New Madrid ( es, Nueva Madrid) is a city in New Madrid County,

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, United States. The population was 2,787 at the 2020 census. New Madrid is the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

of New Madrid County. The city is located 42 miles (68 km) southwest of

Cairo, Illinois Cairo ( ) is the southernmost city in Illinois and the county seat of Alexander County. The city is located at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Fort Defiance, a Civil War camp, was built here in 1862 by Union General Ulysse ...

, and north of an exclave of Fulton County, Kentucky, across the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

. The town is on the north side of the

Kentucky Bend The Kentucky Bend, variously called the New Madrid Bend, Madrid Bend, Bessie Bend, or Bubbleland, is an exclave of Fulton County, Kentucky, encircled by the states of Tennessee and Missouri. It is a portion of a peninsula defined by an oxbow ...

in the Mississippi River, which is also known as "New Madrid Bend" or "Madrid Bend." The river curves in an oxbow around an exclave of Fulton County, Kentucky. Scientists expect the river eventually to cut across the neck of the peninsula and make a more direct channel, leaving the Kentucky territory as an island. New Madrid was the

epicenter The epicenter, epicentre () or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Surface damage Before the instrumental pe ...

of the very powerful 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes.

History

The first more or less permanent settlement at present-day New Madrid was established by bands of

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...

, Creek, and

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...

who were turned into refugees due to the U.S. War for Independence. These refugee Native American bands accepted Spanish offers to settle on the west bank of the Mississippi River in the early 1780s. These mixed Native American groups established a settlement and informal trading post where a northward, horseshoe bend of the Mississippi met the Chepusa creek, which provided an easy place for landing boats. Native American hunters and European-American merchants made the settlement a location for processing the bounty of hunts, including the valuable but messy fat of bears and buffalo, which was used in preparing skins and furs. The settlement quickly acquired the name L’Anse a la Graise – “Cove of Grease” or “Greasy Cove.” European Americans renamed the settlement New Madrid in about 1780 under the auspices of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Governor

Bernardo de Gálvez Bernardo Vicente de Gálvez y Madrid, 1st Count of Gálvez (23 July 1746 – 30 November 1786) was a Spanish military leader and government official who served as colonial governor of Spanish Louisiana and Cuba, and later as Viceroy of New Sp ...

, who was appointed to rule

Spanish Louisiana Spanish Louisiana ( es, link=no, la Luisiana) was a governorate and administrative district of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1762 to 1801 that consisted of a vast territory in the center of North America encompassing the western basin of t ...

(the land west of the Mississippi River),Lynn Morrow, "New Madrid and its Hinterland: 1783-1826," ''Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society'' (1980) 36#4 pp 241-250 and Manuel Pérez,

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

of Upper Louisiana in Saint Louis. They welcomed settlers from the United States, but required them to become subjects of the Spanish crown. In addition, they had to agree to live under the guidance of his appointed

empresario An empresario () was a person who had been granted the right to settle on land in exchange for recruiting and taking responsibility for settling the eastern areas of Coahuila y Tejas in the early nineteenth century. The word in Spanish for entre ...

, Colonel George Morgan, an

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

veteran from

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

. Morgan recruited a number of American families to settle at New Madrid, attracting a few hundred people to the region. Settlement in the 1790s and early 1800s remained relatively low due to the physical geography of New Madrid and its hinterlands. The Mississippi frequently washed away the town's river banks, and a Spanish fort was washed away. Surrounded by low, swampy land, New Madrid developed a well-earned reputation for illnesses, especially in the summer and fall. Spanish censuses taken in the late 1790s recorded around 800 residents at the village of New Madrid. New Madrid continued to operate as a site of exchange between Native Americans in the St. Francis River Valley and European American traders operating out of New Madrid. In 1800, Spain traded the territory back to France in the

Third Treaty of San Ildefonso The Third Treaty of San Ildefonso was a secret agreement signed on 1 October 1800 between the Spanish Empire and the French Republic by which Spain agreed in principle to exchange its North American colony of Louisiana for territories in Tuscany ...

. After trying to regain control of

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to ref ...

(the present

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and s ...

), where a slave rebellion was underway, Napoleon gave up on his North American colonies, agreeing to sell this territory to the United States in 1803 as part of the

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or ap ...

. The area is noted as the site of a series of more than 1,000 earthquakes in 1811 and 1812, ranging up to approximately magnitude 8, the most powerful non-

subduction zone Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...

earthquake ever recorded in the United States. New Madrid lies far from any plate boundaries, but it is on the

New Madrid Seismic Zone The New Madrid Seismic Zone (), sometimes called the New Madrid Fault Line, is a major seismic zone and a prolific source of intraplate earthquakes (earthquakes within a tectonic plate) in the Southern and Midwestern United States, stretching t ...

. The major earthquake was felt as far away as the East Coast. During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

, the Battle of Island Number Ten took place on the Mississippi River near New Madrid. In the antebellum period, this fertile

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

area was developed for

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

plantations A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...

, based on the labor of enslaved African Americans. They were emancipated after the Civil War and worked to make new lives. As whites struggled to re-establish dominance after the Reconstruction era, they intimidated and attacked blacks under the guise of

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sou ...

laws, working to suppress voting and control their activities. Three African-American men are documented as being

lynched Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

by whites in New Madrid, the county seat, near the turn of the century: Unknown Negro, on November 29, 1898; Louis Wright, a musician in a

minstrel show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spec ...

accused of altercations with whites, hanged on February 17, 1902;"A Black Minstrel Lynched in New Madrid, Missouri (1902)"
, This Cruel War blog, 16 February 2017; accessed 12 April 2018 and unknown Negro, May 30, 1910. By the turn of the 20th century, some industry was being developed in New Madrid, which contained two lumber mills, a

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

, a

stave Stave may refer to: Places * Stave (Krupanj), a village in Serbia * Stave Hill, in London * Stave Lake, in British Columbia, Canada * Stave River, in British Columbia, Canada * Stave Run, a river in Virginia, United States Other uses * S ...

and heading factory, and a

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...

. It was considered a rough town. There were four Protestant churches, two with independent African-American congregations, and one Catholic church. In 1900, 1,489 people lived in New Madrid; in 1910, the population was 1,882.

Geography

New Madrid is located at (36.59, -89.54). According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Climate

New Madrid has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') with hot, humid summers and chilly, though not severe winters. Winter weather can vary from very mild and rainy when air masses from the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

predominate, to very cold, dry and windy with northerly or northwesterly airflows as in the famous cold month of January 1977. On average there are 82 nights which fall to or below , whilst one night falls to or below , and the coldest temperature ever has been on January 17, 1982. The hottest has been record on August 4, 1964, whilst an average of 2.9 days exceed . Rainfall is fairly heavy throughout the year due to moist air from the Gulf being advected on the western side of the

Bermuda High The Azores High also known as North Atlantic (Subtropical) High/Anticyclone or the Bermuda-Azores High, is a large subtropical semi-permanent centre of high atmospheric pressure typically found south of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, at the H ...

, plus occasional remnant depressions from hurricanes passing up the Mississippi Valley. Between 1963 and 2012, the wettest calendar year was 1990 with and the driest 2005 with . The wettest day was September 23, 2006 with in one day, and September 2006 was also the wettest month with , whilst no precipitation fell during October 1964. Snowfall is very rare, as it is normally too dry to snow when cold air masses reach the Bootheel, so that the median is only per year and the mean just . The most snow in one month was in January 1977 with , whilst the snowiest season was from July 1966 to June 1967 with .

Demographics

2020 census

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

of 2020, there were 2,787 people, 1,307 households, and 711 families living in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

was . There were 1,352 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 70.30%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 28.10%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.30% Native American, 0.26%, and 1.30% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race were 3.20% of the population. There were 1,307 households, of which 20.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.8% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 45.6% were non-families. 40.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.09 and the average family size was 2.73. The median age in the city was 47.2 years. 14.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.6% were from 25 to 44; 29.1% were from 45 to 64; and 23.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.9% male and 51.1% female. The median income for a household in the city was $41,445, and the median income for a family was $54,476. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the city was $22,046. About 14.80% of families and 21.0% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 32.6% of those under age 18 and 19.3% of those age 65 or over.

2010 census

As of the

of 2010, there were 3,116 people, 1,276 households, and 809 families living in the city. The

was . There were 1,424 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 72.30%

, 25.55%

, 0.22% Native American, 0.26% Asian, 0.13% from other races, and 1.54% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 0.80% of the population. There were 1,276 households, of which 32.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.9% were

living together, 18.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 36.6% were non-families. 32.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.94. The median age in the city was 39.8 years. 24.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 23.6% were from 25 to 44; 28.3% were from 45 to 64; and 16.1% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.9% male and 52.1% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 3,334 people, 1,275 households, and 882 families living in the city. The

was 738.3 people per square mile (284.8/km). There were 1,414 housing units at an average density of 313.1 per square mile (120.8/km). The racial makeup of the city was 72.56%

, 26.48%

, 0.18% Native American, 0.30% Asian, 0.09% from other races, and 0.39% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 0.69% of the population. There were 1,275 households, out of which 35.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.8% were

living together, 21.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.8% were non-families. 28.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.02. In the city, the population was spread out, with 28.2% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.5 males. The median income for a household in the city was $27,422, and the median income for a family was $34,464. Males had a median income of $30,705 versus $21,045 for females. The

for the city was $14,639. About 22.6% of families and 25.0% of the population were below the

, including 36.9% of those under age 18 and 17.5% of those age 65 or over.

Education

New Madrid County R-I School District operates six schools in and around New Madrid, including

New Madrid County Central New Madrid County Central is a secondary school located in New Madrid County, Missouri. It serves grades 912 and is located just outside Howardville, Missouri. The school serves to a majority of New Madrid County, except for Risco High School, Po ...

high school. New Madrid has a lending library, a branch of the New Madrid County Library.

Government

The city of New Madrid is located in

Missouri's 8th congressional district Missouri's 8th congressional district is one of 435 congressional districts in the United States and one of eight congressional districts in the state of Missouri. The district encompasses rural Southeast Missouri and South Central Missouri as w ...

. Philip Raidt, who was born in Wurtemberg, Germany in 1825, helped to organize the first free school in New Madrid County. In April 1884, he was elected mayor of the city of New Madrid, but he did not serve. In the fall of 1884, he became a candidate for county judge and was elected to this position. From 1937 to 1994, all mayors of New Madrid were affiliated with the democratic party.

References

External links

* * Historic maps of New Madrid in th
Sanborn Maps of Missouri Collection
at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

Gallery

Map_of_New_Madrid,_Mo.,_and_Vicinity,_showing_the_position_of_the_fortifications._Surveyed_%26_drawn_by_Louis..._-_NARA_-_305776.jpg, 1865 map of New Madrid and Vicinity {{Authority control Cities in Missouri Cities in New Madrid County, Missouri Missouri populated places on the Mississippi River County seats in Missouri Populated places established in 1788 French colonial settlements of Upper Louisiana 1788 establishments in New Spain

History

Geography

Climate

Demographics

2020 census

2010 census

2000 census

Education

Government

See also

References

External links

Gallery