Historic Madison, Inc.

08/26/2026

Another American Cruise Line boat visits this Friday, August 28! We are prepared to welcome the guests to two of our sites, but we want to welcome the public too! Our tour schedule will be slightly different for Friday, but we hope you come to see us. Dr. Hutchings' Office will still have its 11:30 tour, but things change a bit in the afternoon. The Shrewsbury-Windle House and Schroeder Saddletree Factory will be open for tours from 1:30-4:30. If you take a tour, you will have 3 guides instead of 1 and can explore and enjoy the site as long as you like. Tour fees remain at the normal price of $15 a person, but students and HMI members are free!

08/25/2026

Today we remember John “Woody” Woodburn Shrewsbury on the anniversary of his death in 1866. Woody, as he was known to his family and friends, was only 25 when he passed away from tuberculosis. He was the oldest child of Charles and Ellen Shrewsbury and grew up in the Shrewsbury-Windle House. He lived quite the life for those 25 years.

He attended the Kentucky Military Institute as a teenager. He then returned home and attended Hanover College until he left for a stint as a cadet in the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but he didn’t graduate. He returned to Hanover College and completed his degree in June 1861 as the Civil War was breaking out.

Once he was done with schooling, he enlisted in the Confederate Army across the river in Kentucky. He was one of many with Madison roots to serve or aid the Confederates. Madison was a border community with neighbors on both sides throughout town and the county. Woody served as part of Company H of the Fourth Regiment of the Kentucky Mounted Infantry. He was a quartermaster when he wasn’t ill with likely repeated bouts of tuberculosis. The photo with a frame is of Woody in his Confederate Uniform. He served through the war and returned home shortly after fighting ended. He lived in Madison until his death in 1866. He is buried at Springdale Cemetery with the rest of the Shrewsbury Family.

Even in the past, people were often quite complex and complicated, just like us today. Woody was no exception. His 25 years were full of ups and downs.

If you’d like to learn more about Woody and his family, we recommend coming for a Shrewsbury-Windle House tour soon!

08/25/2026

We are getting ready for fall and hope you can join us in Madison! Check out our latest schedule and start planning your visit so you can step inside some of Madison’s magnificent history. Remember, you can purchase tickets in advance for Schroeder Saddletree Factory Museum tours, St. Michael’s tours, and walking tours! They are all listed on the MadTix website.

08/25/2026

You don’t have to take our word for it, others agree! The Shrewsbury-Windle House is worth a visit! Tours happen on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 1:30! You can check our calendar on our website anytime!

Thanks to Have Clothes, Will Travel for sharing her favorites!

Madison, Indiana completely surprised me. I went into this trip bar...

08/22/2026

HMI has 3 part-time positions now open! The Digital Content Association and Programs Associate positions close on August 31. The Maintenance Assistant Position closes on September 31. Please share with anyone you think might be interested. You can find all the details, including how to apply, on our website.

08/21/2026

Did you know that when you visit an HMI site, you get a discount on your next visit even if it is the same day?!

Because we have five different properties you can visit this summer, we think you should get a discount if you visit more than one! On your first visit to an HMI property, you get a coupon card, just like the one you see here. It’s good for the rest of 2026, with the idea that you will want to take another tour or 4 before the season is done in November. These coupon cards even work for private tours! The card will save you $2 a person on all of your tours to follow, provided you still have your card. Please note it only works on tours of the sites, not our other special events. It’s a small way for us to say thanks for visiting and reward you for your great interest in Madison’s history found in our properties.

If $2 just isn’t enough of a discount for you, don’t forget, HMI members tour for FREE year-round, and they get extra discounts on many of our special events. If you did all of our tours, the regular membership is still a cost savings of $10!

If you’re ready to plan your next visit, you can check our schedule on our website anytime! Some of our tours also have advanced registration opportunities through our friends .

We hope to see you on a tour soon!

08/20/2026

Some interesting Madison history we thought was worth sharing!

Throughout the Civil War many steamboat that were built, repaired or upgraded at Madison, Indiana's shipyards. These included transport ships, hospital ships and armored gunboats. One of the steamers active in the Civil War was the City of Madison.

Built in Madison in 1860 for the United States Mail Line, the City of Madison followed the front hauling ammunition. It was active in Ulysses S. Grant's Siege of Vicksburg. On August 19, 1863, the steamer was still in Vicksburg when its cargo of gunpowder exploded. Official loss of life recorded as 156 persons, and the ship was completely destroyed.

Some witness reports describe a careless person dropping a box of percussion shells. A letter from the Provost-Marshal-General of Missouri to the Assistant Secretary of War describes the event as a possible sabotage by covert Confederate arsonists.

Twenty years later, another steamboat named City of Madison was built in Madison, Indiana. This too met a disastrous fate. On June 18, 1894, the steamboat was traveling from Memphis to Cincinnati when it hit a d**e and sank on the Ohio River in front of its namesake city. See of the photo of that wrecked steamer: https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AP4YMTA5IA3TAU9C

This illustration by artist F. B. Schell was published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper on October 3, 1863.