The subdivision of the University Hill Farms Historic District was the result of an historic collaboration between the City of Madison and the University of Wisconsin in the 1950s. The intent of its development was to create an entirely self-contained, planned suburban community on land owned by the University near the west side of Madison. The district comprises most of the 613-acre Hill Farms property that the University’s College of Agriculture had been using as an experimental farm since 1897.

In 1953, the University decided to develop this land as a new subdivision, with the proceeds from the sale being used to purchase a new and much larger experimental farm property located farther away from the rapidly expanding city of Madison. To accomplish this, the University commissioned a master plan that created dedicated areas within the new subdivision for single-family and multi-family housing, a school, churches, parks, public and private office buildings, and a large regional shopping center. The timing of this project was apt as Madison was growing rapidly and the need for new housing for middle class and professional families was especially acute.

The land was offered in successive plats beginning in 1956 and by 1959, most of the land had been sold. Not surprisingly, a few aspects of the original plan were changed in the district’s early years in order to meet evolving needs, but the completed subdivision nevertheless successfully fulfilled the University’s original intent of creating “a community within a community.”

The vast majority of the district’s buildings have designs reflecting Modern Movement styles of the time, such as the various manifestations of the Ranch Style and Contemporary Style, including one house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The University Hill Farms neighborhood continues to attract the same kind of homeowners that made the subdivision a success in the first place and it remains an active and vibrant community today. Almost all of the district’s original buildings are extant and intact. As a result, the district today still looks almost exactly the way it did in 1964.