Madison County History
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FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION AT ALTON
Source: Alton Telegraph, June 29, 1836
The procession will form at 11 o'clock a.m. on the angle of Second
[Broadway] and State Streets, the right on Second Street, opposite
the store of John Bugan & Co.'s., extending west on Second Street to
State Street, thence northwardly on State Street to the rear in the
following order:
1st, Artillery Companies and ordinance.
2d, Uniform company's according to their respective grades.
3d, The respective Merchants Societies with their mottos.
4th, Citizens of Alton and vicinity.
5th, Revolutionary Soldiers and Soldiers of the Black Hawk War.
6th, State officers and judges of the Supreme, Circuit and County
courts.
7th, Members of the Bar.
8th, Physicians of Alton and vicinity.
9th, Band of Music.
10th, Chaplains and other clergy.
11th, Orator and Reader.
12th, Committee of Arrangements.
In the above order the procession will move in double file by the
right down Second to Market Street, down Market to Front, down Front
to Alton Street, thence up Alton to Second, thence up Second to the
Public Square, then across the square to Third Street, thence up
Third Street to the Presbyterian Church and hall, with the right
resting at the entrance of the church. The column will then face
toward in open order, when the rear of the procession will fill in
alternately and march up the center into the church. The same order
will be observed in returning from the church. The procession will
then march down Third Street to the Public Square, thence down the
square to Front Street, thence down Front Street to the Alton House,
where a dinner will be prepared, and then the procession dismissed.
The church will be open from 10 o'clock until the procession arrives
for the reception of ladies only, under the direction of officers
appointed for that purpose. Nathaniel
Buckmaster, Marshal.
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MADISON COUNTY ESTABLISHED
On
September 14, 1812, Madison County was established in the Illinois
Territory out of Randolph and St. Clair Counties, by proclamation of
the Governor of Illinois Territory, Ninian Edwards. It was named for
U. S. President James Madison, a friend of Edwards, and had a
population of 9,099 people. At the time of its formation, Madison
County included all of the modern State of Illinois north of St.
Louis, as well as all of Wisconsin, part of Minnesota, and
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
A meeting was held on April 5, 1813 at the home of Thomas
Kirkpatrick in Edwardsville, where appointed commissioners were to
report on their selection of a county seat. A meeting was held on
January 14, 1814, where the court ordered the sheriff to notify the
commissioners appointed by law to fix the place for the public
buildings (courthouse and jail) for Madison County. The county seat
was established in the town of Edwardsville, with the first public
building – the jail – being erected in 1814. The first county
courthouse was erected in Edwardsville in 1817.
During the period 1819 to 1849, Madison County was reduced in area
to its present size, about 760 square miles. All of the public lands
had become the property of individuals and had been converted into
thousands of productive farms. New towns and villages were
established, such as Collinsville, Highland, Marine, Venice,
Monticello [Godfrey], Troy, and Alton.
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QUICK LINKS
Confederate Cemetery (North Alton)
Western Military Academy (Upper Alton)
Shurtleff College (Upper Alton)
Monticello Ladies Seminary (Godfrey)
Illinois State Penitentiary in Alton (1833-1860)
Federal Military Prison at Alton (1861-1865)
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