said. ""This is a great place to be in Madison.""\
