The Eagle Heights area and nearby lakeshore frontage was acquired in 1887 by George Raymer, publisher of the Madison Deomcrat newspaper and a prominent citizen. Raymer lived in a large house on Langdon Street at approximately the location of the present University of Wisconsin Memorial Union, but also ran a substantial farm at Eagle Heights. Raymer was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin and served two years as its president.
Early in his ownership of the property, Raymer developed a system of dirt roads, including one leading up to the high point of Eagle Heights (sometimes called the "Eagle's Nest"). The north/south road that Raymer built from University Bay Drive along the east side of his property was the first part of what the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association would later call "Lake Mendota Drive". Although Raymer's roads were private, he willingly opened them to the public. Thus, for many years, the commanding location of Eagle Heights could be reached by carriages, and later also by automobiles. The remnants of some of the roads winding up to the promontory are still visible.
Reprinted from Historic Madison: A Journal of the Four Lake Region, Volume XII: 1995. Copyright: Historic Madison, Inc.
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