Filmed on Sunday, May 28, 2023, I drive around Downtown Madison, Wisconsin to see what's going on.

Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee.

Before Europeans, humans inhabited the area in and around Madison for about 12,000 years. The Ho-Chunk called the region Taychopera, meaning "land of the four lakes".

Madison's modern origins begin in 1829, when former federal judge James Duane Doty purchased over a thousand acres of swamp and forest land on the isthmus between Lakes Mendota and Monona, with the intention of building a city in the Four Lakes region. He purchased 1,261 acres for $1,500.

When the Wisconsin Territory was created in 1836 the territorial legislature convened in Belmont, Wisconsin. One of the legislature's tasks was to select a permanent location for the territory's capital. Doty lobbied aggressively for Madison as the new capital, offering buffalo robes to the freezing legislators and choice lots in Madison at discount prices to undecided voters.

Doty named his city Madison for James Madison, the fourth President of the U.S. who had died on June 28, 1836, and he named the streets for the other 38 signers of the U.S. Constitution.

Madison was incorporated as a village in 1846, with a population of 626. When Wisconsin became a state in 1848, Madison remained the capital, and the following year it became the site of the University of Wisconsin (now University of Wisconsin–Madison).

The original capitol was replaced in 1863 and the second capitol burned in 1904. The current capitol was built between 1906 and 1917.

As of the census of 2020, the population was 269,840.

The city was 71.0% White, 9.5% Asian, 7.4% Black or African American, 0.5% Native American, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 3.8% from other races, and 7.8% from two or more races, and 8.7% Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The per capita income for the city was $39,595. About 6.0% of families and 16.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.3% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those age 65 or over. #driving #travel #drivingtour