The first settlers came to Madison primarily by way of the Ohio River. Before settlement, Madison was nothing more than a long table of land reaching from the tall, surrounding hills to meet the river’s edge. This table of land was, for the most part, high above the river out of reach of most floodwaters.
Early pioneers, traveling by flatboat 2 on the Ohio River, told of seeing smoke from Indian campfires in the area that is now Madison. Later when white settles came, the Indians remained in the vicinity for quite some time.
Jefferson County was ceded by the Indians by a treaty on August 21st, 1805, in a tract including Jefferson, Ripley, Jennings, Scott Jackson, Washington, and Orange counties. The treaty was signed by the Delaware, Eel River, Potawotomi, Miami, and Wea tribes, was made by General William Henry Harrison.
White people were known to have settled in this section of Indiana after the turn of the 19th century. However, there was no settlement at that time in what is now Madison.
The first settlers in the river bottom near Madison were William and John Hall in 1806. John Henry Wagner came here in 1808 settling on the high bank near where Jefferson Street is now.
John Paul and Lewis Davis purchased the land where the city now stands from the government in 1809. Paul, Davis and Jonathan Lyon laid out the town in 1810. The first sale of lots was held in the following year.
The original town was laid off in sixteen squares, with the streets running directly east and west and north and south. The five streets running east and west were: High Street (now First). Second, Main Cross (main), Third and Back (Fourth). High Street was the southern boundary and Back Street was the northern boundary. The five street running north and south at right angles to the streets previously named were: East. Walnut, Main (Jefferson), Mulberry and West Street.
The streets were only called so by courtesy They were just paths through stumps and mud holes, no sidewalks, no churches, no schools, no courthouse, no jail, no lights – just a few log cabins. The traffic, if it could be called such, was along the river mostly by skiffs, piroques, and canoes. Later barges and ferries made their appearance. Steamboats 2 3 4 5 6 had not yet been invented.
At first John Paul called the town Wakefield but soon changed it to Madison, probably influenced by a desire to honor President James Madison. The county, named Jefferson, was organized in 1811 and county records date from that time.
James Lewis, an early settler, later told of Madison’s early days:” There was no landing then in Madison. The original sycamore, cottonwood and willow trees were standing under and on the high bank; these grew out into the water, especially the cottonwoods. Col. John Paul had cut the trees from the front of his house. Our first citizens erected houses in the second, or high, river bank, and when Walnut, Main, Mulberry and West Streets were graded, it left the houses high above the street.
Life was very primitive in the first years. Bricks from native clay were used for dwellings in town. Block houses were erected throughout the county as a protection against Indians. However, for the most part, the Indians were friendly.
Jefferson County was organized through division of Clark and Dearborn counties by an act signed by William Henry Harrison in 1810. Harrison was the first territorial Governor of Indiana. Under the act, Madison was named as the seat of justice of the new county. The first courthouse was built in 1812. Attempt was made in 1811 to move the territorial capitol to Madison from Vincennes. Since most of Indiana’s population was confined to the southern half of the Indiana Territory at that time, Madison was centrally located among the future state’s inhabitants, the local citizens argued. The attempt failed.
The town of Madison was incorporated by a special act of the state legislature on April 15, 1824. The Trustees of Madison appointed a town surveyor and street commissioners.
When the western boundary of the town was extended, John Paul laid out the new street to follow the bend in the river. This is why there is a bend in the streets running east and west beginning at West Street. This caused considerable indignation among the residents of that time who desired the streets to remain straight from one end of town to the other.
By 1818 Madison’s residents numbered more than 800. There were 144 families and 123 dwellings at the time. The population of Madison by 1827 had increased to 1300. Fourteen stores, ten
(Farmers Market)
groceries, two taverns, two cotton spinning factories, one wool cording machine, two oil mills, one rope factory, two meeting houses (Presbyterian and Methodist), one printing office, one Masonic Hall, one grist mill, steam mill, six lawyers, six physicians, an academy, courthouse and one market comprised the town. Population of the county was 12,000. The villages of New London and Paris were flourishing.
(Broadway Hotel)
An early settler described it this way:
“This town, seat of justice of Jefferson County, is the most populous of any other in the state. It is only a few years since it has had its name, and now contains a population of about 4,000 inhabitants. The houses are mostly brick, and new, consequently make a clean appearance, especially when taken in connection with the wide and straight streets, handsomely graded and paved.
The number of brick houses is about 400, and preparations are making for resuming the building of others as soon as the spring season favors. Some of the residences look very desirable.”
Madison was incorporated by Mood Park in 1838. Moody Park was the first mayor. Pictures of all the past mayors adorn the walls of today’s City Hall.
As settlers arrived, by boat and overland from New England and the South, they brought along with their treasures, possessions, dreams of homes they would build – designed to retain the architectural flavor of the localities from which they came.
Thus, the heritage of Madison came to be unique to Southern, Indiana, a heritage of architectural styles ranging from Gothic, Georgian, and Regency to Classic Revival, Federal and Americanized Italian Villa. Many of these are preserved to this day, and others are being restored by Historic Madison, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of local landmarks and promotion of cultural projects.
POLITICAL GIANTS AND LUMINARIES
A large part of the testimony as to the greatness of any community should be devoted to an accounting of the works of her citizens past and present. Madison qualifies. During the 19th and 20th centuries the verdant valley and the surrounding hills nurtured many who, in later years, were to be known on state and national levels. The same period of time has seen Madison in the honored role of host to national and international celebrities. It would be foolhardy, however, to suggest that the following list is complete in any sense of the word.
When Indiana became a state in 1816, William Hendricks was elected the first representative from the new state to the U.S. Congress where he served six years. In 1822 he was elected Indiana’s second Governor. Before his term was completed, he was elected a U.S. Senator. His son, William, Jr., served for a time in the state Senate.
