The historic village at the heart of what is now Alabama’s ninth largest city
Madison has consistently been north Alabama’s fastest growing small city. But, the century-old appearance of its charming downtown remains intact.
The town originally came into existence when the railroad was built across north Alabama in the 1850s. Today, trains still barrel through the village on the same route. The Madison Station Historic District was listed with the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. The district’s best streetscapes are found along Front Street where a nice set of 1870s to 1910s houses face the tracks from the north side, and along the 500-ft. historic commercial strip that faces the tracks from the south side. Here’s the lowdown for hitting the highlights of the district on your next visit to Madison, Alabama.
Gallery: Main Street historic commercial streetscapes
One of the more interesting structures you’ll see in the commercial part of old Madison is the c. 1908 two-story at 200 Main Street. It’s the one with Humphrey-Hughes Drug Co. painted on the brick. It was originally the Burton & Wise Drug Store. An early telephone switchboard was housed upstairs for a time.
The Old Black Bear Brewing Company is found today in the corner at 208, 210 and 212 Main Street. Now painted red, the building at 208 Main was built in 1940. 206, 208 and 210 Main were all damaged by fire in 1912 and rebuilt. The c. 1904 building at 206 Main was the D.T. Thomas mercantile store, as the sign says today, from 1904 to 1917. It was home to the Madison post office from 1940 to 1962.
The large two-story building beside the railroad track (214-216 Main Street) was described on the National Register application as a noncontributing structure due to numerous additions and alterations. It was a hardware store from 1946 to 1996. The Alabama Historical Commission map calls it the Hughes Hardware Store.
The 19th-century setting on Front Street
On Front Street, the large hardwoods and the fine houses — four Queen Anne Victorians and a Craftsman bungalow — provide some nice historic streetscapes. Here, it’s easy to imagine life back in the horse and buggy days.
Above: The two-story Queen Anne Victorian at 17 Front Street, known as the Anderson-Sensenberger House, was originally built in 1897. It got its striking Queen Ann look when it was remodeled in 1904-1905.
Above: The c. 1878 Brown House at 19 Front Street. According to the Historic Place application, what you see is from a major remodeling project in 1904 when James and Mattie Williams purchased the property. They used mules and log rollers to move it back from the street. It was turned 90 degrees and a large, two-story addition was constructed.
Pictured at the top of the page: The yellow two-story Queen Anne Victorian is the c. 1910 Burton House located at 21 Front Street.
Above: The Humphrey House found at 23 Front Street features a white picket fence. Believed to have been originally built around 1870 as the T.J. Clay Mercantile store, it was converted by the Humphreys into a residence in 1914. The Alabama Historical Commission map lists it as the c. 1920s Acuff House. The Acuff family must have had it remodeled to be the 1.5-story Craftsman bungalow you see today.
Above: Found at 25 Front Street, the c. 1905 Hertzler-Vaughn House is a two-story Victorian with a Queen Anne Tuscan wraparound porch on the lower level.
More historic houses on Martin, Main, Arnett and Church Street
Above, from top left: The Craftsman bungalow c. 1921 Ashford-Lanier House is currently home to the Lanier House, a tea room and private event venue located at 20 Martin Street. See lanierhousemadison.com. The Clay House (the Alabama Historical Commission map calls it the Nix House) at 16 Main Street was originally built in 1858. Remodeled in the 1890s and again in 1913, today it’s home to three or more separate businesses. The two-story Victorian located at 110 Church Street is the c. 1904 Canterbury-Keebler House.
The Roundhouse and Village Green
The present-day Roundhouse was built in 1986 to replicate the original c.1880s structure — Madison’s first town hall — which was dismantled in the late 1930s.
While at the Village Green, be aware that the c. 1858 Memphis & Charleston Railroad depot was destroyed on May 17, 1864 when the Civil War fight known as the Affair at Madison Station took place.
The Madison Gazebo and the Veterans Memorial Park are also located on the Village Green.
Above: Madison United Methodist on Church Street. According to the Madison Station National Registry application, the original one-story church (c. 1838) “was rolled on logs to its present location” in 1873. Since the mid-20th century, the building has been altered and expanded numerous times. The entryways were updated fairly recently.
Madison’s head count continues to grow rapidly due to the workforce needs of the greater Huntsville/Madison area which includes nearby NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and the U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal. New real estate developments are constantly popping up. The Double-A professional baseball team, the Rocket City Trash Pandas, play their home games at Toyota Field which is one of the focal points of the 530-acre Town Madison multipurpose development.
Many of north Alabama’s best historic places are a short drive from Madison, making it easy to plan a tour of three or four historic downtowns in one outing. See my articles featuring the historic places of Huntsville, Decatur, Mooresville and Athens:
Huntsville historic places part 2: Twickenham Historic District
Six itinerary ideas for planning a history themed trip to downtown Athens, Alabama
Historic-places fans should plan a visit to tiny Mooresville