Atwood Avenue and Schenk-Atwood: history, parks and places to start

A short history

The City of Madison's Schenk-Atwood walking tour traces the area's growth from the streetcar era:

• Streetcars and early suburbs: the Madison Lakes Improvement Co. marketed Elmside as a planned suburb in 1891, and electric streetcar service began in 1892. The tour calls Elmside the first suburb with public transportation.
• Schenk's Corners: Fred and Wilhelmine Schenk moved to the area in 1893 and opened a combined saloon and grocery, one of its first businesses. Later generations added a livery, a dry goods store and a hardware store, and the dry goods store grew into the east side's largest department store. The corner became a shopping area with groceries, pharmacies, banks, a bakery and movie theaters.
• Decline and renewal: the city says shopping malls and chain stores steadily reduced the district's activity after World War II, and the Atwood Avenue bypass of the 1970s sped that up. Renovations began near Schenk's Corners in the 1980s, including work on the old Eastwood theater.

The city's 2000 Schenk-Atwood-Starkweather-Worthington Park Neighborhood Plan, adopted March 7, 2000, covers the Dixon-Marquette Street, Schenk-Atwood, Starkweather and Worthington Park neighborhoods. It describes the Winnebago-Atwood intersection, known as Schenk's Corners, as a major business hub.

The neighborhood association and Goodman Community Center

The Schenk-Atwood-Starkweather-Yahara Neighborhood Association, usually shortened to SASY, is the area's neighborhood group. A recent column by its representative describes an environmental committee and a neighborhood grant program.

The Goodman Community Center sits on Waubesa Street, just off the avenue. According to its own site, it opened in 1954 as the Atwood Community Center in a small building on Atwood Avenue and was later renamed. Today it runs children's, teen, older adult and food programs from two buildings.

The Barrymore Theatre

The Barrymore Theatre at 2090 Atwood Ave. was built in 1929 as the Eastwood Theater. The city's walking tour says it was built by east side businessmen and was Madison's first theater built just for sound films, and that it was the only major theater outside downtown until the 1960s. The Barrymore's own site says the building was renamed in 1987 when two neighborhood figures converted it to a live performance venue, with a capacity of 971. See our live music guide.

AtwoodFest

AtwoodFest is a summer street festival on Atwood Avenue. City Cast Madison reports that it began in 1982 as Atwood Summerfest, a fundraiser for what is now the Goodman Community Center, and was renamed in 2014, when the Barrymore Theatre, the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center and SASY began hosting it together.

The 2025 festival ran July 26 and 27 in the 1900 and 2000 blocks of Atwood Avenue, with three music stages, local food and drink, a vendor market and the Convergence parade. Dates change each year, so check the festival's current announcements. For the rest of the summer calendar, see our festivals guide.

Olbrich, Lake Monona and Starkweather Creek

The east end of Atwood Avenue reaches Lake Monona.

• Olbrich Botanical Gardens, at 3330 Atwood Ave., has 16 acres of outdoor gardens that its site says are free and open daily. The Bolz Conservatory has an admission charge, with free hours on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon. The gardens are run as a partnership between the City of Madison Parks Division and the Olbrich Botanical Society. See our gardens guide.
• Olbrich Park, at 3527 Atwood Ave., is 90.01 acres on Lake Monona. The city lists a beach with swim ropes and no lifeguards, a canoe and kayak launch, and a boat launch at 3401 Atwood Ave. that gives access to the lake from the mouth of Starkweather Creek. A Lake Access Permit is required for the launch. See our lakes guide and swimming guide.
• Starkweather Creek: the 2000 neighborhood plan says the creek's east and west branches flow south through the area, join south of Milwaukee Street and enter Lake Monona at Olbrich Park. The city describes the Starkweather Creek bike path as paved, shared-use segments that mostly follow the creek. Starkweather Park, at 3510 Chicago Ave., is a 34.38-acre conservation park with no facilities.

Getting there

The avenue is a short bike ride or bus ride from the Capitol Square.

• Metro Transit: Metro's route descriptions show Route C, in both its C1 and C2 patterns, running on Atwood Avenue, and its map text descriptions list Route C every 15 minutes as of 2026. Routes and schedules change, so check Metro's planner before you go.
• Parking and biking: the festival closes blocks of the avenue, and AtwoodFest has bike corrals along the Capital City Path. Our getting around guide covers buses and bikes.

Places to start on Atwood Avenue

These are businesses in our directory with an Atwood Avenue address. Descriptions come from their directory listings. Hours and menus change, so check with each one.

• Monty's Blue Plate Diner: a diner in a converted gas station, with breakfast all day and a big vegetarian and vegan menu.
• Bar Corallini: a neighborhood Italian osteria with handmade pasta, Neapolitan pizza and mozzarella and burrata made daily.
• Taco Madre: a Baja California-style taco restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• Glass Nickel Pizza Co.: the original Glass Nickel, opened on Atwood Avenue in 1997.
• Lao Laan Xang Restaurant: a Laotian restaurant that sets out to introduce guests to Laos and its food.
• Forward Craft & Coffee: a neighborhood taproom serving espresso and nitro cold brew by day and craft beer and cocktails by night.
• The Victory Madison: a coffee and tea bar and art gallery serving breakfast and lunch all day.
• A Room of One's Own: an independent bookstore with events and book clubs.
• MadCity Music: a record store selling new and used vinyl, CDs and cassettes.
• Table Wine: a neighborhood wine shop and wine bar.
• Revolution Cycles: a small full-service bike shop focused on everyday commuters.