The Langdon Street area was once the heart of UW-Madison student activity. While the construction of off-campus apartments and dormitories has shifted some of the focus away from Langdon Street fraternities and sororities, the neighborhood is still alive and well.
Langdon Street was one of Madison's first residential neighborhoods. Named for John Langdon, a signer of the U.S. Constitution, it was one of the city's most prestigious areas in the second half of the 19th century.
In the early 20th century, UW-Madison faculty began to occupy Langdon Street and within a few years students joined them.
Fraternities and sororities quickly laid claim to the street and, according to Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, Langdon Street was known as 'fraternity row' as early as the 1950s. Without dorms and off-campus apartments, UW-Madison students gravitated towards Langdon Street and the Greek system, Risser said.
'You go back fifty years and you don't have those big dormitories you have now,' Risser said. 'It was all fraternities and sororities.'
But Greek dominance did not last forever, and with time several of the street's stately mansions became alternative co-ops.
'In the 1960s, more and more students were moving away from fraternities and sororities,' King said. 'A number of fraternities went bankrupt and that was about the time that a number of cooperatives were really becoming popular.'
The shift caused tension between the conservative fraternities and liberal co-ops, according to King.
'Back in the '60s, it was the short hairs versus the long hairs,' he said. 'The co-ops would be out protesting the [Vietnam] war, and the fraternities would march by and flick them off and say 'We love America.''
Today, the tension between Greek houses and their neighbors has dissipated, perhaps more from separation than reconciliation. 'There are no problems,' said Sean Sobel, UW junior and past president of Tau Kappa Epsilon.
'We don't have much interaction,' said Ken Rosenberg, a member of Phoenix co-op.
Throughout the 1960s and '70s, Langdon Street became a heart of liberalism on campus, as co-ops proved themselves to be vocal activists. In the 1960s, Le Chateau, now Phoenix Co-op, 636 Langdon St., led a fight against the construction of Roundhouse Apartments, 626 Langdon St.
According to King, co-op members formed a hand circle around the site in attempt to levitate the building away. The building did not budge, but the protest resulted in an eight-story complex instead of the intended 14-story structure.
In 1974, Le Chateau fought again, this time against their landlord who, according to residents, hoped to transform Le Chateau into an apartment complex. One protest even involved burning the landlord in effigy.
The protests were successful, and the Madison Community Co-op purchased Le Chateau.
Risser said changes on Langdon Street such as high-rise apartments have changed the complexion of the area. Gone are the days of 'fraternity row,' when trolleys traveled up and down State Street and malls did not exist.
'It's still Langdon Street, but the definition of Langdon Street has maybe changed a little bit,' Risser said. 'It has lost a little of its luster.'
