Jan. 20
UW Regents endorse new athletic department policy of refusing to play teams or in locations that require racial segregation.
Jan. 28
Green Bay Packers hire Vince Lombardi, 45, as coach and general manager.
Feb. 4
State Building Commission releases $82,000 to buy 30 acres of University Hill Farms for a state office building.
March 4
Five AFSCME units consolidate as Madison Civil Service Employees Local No. 60.
April 5
UW boxer Charlie Mohr wins NCAA title, saying he'll skip Pan Am trials in Madison to concentrate on his studies and train for the Rome Olympics next summer. He later dies after a fight.
April 22
Thomas Brittingham Jr., president of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, and seed mogul Wilbur Renk, president of the Board of Regents, dedicate the Army Mathematics Research Center, part of $1.2 million addition to Sterling Hall on the UW campus. The building would be bombed on Aug. 23, 1970, as an antiwar protest.
June 3
Construction starts on the city's largest shopping center, Westgate, with 175,000 square feet and parking for 1,100 cars. Its hub store, J.C. Penney, at 35,000 square feet, will be the city's largest one-floor store when it opens in early 1960. The 26-store mall, owned by MJV Co. of Cleveland, will also have a Piggly Wiggly.
July 24
Second-generation Madisonian Emil Frautschi, grandfather of Overture philanthropist Jerry, dies at 87. Frautschi, who took over the family funeral home and furniture store, helped found the Madison Chamber of Commerce and served more than 20 years on the technical college board. He left $15,000 of his $125,000 estate to charity.
Aug. 27
The Madison Common Council bans alcohol in city parks after 10 pm.
Sept. 7
The UW-Madison opens its ultra-modern 11-story women's dormitory, Chadbourne Hall, complete with built-in furniture and hideaway beds.
Oct. 13
Capitol Square goes to six lanes after state gives in to the city's four-year effort to convert angled parking to parallel, speeding traffic through downtown.
Oct. 31
The Strand, 16 E. Mifflin St., has a Halloween double-feature: Return of the Fly and The Alligator People. The Orpheum features Rock Hudson and Doris Day in Pillow Talk.
Nov. 10
The Madison Redevelopment Authority files paperwork to initiate the process of demolishing the eastern Greenbush neighborhood. The authority will begin buying property in the summer of 1960, planning to complete purchases within three years.
Nov. 19
Grading gets under way for the Hilldale Shopping Center, with construction set for spring 1960. Also, the UW Regents vote to tear down the historic Armory/Red Gym (thankfully never done) and put underground parking between the Wisconsin Center and Memorial Union (still a dream for some).
Nov. 21-22
Badgers edge Minnesota 11-7 for Big Ten football title; happy celebration of 3,000 turns ugly after midnight as Langdon Street area is hit by fires and disorderly conduct.
Nov. 23
Ground is broken for the new Sequoya branch of Madison Public Library at Midvale Shopping Center. When it opens in April 1960, it will hold 20,000 books, twice as many as the branch it replaces.
Dec. 3
Controversial UW biochemist Karl Paul Link, previously censured by Regents, receives prestigious award for his work with Warfarin blood thinner.
Dec. 18
Mayoral granddaughter and senatorial daughter Mary Esther Vilas Hanks, 86, dies, leaving an estate valued at $850,000, and making Sen. William F. Vilas' $30 million bequest to the university available, including scholarships for "worthy and qualified candidates of Negro blood."
Stu Levitan is a radio host, labor arbitrator and author of Madison: The Illustrated Sesquicentennial History, Vol. 1 (UW Press, 2006).