The Town Commons

THE TOWN COMMONS. The Georgia Legislature initially designated 100 acres (parts of Land Lots No. 36, No. 35, & No. 23) for Madison's establishment. The Justices of the Inferior Court subdivided the land to create a "publick" square as well as lots for sale - around the square, then to the northwest, and later to the southwest.

Unplatted public lands were referred to as the Town Commons. In the 1810-20s, a portion of the southwest commons (now framed by W. Central Ave., Old Post Rd., and Walton St.) was actively used: by private individuals as a racetrack; as a pasture and a woodlot; and as a muster ground for the local 29th Regiment of the Georgia Militia.

The commons shrank as Madison developed: lots were sold along Old Post Rd. for funds to rebuild the Madison Male Academy; one-acre lots along Porter Street were offered to early congregations; and the remainder subdivided in 1837 for residential lots. These large, roughly 1/2-city block lots, were mostly developed for spacious homes with their small dependencies, amidst landscapes combining pleasure and utility in formal gardens, vegetable gardens, orchards, pastures, and later pecan groves.

CITY OF MADISON MADISON BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION 1809-2009 A PRESERVE AMERICA COMMUNITY