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–Not graded
History · Madison Township

55% of Madison Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1973 on, and the census since 1880.

0on the National Register
55%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Madison Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Madison Township’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Madison Township’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Madison Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view1883 bird's eye view of Madison, county…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Madison Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Madison Township.

Read it all →

Madison's origin is defined by a unique relocation of settlers from Madison, Wisconsin driven by the arrival of the railroad. In the early 1870s, two competing settlements existed in the area: Old Madison, established in 1873 on the south shore of Lake Madison, and Herman, located on the shores of Lake Herman. In 1880, C.B. Kennedy, a local homesteader, negotiated with the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad to survey a route through his land, which sat in the fertile valley between the two lakes.

ChaptersEarly history and relocationCulture and preservation2022 derecho

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Madison Township, 1883 to 1973

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883In the archive1883 bird's eye view of Madison, county seat of Lake Co. Dakota
  3. 20th century
  4. 1905In the archiveState Normal School
  5. 1913In the archiveState Normal, Madison, So. Dak
  6. 1973On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Madison Township, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s–1910s4 items
1883 bird's eye view of Madison, county seat of Lake Co. Dakota18831883 bird's eye view of Madison, county seat of Lake …State Normal School1905State Normal SchoolFirst National Bank Madison S.D1909First National Bank Madison S.DPostcardState Normal, Madison, So. Dak1913State Normal, Madison, So. DakPostcard
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
On the map

Madison Township on the map, 1973 to 1985

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

Madison Township on the 1973 USGS mapMadison Township on the 1985 USGS map1973LaBolt sheet · 1:24,000

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

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

1883 bird's eye view of Madison, county seat of Lake Co. Dakota
Retake this view1883 bird's eye view of Madison, county seat of Lake Co. Dakota, 1883

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Madison Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Madison Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,5006,0006,5007,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 6,540

Between 96 and 6,540 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Grant Center Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGeorgia TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townStockholm Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townVernon TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Madison Township’s history

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 (4), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.