Wonder Bar demolition vote Monday 10/5 at 5.30pm: Register your Opposition

Dear friends of the Wonder Bar,

Tomorrow, Monday, October 5, at 5:30 p.m., the Plan Commission will decide whether the Wonder Bar can be torn down. If the Commission approves the demolition permit, the owner can demolish the building, and the Wonder Bar will be gone for good. City planning staff took no position on the demolition, so what the Commission hears from the public matters.

You signed the petition to save the Wonder Bar, and the Commission needs to hear from you before the meeting. The agenda item is 222 East Olin Avenue, Agenda Item 7, Legistar 93871, and the meeting is virtual.

Act today. You can oppose the demolition in three ways, starting with the quickest.

• Register as Opposed. Registering takes only a few minutes. Open the City’s registration form for Monday's meeting  https://www.cityofmadison.com/city-hall/committees/meeting-schedule/register choose Plan Commission 10/05/2026 5.30pm, type agenda item number 7 “222 E Olin Ave,” into Agenda Item box and select Opposed. You do not have to speak.
• Register to speak. Speaking is the most effective thing you can do. Use the same form and choose to speak, and the City will email you the information you need to join the virtual meeting. Each speaker has up to three minutes, and the time limit is strict.
• Email written comments to the Plan Commission at pccomments@cityofmadison.com, with “Legistar 93871, 222 East Olin Avenue, Opposed” in the subject line. Send them before 3:00 p.m. Monday, so they become part of the public record before the meeting.[1]

Since 4 years have passed... there is a new petition at tinyurl.com/savethewonderbar  Please consider signing this petition as well.

Forward this email to friends who care about the Wonder Bar, and post the link to the registration form on social media so others can register Opposed. https://www.cityofmadison.com/city-hall/committees/meeting-schedule/register

Why the Commission should deny the permit

The Wonder Bar opened in 1932 as a Prohibition-era roadhouse on what was then Madison’s outskirts. In the 1940s and 1950s, it became a supper club, and it became a city restaurant after Madison annexed the area in 1962. In his statement of significance, John Rolling shows how that history traces Prohibition, the rise of the automobile, Madison’s growth, and changes in how people ate and drank. Rolling calls the Wonder Bar “clearly the outstanding example” of the few Madison-area roadhouses and supper clubs that remain. The Wonder Bar’s history is part of Madison’s story, and it is worth saving.

In July 2021, the Plan Commission rejected demolition of the Wonder Bar because of its historical significance and placed the demolition request on file. The developer then redesigned the project to keep the Wonder Bar, and the Commission approved it in June 2022. The approved project kept the Wonder Bar on its own lot, covering less than 12 percent of the site, next to a building with 192 apartments. Range Hill Partners now proposes a new multi-family project that would demolish the Wonder Bar and use the entire site.

In August 2026, the Landmarks Commission again found, by a unanimous vote, that the Wonder Bar has historic value.

No application for the new building has been submitted or approved. If the Commission approves the demolition permit, the approval lasts two years. The owner could tear down the Wonder Bar at any time in those two years, even if the new building never receives its approvals or financing. Not every approved project is built, and the project the Commission approved in 2022 never was.

To approve a demolition, the Commission must find that other factors outweigh the public interest in preserving historic buildings. Those factors include a building too deteriorated to save and a safety hazard documented by the Fire Department, Police Department, or Building Inspection Division. The City’s record contains no structural report, no economic feasibility analysis, and no such safety report. Range Hill’s own flyer says the building’s structural condition appears stable, but is unknown. The only evidence that the Wonder Bar cannot be saved is the developer’s word.

The owner and the developer refused to let a buyer who wants to save the Wonder Bar tour the building.

The Wonder Bar has stood on East Olin Avenue since 1932. Once it is torn down, it is gone for good. Register as Opposed today, and if you can, speak tomorrow. Thank you for signing the petition and for acting now.

Sample comment

Use this sample as a starting point and change the wording. A comment in your own words is more persuasive than a form letter.

Subject: Legistar 93871, 222 East Olin Avenue, Opposed
Dear Plan Commission members:
My name is [your name], and I live in [your neighborhood]. I oppose the permit to demolish the Wonder Bar at 222 East Olin Avenue. The Wonder Bar’s history as a Prohibition-era roadhouse and supper club is part of Madison’s story, and it is worth saving. [Make one point from this email in your own words.] [Add one sentence about what the Wonder Bar means to you.] I ask the Commission to deny the demolition permit.
[Your name]

If you speak

Give your name and where you live, and say that you oppose the demolition permit. Say that the Wonder Bar’s history is part of Madison’s story and worth saving. Make one or two points from this email, add what the Wonder Bar means to you, and ask the Commission to deny the permit. Finish within three minutes. It’s a hard cutoff.

We thank you for any action you are willing to take!!