Madison, Mississippi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Madison is a city in Madison County, Mississippi, USA. The population was 14,692 at the 2000 census.
In 2005, CNN/Money Magazine listed Madison as the 55th best place to live in the United States.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Geography
Madison is located at (32.457061, -90.108583)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 35.5 km² (13.7 mi²). 34.9 km² (13.5 mi²) of it is land and 0.6 km² (0.2 mi²) of it (1.61%) is water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 14,692 people, 5,189 households, and 4,249 families residing in the city. The population density was 420.8/km² (1,090.0/mi²). There were 5,316 housing units at an average density of 152.3/km² (394.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 93.23% White, 4.89% African American, 0.07% Native American, 1.20% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.18% from other races, and 0.40% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.69% of the population.
There were 5,189 households out of which 48.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 73.0% were married couples living together, 7.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.1% were non-families. 16.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.81 and the average family size was 3.17.
In the city the population was spread out with 31.2% under the age of 18, 4.1% from 18 to 24, 35.1% from 25 to 44, 21.1% from 45 to 64, and 8.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 93.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $71,266, and the median income for a family was $77,202. Males had a median income of $54,358 versus $34,081 for females. The per capita income for the city was $29,082. About 2.1% of families and 2.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.5% of those under age 18 and 1.4% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] History
Madison, Mississippi, named for James Madison, the fourth President of the United States, grew up along a bustling railroad track in pre-Civil War Mississippi. It was 1856 when the Illinois Central Railroad opened its Madison Station, the forerunner of today’s City of Madison. Although near-by Madisonville, a settlement established along the stagecoach route of the Natchez Trace, boasted a race tack, two banks, a wagon factory and at least one hotel, its residents could not resist the lure of the future. The newly established railroad community began to thrive, and Madisonville soon became extinct.
Like many railroad towns in the South, Madison Station fell victim to the Civil War. Just 10 miles from the state capital, Jackson, it was largely destroyed after the July 18-22, 1861 siege of Jackson. Although no battles were waged on Madison soil, Major General S.D. Lee, who ordered the first shot of the Civil War, concentrated his command in Madison Station during the month of February 1864. General Lee was later to become the first President of Mississippi State College, now Mississippi State University. The railroad continued to serve as a magnet for business growth after the Civil War. In 1897, the Madison Land Company encouraged our northern neighbors to "Go South, and grow up with the country." Located in Chicago on the Illinois Central Railroad line, the Land Company’s interest in development prompted Madison to incorporate as a village, although the charter was later lost when regular elections were not held due to the failure of the "land boom". The Land Company offered prime land for as little as $3.00 an acre. The company boasted that Mississippi had the lowest debt ratio in the nation at $19.00 per capita and that Mississippians were declared one third healthier by "official figures" than people in New York and Massachusetts. These figures were quoted with confidence in the Madison Land Company brochure by Bishop Hugh Miller Thompson, the Second Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Mississippi and a Madison resident, who hailed originally from the Wisconsin heartland.
[edit] Points of interest
- Simmons Arboretum
- Liberty Park
- Strawberry Patch Park
[edit] External links
- City Website
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
