Frautschi Point, the final section of private Lake Mendota shoreline between Shorewood Hills and the UW Campus, was acquired through the generosity of the Frautschi family in 1988. Previously Frautschi Point had been used as a “fancy farm,” a hunting refuge, a summer retreat, and a permanent residence. These human activities changed the area. As part of CNA master planning, the CNA Committee is currently developing a long-term plan for Frautschi Point and the CNA.
Frautschi Point, a wooded 16.6 acre point jutting north into Lake Mendota , has 1600 feet of shoreline. It is bordered on the north and east by the lake, on the west by North Shore Woods, and on the south by Second Point Woods, the old field, and Eagle Heights Apartments.
History
Frautschi Point, originally called Second Point, has a long history of human use. Arrowheads and other artifacts show that Native Americans regularly visited the Point. Early white owners were farmers. In the 1880s Breese Stevens and Morris Fuller purchased the farm and cleared part of the land to develop a “fancy farm,” which probably had buildings.
No one lived on Second Point until the early 1920s when Breese Stevens' daughter, Elizabeth, and her husband, Dr. Reginald H. Jackson Sr., built a summer house. Eventually Breese Stevens' descendants built three summer cottages and a series of outbuildings. The main cottage was extended several times until it became a 4,450 foot rambling summer house. A portion of the land continued to be leased as farmland.
Dr. Reginald Jackson Jr. remembers his father making improvements to the land. His father planted many trees in the 1930s, including the evergreens along the drive. In one of the earliest local pheasant releases, Ring-necked Pheasants were released at Second Point in the 1920s (R. H. Jackson Jr. interview, July 24, 1973). In 1937 Aldo Leopold recommended increasing pheasant hunting to decrease crop damage in the nearby University Experimental Fields (now the playing fields).
Dr. Jackson Jr. was the last resident of the house. He had a sea plane and several boats. He set up a shooting preserve on the property and continued to raise pheasants in a run in the triangle at the bottom of the drive. The rest of the triangle was a fenced vegetable garden. Later he moved to the house year around.
When Dr. Reginald Jackson Jr. died, he left Second Point to the Northwestern University Medical School and the State Medical Society of Wisconsin. Neither of these organizations wanted to keep this spectacular segment of lakeshore, so they searched for a buyer.
Frautschi Gift
John and Jerry Frautschi gave a $1.5 million gift to the UW Foundation to purchase Second Point “to honor Walter A. Frautschi and his lifetime of devotion and service to the University and to the City of Madison and its people” (Frautschi Family Gift Memorandum of Agreement, 1988). The name of the area was changed to Frautschi Point. This gift was a surprise Christmas present to their father. Frautschi Point was to be:
• An extension of Picnic Point, including hiking trails through wooded areas.
• An outdoor nature observatory, affording intimate glimpses of plant and animal life in a natural setting. This resource shall be available to students, faculty and other members of the University and Madison communities, and to visitors from around the State and elsewhere.
• University teaching and research programs involving long-term preservation of natural beauty, conservation biology, limnology and wildlife management (Frautschi Memorandum of Agreement, 1988).
Due to the generosity of the Frautschi family, the land was preserved as part of the Campus Natural Areas rather than being developed. Later, Mrs. Walter A. Frautschi gave the UW another generous gift to maintain and restore Frautschi Point.
Frautschi Point Today
By the time Dr. Jackson died in 1978, the property had fallen into disrepair. When the University acquired the land, all the buildings were removed because of their poor condition. Alien buckthorn and honeysuckle had invaded the gardens and grounds. Garlic Mustard was taking over the ground layer.
In 1998, under the supervision of the UW Arboretum, a savanna restoration of Frautschi Point was begun. In an attempt to eliminate "undesirable" and non-native species and to restore views of the lake, conifers along the drive and most trees in the overgrown triangle were removed and replaced with prairie and savanna plants. Brush was removed near several large oaks.
Partly as a response to public outcry over the tree cutting, major restoration of Frautschi Point was halted until a new CNA master plan is approved. In 2000, management of the CNA was transferred from the UW Arboretum to the new UW CNA Committee.
In the meantime, Frautschi Point provides opportunities to observe birds and other wildlife. On fall mornings warblers fly over the lake and land on the Point. The triangle weeds provide food and cover.
Today everyone benefits from John and Jerry Frautschi's 1988 Christmas present to Walter Frautschi! |
