Originally (at the time of settlement) the lowland area beyond the sandbar of University Bay was a sedge meadow.  Once Willow Drive was built on the sandbar, the area inside the road, including the area that is now the playing fields and Parking Lot 60, was drained for agriculture.  The College of Agriculture erected a sign to educate people about the conversion of the “worthless” sedge meadow (marsh) to “profitable” agricultural fields.  To see two versions of the sign and a letter about the origin of the sign, see

For additional information about the draining of the original sedge meadow and the restoration of a portion of this area, see Class of 1918 Marsh.

The restoration of the Class of 1918 Marsh involved many people. 

Dr. James Zimmerman, the UW Arboretum Naturalist, was instrumental in the restoration of the Class of 1918 Marsh.  He wrote a memo on March 17, 1970, explaining what would be needed in order to restore the marsh and justifying the need to restore a portion of the cornfield to a marsh

When the Class of 1918 Marsh was dedicated in 1972, James Zimmerman designed a walking tour and placed 32 educational signs about history, restoration, and ecology on the path surrounding the Marsh.  For a few years these signs remained at the Marsh, but then they were damaged by vandals.  The Arboretum also sold a booklet with the sign text.  However, the text of these signs has been unavailable to the public for some time.  For the text from the original Class of 1918 Marsh walking tour signs written by James Zimmerman and UW-Madison Arboretum personnel, follow this link: