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Madison County, Iowa

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
54historic places
—earliest paper
1846formed
16,548pop. 2020
55cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 54 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1976. Most listings are in or near Winterset, Earlham, St. Charles.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Iowa is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Madison titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

49 of 54 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

54 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Allen, James, Stone BarnEarlhamBuilding1987
Armstrong, George and Susan Guiberson, HouseWintersetBuilding1987
Bevington, C. D. and Eliza Heath, PrivyWintersetBuilding1987
Bevington, C. D., House and Stone BarnWintersetBuilding1976
Bricker-Price BlockEarlhamBuilding2017
Church, Seymour, HouseWintersetBuilding1987
Cornell, W. J. and Nettie J., HouseWintersetBuilding1991
Craven, J. D., Women's Relief Corps HallMacksburgBuilding1984
Cunningham BridgeBevingtonStructure1998
Cutler-Donahue Covered BridgeWintersetStructure1976
Drake, John and Amanda Bigler, HouseWintersetBuilding1987
Duff BarnWintersetBuilding1993
Duncan, John M., HouseWintersetBuilding1987
Earlham Public SchoolEarlhamBuilding1982
Early, John and Elizabeth McMurn, HouseEarlhamBuilding1993
Evans, Henry and Elizabeth Adkinson, HouseWintersetBuilding1987
Ford, W. T., HouseEarlhamBuilding1987
Guiberson HouseWintersetBuilding1979
Henderson, Daniel and Nancy Swaford, HouseEarlhamBuilding1987
Hogback Covered BridgeWintersetStructure1976
Holliwell Covered BridgeWintersetStructure1976
Holmes, John S. and Elizabeth Beem, BarnSt. CharlesBuilding1987
Hornback, Emily, HouseWintersetBuilding1987
Imes Covered BridgeSt. CharlesStructure1979
Kellogg, Miles and Elizabeth Smith, HouseWintersetBuilding2017
Lewis, Judge W.H. and Emma, Historic DistrictWintersetDistrict2020
Macumber, John Andrew and Sara, Ice HouseWintersetBuilding1993
Madison County CourthouseWintersetBuilding1976
McDonald HouseWintersetBuilding1993
McQuie, Peter and Isabelle McCulloch, MilkhouseEarlhamBuilding1987
Miller BridgeWintersetStructure1998
Morgan BridgePeruStructure1998
Nichols, William Anzi, HouseWintersetBuilding1987
North River Stone SchoolhouseWintersetBuilding1977
Ogburn, William, HouseEast PeruBuilding1987
Queen, Hogan and Martha A. Runkle, HouseSt. CharlesBuilding1987
Roseman Covered BridgeWintersetStructure1976
Schnellbacher, John and Fredericka Meyer, HouseWintersetBuilding1987
Schoenenberger, Nicholas, House and BarnWintersetBuilding1984
Seerley, William and Mary (Messersmith) Barn and Milkhouse-SmokehouseEarlhamBuilding2009
Shriver, William R. and Martha Foster, HouseWintersetBuilding1993
Smith, Hiram C., HouseWintersetBuilding1987
Smith, Hiram C., Milking ShedWintersetBuilding1987
Sprague, Brown, and Knowlton StoreWintersetBuilding1987
St. Patrick's ChurchCummingBuilding1978
Tidrick, Miller Richard and Mary Fisher, HouseWintersetBuilding1993
Vawter, J. G. and Elizabeth S., HouseWintersetBuilding1987
Wallace, Henry C., HouseWintersetBuilding1985
White, Munger and Company, StoreWintersetBuilding1987
Wilson, Seth and Elizabeth, HouseEarlhamBuilding1987
Winterset City Park Historic DistrictWintersetDistrict2021
Winterset Courthouse Square Commercial Historic DistrictWintersetDistrict2015
Winterset High SchoolWintersetBuilding2020
Winterset Municipal Power PlantWintersetBuilding2025

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Madison was formed in 1846 (1846-01-13) from unknown / original county.

MADISON created by Iowa Territory from Non-County Area 3 attached to MAHASKA.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Madison County population from 1850 to 2020 (Census historical series).

18k9,4441,1791850188019201940196020002020
18501860188019001920194019501960198020002020
1,1797,33917,22417,71015,02014,52513,13112,29512,59714,01916,548

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

55 cemeteries and 1 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 55 of 55 listed
NameLatLon
Barney Cemetery41.16405-94.02415
Beem Cemetery41.26224-93.97514
Bennett Cemetery41.4385-94.04863
Blair Chapel Cemetery41.3314-93.82945
Boone Cemetery41.19166-94.17523
Brush Ridge Cemetery41.33662-93.82914
Bullock Cemetery41.19624-94.06552
Clark Cemetery41.23618-94.07387
Close Cemetery41.31463-93.85247
Earlham Cemetery41.49052-94.1121
Ebenezer Cemetery41.20018-93.90829
Eppard Cemetery41.39166-94.17158
Fairview Cemetery41.46796-94.01718
Farris Cemetery41.39216-93.93333
Farson Cemetery41.24001-93.82287
German Lutheran Cemetery41.475-93.95521
Gordon Cemetery41.31188-94.0682
Hamblin Cemetery41.2213-94.0954
Hartman Cemetery41.19076-93.85576
Hickman Cemetery41.16517-94.21331
Hooten Cemetery41.30311-94.10027
Jefferson Cemetery41.43499-93.91939
King Cemetery41.27506-93.91623
Kivett Cemetery41.22974-94.23321
McDonald Chase Cemetery41.35968-94.09523
McGinnis Cemetery41.35233-93.89336
Montpelier Cemetery41.36213-93.87571
Moon Cemetery41.19358-94.18073
Neal Cemetery41.39475-93.90894
North Branch Cemetery41.48892-94.07945
North McDonald Cemetery41.42277-93.97301
Old Penn Center Cemetery41.46431-94.18665
Payton Cemetery41.49598-93.97968
Penn Center Cemetery41.46092-94.18334
Peru Cemetery41.23042-93.94073
Pleasant View Cemetery41.27951-94.15577
Powell Cemetery41.44725-94.01668
Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery41.3523-94.00124
Rodabough Cemetery41.43888-94.0169
Saint Charles Cemetery41.28201-93.82089
Saint Patricks Cemetery41.42642-93.7915
Sayre Cemetery41.27455-93.88041
Stringtown Cemetery41.37707-94.10999
Trester Cemetery41.43605-94.01884
Union Chapel Cemetery41.30866-93.89368
United Brethren Cemetery41.49624-93.90516
Viney Cemetery41.26381-93.82914
Welty Cemetery41.28995-94.1544
West Branch Cemetery41.17911-94.20925
Wight Cemetery41.30036-94.17773
Wintermantle Cemetery41.34447-94.14096
Winterset Cemetery41.32893-94.00879
Worthing Cemetery41.21898-93.80982
Worthington Cemetery41.42837-94.09031
Young Cemetery41.20775-93.82268
Historical populated places — 1 of 1
NameLatLon
Buffalo41.3111-94.00356

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Madison County, Iowa

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.