Page 23 - MACC Guide 2019/2020

Georgetown neighborhood as early Black-owned homes, businesses, and of William Douglass at 307 E. Fifth St.;
as the 1820’s when 48 families are churches. the Robert Right Rae Stables from 507
listed as living in Madison. The to 511 Walnut St.; the home of John
number of Black families living In 2004, Georgetown, Indiana was Carr at 512 Walnut St.; the home of
in Madison increased for the next the first district to be placed on the Stepney Stafford at 619 Walnut St.; the
three decades to 298, in 1850. Many National Underground Railroad African Methodist Episcopal Church
residents came from the East from Network to Freedom. Later that year, at 309 E. Fifth St.; the home of David
places like Virginia. Between 1850 and the Indiana State Historical Bureau Lott at 624 Walnut St.; the home of
1860, the number of Black citizens deemed the location “especially Elijah Anderson at 626 Walnut St.;
in Madison began to decrease as noteworthy and representative of the Walnut Street Methodist Church
German immigrants moved into the major themes in Indiana’s history.” at 711 Walnut St.; the first home of
neighborhood. The story of Georgetown remains William Anderson at 713 Walnut St.;
immortalized on a historic marker and the home of Archibald Taylor on
The exodus from Georgetown located at the corner of Jefferson and the northwest corner of East Fifth and
neighborhood was the direct result of Fifth Street. Walnut streets at 627 Walnut St.)
increased tension between free Blacks,
many involved in the Underground Eleven sites in Georgetown have Interested in seeing these historic
Railroad movement, and pro-slavery been identified as connected with buildings in person? Pick up a
forces. In Madison, friction between the Underground Railroad. They are “Georgetown Historical Interpretive
the groups erupted in horrific illustrated above (from left to right: Walking Tour” brochure from the
violence when a mob of pro-slavery the home of Charles and George Madison Area Chamber of Commerce
citizens took it upon themselves to Hopkins on East Fifth Street; the home or Visit Madison’s Visitor Center.
search the homes of free Blacks for
fugitive slaves and weapons. Three
Black men were nearly killed in
the violence. Mobs of pro-slavery
people repeatedly went into
Georgetown and attacked residents.
Several of these attacks resulted in
some of Madison’s prominent Black
residents fleeing the city.
By the 1850’s, the neighborhood
had grown to encompass the area
east of today’s US-421, or Jefferson
Street. It reached south nearly to
Main Street, and east to East Street.
Walnut Street (Georgetown’s Main
Street) was the location of many