The gift of Frautschi Point: a generous family gift that closed a lakeshore gap

A critical gap in the Lakeshore Path

Along the shores of Lake Mendota beyond Picnic Point lies land that that until recently not well known to UW-Madison students. Second Point, as it was long known, was private land. No trespassing signs marked its lake path entrances. Two homes stood on the point. It was a favorite duck hunting ground for the owners and their friends. There was even a sea plane hanger on its shore.

Strikingly, Second Point represented a critical gap in the Lakeshore Path. It was an obstacle for anyone who might have wished to walk along the Lake Mendota shoreline past Picnic Point to the old Tent Colony and to Eagle Heights Woods beyond.

The Reginald Jackson estate

For many years, Second Point had been owned by Dr. Reginald Jackson, a prominent Madison physician who had founded and led the Jackson Clinic. The last member of the family to live on Second Point was his son, Dr. Reginald Jackson Jr.

Following Jackson's death in 1978, Second Point was left by will to the Northwestern University Medical School and to the State Medical Society of Wisconsin. Because these organizations would in all likelihood sell the land to gain realize its financial value, the Jackson bequest seemed to guarantee that the gap in the Lakeshore Path would be permanent.

The last remaining tract of undeveloped private shoreline near campus

Behind the scenes, informal discussions were soon under way to try to avert the loss of this last remaining tract of undeveloped Mendota shoreline. At the time, UW-Madison owned some land in Chicago that was potentially of much greater value to the Northwestern Medical School than their acreage on Second Point in faraway Madison, Wisconsin. For their part, Northwestern and the Medical Society wanted to find a buyer and avoid controversy at the same time.

Progress was made, but the university's ability to conclude a purchase still seemed remote.

Honoring a great university benefactor

Elsewhere in Madison, the family of long-time University benefactor, Walter A. Frautschi, was wondering if it might be able to help save the lands of Second Point. Walter Frautschi was a Madison businessman and a member of the UW Class of 1924.

Walter's two sons, John and Jerry, thought that a gift of Second Point to the University would be a wonderful way to honor their father's lifetime of devotion and service to the University and to the people of Madison. Their generosity resulted in the gift of Second Point to the University in 1988.

The gap in the Lakeshore Path was thus permanently closed, and the University gratefully renamed the land Frautschi Point in honor of Walter A. Frautschi. Later, Mrs. Walter Frautschi, (Dorothy) made a further gift to the University by contributing an endowment to support the long-term care of this beautiful place.

Creating the Lakeshore Nature Preserve

The Frautschis declared their intention that Frautschi Point be used to extend hiking trails beyond Picnic Point toward Eagle Heights Woods, thereby extending the Lakeshore Path to its full current length of more than four miles. Frautschi Point, they said, should offer a place to observe and protect nature; and where UW students and faculty members could practice long-term stewardship and restoration ecology on lands near the campus.

Frautschi Point is thus the keystone that now connects two tracts of university-owned shoreline that hand long been separated by a large tract of private land. In this sense, the gift of Frautschi Point made possible the creation of a continuous corridor of undeveloped natural green space from the Union Terrace all the way to Eagle Heights Woods.

In a very real sense, this single gift set the stage for establishing and permanently protecting the Lakeshore Nature Preserve a decade and a half later. All who love the Preserve thus owe a great debt to the Frautschi family for their remarkable generosity and vision.

Read more about this gift on the page for Frautschi Point.

Learn how you can contribute to the Preserve here.

Author: Richard McCoy Version 1b, 11/17/06