Steamboats; Riverboats; "Cape Girardeau"; Greene Line
This boat was built in Jeffersonville, Indiana and was originally called "Cape Girardeau". She was acquired by the Greene Line in 1935 and became their family boat with Captain Thomas R. Greene in command. His mother was usually on board with his...
Steamboats; Riverboats; Excursion boats; "Belle of Louisville"; "Idlewild"; "Avalon"; Rivers
The "Idlewild" was sold to J. Harold Gorsage in 1947 and the name was changed to "Avalon". She became the most widely traveled excursion boat on the rivers. During her tramping days she made stops at Omaha, Nebraska; New Orleans; Stillwater,...
If the "Delta Queen" was the swan of the Ohio, then the "Kentucky" was the Little Mud Hen. According to Way's Packet Directory, "the cabin was shifted out of plumb and leaned in a uniform stagger creating an optical illusion seen nowhere else...
This is the "M. G. Bright", the original No. 634. She was companion to the "Reuben Wells" and worked the incline until 1895 when she was replaced by the new coal burner. The Bright was of the rack and pinion style locomotive and was built by...
The Fairplay Fire Company #1 was founded in 1841. Four years later Joseph Todd and M. A. Gavitt were appointed to write the company's constitution and apply for a charter from the state. In 1846 the city council recognized the Ones, as they were...
This is the "M.G. Bright", the original no. "634". She was companion to the "Reuben Wells" and worked the incline until 1895 when she was replaced by the new coal burner. The "M.G. Bright" was equipped with two sets of cylinders. The first set was...
The inscription on the picture says, "Sternwheel Towboat "Samuel Clark" built in Pittsburg in 1870, was used on the Ohio River until 1916 when the superstructure was removed and the hull sold to Maj. J.F. Butts, Carrollton, Ky., for use as a barge...
This scene is the Ohio River during the terrible winter of 1917-1918. You can see the "Princess" locked in the ice. That winter was exceptionally cold and the river and its tributaries froze "stem to stern". It caused much destruction along the...
Sources vary as to who designed the hotel, though it is generally credited to Francis Costigan. The hotel encompassed 100 years of history in Madison. Another hotel, Fitzhugh's Hotel, which had been built in the 1830s was removed from the site...
Here is an example of the railroads and steamboats working together out of necessity. This was a time when the railroads also got into the steamboat business.
The original part of the building was built sometime in the early to mid 1800s with a new front being added in 1868. It served as a private home, an inn, and a private seminary in the 1850s, according to Brooklyn Cull, who has researched the...
Railroads; Railroad stations; Train depots; North Madison
This is the North Madison depot that was built about 1850. It was situated to the east of the railroad tracks on the south side of what is now State Road 7 as it makes its curve at the top of Hanging Rock Hill. It was part of the group of buildings...
In the early 1900s Marks and Benson, a men's clothier, began an advertising campaign that they would continue for over 25 years. Some of the rules and offers changed over the years, but basically when any boy, accompanied by a parent, purchased a...
Railroads; Train depots; Railroad stations; North Madison; Wirt, Indiana
Several passengers are seen waiting for locomotive "8404" to pull into the station. Notice the buggy parked behind the depot and the rolls of fencing to the side of the building. The station was once the North Madison depot which served there from...
Freemasons; Greek letter societies; Clubs; Libraries
The laying of the cornerstone for this building took place on April 13, 1871. Besides official papers such as the charter of the Grand Lodge of the State of Indiana, there were placed in the cornerstone such things as: a paper containing the names...
The "J.T. Hatfield" is seen here at Madison, just past the Madison-Milton bridge. She was built as the "General Ashburn" but her name was changed in honor of James T. Hatfield when the Hatfield-Campbell Creek Coal Company bought her in 1945. She...
Steamboats; Mail steamers; "Queen City"; Excursion boats; Riverboats; Steamboat accidents
The "Queen City" was built at Cincinnati Marine Railways for the Pittsburg and Cincinnati Packet Line. Coming back from a Mardi Gras trip she sank at the Falls of the Ohio on February 17, 1914. She laid up in the Kanawha River at Point Pleasant...
W. H. Miller established this business about 1886. At first it was a partnership with an acquaintance but Mr. Miller bought out the partnership early on and it has been in the Miller Family since. The mill was known for its fine quality of work. ...
In 1823 Jacob Salmon established one of the first breweries west of the Alleghenies. It was situated on, what was then, the eastern outskirts of Madison. We don't know the exact fate of that early brewery, but in 1856 the Greiner Family had...
This home is situated on a narrow lot only 22 feet wide. It was built in 1850 by the famous architect, Francis Costigan, who had already built the Lanier Mansion and Shrewsbury House, two premiere homes in Madison. Historic Madison on its web...
