A history of Madison,
then and now
Postcards, papers and photographs of Madison from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Madison was laid out and platted in 1810, and the first lots were sold in 1811 by John Paul. It had busy early years due to heavy river traffic and its position as an entry point into the Indiana Territory along the historic Old Michigan Road. Madison's location across the Ohio River from Kentucky, a slave state, made it an important location on the Underground Railroad, which worked to free fugitive slaves. George DeBaptiste's barbershop in town became a nerve center of the local group. By 1850, Madison was the third-largest city in Indiana (after New Albany and Indianapolis), and among the 100 largest cities in the U.S.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Madison’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewLieutenant Colonel William G. Man…, 1863: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Madison, decade by decade
1990s
CommonsMain Street2019
CommonsMain Street2019
CommonsHentz Lane2019
CommonsHentz Lane2019
CommonsHentz Lane2019
Commons4th Street2019
Commons301 E Main (Ohio River Scenic Byway) 2632019
CommonsMadison Municipal Airport KIMS2018
CommonsUntitled photo2013
CommonsMadison Township, IN, USA - panoramio (43)2013
CommonsMadison, IN P409003420055 historic places in Madison
Madison has 5 listings on the National Register, and they protect 1,671 historic buildings, because Madison Historic District alone counts 1,666. 3 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier, which fewer than 3% of listings reach.
Where they are
When they were listed
LandmarkListed 1994Charles L. Shrewsbury House LandmarkListed 1973Madison Historic District LandmarkListed 1994Lanier Mansion
Listed 1973Jefferson County Jail
Listed 1992Crawford-Whitehead-Ross HouseThen & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Lieutenant Colonel William G. Mank provides the eulogy at the funeral of Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Glass, Madison, India… (1863) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15From Wikimedia Commons (13), the Library of Congress (3) and the National Register (2). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.