The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Madison (Indiana)

MADISON, a city and the county seat of Jefferson co., Indiana, on the Ohio river, 90 m. below Cincinnati and 44 m. above Louisville, and at the terminus of the Madison division of the Jeffersonville, Madison, and Indianapolis railroad, 85 m. S. S. E. of Indianapolis; pop. in 1850, 8,012; in 1860, 8,130; in 1870, 10,709, of whom 2,194 were foreigners. It is beautifully situated, at an elevation secure from floods, in a valley about 3 m. long, enclosed on the north by a range of hills 400 ft. high. The streets are regularly laid out, and a large proportion of the houses are built of brick. It is lighted with gas and supplied with water by an aqueduct. Steamers ply daily to Cincinnati and Louisville. Madison contains several pork-packing establishments, and has an important trade in provisions. There are also brass and iron founderies, flouring mills, planing mills, tanneries, breweries, machine shops, &c. The banking capital amounts to $650,000, distributed between two national banks and one state bank. There are graded public schools, including a high school, a library of 4,000 volumes, a daily, a semi-weekly, and two weekly newspapers, and 15 churches. Madison was first settled in 1808.