At that time the City Beautiful movement was sweeping parts of the country, aiming to provide pleasant public parks and facilities to uplift all residents, including the lower classes.

[1] In 1909 the city of Madison approved building a structure to bring the scattered vendors together in one organized space.

[1] The structure cost $14,000 to build and the Wisconsin State Journal described it as the "most artistic piece of property owned by the city.

Many farmers preferred to sell in other places and by the 1920s the market was being used as a dance hall and teen center, and later as a garage by the streets department.

[3] The following year it was added to the NRHP as an early representative of civic improvement in Madison and as a rather rare example of Prairie School architecture in a public building.