Did you know

Did you know. .

. . . . Madison was given its current, official name in August 1834.

. . . . that in September 1884 a diphtheria epidemic closed the Madison schools

. . . . that Madison opened its first playgrounds in 1909. The children of Madison aided in the playground work.

. . . . that in 1912 the Madison Board of Improvement voted for a parking strip on Waverly Place

. . . . that in October, 1877, there was a large fire on Waverly Place. H. H. Tiger rode to Morristown to secure the aid of their fire department. It cost the Morristown Fire Department $39.50 to bring their apparatus to and from Madison.

. . . . that in early November of 1877, there was a meeting of Madison citizens to take measures for protection against fires.

. . . . that in 1884, John Baldwin grew a 190 lb. pumpkin.

. . . . that a 400 million years old rock was found on Myrtle Ave.

. . . . that an editorial in 1886 declared what was needed to increase the population in Madison was high taxation, water and roads.

. . . . that in 1892 B. F. Knapp received a patent for a machine to pulverize sod, manure, etc. and in 1941 Eugene C. Pomeroy invented an automatic headlight dimmer and blackout control.

. . . . that in July, 1903 Madison was swept by a tornado

. . . . that in January, 1904 the temperature reached thirty degrees below zero

. . . . that the winter of 1893 must also have been cold. The paper published information on "other cold winters" from a weather record which went back to 1607

. . . . that in 1908 it was suggested that Madison consider the Great Swamp as a site for a sewage plant

. . . . and in 1959 the Great Swamp was being considered by the Federal Government as a site for a jet airport.

. . . . that in 1902 a rainstorm washed out 59 graves in Hillside Cemetery. Bodies were found all along the course of Spring Garden Brook.

. . . . that a 1580 pound bell made by the Seth Thomas Clock Co. was installed in the James Library (now the Museum of Early Trades & Crafts) in November, 1899. The design of the ornamental caption of the tower was changed from tiger heads to dog heads.

. . . . that a firehouse was constructed at Cook and Central Avenues in 1903 and was sold at auction by the Borough in 1936.

. . . . that a large band of gypsies visited the Madison/Chatham area in the summer of 1888. This was probably the tribe of Naylor Harrison, King of the gypsy tribes of the East. They visited the area regularly for at least 50 years.

. . . . that in 1907 an editorial declared that the only drawback to Madison as a "residence town" was the mosquito nuisance

. . . . that a fashion novelty in Madison in 1878 were fans bearing biblical quotations

. . . . that in April,1891 the Eagle wrote, "The healthfulness of Madison prevents an epidemic of the grip (flu). Those who are now ill with it contracted it somewhere else."

. . . . that in the 1880s and 1890s Madison was known as a stock raising neighborhood with several horse breeding stables. In 1889 Ed Kelley's race horse won at Monmouth. The Twombly's Guernsey cows won a prize in 1897 and a championship in 1904 at the St. Louis Worlds Fair. There were problems however with horse and chicken thefts in Madison.

. . . . that there were many inventors in Madison over the years. In 1899 the McEwan Brothers were granted a patent for recycling old newsprint.

. . . . that in 1889 there were 390 school age children in Madison but only 70 attended school.

. . . . that in 1989 the total enrollment in Madison schools was 1686.

. . . . that the site of the Junior School was once the home of Edward Rafter, one of New York's merchant princes.

. . . . that the first Montessori class in Madison opened at the home of Mr. Arthur Decker in September, 1914.

. . . . that President Theodore Roosevelt spent several summers in Madison when he was a little boy. In the late 1860's the family rented a home on Kitchell Avenue called the "Tower House". Roosevelt with his sister, brother, and two cousins seemed to have had an idyllic time riding a pony named Grant and roaming the hills and woodlands.

. . . . that that same house was later bought by the author, Frank R. Stockton. It is said "The Lady or the Tiger?" was written here.

. . . . that in 1884 a dog killed ten sheep in Madison.

. . . . that a man named Frank I. Frayne lived near Hickory Tree with a lion, a bear and other such animals.

. . . . that the first trolley arrived in Madison in 1912.

. . . . that in 1877 a stage ran from Madison to Basking Ridge.

. . . . that in 1904 there were 15 automobiles in Madison.

. . . . that in 1804 the village contained 20 houses, many of them on Ridgedale Ave. By 1834 the number had doubled.

. . . . that the original St. Vincent's Church was at 69 Ridgedale Ave.

. . . . that Ridgedale Ave. didn't end at Park Ave. but continued on to Madison Ave. It was called Bridge Street.

. . . . that Henry Keep's Bonnet and Umbrella Factory stood on the southeast corner of Prospect Street and Kings Road from 1840 to 1843.

. . . . that the Methodists in 1840 held their services in the umbrella factory of Henry Keep.

. . . . that Madison once had a public school on Division Avenue. In the 1850's the Union Hill School was located there, west of the railroad tracks which ran down what is now Essex Place. A picture of Union Hill School and other Madison schools can be found in the library's Madison Historic Picture File

. . . . that a meteor fell in the middle of Lathrop Avenue near Orchard Street in September 1923. Details can be found on the microfilm copy of the Madison Eagle, September 21, 1923, page 7.

. . . . that at the end of the last ice age the area that would become Madison was beneath Lake Passaic with just a few small islands breaking the surface.

How do we know? The Madison Public Library maintains both a subject and biographical index to the Madison Eagle back to its earliest publication date, about 1886. We have also indexed the earlier Madison Journal.

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