Madison is a city in South central Wisconsin, the capital of the state and the seat of Dane County.

In addition to its important governmental activities, Madison is a commercial, educational, and manufacturing center and the distribution point for a productive farming region.

The city is home to several large insurance companies and the headquarters of a national processor of meat products. It also has a growing core of high-technology companies.

Madison is noted for its large medical complexes and many research and testing laboratories, including the Forest Products Laboratory of the United States Forest Service, established in 1910 as the world’s first center for wood research.

Madison was founded in 1836 by a former federal judge, James Doty, and his partner, territorial governor Stevens T. Mason. Doty persuaded the legislature to move the capital of the newly formed Wisconsin Territory to Madison from its temporary location at Belmont, even though the site was still an empty tract of land.

The city was named for James Madison, fourth president of the United States, who had died that year. Settlement began in 1837, and the community began to function as the territorial capital in 1838; the village incorporated in 1848.