New Madrid ( ; ) is a city in New Madrid County,

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, 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 parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

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

Cairo, Illinois Cairo ( , sometimes ) is the southernmost city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat of Alexander County, Illinois, Alexander County. A river city, Cairo has the lowest elevation of any location in Illinois and is the only Illinoi ...

, and north of an exclave of

Fulton County, Kentucky Fulton County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of Kentucky, with the Mississippi River forming its western boundary. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,515. Its county seat is Hickman and its largest city is Fulton. The ...

, across the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. 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 that is encircled by the states of Tennessee and Missouri. The exclave is a portion of a peninsula defin ...

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. Determination The primary purpose of a ...

of the very powerful 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes.

History

Lithographic print made 1854 of New Madrid Missouri

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

Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

Creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: * Creek people, a former name of Muscogee, Native Americans * C ...

, and

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

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 around 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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

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 S ...

, who was appointed to rule

Spanish Louisiana Louisiana (, ), was a province of New Spain from 1762 to 1801. It was primarily located in the center of North America encompassing the western basin of the Mississippi River plus New Orleans. The area had originally been claimed and controlle ...

(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 (i.e. swear allegiance to) 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. Since ''empresarios'' attract ...

, 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 the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

veteran from

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. 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. Morgan made commitments to nearby natives that settlers would not be permitted to hunt game for the purposes of large-scale fur trading, thus they would not be an economic threat to natives who relied on hunting. 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 diseases, especially in the summer and fall. Spanish census data from the late 1790s show 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 Spain and the French Republic by which Spain agreed in principle to exchange its North American colony of Louisiana for territories in Tuscany. The terms we ...

. After trying to regain control of

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1803. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the isl ...

(the present

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

), 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 () was the acquisition of the Louisiana (New France), territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River#Watershed, Mississipp ...

. By 1810, a fort, two blocks, and a portion of a third block was washed away by expansion of the Mississippi river. The area is noted as the site of a series of nearly 2,000 earthquakes in 1811 and 1812, ranging up to approximately

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

8, the most powerful non-

subduction zone Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second p ...

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 major earthquake was felt as far away as the East Coast. Starting in 1838, New Madrid was on the

Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement of about 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850, and the additional thousands of Native Americans and their black slaves within that were ethnically cleansed by the U ...

that saw thousands of Indians forcefully removed from Eastern lands and moving to Oklahoma. During the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, 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 policies.J ...

, the

Battle of Island Number Ten The Battle of Island Number Ten was an engagement at the New Madrid or Kentucky Bend on the Mississippi Riverforming the border between Missouri and Tennesseeduring the American Civil War, lasting from February 28 to April 8, 1862. Island Numbe ...

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. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

area was developed for

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, 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 ...

plantations Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tobacco ...

, 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 introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...

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 or convicted transgressor or to intimidate others. It can also be an extreme form of in ...

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 theater developed in the early 19th century. The shows were performed by mostly white actors wearing blackface makeup for the purpose of portraying racial stereotypes of Afr ...

accused of altercations with whites, hanged on February 17, 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 mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimens ...

s, a

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

, a

stave Stave may refer to: Music * Stave (music), used in musical notation * Stanza * The Staves, an English folk rock trio People * Bruce M. Stave (1937–2017), American historian * Joel Stave (born 1992), American football quarterback Place ...

and

heading Heading can refer to: * Heading (metalworking), a process which incorporates the extruding and upsetting processes * Heading (navigation), the direction a person or vehicle is facing, usually similar to its course ** Aircraft heading, the directi ...

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 (); ...

. It was considered a rough town. There were four Protestant churches, two with independent African-American congregations, and one Catholic church.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, 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 subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(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 () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

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- High, is a large subtropical semi-permanent centre of high atmospheric pressure typically found south of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, at the Horse lat ...

, 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 .

Coal pollution

The New Madrid coal plant owned by Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. was identified as one of 17 "deadliest coal plants in the US" by the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

, citing emissions and regional haze affecting neighboring communities.

Sulfur dioxide Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless gas with a pungent smell that is responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is r ...

pollution in the Bootheel has been found to exceed

National Ambient Air Quality Standards The U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS, pronounced ) are limits on atmospheric concentration of six pollutants that cause smog, acid rain, and other health hazards. Established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency ...

. The plant was reopened in 2018 following the application of the

first Trump tariffs Tariffs during the first presidency of Donald Trump involved protectionist trade initiatives against other countries, most notably China. It principally involved tariffs on foreign imports imposed by Donald Trump, the 45th president of th ...

Seismic zone

The city is located in a web of cracks at the center of the North American Plate dating from the Rodinian. New Madrid was the epicenter of the powerful 3-month 2,000-earthquake

1811–1812 New Madrid earthquakes The 1811–1812 New Madrid earthquakes were a series of intense intraplate earthquakes beginning with an initial earthquake of moment magnitude 7.2–8.2 on December 16, 1811, followed by a moment magnitude 7.4 aftershock on the same day. Two ...

. In 2003, the

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...

predicted that another major earthquake will happen in New Madrid within the next 50 years, a theory that was rejected by the geophysicist Seth Stein in his 2010 book ''Disaster deferred: how new science is changing our view of earthquake hazards in the Midwest''. The city was hit by an earthquake on 28 February 2012 at 3:58 a.m. CST, measuring 4.0. However, the tremors created a media scare as the web made it easy for everyone to search the city's seismic history, and discover the 1811-1812 earthquakes and the city's sensitive seismic situation.

Demographics

By 1797, the total population was 615 (including 46 slaves).

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 2,787 people, 1,307 households, and 711 families in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...

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 chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 28.10%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

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

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

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 recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

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 average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

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 2010 United States Census, there were 3,116 people, 1,276 households, and 809 families in the city. The population density 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 2000 United States Census, there were 3,334 people, 1,275 households, and 882 families in the city. The population density was . There were 1,414 housing units at an average density of . 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. The city's population contained 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

It is in the

New Madrid County R-I School District New Madrid County R-I School District (NMCR1) is a school district with its administration building in New Madrid County, Missouri. The district covers portions of New Madrid County, including Canalou, Catron, Howardville, Lilbourn, Marston, ...

. New Madrid County R-I School District operates six schools in the New Madrid area, including Central High School. New Madrid has a lending library, a branch of the New Madrid County Library. Three Rivers College's service area includes New Madrid County.

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 Württemberg, 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 or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

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 Illinois Country 1788 establishments in New Spain Pre-statehood history of Missouri