Historical Marker · No. 112

Old Madison - First County Seat

Erected by Lake County Historical Society and State Highway Commission, 1955

Old Madison lost the courthouse but kept the lake, and the lake drew the crowds. From 1890 the Lake Madison Chautauqua ran for three summer weeks a year on the shore near the old town site, with a 2,500-seat auditorium, a Grand Hotel, a swimming pavilion and steam-powered cruise boats, and an extra railroad spur ran straight to the grounds. William Howard Taft and Booker T. Washington were among the speakers, and visitors came by train from Sioux Falls, Minneapolis and Sioux City. The last season was 1931, and homes now stand where the auditorium did.

What the plaque says

Old Madison - First County Seat 3/4 Mile East Lake County was started October, 1873 when Herman N. Luce and John T. Hare, the first qualified County Commissioners, met at the cabin of William Lee near the site of old Madison, to organize. William Van Eps platted the old town of Madison June, 1874 and in the fall of 1874 the County Seat was located there by election. Old Madison was County Seat until the railroad came to the present site of Madison in 1880. The safe and county records were secretly moved at night, changing the County Seat to New Madison without an election. William Lee was the first postmaster, appointed in March 1874. Erected 1955 by Lake County Historical Society and State Highway Commission

Where it stands

43.96419, -97.06963 · Directions

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