Madison Park Community Re-Union Organization

                 The Madison Park community was founded by a group of fourteen former slaves around 1880.  This group was led by Eli Madison, Frank Madison and Killis Marshall.  This group desired to establish a community.  They worked their own land; built houses, established a school and houses of worship.  The idea of blacks who were former slaves possessing the consciousness to establish a community was unthinkable.  Most of them could not read or write but realized if they were going to have a future for themselves and their families, they needed a community.  So, they founded Madison Park, which indeed was a model African American community.  This community demonstrated to other blacks what could be done if they had goals and worked together to achieve the goals. 

 The Madison Park community still exists today and is predominately populated by the descendants of our forefathers because of the values of community they taught us.

                 Soon after purchasing approximately one thousand acres of land and what was known as the May Plantation, the community established farms and produced row crops and table vegetables.  They built grist mills, saw mills, two syrup mills, a cotton gin, grocery stores, a park and a gravel pit.  The community for all practical purposes was a self-sufficient community.  In order to preserve the community for their descendants, they established a pledge among themselves that none of them would ever sell any land to a white person.

 Churches

                  The first church in the community was the Old Elam Baptist Church.  Old Elam was established by whites.  It is the oldest church established in Montgomery County and one of the oldest churches in south Alabama.  Old Elam also had the distinction of serving a bi-racial congregation.  In 1865, the white members of Old Elam deeded the church holdings and ten acres of land to the church’s black members.

                  In the year 1880, several families began to meet in what was known as the Park under the bush trees to worship.  The group included Frank Felder, Gadson Draw, Eli Madison and Killis and Kate Marshall.  They later decided to establish a Methodist Church.  Eli and Frances Madison and Killis Marshall donated the land for a church.  Eli Madison named the church, which is known as the Union Chapel AMEZ Church.

                 In 1948, the Church of Christ was organized.  Several former members of the Methodist Church and three new families to the community established the Church of Christ.

 School

                  The other important issue to the founders of Madison Park was the establishment of a school to educate the children.  When Madison Park was founded, there were still laws on the books of Alabama which made it a crime to educate the Negro.  The first school in Madison Park was established in the home of Eli Madison.  The school was later moved to the Union Chapel AMEZ Church.  In the year 1890, Eli Madison, Charles Branson, Charles Brassell and others donated funds to start a private school.  General Madison organized a society called the Upbuilders Union, and the school met in the Upbuilders Union building from 1890-1906.  In 1906, Miss Carrie Madision, the daughter of Eli Madison, began teaching at the school.  In the year 1913, Julius Rosenwald contributed a donation toward the construction of a two-teacher school building.  The Montgomery County Board of Education required two acres of land for the construction of a school.  Elijah Madison deeded the land for the construction of the school.  Miss Carrie Madison became the school’s first principal.  The Madison Park Rural School was the first Rosenwald School built in Alabama.  Miss Carrie Madison was principal of the school for approximately twenty-seven years.  In the year 1954, the Upbuilders Union deeded some land to the Montgomery County Board of Education so that a four-room cement block building could be built.  Some of the teachers who taught at the school were Mr. P. Hatchet, Carol and Reverend Joe Arrington, Julia Smith, Rosa Goodwin, Frankie Madison Winston, principals, Fred Davis, Camellia Hester, Myrtle Tennille, Vera Newman, Luvenia Boddie, Prince Ella Madison, Anna Williams, Ruby Martin, and Fanett Sankey.  In the year 1915, the school had an enrollment of one hundred sixty students.  In 1955, the school had an enrollment of two hundred students.

                 Julius Rosenwald owned an interest in Sears Roebuck Company and established the Sears mail-order business.  He created the Julius Rosenwald Fund with thirty-five million dollars and dedicated it to the well-being of mankind.  Schools for Negroes benefitted from this fund.

 Midwives

                  One important group responsible for seeing that the population increased in Madison Park was the midwives.  There was no such thing as being born in a hospital.  Many of you were born at home.  The Madison Park Community was blessed to have several midwives:  Mrs. Amelia Felder, Mrs. Ida Gadson, Mrs. Leola Henderson, Mrs. Julia Marshall Hendricks and Mrs. Jeannie Mae Ware.

                 Our forefathers knew that they had to provide for their own welfare and lay the foundation for a better future for their children and their children’s children.  The Bible says that a wise man leaves an inheritance for his children and his children’s children.  From the humble beginning in Madison Park, we have gone on to excel in all walks of life.  The foundation we received in this community is responsible for our success.

This is your History!

This is your Community!