Madison City Series

1923-1930

7km
4.3miles

   

Location of Original Madison City Series Members

When Madison East High School opened in 1922,^[1] it became the third public high school in the city, joining Madison Central (founded in 1853 as Madison's first public high school)^[2] and the University of Wisconsin High School (opened in 1911).^[3] The next year, interscholastic competition began between the three schools.^[4] While the Madison City Series was never officially formed as an organization, the two major local newspapers (the Capital Times and the Wisconsin State Journal) kept standings between the three schools and the Knights of Columbus began offering a traveling trophy^[5] to the city's football champions on an annual basis. In 1925, two of the three high schools (Madison Central and Madison East) joined the Southern Wisconsin Conference (later to be known as the Big Eight)^[6] but retained the City Series competition alongside. Wisconsin High gained their own conference affiliation in 1928, when they joined the Southern Six.

1930-1974

Madison West became a member of both the City Series and the Big Eight after opening in 1930,^[7] bringing the City Series to four schools. This would decrease to three in 1934 after the loss of Wisconsin High,^[8] citing difficulty in maintaining both a Southern Six and City Series schedule concurrently and lack of competitive balance as reasons for leaving.^[9] In 1947, the Zor Shrine took over sponsorship of the football championship trophy from the Knights of Columbus.^[10] Central, East and West competed in the City Series for just over three decades before new high schools were opened in Madison due to overcrowding of existing facilities. La Follette High School opened in 1963 on the city's far east side,^[11] and Madison Memorial High School followed suit on Madison's far west side in 1967.^[12] Both schools joined the City Series immediately after opening, offsetting the closing of Central-University High School in 1969.^[2] In 1974, Edgewood High School joined the City Series,^[13] the first time a private high school had ever been included in the competition.

1974-2017

7km
4.3miles

   

Location of Final Madison City Series Members

While the City Series held a level of significance among Madison high schools in its early years, the rise of conference competition in the Big Eight and state-level competition eventually superseded the City Series in both prestige and popularity. The Zor Shrine continued to sponsor a city championship among Madison's public high schools until 2017,^[14] but most City Series competitions tapered off in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Edgewood left the City Series at the conclusion of the 1988-89 season, which was the last time city standings were kept by the local media.^[15] The last championship awarded for hockey occurred in 1991, with Madison Memorial taking home top honors.

Final members

Former members

Boys Basketball

Football

Boys Hockey