From Pork to Port

From Pork to Port. . , The completion of Madison's railroad connection to Indianapolis in 1847, the first in the state, heralded the peak of Madison's golden years as a manufacturing city, shipping port, and busy river town. Since the early 1800s, Madison had continued to develop as a center of commerce, drawing settlers who became merchants, businessmen, and tradesmen. By 1840 Madison was one of the largest cities in Indiana, humming with the activity of breweries, small factories, mills, stores and slaughterhouses. In the 1852-1853 season 123,000 hogs were slaughtered in Madison! , Transportation routes fueled this growth during the first half of the nineteenth century. The opening of the Michigan Road to the northern tip of Indiana in the 1830s linked Madison by overland route to the rest of the state. Steamboats had visited Madison since the end of the War of 18 12, carrying passengers and taking goods to markets along the river. , Beginning in 1847, the railroad added yet another avenue, sustaining the high level of successful river trade that only began to wane in 1854. By then the railroads had proven themselves faster than water transport, and competing railroads to the north had bypassed Madison. As steamboat transport diminished over time, the little city by the river held its own, enjoying the fruits of agriculture, successful factories, energetic citizens and its enviable niche on the Ohio River. , By the Way: , The early taverns of Madison often operated their own stills, turning Indiana-grown corn into profitable whiskey.