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City Cast Madison

Rob Thomas

Do you know where this slice of pizza is from? (Submitted photo)

Ever since I moved to Madison over a quarter-century ago, I heard legends and lore about 

out in Iowa County near Spring Green. I heard that it was huge, eccentric, and that it was fascinating and disturbing in equal measure. I heard that I would not be able to get the sound of circus music out of my head for days afterwards.

While the City Cast Madison team went to The House of the Rock back in 2023

, last week it was my turn to go for the first time. This is my best effort to describe what I saw there. It’s hilarious, it’s disturbing, it’s unforgettable. But the one thing that everybody told me is true. You have to see it to believe it.

House on the Rock is a sprawling estate built on Deer Shelter Rock, located about an hour west of Madison on Highway 23. Basically, 

, but then keep going on Highway 23 another six miles until you see the giant flowerpots flanking the entrance.

The breathtaking natural beauty of the location is balanced by the sheer eccentricity of what’s inside the house, which is dozens of rooms and passages crammed with all kinds of oddities.

 was a Madison man who developed a fascination with both construction and electronic gadgets. On a family trip to Deer Shelter Rock as a child, he imagined building his dream house on the site. He started building House on the Rock in the 1940s, and reportedly started charging curious onlookers 50 cents to visit, thinking it would drive them away. Instead, House on the Rock grew to become one of Wisconsin’s strangest and most popular tourist attractions.

You could spend a week at The House on the Rock and not see every little wind-up gimcrack, antique doll, or other curiosity. But here’s a few of the highlights you can’t miss. Buckle up, it’s about to get weird:

This architectural marvel is a narrow, disorienting glass-covered room that extends over 200 feet out over the valley. We weren’t allowed to head out all the way to the very tip, but given that the room moves up and down about six inches, that was more than enough.

This massive merry-go-round features 269 animals (including disturbing animal-human hybrids) whizzing around underneath 10,000 lights and 182 chandeliers as circus music plays loudly. There’s also a pair of “doll carousels” in another room that are even more unsettling.

The walls of this three-story structure are covered in nautical oddities, maritime maps and over 200 model ships. But the centerpiece is a massive and terrifying sculpture of a sharp-toothed leviathan locked in mortal combat with an octopus.

This eerie recreation of a 19th-century main street is full of little shops and curios. There are lots of little coin-operated mechanical dioramas sprinkled throughout, like the “Dying Drunkard” that features a man on his deathbed being besieged by his demons. Fun for the whole family!

Throughout the House on the Rock, but especially in Section 2, are coin-operated mechanical music machines that feature entire automated bands playing Ravel’s “Bolero,” “When The Saints Go Marching In,” and more. Some of them are big enough to take up an entire room, with dozens of instruments all calibrated to play together.

Descend downstairs through a “mouth of hell” into this phantasmagorical warehouse of Jordan’s collection, as ramps and walkways wind through the gears of a clock tower, a mannequin orchestra (currently undergoing repairs), three humongous theater organs, and so much more. Hanging in the center is a massive scarlet chandelier that a volunteer told us Jordan had planned to put his office 

If nothing else, The House on the Rock will make you feel better about the clutter in your basement.

Located about an hour west of Madison, The House on the Rock is one of Wisconsin's most infamous, and certainly oddest, tourist attractions. Take a tour inside, from the giant carousel to the vertigo-inducing "Infinity Room." 

Why You Have To See Wisconsin’s House on the Rock

The House on the Rock Is Even Weirder Than You Think

What Madisonians have been wondering. We break down why things in Madison are the way they are and how they work.

Madison, Explained

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, 

agreed to a $17 billion settlement of a lawsuit

 from a consortium of states that alleged the company’s social media apps were harmful to young people. 

Wisconsin is expecting to get a share of over $200 million from the settlement

, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul talks to host Bianca Martin about the historic settlement and what it will mean for the state. He also talks about how his office is tackling PFAS lawsuits and the DOJ’s role in investigating the fatal police shooting of Corey Ruiz. [NPR, WPR, 🎧 City Cast Madison]

WI Attorney General on Meta Payout, PFAS Settlement, and Ruiz Investigation

Here’s the details on how the settlement came about, and how Wisconsin might spend its share of the money.

When a consortium of states attorneys general filed suit against Meta, it was compared to a landmark lawsuit filed against tobacco companies in the 1990s. In both cases, the suits alleged the companies knew about the harmful effects of their products and tried to cover the data up.

the charge was that the company had designed its apps to “encourage compulsive use”

 with features like infinite scroll, photo filters, and “like” buttons that helped them become addictive to its users, and particularly young people.

The AGs also said Meta violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by gathering personal data about users under 13 years of age and not seeking parental consent. Meta denied the accusations, saying they were aware of potential risks to minors and made efforts to address them. [NPR]

Initial estimates were that Meta could have incurred $1.4 trillion in penalties – roughly its entire worth on NASDAQ. While the $17 billion (released over 10 years) might seem like a lot of money, 

Meta reported over $200 billion in earnings in 2025

Meta has agreed to several new restrictions for younger users

, including a default two-hour limit, muted notifications during school hours, and disabling so-called “beauty filters” for photos. [Meta, NPR]

💸 How Will Wisconsin Spend Its Zuckerbucks?

Wisconsin will get at least $219 million over the next 10 years

, and could get as much as $313 million, according to Kaul. Allocating Wisconsin’s share is under the sole discretion of Kaul’s office, although at least half the money must go to promote youth mental health and addressing the risks of social media use.

Some of the things the money could be spent on include afterschool programs, youth mental health programs, creating phone-free zones at schools, public health advertising, and crisis intervention hotlines and other services. [WPR]

Wisconsin already started to address the risks of smartphones among students by passing a statewide law earlier this year 

requiring all Wisconsin schools to come up with a policy limiting cell phones in school

The Madison Metropolitan School District 

approved a new policy that started this school year

 that bans all cell phone use among K-8 students, and bans cell phone use for high school students except for lunchtime.

Some Madison parents want the district to go even further

 and severely limit all kinds of screens, including iPads, during classroom time. [DPI, News 3, WPR]

Get the details on Wisconsin’s $200M share of the historic $17B Meta settlement as Attorney General Josh Kaul joins City Cast Madison to discuss protecting young people online, tackling PFAS lawsuits, and investigating the Corey Ruiz police shooting.

Wisconsin To Receive $219M in Landmark Meta Settlement

How the Historic Meta Settlement Will Impact Wisconsin

On the City Cast Madison podcast, we break down some of the biggest Madison news of the week. Find new episodes every Friday.

City Cast Madison: Madison's News Podcast

Madison News

Canada implemented $20 billion in retaliatory tariffs on the United States Tuesday

, responding to President Donald Trump levying $20 billion in tariffs on Canadian goods after trade talks between the two countries fell apart in August. (A tariff is a tax that a government places on goods coming into the country, and while importers pay the tariff, the extra cost is often passed on to consumers.)

Experts say that Wisconsin farmers – and, as a result, Wisconsin consumers – will be hurt by the tariffs from both sides. Here’s a breakdown on how the tariffs will affect Wisconsin farmers, and how you might feel the impact. [WPR]

Wisconsin dairy farmers are especially worried about tariffs on milk and cheese that Canada placed this week. Canada is the second-largest customer for United States agriculture next to Mexico, 

having purchased $28 billion in agricultural goods last year

 on a variety of milk and cream products, and 25% on cheese and curds. Wisconsin dairy farmers say the tit-for-tat tariffs 

could hurt exports of milk products produced in the Midwest

, of which there’s already an oversupply. The cost of milk is currently at record highs in U.S. grocery stores despite the oversupply, 

due to increased production and distribution costs

. [USDA, Yahoo! Finance, eDairyNews, Chicago Tribune]

The trade war also puts crop farmers in Wisconsin at risk by threatening their access to 

. Canada is the largest producer and exporter of the potassium-based fertilizer, and 85% of potash used in the U.S. comes from Canada.

So far, Canada has left potash off the table for tariffs, but Ontario Premier Doug Ford has suggested that withholding potash 

would kill the U.S. agricultural industry “overnight.”

 Other premiers have pushed back against such an escalation, fearing it would lead to a long-term backlash. [WPR, Yahoo! Finance Canada]

Most farm equipment is built from components made in both the United States and Canada. But Canada has levied a tariff on agricultural parts made in the United States, matching “dollar-for-dollar” a similar tariff imposed by the United States.

This will make the equipment more expensive at a time

 when farmers were already dealing with falling income due to other tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, and the war with Iran cutting off the supply of oil and fertilizer. As in the past, the combination of rising costs and shrinking foreign markets will result in higher prices for U.S. consumers, experts say. [Farm Progress]

Canada has retaliated with $20 billion in tariffs against the U.S. following a breakdown in trade talks. Here is how these new trade barriers will impact Wisconsin farmers and consumers, driving up costs from both sides.

How Canada Tariffs Could Impact Wisconsin Farms

How the U.S.-Canada Trade War Could Hurt Wisconsin Farmers

 says she’s more excited about her new book “

” than she has been about one of her novels in a while.

Part of that is the anticipation of catching her readers off-guard. At first, “Tell Two Friends,” which hits stores Sept. 8, fits in snugly with Garvin’s other books like “Bummer Camp” and “

,” funny, poignant novels about messy, lovable women. “Friends” focuses on Jane Baye, who becomes the pariah of her very Stoughton-like small town when it’s revealed that her husband is a polygamist.

That alone seems like it would be enough for a novel. But then Garvin starts interjecting chapters told from the perspective of Truman, an ex-con who has moved in across the street from Jane, and is watching her for reasons that are unclear but certainly troubling.

Garvin will talk about “Tell Two Friends” on Sept. 22 at Mystery To Me bookstore with 

“Writing Forward” podcast host Jeff Oloizia

. She talked to City Cast Madison about her glee in throwing her readers a curveball.

CCM: It’s like this guy Truman has infiltrated an Ann Garvin book.

AG: That’s exactly how I wanted it to feel. My very first book had like a real tension line through it, but then I kind of left that behind because people were like, "We don't know how to market a book that is a little bit scary and a little bit funny.” This is the first time where you read chapters and you think, “Oh, that's new.”

It was fun. I was nervous to write it because I wasn't sure if I was going to get the voice right and the tone right. But then I met a post-incarcerated man who was on the docket for a teaching thing that I did in New Hampshire, and I got to know him well. And so he promised that he would read it, and I actually paid him to read to be my sensitivity reader.

Does this mark a turn in the kinds of books you want to write?

I have ideas in the future for some books that are tension-filled, but nothing like this really. I'm not really the kind of person that thinks about murderers often. When I pick a book to write, I just have to really feel excited about it, passionate about it. I actually have to know that there’s a true story in there, not just a premise.

What was the biggest challenge of writing the book?

The hardest thing I think with this book was to make her everyday life tension-filled enough that anybody gave a shit about her chapters while you waited to find out what this other guy was doing. I want people to be turning the pages in her life, and all she’s doing is being a regular mom in a town that’s mad at her.

Speaking of that town, you have a disclaimer at the front of the book that this is not Stoughton. But how do you think Stoughton readers will react?

I think I’ll get a mix of responses. I think I’ll get some people mad. You know, “She made fun of us!” I don’t think I was disdainful. I think I rib them carefully because I don’t feel disdainful.

This is a very common question for a writer, but how much do you draw from your real life?

I know that everybody sort of puts themselves in there, and people very often think I’m the protagonist. Which in some cases, I guess I give the protagonist my voice. But she definitely is not me.

When I was a nursing student, I saw a little want-ad, “Be a Pen Pal With An Incarcerated Male.” I thought, “Poor guy, prison must be so boring.” I came from a small town. I was 19 or 20, and I never had heard that people write to incarcerated people, like the women who are interested in Ted Bundy. So we wrote back and forth for a while.

And then he asked me for a photograph, and I was not so dumb that I didn’t know what was up. I wrote back and said, “I don’t think we need a photograph to be friends.” And then he wrote back and said, “Don’t write to incarcerated men anymore. You’re too nice.”

Madison author Ann Garvin shares her glee in throwing readers a curveball with her poignant, messy new novel, hitting stores September 8.

 Madison Author Smuggles a Thriller Inside Her Latest Novel

Ann Garvin Has a Surprise in Store For Her Readers

Find the best of everything that Madison has to offer.

Madison’s Best

Madison's Best

September means that local theater companies are kicking off their 2025-26 seasons, including a couple of world premieres. In the Overture Center Playhouse, Forward Theater Company has the world premiere of the lost-at-sea musical “

Forward Theater, who’s sponsoring our monthly guide this September, is giving City Cast Madison readers the chance to win free tickets to see “Steady She Goes”! 

Just head over to our Instagram page and enter

” (Sept. 17-20), a musical inspired by the collection the Hand Drawn Map Association, to Overture’s Promenade Hall. The Bartell Theatre’s production of “

,” (Sept. 18-26) about a woman who buys a robot version of her late husband, couldn’t be more timely in the age of AI angst. Edgewood University revives Moliere’s French comedy of manners “

It’s been a hard summer in Madison, and on the east side especially. But the neighborhood’s iconic and eccentric 

 (Sept. 19-20) is a chance for the community to get together and get weird. In addition to several stages of live music and lots of food and drink, everybody is invited to dress up and march in the Sunday morning parade.

Good things come in small packages (or small plates) at 

 on the Capitol Square (Sept. 5-6) with over 90 food vendors. 

 (Sept. 26) at Warner Park will feature 17 restaurants and eight bands, including Nashville’s Langhorne Slim headlining.

 (Sept. 12) features live music, food, and drink. But what sets it apart is the opportunity to decorate and personalize a lantern, either to remember a loved one or set an intention for the future, and release it on the water in a healing ceremony. Editor’s note: Water Lantern Festival is also a sponsor of City Cast.

Push yourself to the limit (and support someone who is) at 

 (Sept. 13). Athletes love coming to Madison not just because of the beautiful and challenging course that includes a downtown run, a hilly bike ride, and a swim in the lake, but because of the crowds cheering them on.

 has been in Madison before, but never like this. On Sept. 22 at the Orpheum Theater, Smith will tell stories and play songs inspired by her new memoir “Bread of Angels.” Ticketholders will get a free paperback copy of the book courtesy of A Room of One’s Own.

Discover the best things to do in Madison, Wisconsin, in September 2026! From vibrant fall festivals to concerts and athletic events, plan your perfect autumn with our ultimate local guide.

Your Guide to Madison in September 2026

What To Do in Madison in September 2026

For 160 years, the 65-acre Voit Farm was a fixture on Madison’s east side, an oasis of rural life in a fast-growing city. But the farm buildings were torn down in 2025 to make way for 

an ambitious redevelopment plan that could include hundreds of homes, new streets, green space, a shared-use path

Here’s a closer look at a development that will transform Madison’s east side:

When the Voit family built their farm in the 1860s, the area was still considered rural. The farm included 23 acres of land dedicated to growing crops as well as a silo, a barn, two houses, wetlands, a fishing pond, and a ready-mix concrete plant.

The Voit family owned the farm until 2021, when 

they sold the property for over $8 million

 to the Starkweather development company, which is a partnership between Stone House Development and Threshold Development. Since then, the companies have used tax increment financing from the city to develop housing on the property.

announced plans to buy three acres of the land from the developers for $4.3 million

 as part of its plan to create more affordable housing. [🔒WSJ, WPR]

In June, Stone House Development President Helen Bradbury told the city council that around 

30 acres of the property could be developed into up to 1,000 units of both market rate and affordable housing

, with the rest set aside for wetlands and green space. The development will also include new cross streets to facilitate access, a bike/pedestrian path, a dog park and more.

Facing rising population and home prices, Madison has set 

its goal of adding 15,000 new homes by 2030

, a quarter of those affordable in the long term. The city’s housing tracker says more than 4,300 net new homes have been built since January 2025, with another 4,500 currently under construction. [WPR, City of Madison]

Starkweather began construction in May, and the entire project is expected to last five to 10 years. 

Construction on the parcels purchased by the city could start in 2027

For 160 years, the 65-acre Voit Farm was a Madison fixture. Explore the ambitious new redevelopment plan bringing hundreds of homes, green space, and affordable housing to the city's east side.

Voit Farm Redevelopment: Transforming Madison’s East Side

How Voit Farm Will Transform Madison’s East Side

This week's news quiz dives into everything from a new downtown restaurant to a big shake-up at UW-Madison. Can you get every question right? 

Take Our Quiz on Recent Madison News! 

Test Your Madison News Knowledge!

With its boarded-over windows, weed-choked grounds and cracked parking lot, the Wonder Bar Steakhouse at 222 E. Olin Avenue has certainly seen better days. No wonder 

that a developer wants to tear down the bar, which has been closed for five years, and the also-shuttered Coliseum Bar & Grill

 next door and build a project that includes housing, commercial space and a bike trail.

But some neighbors say that if the building is demolished, so will its colorful history. They want to see it preserved somehow for future generations.

That preservation plan had a big setback recently when the city’s Landmarks Commission 

recommended denying the building landmark status

. However, the commission did say the site has historic value, which could add extra requirement permits to be secured before the building is demolished. [WMTV, WKOW]

Here’s a look at the Wonder Bar’s colorful history of mobsters and ghosts:

The Wonder Bar was opened in 1929 by Roger “The Terrible” Touhy

, an Irish-American mob boss in Chicago who was a rival of Al Capone. Some say Touhy was raking in over $1 million a year from bootlegging and gambling, and he opened the Wonder Bar as a place to launder his illicit gains out of state, and make more money smuggling booze into Wisconsin.

It was also an opportunity for Touhy’s bartender brother Eddie. The castle-like building was originally known as 

 and then Eddie’s Wonder Bar, and its clientele supposedly included famous mobsters of the day, including John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson. Although, as with so much surrounding the Wonder Bar, it’s hard to separate lore from reality. [ 🔒MJS, Cap Times]

The bar was often under surveillance by the FBI, and rumor has it that sections of the turret towers could be removed for mobsters to poke their tommyguns through in case of a raid. No shootouts were ever recorded.

There was also reportedly a tunnel that ran east towards Lake Monona that gangsters could use to smuggle booze and to escape if the “G-men” ever stormed the bar.

Eddie “disappeared” sometime in the 1950s, and rumor has it that 

his body was buried under the fireplace on the second floor

. Employees shared stories of hearing footsteps in the building in unoccupied areas, or finding objects moved from their original location. One manager said a friend of his went into the basement and felt like he was being choked. [American Ghost Walks]

While the Wonder Bar’s mob ties were cut in the 1950s, its history made the bar a favorite of local luminaries, 

who ordered martinis and gathered around the bar’s roaring fireplace

It was especially popular among UW Badger fans

, coaches and ex-players like Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch. The walls were decorated with remnants of its gangster past, including Frank Sinatra’s 1938 mug shot. [Cap Times, Madison Magazine]

The Wonder Bar closed in early 2021, a casualty of the COVID pandemic. Then-owner Dick Whelan was working with developers on building a $40 million, 18-story residential and commercial project. But those plans were put on hold by the Madison Plan Commission after 

a city preservation planner said the building had historic value

. It’s sat unoccupied for the past five years, waiting for the last chapter in its story to be told. [WMTV]

The Madison City Council will take up the Landmarks Commission’s recommendation on Sept. 8.

Discover the history of Madison's Wonder Bar Steakhouse as neighbors fight to save the Prohibition-era mobster hangout from a developer's demolition plans. 

The Colorful, Spooky History of Madison’s Wonder Bar

Uncovering the Ghosts of Madison’s Wonder Bar 

You may like pizza, but do you really know pizza? Madison has several popular local pizza restaurants, each serving their own distinctive signature pies. Take our quiz and see how well you know your slices.