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History · Madison

Madison’s post office opened in 1837, and 2 of its places are on the National Register

Most of Madison was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Its Register listings are the St. Francis River Bridge and the Bond, Scott, Family Plot. Below: maps from 1940 on and the census since 1880.

1837first post office
2on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Madison began

When was Madison founded?

1837

The Madison post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Crow Criek (1835), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 145 in 18802020 census: 759189 years
Founding year: the first Madison post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Madison’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Madison are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,263 in 1990; 759 people lived here in 2020.Deep rootsA post office since 1837: 189 years of Madison.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Madison’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Madison’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Madison, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,40018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,263

Peaked at 1,263 in 1990; 759 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Madison’s Wikipedia page.

Timeline

Madison, 1835 to 1990

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1835Post officeThe Crow Criek post office opens
  3. 1837Post officeThe Crow Criek post office closes
  4. 1837Post officeThe Madison post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1940On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 1,263
The story so far

Madison, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Madison yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Madison is a city in St. Francis County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, Madison had a population of 759.

Its first post office opened in 1837. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 769 in 2010, 759 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

Madison, decade by decade

Today19 recent
Madison AR 0212012Madison AR 021Madison AR 0202012Madison AR 020Madison AR 0192012Madison AR 019Madison AR 0152012Madison AR 015Madison AR 0142012Madison AR 014Madison AR 0132012Madison AR 013Madison AR 0122012Madison AR 012Madison AR 0112012Madison AR 011Madison AR 0102012Madison AR 010Madison AR 0092012Madison AR 009Madison AR 0082012Madison AR 008Madison AR 0072012Madison AR 007Madison AR 0062012Madison AR 006Madison AR 0052012Madison AR 005Madison AR 0042012Madison AR 004Madison AR 0032012Madison AR 003Madison AR 0022012Madison AR 002Madison AR 0012012Madison AR 001ARMap-doton-Madison2005ARMap-doton-Madison
On the map

Madison on the map, 1940 to 1976

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Madison. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Madison on the 1940 USGS mapMadison on the 1956 USGS mapMadison on the 1960 USGS mapMadison on the 1976 USGS map1940Whitmore sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Madison.

On the National Register

2 historic places in Madison

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1990
St. Francis River Bridge
St. Francis River BridgeBond, Scott, Family Plot
SitesStructures
St. Francis River BridgeStructure
All 2 listings
Bond, Scott, Family PlotSite · listed 2002

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Madison’s post office has been open since 1837. Another post office, Crow Criek, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Crow Criek
1835–1837
Madison
1837–today
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Crow Creek

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Madison’s history

What year was Madison founded?

The Madison post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Madison?

Two places: the St. Francis River Bridge (listed 1990) and the Bond, Scott, Family Plot (2002).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (19), the National Register of Historic Places (2), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.