The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-26
A CITY OF OTHER DAYS
CHARACTERISTICS OF QUAINT AND
CHARMING OLD MADISON.
Once a Center of Business and Wealth,
and Full of Literary, Professional
and Social Attractions.


vast toboggan slide, and so into the city
Of Madison, is about the sharpest transit
ton the traveller in Indiana can experience.
1t is as If one were suddenly transferred
from the new West to some venerable nook
in the older East or South, and in land
where the venerable is supposed to hardly
exist the surprise is pleasant. Madison is
eloquent of other days the memories OF
which should be preserved. Even the ma
tive Indianian is apt to forget that there
was a day, not so very remote, either, as
history goes, when the major part Of In
diana lay scattered along the Ohio valley
or within easy reach of it, and when rosy
hopes and dreams We're centered there
BrookvilIe, Lawrenceburg, Vevay, Madison,
Charlestown, Jacksonville, Corydon, Salem,
now stand striking examples of arrested de-
velopment and inconspicuous witnesses
of the ambitions that were before the
tide of life moved northward and
established other centers, leaving these on
the outer margin. OF the towns mentioned
Madison was and is the chief. A half CEN
fury ago she was to quote the words of
one of her citizens, 1.-The first city of In
diana-first in commerce. population, wealth,
literature, law, religion, politics and So
cial enjoyment" Now she leads them all
in quaintness and antique flavor. borrowed
of quiet streets and preponderance of old
time architecture, much of it accounted fine
in its day, and very charming now to him
who loves the by-gone. AS one saunters
through the more secluded thoroughfares
seeking the harvest of a quiet eye" simple,
massive structures, built to stand the tooth
of time. old-fashioned fan-lights, porticoes
and Doric columns, and gray stone walls
where the vines and grass tufts cling, lie on
every hand. Spacious yards, grown rank
with verdure, lead the vision through leafy
vistas to deep picturesque recesses among
the half-hidden wings and angles of rear
regions. Everywhere, in season, bloom the
prodigal althea flowers, held aloft by their
towering shrubs in glowing consultations,
and everywhere lie the golden-fecked shad-
ows. OF these older buildings a few may
be noted. Down toward the river stands the
pride of the town. the Lanier house, a stately
mansion built fifty years ago by the mil
lionaire financier, j. f. d. Lanier. The for
tunes of this family have preserved the
glory of the house and grounds, and from
the broad shadowy hall. with it's spiral
staircase and antique furnishings. one looks
ont between lofty Corinthian pillars, down
| terrace and lawn thick set with fruits and
| flowers to the shining river below and on
| into the great hollow laps of the blue Ken
| lucky hills. Then there is the old Milton
| Stapp place, with it's two magnificent elms
spanning a spacious lawn, where the states
| men and orators of a past generation,
| among them Henry Clay, addressed the as
| sembled crowds. Just where the town
| joins the hills stands picturesque st.
| Michaels Church, with It's weather-stained
steeple and cross ltnned sharply against
| the steep slope hard by, and the ivy-grown
| stones Of church and churchyard wall
| showing tangled masses of yellow and
green; and not the least interesting feature
| of the town is the long, low, squat market
house, where the people gather in animated
| throngs. Then there is the great Madison
Hotel, the biggest and handsomest house
of it's kind in the State when built; the
| old Branch Bank, with it's stately parthe-
non front, and many more.
LIFE IN THE OLD CITY.
Life in Madison is in admirable keeping
with all this. 1t is a poor place to make
money, but an excellent place to live cheap
ly and enjoy ones SELF if one loves quetude,
simplicity and sociability. All is free and
cordial. Everybody knows everybody, and
to put the street and number on ones mail
is entirely superfuous, because the mail
carrier knows his flock as the shepherd does
his sheep. OF pleasant summer evenings
people stroll on the streets, intermingling
like the members of one big family. At
o'clock the curfew rings, and all the chill
dren scamper for home. A little later the
adults turn in, and at proper hour the
town is sleeping the sleep of the innocent.
Interest in the place expands with better
acquaintance. East west and north the
towering hills close in, hemming the town
about, and any one of several roads will
lead you up past little houses perched, nest
like, on the steep slopes, to heights that
command far reaches of river and hills and
level bottom lands; and all the city below.
which, half buried in its trees, strings mar
rowly for perhaps two miles along its little
valley. On these airy submits are hand
some villas, also old, for the most part,
empowered in verdure, surrounded by broad
lawns and fruitful orchards, while hard by
primitive Nature reigns in the wild holIows
of the rock-ribbed hills. And this is the
Madison of to-day and it's environs.
There are manifest reasons why pioneer
John Paul in 1910 should have projected the
idea of founding a town here, for the long,
narrow plateau at the foot Of the hills with
an excellent river landing, an exceptionally
fine natural drainage and an altitude Sc
cure from floods, made a rare site. So the
beginning was made. When the State was
admitted to the Union in 1916 there was
according to an old Gazetteer mot exceed
ing three or four brick and twenty frame
houses, and probably one hundred cabins
But it grew, being favorably located on that
great highway of early days, the Ohio river
almost midway between Cincinnati and
Louisville. When the interior part Of the
State was opened and settled it was one of
the nearest river points, and the cutting
through of the Michigan road in the early
thirties put it in communication with the
new country which poured down its rapidly
growing commerce either to this port or to
Cincinnati. Then happened the thing which
was the real making of Madison, namely
the establishing of the Madison & Indian
apolis Railroad, the first track laid in the
Northwest The monopoly and full fruit
age of it lasted but a few years. but during
those years all things came that way, and
Madison was the veritable gateway of the
State through which the tides of trade
poured in and out. Back yonder IL the
swamps and woods a vigorous common
wealth was springing up; much wheat and
hogs innumerable had to come out; COM
modities to supply the wants of the growing
thousands had to so in, and the new rail-
road caught the vast bulk Of the traffic