Advanced Education Center. Religious denominations organized Georgia's first colleges for women. Madison flourished as an educational center following the 1850 incorporation of both the Georgia Female College (Baptist), initally chartered as Madison Collegiate Institute, and the Madison Female College (Methodist). The Georgia Female College opened for its Spring Session with 148 pupils in this building, which became the President's House after John B. Walker funded a three-story brick building to the right (burned 1882). The Madison Female College was also located in town but was also lost to fire in 1864. A diverse curriculum attracted young women from as far as Philadelphia. Citizens supported the institutions with funding and provision of room and board. Both schools thrived until the outbreak of the Civil War, when the facilities were used as temporary hospitals. Post-war, private education never regained its former stature. CITY OF MADISON MADISON BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION 1809-2009 A PRESERVE AMERICA COMMUNITY
472 S. Main St, Madison, GA, United States
Antioch Baptist Church. 3 mi. Three miles from here in a grove of oaks Antioch Baptist Church was established in a primitive log cabin, Sept. 18, 1809. Soon a building 40 x 60 was erected on 4-1/2 acres of land including the original site. In Sept. 1827, 4,000 people including many ministers attended a session of the Ocmulgee Association in the churchyard. A sermon by Antioch's minister, Dr. Adiel Sherwood, started a revival that swept through about 22 counties bringing 16,000 converts in two years. Dr. Sherwood preached 333 sermons in 30 counties in that period. In 1845 Antioch Church moved to its present location. 104-8 GEORGIA HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1961
Ga. 83 at Godfrey Road, Madison, GA, United States
Banking Institutions. Prior to the development of the modern financial institutions, many enterprises and ventures were funded through the sale of subscriptions or shares (e.g., railroad, newspapers). Bank startups also followed this pattern and, by 1870, Madison had at least two local banks - both on Main Street. The 1890s signaled growth in terms of state-chartered banking institutions: Bank of Madison (1888), Jefferson Street Bank in (1891-1908), and Bank of Morgan County (1899-1922). By 1895, banking had moved to Washington Street, where two institutions occupied existing commercial buildings and extensively remodeled to create new downtown landmarks. Banks of this era were not typical red brick storefronts, instead they used architecture to imply their institutions were prosperous, stable, and enduring (i.e., high-grade materials and classical elements). Bank of Morgan County (c. 1908) used Classical Revival (ceramic brick, columns, and portico); whereas, Bank of Madison (c. 1919) used Renaissance Revival (yellow brick, terra cotta tiles, brackets) to define itself. CITY OF MADISON MADISON BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION 1809-2009 A PRESERVE AMERICA COMMUNITY
Madison Town Hall, Washington and Main Sts., Madison, GA, United States
Antebellum Architecture. As the county gained more plantations, Madison attracted nearby planters desiring to shop, socialize, learn, and worship. Some planters also built in-town homes. Antebellum architecture reflected the shift from the early yeoman farmer society to a slave-based plantation economy, dominated by a handful of planters whose grand homes spoke of their status. Antebellum architecture also marked the community's growing prosperity as well as an interest in the newly fashionable Greek Revival architecture. Stylish homes were added and older homes updated throughout the city environs, building a reputation of a progressive and cultured town. The Johnston-Jones-Manley House (c. 1811) acquired its later Greek Revival facade during the 1840-1850s and was moved 200 feet to face S. Main Street in 1908, thus allowing the construction of the Methodist Church (1914). In 1977, a Manley heir donated the home to the Morgan County Historical Society, Inc., who manages it as a heritage tourism site-Heritage Hall, a house museum with period furnishings. CITY OF MADISON MADISON BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION 1809-2009 A PRESERVE AMERICA COMMUNITY
Heritage Hall, 277 S. Main St, Madison, GA, United States
On the occasion of its Bicentennial, Morgan County placed this marker here to commemorate the community of Brownwood-Centennial. Located close to one another on the Old Sandtown Road, the communities of Brownwood and Centennial may have been one and the same in their early years. The road through these communities originally developed as a stagecoach route between Augusta and Sandtown, present-day Newborn. A house served as an inn and stagecoach stop in this area. Later, the Brown family acquired substantial acreage and contributed toward the development of several improvements, including Brown's Mill, Brownwood Church, and the Brownwood School, which was eventually rebuilt and came to be known as Brobstom's School. St. Paul's, a small Episcopal Church, was located in this area, and several other civic institutions served the African American community, including Thankful Church and School, and Moseley's Chapel and School. Centennial began to distinguish itself from Brownwood when land was donated for the development of Centennial Church and cemetery and Centennial Academy in the late 19th century. Members of a community that had organized itself prior to this time, decided to construct a church building and later a school around 1880, thus taking an identity of its own. BECAUSE OF THE INDIVIDUALS WHO TAKE PRIDE IN THIS COMMUNITY, BROWNWOOD-CENTENNIAL IS RECOGNIZED AS A SIGNIFICANT PART OF OUR COUNTY HISTORY
Corner of Brownwood Road and Thankful Road, Madison, GA, United States
Blue Star Memorial Highway. A tribute to the Armed Forces that have defended the United States of America. SPONSORED BY The Garden Club of Georgia, Inc. IN COOPERATION WITH The Department of Transportation of Georgia AND The Boxwood Garden Club, Madison, Georgia
Intersection of U.S. 441 and U.S. 278, about one-quarter mile west of downtown Madison, Madison, GA, United States