Throughout the 20th century, Madison progressed slowly from a rural economy to one based on seasonal residents and then to that of a largely residential community. The development along the shoreline that marked the first 50 years of the century eventually spread inland to the rest of Madison. From 1,500 residents in 1900, the population swelled to a suburban community of over 16,000. This book is a photographic journey of this growing town, which changed significantly following the completion of the Connecticut Turnpike. Images document commercial establishments, the 1938 hurricane, the Field Company, the Future Farmers Fair, and the construction of the Connecticut Turnpike.
Carved from the Connecticut Western Reserve, Madison Township was formally organized in 1811. Lake Erie, the Grand River, and fertile land attracted New England settlers arriving by foot and oxcart. They cleared wooded land to make way for farms and survived Ohio winters in log homes. The discovery of bog iron created a boomtown near the mouth of Arcola Creek. Astute businessmen built smelting furnaces and ships. But when the iron pits were exhausted, both industries disappeared and so did the boomtown. Fertile land remained to support farms, and later a modern landscape nursery industry arose. In the 1920s, the Lake Erie shore was again discovered--this time by land developers and summer vacationers. Over the past 200 years, Madison's families built businesses, beautiful homes, schools, and churches. They left a historic legacy that remains to be enjoyed today.
This fertile and beautiful land, with its small rivers and valleys and surrounding mountains, was designated Madison County in 1792. The county was named for the family of James Madison, fourth president of the United States and the father of the Constitution. His family ran a mill on the Rapidan River, which is now located in the southern section of Madison County. Early in the 18th century, descendants of English and French colonials settled the southern sections of the county, and Quakers and German Lutherans settled the northern sections. Madison County's first church, Hebron Lutheran, was built in 1740, and its public church school was opened in 1748. Archaeologists have gathered evidence that Native Americans hunted and gathered in the region thousands of years earlier.
On September 14, 1812, territorial governor Ninian Edwards set aside the third county of the Illinois Territory and named it Madison for his friend Pres. James Madison. The boundaries of the newly created Madison County extended from its current southern border to the northern border of the Illinois territory and from the Wabash River on the east to the Mississippi River on the west. There were only a few settlements, and the daily life of the early pioneers consisted of the hard work required to survive. But the settlers did survive, and the county grew in population while shrinking to its current geographical size. Small settlements became thriving communities, such as Edwardsville, Alton, Collinsville, Highland, Granite City, and many others. In 200 years, the county has moved from an economy based almost completely on agriculture to one that has included railroads, flour mills, coal mines, steel mills, and oil refineries.
A Word Portrait of an American Founder. America has had few political thinkers who have rivalled James Madison. The son of a wealthy planter, Madison was an unhealthy child and was beset by physical infirmities throughout his long life, and grew into a cerebral man. Madison left Virginia to attend the College of New Jersey, but returned to his native state after completing his studies. Though he aspired to be a college professor, Madison instead went into public service and became one of the most influential, guiding voices of the Founding Era. Madison’s Virginia Plan would be used as a blueprint for the Constitutional Convention, where the Articles of Confederation would be replaced with a new Constitution that bore traces of Madison’s influence throughout. Editor John Kaminski has gathered a remarkable collection of quotations by and about James Madison for the third installment of his Word Portraits of America’s Founders series. Through these words by and about Madison, we learn more about one of the country’s most influential Founding Fathers, who held a lifelong commitment to liberty and opposed oppression.
A supplemental textbook for middle and high school students, Hoosiers and the American Story provides intimate views of individuals and places in Indiana set within themes from American history. During the frontier days when Americans battled with and exiled native peoples from the East, Indiana was on the leading edge of America’s westward expansion. As waves of immigrants swept across the Appalachians and eastern waterways, Indiana became established as both a crossroads and as a vital part of Middle America. Indiana’s stories illuminate the history of American agriculture, wars, industrialization, ethnic conflicts, technological improvements, political battles, transportation networks, economic shifts, social welfare initiatives, and more. In so doing, they elucidate large national issues so that students can relate personally to the ideas and events that comprise American history. At the same time, the stories shed light on what it means to be a Hoosier, today and in the past.
In Indiana through Tradition and Change: A History of the Hoosier State and Its People, 1920–1945 (vol. 5, History of Indiana Series), author James H. Madison covers Indiana during the period between World War I and World War II. Madison follows the generally topical organization set by previous volumes in the series, with initial chapters devoted to politics and later chapters to social, economic, and cultural questions. The last chapter provides an overview of the home front during World War II. Each chapter is intended to stand alone, but a fuller understanding of subjects and themes treated in any one chapter will result from a reading of the whole book. The book includes a bibliography, notes, and index.
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