Posted September 6, 200618 yr From http://www.visitmadison.org/visitinfo_facts.htm: =>Madison’s downtown historic district contains over 1,520 nineteenth century structures (133 blocks listed on the National Register of Historic Places) designating it Indiana’s largest historic district. =>Madison's historic downtown was designated a National Historic Landmark Distrist in 2006. =>Madison is one of twelve Distinctive Destinations of 2001 selected by the National Register of Historic Preservation. A side street Another side street Trying to be like Hamilton! Lanier Mansion from behind Lanier Mansion frontal The "run down" side of town Lots of these... A long walkway follows the Ohio The bridge to Kentucky Madison's skyline from KY
September 6, 200618 yr Yay! Excellent tour of the crown jewel of Indiana's preservation activists! They have a historic home & garden walk in spring that draws people from near and far. Edit to add the following info: Early last Friday morning an arson fire gutted the Elks Lodge and the roof fell in. The adjacent former city hall, now housing legal offices, also received heavy damage. Two other nearby buildings were badly damaged. The investigation continues. The Elks Lodge is on the left and the old city hall is on the right in your photo:
September 6, 200618 yr Sold. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
September 7, 200618 yr A great long weekend getaway (which my wife and I did a few years ago): stay at Clifty Falls State Park and visit Madison for a day trip. It's not West Virginia, but then it's only an hour from the Cincinnati area. Madison has a wine tasting room and good restaurants.
September 7, 200618 yr Early last Friday morning an arson fire gutted the Elks Lodge and the roof fell in. The adjacent former city hall, now housing legal offices, also received heavy damage. Two other nearby buildings were badly damaged. The investigation continues. Oh my goodness, what a shame. I took a good look at these buildings, both are quite detailed. Although, I have a feeling that if there is anyway, Madison will pull together and save the buildings. Keep us informed if you can, although I doubt Madison makes it into the Ft. Wayne media much.
September 7, 200618 yr Scrap -n- Sniff? Double sold! Seriously, nice little town. I'd love to hear some war stories from the town planners/preservationists. Certainly there were some bouts of bad economy along the way that tempted folks to loosen their grip on the tiller. Speaking of, what's the economic driver around there? Agrarian, I'd imagine. Not recession proof, but a lot less volatile than heavy industrial.
September 7, 200618 yr How incredibly strange! One of my best friends is from Madison (a friend I subsequently talked into moving to Cleveland, but that's a story for another day). It is a beautiful city and has a pretty killer regatta, if you're into that kind of thing. The economy there is partially agrarian, although I think a substantial portion of people work in industry and increasingly in service jobs. A lot of individuals in this area commute to Louisville, and I think to a lesser extent, Cincy. Outside the city are a lot of old, intact farmhouses and large (4 acres + lots); Madison has also seen an explosion of McMansions, particularly overlooking the river. Thanks for the pictures ... my groggy eyes were definitely not expecting that this morning.
September 7, 200618 yr very sharp place. what i noticed and like even more is that whatever was not yet fixed up seemed like it was actively being repaired. what a shame about the fire.
September 7, 200618 yr Madison is a fantastic old river town. It's about 45 minutes from downtown Louisville and I know you have *some* people commute, but not a huge number. I've been several times and I am always amazed at the city. Great pictures. Thank you.
September 7, 200618 yr Splendid looking town. Are there any more historic towns in southern Indiana? New Harmony comes to mind immediately; the former utopian community is managed by the DNR, with many restored historic buildings open to the public and hosted by interpreters. It's also part of a living, working community with beautifully restored historic private homes and an attractive downtown. Paoli is a charmer, near the French Lick resort hotel and West Baden Springs, both hangouts for the rich and famous in the years before international jet travel. The 1840s Orange County courthouse in the center of the town square looks like something right out of New England. Paoli was the northernmost point reached by Confederate raiders led by General John Morgan. Most of Indiana's best-preserved historic locations are in the southern part of the state, along with the best state parks. Vincennes and Corydon both played strong parts in the state's early years and feature memorials and historic sites. Vincennes' downtown seems in steep decline, but the cluster of early buildings located near Grouseland, the William Henry Harrison home, is pretty interesting, as are the George Rogers Clark memorial, the basilica and the park along the river. It's quite beautiful in fall. Brown County State Park is the crown jewel of the system; the adjacent village of Nashville, once quiet and quaint, has become sort of a tourist trap, but in a mostly-tasteful way. It has high-quality shops and galleries. Indiana University's campus at Bloomington is quite pleasant. There's been a lot of construction since I was a student there, but most of the old stuff is still intact, in use, and well taken care of. Lots of limestone buildings, some with tile roofs, and lots of big trees make it an enjoyable place to stroll. </babble>
September 8, 200618 yr I agree, Madison is the crown jewel of preservation in Indiana. many of my mentors at Ball State started the process in the late sixties, and now my classmates have continued it in their architectural practices. One town I would recommend is Aurora, near Rising Sun. It has a number of Steamboat era mansions, and has an amazingly compact original street grid. Oh, and no levee. ...Yikes
September 8, 200618 yr Wow, looks like a great little town! This one is a preview of what Over-the-Rhine would look like if it had more businesses:
September 8, 200618 yr If I'm thinking of the right place, Aurora is a real beauty; are they the ones that do the big, old-fashioned Christmas celebration. That's pretty breathtaking. There are also some beautifully maintained historic villages on the western border of Indiana, over in Covered Bridge country. And I suppose it's more central than southern, but Centerville has a lot of beautiful building stock along its main street; the town has attempted to establish itself as the premier antique locale in the region.
September 9, 200618 yr I see they redid the Lanier Mansion. Madison was really popular in the 1970s for Louisvillians for day trips..we would go there and ride bikes, I remember. It became sort of an antique center, too. As much as I like Madison their riverfront is a bit snaggletooth. I sort of like Ripleys riverfront better. One of the interesting facts about Madison is that it had either the first or second railroad in Indiana, as a way to connect the inland parts of the state with the Ohio (this was the impetus for a number of early lines in the Ohio valley...to connect inland areas with the river). The Madison railroad used a stationary engine to pull trains up to the top of the bluffs, where they could be hitched to a locomotive. This was used in early railroads in England for steep grades, like the Liverpool and Manchester and one of the early lines out of London. The Madison example would be one of the few in the US. I think Madison was the largest city in Indiana until Indianapolis took over. It certainly is frozen in time...I guess this is a bit what Louisville or Cincinnati looked like before they became much larger and replaced their older buildings with newer. For other neat river towns...in Indiana there is Vevay, between Madison and Rising Sun. It also has very nice old buildings. I wasnt too impressed with the rivertowns downriver from Louisville (Tell City and Cannellton, except for that huge mill in Tell City). On the Kentucky side the largest between Louisville and Cincinnati is Carrollton, but it isn't as big or quite as nice as Madison. The better Kentucky towns seem to be upriver from Cincinnati: Augusta and Maysville. Maysville in particular is really neat as the town actually climbis the bluffs behind, and the downtown is rather dense and intact...actually a bit more dense than Madisons'...but more later 19th/20th century (though there are quite a bit of antebellum things in town, too).
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