Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
General Motors bought out a local factory in 1919 and began Janesville's first assembly
line. Within a decade, more than half of the city owed its economic fortunes to GM—and
diduntiltheshockingeconomiccollapseof2009leftitsfinalGMplantshuttered.Butblue-
collar doesn't mean generic. You'd be amazed how trim and architecturally special the city
can be (approximately one-fifth of all of Wisconsin's buildings on the National Register of
Historic Places can be found in Janesville).
Rotary Gardens
One slice of the city's 2,100 acres of park, the
Rotary Gardens
(1455 Palmer Dr., 608/
752-3885,
www.rotarygardens.org
,
dawn-dusk daily year-round, $5 adults, $3 children)
spread over a dozen acres and encompass several landscaping techniques—Japanese rock,
English cottage, French, Italian, sunken, and perennial, all united by a theme of Dialogue:
WorldPeaceThroughFreedom.Acrossthestreetyou'llfindasegmentoftheIceAgeTrail.
Not far from Rotary Gardens is
Palmer Park
(2501 Palmer Dr.), a large green space
with a wading pool, tennis courts, and the CAMDEN Playground, the largest fully access-
ible playground in the United States.
Lincoln-Tallman House
The
Lincoln-Tallman House
(440N.JacksonSt.,608/752-459,9am-4pm daily June-Sept.
and Dec., $8 adults), the 1855 home of a prominent abolitionist, is the only private resid-
ence in Wisconsin in which Abe Lincoln hung his hat. Architecture mavens have called it
one of the finest of its kind in America. Also on site are the original horse barn and a Greek
revival stone house once used by servants.
