MADISON COUNTY

      Madison county is located in the northeastern part of the state of Nebraska some 125 miles northwest of Omaha and about 90 miles southwest of Sioux City, Iowa, on the Columbus-Norfolk branch of the Union Pacific railroad.

     The county was organized about 1868, although its boundaries were defined by an act of the legislature of 1856. It was soon after the close of the Civil War, in the year 1866, when the first real settlement began. In the year 1884, the county contained about 7,500 inhabitants. It is estimated there are 20,000 people residing within its boundaries at this time.

     The population of Madison county is mixed. Every state and territory of the Union is represented, and every country on the continent has contributed liberally to its citizenship. Here will be found large settlements of Germans, Bohemians, Norwegians, and Swedes, in addition to the many who are commonly called Americans. These people for the most part, are progressive and industrious, and all have contributed their share to the development of the county and its wealth.

     The county is 24 miles square, embracing 16 congressional townships of excellent tillable land. It is watered by several rivers and streams, chief among which are the Elkhorn and North fork rivers, Battle creek, Union, Shell and Taylor creeks, with their many tributary streams which gently flow to the eastward, and ultimately, empty into the Gulf of Mexico, through the channels of the Elkhorn, Platte, Missouri, and Mississippi rivers.

     The land that lies along these streams is level and very fertile and productive, and the land which lies between the water courses, while gently rolling, is equally as fertile and productive. Along these streams are found a fair quantity of indigenous timber, while scattered over the entire county, on most every farm will be found splendid groves, orchards, and domestic shrubbery.

     Madison county has seven municipalities: Norfolk with a population of 5,000; Madison with a population of 2,200; Battle Creek with 1,000; Meadow Grove with 600; Tilden with 1,200, and Newman Grove with about 1,200, together with two smaller hamlets, Warnerville and Enola.

     Madison county stands in the fore rank of the agricultural and stock-raising counties of the state. Corn is king in Madison county, while wheat, oats, flax, rye, barley, alfalfa, hay and similar farm products are produced in great quantities, the yield being unexcelled in any other section of the state. Here will be found large and valuable herds of cattle and hogs, which are known far and wide for their excellence. Thousands of cattle and hogs are produced and marketed annually, while horses and mules are raised in great abundance.

     While Madison county lays no claim to being a seat of manufacturing industries, yet in its several towns will be found small industries of more or less importance, which annually bring upon the market a fair quantity of manufactured articles.

     The principal railroad system extending through the county, is that of the Chicago & Northwestern, the main line of which runs direct east and west across the northern edge of the county, through the towns of Norfolk, Battle Creek, Meadow Grove, and Tilden, while the Scribner branch cuts through the town of Newman Grove. Through the eastern part of the county running north and south is the Columbus-Norfolk branch of the Union Pacific which passes through the towns of Madison, Enola, Warnerville and Norfolk. The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha railroad reaches Norfolk, while the Creighton branch of the North-Western goes north from Norfolk to Dallas, South Dakota. At this time there is a movement on foot for the construction of an interurban or steam road to reach the center of the county which is one of the richest agricultural sections of Nebraska not having railroad facilities.