By Virginia Scholtz
Northside News
What is it like to go from being born in a small house in rural Portage 91 years ago to becoming a strong supporter of the waters, lakes and wildlife of Madison’s Northside? Jack Hurst knows because he’s done it.
Hurst was one of six children who lived in a house with no running water, no central heat, and an outhouse for the necessaries. His dad plowed the garden plot with the horse pulling a plow borrowed from a neighbor. The Great Depression hit its lowest point in 1933,1 the year Hurst was born. There wasn’t much work to be had, but growing a garden, hunting, fishing and some logging saw the family though those lean times.
Hurst remembers walking to the one-room schoolhouse near his home. There, his public education began, but it seems the best learning the young boy got was on the days when he was outdoors with his dad hunting and fishing. “Some of my best memories are being out with my dad, especially fishing, I loved to fish,” he said.
The family moved several times during his childhood. As a youngster, Hurst worked at nearby farms; and when he was old enough, at the local canning company. Eventually the family made their way to Dane County. Hurst attended Waunakee High School, where he was part of the state champion boxing team. He graduated at age 17.
By the age of 26, Hurst had met the love of his life, Marlene Salt. He said they got married twice: they married at St. Paul Lutheran Church in 1960 and celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary by repeating their vows in the same church. They have lived on the Northside since 1964. The Hursts have a son and a daughter, both of whom live nearby, and have three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. All of the family love being outdoors.
The wiry young Hurst thought about becoming a police detective or a fire fighter, but was told that, at a height of 5’10”, he was “too small” for that sort of work. He took a job at Gisholt Machine Company, which built large, precision manufacturing equipment forged from molten metal. At the time Gisholt was Madison’s largest employer.
Hurst worked there for 20 years when the company was bought out by Giddings and Lewis. Although Hurst had many years of service, the company’s pension vesting applied only to people over 40, and he was too young to retire.
The remainder of Jack’s working life was with the City of Madison, where he worked for the Streets Department and Traffic Engineering Department. If he were planning a career today, he said he would likely choose to work with the Department of Natural Resources.
As it is, most of his volunteer time is spent maintaining and restoring the natural habitat of the Northside. Hurst is a member of several ecological advocacy groups, including Wild Warner and the Dane County Conservation League, and is a past president of the Yahara Fishing Club. He is known informally as the Aldo Leopold of Warner Park.
Hurst has received many accolades and awards for his conservation work. In 2010 he was named Dane County Conservation League’s Conservationist of the Year. He has received three North Star Awards: one for his work with Wild Warner, one for his work with the Yahara Fishing Club, and one for being a major contributor to the well-being of the community.
Hurst recalls a time when the Warner Park Lagoons were known as Castle Marsh. The marsh was fed by the waters of Lake Mendota and was a spawning ground for freshwater fish, especially pike and bass. In her account, “The Flow of the Water — A History of Warner Park,” Trish O’Kane wrote, “In 1953 the Dane County Conservation League found that Castle Marsh was ‘the last good spawning ground on Lake Mendota and the only natural rearing pond in the area.’” In the late 1950s, it was decided to “make a fine park from the raw land.”2 Hurst advocated for maintaining the land in its natural state, but modifications to the park, including seeding much of the wild area with grass and the installation of a baseball diamond, have changed conditions.
At one time some city folks wanted to build a yacht club at Warner Park Beach on Woodward Drive, but Jack realized that would take away access to the lake for most of the public. He petitioned against the plan, and eventually the yacht club idea was dismissed.
Hurst noted that fish still spawn in the lagoons, and you can catch fish there. However, in the summer heat, the oxygen level in the waters of the park can get too low for aquatic life to survive. Hurst said. “I love to fish, I have easy access to lakes and to Warner Park, and I have invested my life on the environment and Madison’s chain of lakes.”
Warner Park is a major recipient of his efforts, and in 2022 the Jack Hurst Fishing Pier there was dedicated to honor him.
When asked what he would recommend to young people today, he cited education and communication. Hurst said, “Nothing is free, you have to earn it,” and the tools you need to earn your way in the world are education and communication.
Although there have been some incidents of tragedy in the area, Hurst considers his experience living in this part of town to be positive. “Everything I need is nearby,” including banks, health care, grocery and drug stores, restaurants, a farmers market, a library and more. He complimented the “good people” who run the Kwik Trip on Northport Drive and believes “the police are doing a great job.” Most of all, he said, it’s the people who live in the area that make it great. Neighbors on his block help each other out. He likes the diversity of ethnicity, religion, cultures and foods available in the area and said, “Everybody’s invited to the Northside.”
