Madison, Alabama
city in Alabama, United States
Madison is a city located primarily in Madison County, near the northern border of the U.S. state of Alabama. Madison extends west into neighboring Limestone County. The city is included in the Huntsville Metropolitan Area, the second-largest in the state, and is also included in the merged Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The population was 56,933 at the 2020 census. Madison is an enclave of Huntsville, which surrounds it on all sides, though there are some small unincorporated lands within Madison in Madison and Limestone counties and along the border with Huntsville.
Madison was mostly a small city for many years, with its population being around 400-500 for much of its history until the Redstone Arsenal was established to the southeast, which attracted many people to the area for jobs. This rapidly increased the city's population and stimulated economic growth. Many of Madison's residents work in Research Park or the Redstone Arsenal. Madison has been one of the fastest-growing cities in Alabama, as well as one of the wealthiest in the state. In 2022 census estimates, Madison was the ninth-largest city in Alabama, the eighth-densest city in Alabama, and the second-largest city in North Alabama after Huntsville.
“Madison, Alabama” enters the record as city in Alabama, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Madison, Alabama and city can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Madison, Alabama” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Madison, Alabama and city provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q79987. VIAF identifies the subject as 150131460. The Library of Congress control number is n83030163. Authority coordinates are 34.715, -86.740. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020 and 2022.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Madison, Alabama” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.