In the 1950s, the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Madison launched two controversial projects to rehabilitate areas of the city that were considered to be “blighted.” The Redevelopment Authority planned to achieve this by purchasing houses, buildings, and land in the designated areas; relocating the owners or tenants; and redeveloping the property. As part of the project, the Authority intended to include some housing in the redevelopment area for the displaced families while also inviting businesses to relocate there. The project was made possible by a combination of city, state, and federal funds and overseen by the Redevelopment Authority consisting of seven citizens appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council. The City of Madison Planning Department planned the redevelopment phase.
The Brittingham Project began in 1954. The Triangle Project began across the street in 1959 and concluded in 1974. The Brittingham area was bounded by West Washington Avenue, Proudfit Street, West Main Street, and Brittingham Park. The Triangle area lay across Washington Avenue and was bounded roughly by Regent and Park Streets and West Washington, with a three square block extension west of Park Street, immediately south of Regent. The Triangle area, known as the Greenbush Neighborhood, was an ethnic melting pot of Italians, Sicilians, Jews, and Blacks who settled in the area in the early 1900s and were later joined by Irish, Germans, and other groups. The neighborhood included churches, schools, corner grocery stores, meat markets, restaurants, taverns, hospitals, shoe repair and barber shops, a clothing store, gas stations, a railroad station, a community center, a lake, and corners where people could gather. The neighborhood was destroyed by the Urban Renewal projects.
