5 Facts About Wisconsin's Capital: How Well Do You Know Madison?

Madison is the second-largest city in Wisconsin, and often ranks at the top of lists about the best college towns in America. However, those are not the only facts about Madison worth knowing. It's located just over an hour from Milwaukee and the Lake Michigan coast, and is home to over 233,000 residents.

The following are a few other insights about Madison, aka Mad City:

1. Built on an Isthmus: An isthmus is a narrow strip of land, and for Madison, this means that it sits between two lakes Monona and Mendota. Only one other city in the U.S., Seattle, was constructed an isthmus.

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2. Brat Fest: Every year over Memorial Day weekend, Madison hosts The World's Largest Brat Fest, and it's estimated that the event has sold over 3 million brats and it "has raised more than $1,300,000 for local charities," according to the festival's website. That equates to over 330 gallons of ketchup and about half of that in mustard.

3. Radio history: Since 1909, WHA radio has been broadcasting continuously, boasting that this makes it the oldest radio stations to do so. Yet, a handful of other stations also claim to have cranked up operations during that time as well from across the nation.

Regardless, WHA proudly hangs a sign that says, "The Oldest Station in the Nation ... in existence longer than any other," according to OldRadio.com.

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4. Bone Marrow Transplant: The first bone-marrow transplant procedure was performed at University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1968, a 2-year-old boy received a diagnosis of Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome, "a deadly disease that causes unstoppable internal bleeding," according to UW Health's website. He then underwent the bone-marrow transplant.

5. Stem Cells History: Building on Madison's medical success, in 1998, researchers announced the successful cultivation in the laboratory of human embryonic stem cells. The cultivation was the end of a "17-year international race to be the first to capture and sustainably culture human embryonic stem cells," according to University of Wisconsin-Madison's website.

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