As  the county developed, families moved in and began farming. In those days, farms were small. A family could live on a few acres. They would fence the property, have a cow, a horse, a few pigs, maybe some sheep and chickens. They were self sufficient. These farms were close to each other, usually around a crossroads, or near a railroad. There were no paved roads or automobiles. A trip to London meant hitching up a horse to a wagon, taking a day to get there, spending the night and coming back the next day. Someone saw a need and started a small general store, maybe out of a house and eventually built a store. Perhaps a newly wed and ordained minister moved in and the group of farmer families helped build a church or perhaps a small multi-grade school. A death occurred and one of the farmers donated a a piece of land for a cemetery, or maybe it opened next to the church. If the community was next to a railroad, a grain elevator might be built. A town was born, and for years thrived and met the needs of the neighborhood. As you read the comments about each community in this section, you often see the remark never or unplatted. This means that there were never streets laid out. These small communities usually just grew along the intersecting roads. Sometimes along just one leg of the intersections. Some were T-intersections, not crossroads. Sometimes a single lane or road was graded next to a railroad and all the homes in community were on that one road.  

Why didn’t they grow into town and cities? What happened? There are several reasons. Two reasons are very easy to understand. The first was the paving of roads. The second was the invention of the automobile. A trip from anywhere in the county could now be made in less than 30 minutes. The other two reasons are not as evident, but significant. The first was the invention of television, and the second air conditioning. These four factors destroyed the sense of community. Why shop at a local high-priced store when you can drive less than 30 minutes to a large well-stocked supermarket with lower prices? Eventually the community general store and mom and pop businesses failed and closed. As children were born, they grew up and moved away. The small farms could not support multi-families. America’s railroads were replaced by semi-trucks and many grain elevators closed. Television and air conditioning stopped people sitting out in the evening and visiting neighbors. There were still houses, some became rentals and people living there might not even know or even talk to their neighbors. The unincorporated village as a thriving community died, leaving just a clustered group of houses.  

The next chapter identifies and provides information about all of the existing and former communities in the county.

As the county grew, each little community was linked to its neighbor communities and to London, the county seat by a series of roads. Many of these were Indian trails or dirt lanes. Eventually the state and the nation needed access and a network of Interstate and federal highways, state highways and country roads were built. The following sketch provides an overview of the major roads in Madison County. In 1870, the first paved road of asphalt was laid in New Jersey. Paving began to spread across the U.S. and paved roads began to appear in Madison County in the early 1900’s and continued for several decades. All named roads in the county are paved. In some communities there are still some unpaved streets and lanes. Detailed maps are available from the county engineers.