I once met Frank Lloyd Wright

A 60-mile stretch of highway that honors Frank Lloyd Wright offers fun diversions
By James DannenbergSpecial to the Star-Bulletin
Wisconsin -- and this comes from a guy who moved away decades ago -- is a vastly underrated destination. In spite of what you might surmise from "Monday Night Football," there's a lot more to the place than dairy products. Certainly there are the well-known attractions of Door County, the Dells, the Great Northwoods and mega-events like Milwaukee's Summerfest, not to mention Packer tailgate parties, fish boils and the frigid lure of ice fishing, but much of what Wisconsin has to offer is less conspicuous and more genuine than mere tourist amusement.
Should you find yourself with a day or two on your hands in Madison, the cosmopolitan state capital, you might want to check out a 60-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 14 due west of town -- the Frank Lloyd Wright Memorial Highway.
Born in nearby Richland Center, the highway's western terminus, Wright still manages to arouse the passions of those who remember his Wisconsin years. Not all of those feelings are warm and fuzzy. The world's best-known architect, he needs little introduction. Nevertheless it's always entertaining to revisit his life, as locals are prone to do on a regular basis.
My late father-in-law Don Jones, like Wright a southern Wisconsin Welshman, used to disparage him as an egotist, womanizer and maybe even a murderer, referring to a 1914 fire that killed Wright's mistress and six others. History seems to have absolved Wright of responsibility for the fire, clearly the work of a crazed employee. My guess, however, is that the great man might have pleaded guilty as charged to the other counts.
His libidinous nature might not raise many eyebrows in today's world, but however much the world still pays homage to his reputation almost 50 years after his death, Wright's opinion of himself was second to none. One well-traveled story, the truth of which is of marginal relevance, suggests that when asked his profession on a witness stand he answered, "I am the world's greatest architect."
A friend later asked why he said that.
"I was under oath," Wright replied.