Construction underway for Wisconsin History Center in downtown Madison

Leaders of the Ho-Chunk Nation gathered Wednesday at the edge of a construction site and lit tobacco to bless the space. 

Right now, that site isn’t much more than a big hole in the ground with a fence around it. But by 2027, it’s set to be the site of a new museum dedicated to Wisconsin history.

After more than two decades of planning, construction is underway for a $160.5 million Wisconsin History Center in downtown Madison, just across the street from the state Capitol. 

The five-story, 100,000-square-foot history center will be double the size of what was formerly known as the Wisconsin Historical Museum. 

Workers began tearing down that museum last fall to make way for the new center at the same site at the corner of State and North Carroll Streets. 

“Over the coming months, you’ll see the foundations poured, steel go up and exhibits begin to take shape,” Wisconsin Historical Foundation Executive Director Julie Lussier told local, state and tribal leaders at a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday. “I hope you can picture the hundreds of thousands of visitors who will one day explore and be inspired inside those history center walls.”

The center’s construction is being funded by $112.3 million in state funds plus $48.2 million from private donations.

In all, the Wisconsin Historical Society hopes to raise $66.5 million in private donations to help cover additional costs, including opening and operating expenses. Historical Society officials say they’ve already raised $54.1 million toward that goal. 

The largest contribution is a combined $27.2 million from Pleasant Rowland, creator of the American Girl doll brand, and her husband, Jerry Frautschi.

State funding for the project has been recommended by multiple governors — most recently by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers — and approved by Wisconsin’s Legislature. 

Speaking to a small crowd on Wednesday, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican from Rochester, described the soon-to-be-built center as a bipartisan and statewide triumph.

“I know Madison’s pride is boundless, and I know that the vast majority of people who are here are longtime supporters of this community,” Vos said. “But I’m here making sure that we remember the rest of Wisconsin loves our history just as much. Every single part of Wisconsin is part of today.”

The center is being built to receive over 200,000 visitors annually, including over 60,000 school children, the Historical Society says. 

Among other artifacts, the center will display two dugout canoes that were recently unearthed from Lake Mendota in Madison. Archaeologists believe Indigenous people built one of those boats from a hollowed out tree about 1,200 years ago. The second boat that will be on display is even older, at an estimated 3,000 years old.