The city of Fort Madison was originally built around the site of the actual Fort Madison, the first permanent U.S. military fortification on the upper Mississippi, and the site of Black Hawk's first battle against the U.S. The for the fort comes from the fourth president of the United States, James Madison. This fort was one of only three posts which was built to establish control over the land acquired in the Louisiana Purchase, and to control trade and pacify Native Americans in their respective locations.

The fort would be abandoned in 1813 as Native Americans, especially the Sauk tribe, began an effort to push Americans out and take back the land on the upper Mississippi River. After weeks of this siege, the United States Army finally had to abandon the post, burning it as they left. Americans would stay away for a time, but early settlers would later return to this land and build their homes near the ruins of the fort, naming their town for it, the modern-day downtown of which is pictured to the right (image courtesy of Billwhittaker / Public domain) . Now, the site of the fort is subject of preservation efforts, but no agreements have been made regarding whether the land will be developed.

The town has been home to several notable people, including founder of the Chicago Bulls Dick Klein, NBA player Ryan Bowen, and Jerry Junkins, CEO of Texas Instruments, which manufactures a great deal of calculators which are used extremely commonly (all information courtesy of Wikipedia.com).