She was built as the "Dolphin No. 3" at Jeffersonville, Indiana and was called the "Harry Anderson" for a brief period before receiving the name "Julius Fleischmann." She was owned by the Hatfield Coal Company and towed between the Kanawha River...
The "Hattie Brown" was built in 1884 and made a regular run from Warsaw to Madison, Indiana and back daily. She was converted to an oil engine in 1915; two years later she was lost in the terrible freeze of 1917-1918 when the Ohio River froze for...
Railroad employees are posed with the "Reuben Wells." It was originally given the number 35, but was later changed to No. 365, and was specifically built for the JM and I Railroad for use on the incline at Madison, Indiana. It went into service...
Steamboats; Riverboats; "City of Madison"; Dikes (Engineering)
Built in Madison in 1882, the boat was the second "City of Madison," the first having been lost in a devastating explosion during the Civil War. On June 18, 1894, she was returning from a trip to Memphis, with a stop-over in Owensboro, Kentucky,...
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...
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...
There were at least four depots in Madison during the life of the railroad. Not much is known of the first two. The Madison Courier on November 28, 1981 stated, "The first depot downtown was an old shed just around the bend in the track." It was at...
The "City of Madison" was built in 1860 and originally ran from Cincinnati to New Orleans. She was built in Madison, Indiana and was used as a government boat during the Civil War. She participated in Grant's campaign on the Tennessee and was at...
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...
The first water system for Madison was built between 1814 and 1817. While it did not serve everyone in the city it must have been a monumental achievement for such an early age. The first water ducts were hollowed out logs fitted into each other...
