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The Spirit of Our Roots

Madison, Mississippi, named for James Madison, the fourth President of the United States, grew up along a bustling railroad track in pre-Civil War Mississippi. It was 1856 when the Illinois Central Railroad opened its Madison Station, the forerunner of today’s City of Madison. Although nearby Madisonville, a settlement established along the stagecoach route of the Natchez Trace, boasted a race tack, two banks, a wagon factory and at least one hotel, its residents could not resist the lure of the future. The newly established railroad community began to thrive, and Madisonville soon became extinct.

Like many railroad towns in the south, Madison Station fell victim to the Civil War. Just 10 miles from the state capital, Jackson, Madison was largely destroyed after the July 18-22, 1861 siege of Jackson. Although no battles were waged on Madison soil, Major General S.D. Lee, who ordered the first shot of the Civil War, concentrated his command in Madison Station during the month of February 1864. General Lee was later to become the first President of Mississippi State College, now Mississippi State University.

The railroad continued to serve as a magnet for business growth after the Civil War. In 1897, the Madison Land Company encouraged our northern neighbors to “Go south, and grow up with the country.” Located in Chicago on the Illinois Central Railroad line, the Land Company’s interest in development prompted Madison to incorporate as a village, although the charter was later lost when regular elections were not held due to the failure of the “land boom.” The Land Company offered prime land for as little as $3 an acre. The company boasted that Mississippi had the lowest debt ratio in the nation at $19 per capita and that Mississippians were declared 1/3 healthier by “official figures” than people in New York and Massachusetts.

Fire almost completely destroyed the business and residential sections of Madison in 1900. Fortunately, a number of its earliest and most interesting buildings and churches survived and many are in active use today.

Among the earliest is what was once a farmhouse built on the Magee Plantation, located on the Natchez Trace. In 1856, the year Madison Station opened, teams of oxen were used to move the house to the Station community to provide a formal setting for religious services. For a time, this Methodist Church building served as a place of worship for all denominations. It remains on the corner of Main Street and Herron Street, housing Pickenpaugh Pottery.

The Montgomery House features rooms built in the 1850s. The house and veranda were completed in 1886, when it became a wedding gift for T. N. Jones’ bride, Lena. The Montgomery family acquired it early in this century, and family members continue to live there today. The home is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

Across Main Street is the Boudousquie House, built in the 1890s. The vera, which once graced the front of the house, was removed during renovations in the 1980s. During the 1990s, the structure, which has intimate rooms for dining, became home to several restaurants and now houses Realty Executives and Allstate Insurance offices.

Nearby is Hoy House, a simple farmhouse that was constructed in 1840 from heart pine and cypress. Mr. Hinkle, who was Madison’s first postmaster, built the house on a tract of land conveyed by the U.S. Government to William Spieghts in 1836. It is also listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

Another former postal employee, Dr. Lewis, built “the Norman Place” in 1872. Known as the Norman Place for the latter part of this century, it now houses Lee Hawkins Realty and was often included in the Jackson Pilgrimages of the 1970s.

Among commercial buildings that survived the devastating 1900 fire is the two-story Price-Cox building. Erected in 1890 by Senator Lee, it became the site of community dances after the turn of the century. In the 1920s and 1930s, Miss Helen Stewart operated the telegraph exchange for Madison out of this building for the town of then about 300 citizens. It served as a mercantile store for most of the 20th century and remains a focal point of town activity.

Until the 1930s, Main Street stopped at the railroad track. Across the track in an open field, town folks built a schoolhouse. Construction of the two-story building began in the 1890s and was completed by 1910. Children in grades one through 12 were educated here. The gym was dedicated in 1938. A yellow brick arcade was designed by the respected architect, Noel Webster Overstreet, whose public buildings, courthouses and schools are known for their innovation and art deco lines. These buildings now comprise the Madison County Cultural Center. A red caboose sits at the corner of the old Madison schoolhouse, a tribute to the years of commerce brought by the railroad.

Not surprising, Main Street was a dirt road as late as the 1930s. Servicemen in training for World War II at Madison’s Augustine Airport (now Bruce Campbell Field) needed a level surface for marching. Funding became available for the laying of hard surface streets.

A reminder of World War I is the Henry Rogers home. It was built by the Federal Government for Henry Rogers, Sr., shortly after

WWI ended as payment for the debilitating injuries he received while fighting for our country. His son, Henry Rogers, Jr., maintains the residence located just under the city water tower.

Three churches on Main Street are classic examples of architecture from the 1930s. The Susan B. Montgomery Memorial Methodist Church was dedicated in July 1930. Nearby Pilgrim Rest M.B. Church represents one of the earliest congregations formed in Madison Station. The first church building on this site was erected in 1886. A succession of buildings has served a growing congregation, and the white gothic building now standing on the original church ground was built in the 1930s. Plans are to renovate the building to serve as the Madison Welcome Center. St. Paul’s A.M.E. Church also has been the site of worship for most of this century. Elderly members of the congregation remember the days of “arbor bush” worship in this peaceful setting before the church building was erected in the 1930s.

A reminder of Madison’s glory days as a major railroad-shipping center is Strawberry Patch Park. Before becoming Madison’s first park, this land was indeed a strawberry field, actually one of many strawberry fields in the area. In the 1870s, local entrepreneurs L.T. McKay, his brother, Dr. H.E. McKay, Captain L. F. Montgomery and others encouraged the production of cotton and strawberries and developed Madison into a major shipping center, which existed well into the 1930s. At one time, Madison was touted as the “Strawberry Capital of the World” and Dr. McKay as the “Strawberry King of the South.” The McKay family home still stands adjacent to the park.

Madison remained a town until 1985, when the municipality was reclassified as a city. Recently, Madison The City celebrated its 150th anniversary as a community with a rousing Fourth of July celebration including the traditional July 4th ceremonial speeches, a birthday cake and fireworks.

The city has flourished as it has grown from a small town into a carefully planned city. The charm and small-town quality of yesteryear remain a strong influence in the future of Madison. Strict ordinances pertaining to architectural controls, landscaping and building guidelines have preserved the integrity of one of Mississippi’s fastest growing cities.