Driving Around Charming Small Town Fort Madison, IA in 4k Video

Filmed on Tuesday, April 11, 2023, I drive around the village Fort Madison, Iowa to see what's going on.
Fort Madison is a city and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States along with Keokuk. Of Iowa's 99 counties, Lee County is the only one with two county seats. The population was 10,270 at the time of the 2020 census. Located along the Mississippi River in the state's southeast corner, it lies between small bluffs along one of the widest portions of the river.
The city of Fort Madison was established around the site of the historic Fort Madison, which was the first permanent U.S. military fortification on the Upper Mississippi. Fort Madison was the site of Black Hawk's first battle against U.S. troops, the only real War of 1812 battle fought west of the Mississippi. It was also the location of the first U.S. military cemetery in the upper Midwest. The fort was named for James Madison, fourth President of the United States.
Fort Madison was one of three posts established by the U.S. Army to establish control over the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase territories. Fort Madison was built to control trade and pacify Native Americans in the Upper Mississippi River region. The other two posts were Fort Belle Fontaine near St. Louis, which controlled the mouth of the Missouri, and Fort Osage, near what is now Kansas City, which controlled trade with western Native American tribes.
Almost from the beginning, the fort was attacked by Sauk and other tribes. U.S. troops were harassed when they left the fort, and in April 1809, only threat of cannon fire stopped an attempted storming of the fort.
During its existence, several improvements were made to the fort, including reinforcing the stockade and making it higher, extending the fort to a nearby bluff to provide cover from below, and constructing of additional blockhouses outside the stockade. These improvements could not fully compensate for the fort's poor location, however, and it was again attacked in March 1812, and was the focus of a coordinated siege in the following September. The September siege was intense, and the fort was nearly overrun. Significant damage resulted to fort-related buildings, and the attack was only stopped when cannon fire destroyed a fortified Indian position. Black Hawk participated in the siege, and claimed to have personally shot down the fort's flag.
As the War of 1812 expanded to the frontier, British-allied Sauk and other tribes began a determined effort to push out the Americans and reclaim control of the upper Mississippi. Beginning in July 1813, attacks on troops outside the fort led to another siege. Conditions were so dangerous that the Army could not recover the bodies of soldiers killed outside the fort and troops could not leave the fort to collect firewood. The Army burned outbuildings to prevent them from falling into Indian hands.
After weeks of paralyzing siege, the Army finally abandoned the post, burning it as they evacuated. They retreated in the dark through a trench to the river, where they escaped on boats. The date of the abandonment is unknown, as much of the military correspondence from this period of the war is missing, but it probably happened in September. Black Hawk observed the ruins soon after. "We started in canoes, and descended the Mississippi, until we arrived near the place where Fort Madison had stood. It had been abandoned and burned by the whites, and nothing remained but the chimneys. We were pleased to see that the white people had retired from the country."
The first settler at the ruins of the fort was General John Holly Knapp, who in 1832 bought a claim to some land of the fort and built the first building in the fall of the same year, utilized as an Indian Supply Store. Early next spring and his cousin Nathaniel Knapp with family settled there, joined by some other settlers the same year, In June 1835, General Knapp and Nathaniel Knapp, laid out the town of Fort Madison. Due to some land title issues, in 1840 the town was relocated on the same lot lines by the government.
As of the census of 2010, there were 11,051 people, 4,403 households, and 2,667 families residing in the city.
The racial makeup of the city was 89.3% White, 5.5% African American, 0.4% Native American, 0.6% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 1.6% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.7% of the population.
The median income for a household in the city was $34,318, and the median family income was $42,067. Males had a median income of $32,530 versus $21,170 for females. The city's per capita income was $18,124. About 9.8% of families and 12.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.1% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over. #driving #travel #drivingtour

[@jacquelineharisun1023]

Oh wow, it is almost like being there!!!

[@exploreusacities]

Thank you, that’s my goal

[@martyaz]

Nice job, thanks for the video.

[@terrybane6206]

You've delivered another fun drive. You've done this before.

[@exploreusacities]

Once or twice...or 200 times now. haha

[@SidLaw500]

Looks roomy and peaceful.

[@wolfgirl2106]

Love my hometown visit a few times a year should see it during the rodeo place is not so quiet

[@ronfullerton3162]

The videos of all the Iowa Mississippi River towns are so depressing to me. Back in the 1950's and 60's, those downtown areas were full of stores and businesses. Now they are so empty.

[@exploreusacities]

If you think the Iowa side is bad, you should see the Illinois side!

[@ronfullerton3162]

@@exploreusacities For us that saw them in good days, it sure hurts to see them now. Between the floods and economic times, it has been rough.

[@onesunnyday5699]

​@@ronfullerton3162 I miss a healthy, bustling downtown 😢

[@ronfullerton3162]

@@onesunnyday5699 I grew up on a farm in Louisa County, Iowa. As a small kid, I remember going to town in the evenings to shop, especially during the summer. Each town had a particular night of the week that the businesses stayed open. And you would go to which town was open on the night we could get away. Or if we needed to go to a particular town for an item, we had to get away their night. Many towns would have a community band or school band playing during the evening. And it could be as much a social night as a shopping night. The business district was usually loaded with cars and people. And it was fun to get away from the farm and enjoy an evening in town. And of course, the big treat was an ice cream cone or a frosted mug of root beer before heading home. Summer evenings didn't get any better than that!

[@stevenm6453]

Looks like a nice quiet town. Too bad some of the migrants being bussed into larger cities couldn’t be dropped off in Fort Madison.

[@tedcruz6059]

There's a nice place in FM. for people that commit felonies.

[@crupert23225]

What is WRONG with you? FM is a nice little town and doesn't need the influx of all those illegals you refer to as "migrants".

[@maryDunn2023]

Why would you want to do that to migrants

[@maryDunn2023]

​@@tedcruz6059 Sit down little repuke

[@crupert23225]

@@maryDunn2023 Because the prison has room.