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Photograph of First Unitarian Society of Madison
Photograph by Motorrad-67, CC BY-SA 4.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

First Unitarian Society Meetinghouse

A National Historic Landmark. Built in 1951 (Usonian architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

From the record

“The First Unitarian Society of Madison (FUS) is a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin, United States. Its meeting house was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built by Marshall Erdman in 1949-1951, and has been designated a National Historic Landmark for its architecture.”

Wikipedia article First Unitarian Society of Madison, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 238 National Register listings published here for Dane County · listed in 1973 · category: Building · built in 1951, Usonian architecture, by Frank Lloyd Wright · a National Historic Landmark.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • National Historic Landmark. The highest federal designation, held by about 2,600 places in the country against roughly 100,000 Register listings.
  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. 900 University Bay Dr., Shorewood Hills, 53705
  • When was it listed? April 1973
  • Category. building
  • Village. Shorewood Hills village
  • When was it built? 1951
  • Architectural style. Usonian architecture
  • Architect. Frank Lloyd Wright
  • National Register reference number. 73000076 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

35 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 35 fires within 5 miles of First Unitarian Society Meetinghouse between 2007 and 2020, burning about 45 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined22
Debris and open burning6
Smoking3
Natural2
Arson/incendiarism1
Recreation and ceremony1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 August 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources242
24 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2019797
14 August 2020Smokingunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2018928
6 July 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources342
2 June 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2012493
15 June 2020Smoking1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources305
14 June 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources304
1 June 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources1812921

Every fire recorded in Dane County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of First Unitarian Society Meetinghouse: 6 producers, 3 unknowns, 1 past producer. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Kapel-Marquardt QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Fess QuarryStoneUnknown
John Hensen QuarryStoneUnknown
Blooming Grove PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Engelhart Sand & Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Haen PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Norway Grove Gravel PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Westport PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Yanggen PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Ziegler PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Dane County

Storms near this property

25 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Shorewood Hills, the town this property stands in, in 25 storm reports between 2005 and 2026: 13 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 2 heavy rain, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2014Tornado (EF2)Shorewood Hills$5,000,000Tornado damaged at least 23 homes with some homes losing much of their roofs. Widespread uprooted and snapped trees within this heavily wooded neighborhood. Some large trees landing on homes. A few roofs had been pierced by 2-by-4s. Estimated winds up to 120 mph.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindShorewood Hills$10,000Numerous trees and power lines down in the area.
June 2013Flash FloodShorewood Hills$8,000The public reported mudslides from heavy rains closed University Avenue near Midvale Boulevard.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindShorewood Hills$5,000no account filed
June 2019Thunderstorm WindShorewood Hills$3,000Several large trees down in Middleton and the west side of Madison.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindShorewood Hills$2,000Several trees down near Raymond Road.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindShorewood Hills$2,000Large tree and power line down.
September 2019Thunderstorm WindShorewood Hills$2,000Tree branches down in the Hill Farms neighborhood.
May 2024FloodShorewood Hills$1,000Multiple roads closed due to flooding.
July 2019Heavy RainShorewood Hills$1,000Several flooded streets and intersections in Madison after a quick 1.5 to 2.0 inches of rain.
September 2019Thunderstorm WindShorewood Hills$500A large tree uprooted near Bill Lister Memorial Field. Nearby WMTV NBC 15 recorded a wind gust of 72 mph on their rooftop.
April 2026HailShorewood Hills-Public report of 1.5 inch diameter hail north of Verona. Time confirmed via radar data.
April 2026HailShorewood Hills-Public report of 1.25 inch diameter hail southwest of Shorewood Hills. Time confirmed via radar data.
April 2026HailShorewood Hills-Public report of 1.25 inch diameter hail south of Middleton. Time confirmed via radar data.
April 2026HailShorewood Hills-Public report of 1.25 inch diameter hail south of Middleton. Time confirmed via radar data.
April 2026HailShorewood Hills-Public report of 1 inch diameter hail in Shorewood Hills. Time confirmed via radar data.
September 2013Heavy RainShorewood Hills-Flooding along the roads and the intersection of Midvale Boulevard and University Avenue. Water up to the headlights of motor vehicles.
May 2024HailShorewood Hills-no account filed
June 2019HailShorewood Hills-no account filed
September 2016HailShorewood Hills-no account filed
September 2016HailShorewood Hills-no account filed
September 2016HailShorewood Hills-no account filed
June 2011HailShorewood Hills-no account filed
June 2010HailShorewood Hills-no account filed
April 2006HailShorewood Hills-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Dane County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 73000076 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Dane CountyAll 238 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.