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Top Attractions in Fort Madison

Daniel McConn Barn

The Daniel McConn Barn is a historic agricultural building located in near Fort Madison, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. It is a bank barn that is built into a south-facing slope. The south exposure of the basement level of the structure allowed protection of livestock in cold weather. The Pennsylvania-type barn was built around 1857 on a farm owned by Daniel McConn, a native of County Down, Ireland. He made his way to Fort Madison in 1837 where he became a merchant. While he owned the farm, it was worked by a tenant farmer. The foundation of the structure is of rubble construction and the sides of the upper structure are of vertical board-and-batten siding. It is capped with a low-pitched, gable roof that features three pyramid-shaped hip roofed ventilation cupolas located along the ridge.

Fort Madison Downtown Commercial Historic District

The Fort Madison Downtown Commercial Historic District has a collection of late-19th century store fronts centered on Ave. G, from 6th to 9th Street, and Ave. H from 7th to 9th, in Fort Madison, Iowa. The Mississippi River at Fort Madison flows from east to west. The city's downtown is on the east side of town north of the river. It includes the original part of the city, and the rest of the city grew to the west. The central business district is surrounded by residential neighborhoods with the Park-to-Park Residential Historic District to the north. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Passenger and Freight Complex Historic District is to the southwest closer to the river. Avenue H, historically Front Street, faces the river and was developed first. Historically buildings were only constructed on the north side of the street, and it still has its older, 19th century buildings. Avenue G, historically 2nd Street, was developed as the main business street from the late 19th and into the early 20th century. From east to west, development occurred between Sixth and Eighth Streets. By the 20th century, commercial buildings were built to Ninth Street and beyond. At the time of its nomination the historic district had a total of 105 buildings, with 91 being contributing properties and 14 non-contributing. Most of the buildings are two-story structures, with another 18 one-story buildings, and 15 three-story buildings. The predominate architectural styles are Federal, Italianate, Renaissance Revival and Romanesque Revival. Most of the buildings house commercial enterprises, and the Cattermole Memorial Library, which is individually listed on the National Register, is included as a contributing property.

Albright House

The Albright House, also known as the William and James Albright Duplex and the Betsy Ross House, is a historic residence located in Fort Madison, Iowa, United States. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. In 2014 it was included as a contributing property in the Park-to-Park Residential Historic District. The duplex was built in 1858 by brothers Jacob and William Albright, who had moved to Fort Madison in 1839 from Philadelphia. They patterned their house after the design of a double Italianate residence found in Samuel Sloan's The Model Architect . The three-story brick house follows a cross-shaped plan. The watertable, lintels and window sills are all stone. It has a wide, overhanging cornice that is decorated with dentils and paired brackets with pendants. The entrance porch for each unit was built into the front angles of the structure. The house was known locally as the Betsy Ross House because Jacob Albright was married to Rachel Wilson, a granddaughter of Betsy Ross.

Moyce-Steffens House

The Moyce-Steffens House, also known as the French Creek House, is a historic residence located in Fort Madison, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. The house is named for the first two owners of the house, who also substantially built it. John Moyce was a stonemason, originally from Scotland. He built the original section of the house in 1844. It was a single room dwelling that was typical of the vernacular architecture built in frontier Iowa. It is noteworthy for its finely-hewn stone cellar walls. Moyce moved to Illinois in 1848 and the house was bought by Hermann Steffens. He was a carpenter's laborer who added a single room to the northeast corner of the house. It shows the advancement in building techniques by the use of milled studs instead of the pit-sawn and hewn studs, and the absence of brace framing that are found in the original section of the house. Steffens died in 1882, and his widow Anna continued to live in the house until her death in 1904. During this time the western two rooms were added to the structure. It is possible this created a duplex as both the eastern and western sections of the house have their own front and rear entrances. This section, completed about 1892, shows further advancement in 19th-century building techniques. It utilizes balloon framing, and the brick nogging utilized in the earlier two sections is absent. The Tuscan columns found on the front porch are typical of the Colonial Revival style and replaced the original square posts with chamfered edges around 1910. Three of them were located in the cellar supporting a sagging foundation sill plate.

Atchison

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Passenger and Freight Complex in Fort Madison, Iowa consists of a former passenger train station and a former freight station built in 1909 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The original passenger depot was built in 1888 and later expanded to include the freight office. The station was closed in 1968 and replaced by the current Amtrak station. Plans backed by Senator Tom Harkin and Representative David Loebsack call for the station to be reopened and the newer Amtrak station to be closed, and for the station to be restored with interpretive displays. There is already a Santa Fe caboose on display on the property. As of November 2015, the rehabilitation project for the depot is underway. The first two phases to raise the complex's three buildings and the surrounding area by four feet are complete. This work brought the elevation of the complex above the 500-year flood elevation. The third phase of the project is to renovate the interior and its Art Deco style. The final phase, to be completed in 2016, will construct a railway platform so that the depot can again serve passengers.

George E. Schlapp House

The George E. Schlapp House is a historic residence located in Fort Madison, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. George E. Schlapp was born in 1839 in what is now Germany. He immigrated with his family to the United States when he was twelve years old, and they had settled in Lee County, Iowa by 1853. Schlapp started working in the brewing business by 1858. He built his own brewery on Front Street, now Avenue H, in 1866. His brother Henry joined him in 1871, and the brewery became known as George Schlapp and Brother. George Schlapp was also involved in banking, the development of the Fort Madison Western Narrow Gauge Railroad, and as a stock broker. He married Mary Dupuis in 1863 and they had six children. The exact date this house was built is unknown, but it is thought to have been built in the early 1870s. George Schlapp lived here until he died in 1912, and the house remained in the family until 1968. The house is considered to be the best example of Italianate architecture in Fort Madison. The 2½-story, brick house sits on a bluff overlooking the city and the Mississippi River below. The rectangular main block is almost square, and it has a smaller, two-story wing in the back. It is capped with a hipped roof that is pierced by four symmetrically spaced interior brick chimneys with corbelled caps. The cornice that surrounds the house features elaborately carved, paired wooden brackets and dentils under the eaves. At the top of the main facade is a triangular pediment with a single round arch window. There is a flat area on top of the roof that suggests a widow's walk, but there is no evidence that it was ever built.

Craig and Virginia Sheaffer House

The Craig and Virginia Sheaffer House, also known as the John and Marion Keenan House, is a historic residence located in Fort Madison, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. Craig Sheaffer served as the president of the Sheaffer Pen Company, which had been established by his father Walter, and as an Under Secretary of Commerce during part of World War II. The house is part of a complex of houses built by the Sheaffer family. The Walter A. Sheaffer House just to the west of this house is also listed on the National Register. The other two houses were built for Craig and Virginia's sons Walter and John. John and Marion Keenan bought this house from the Sheaffer family. He also served as president of the Sheaffer Pen Company. The Craig and Virginia Sheaffer House is a large Tudor Revival completed in 1929. It was designed by the Chicago architectural firm of Mayo and Mayo. The north and south elevations of the 2½-story house are 138 feet long. It is located on a landscaped property on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. The landscaping, completed in 1931, is a contributing site in the house's historic nomination. The exterior is mostly composed of textured brick laid in both patterned and Flemish bond coursing. Some of the gables are faced with limestone while other wall surfaces are composed of a mix of brick and stone. One of the gables and another section of the house feature half-timbering composed of cypress wood and stucco infills.

Park-to-Park Residential Historic District

The Park-to-Park Residential Historic District in Fort Madison, Iowa, United States, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. The historic district is located to the north of the Downtown Commercial Historic District, generally between Central Park on the west and Old Settler's Park on the east. Both parks are contributing sites. For the most part the district is made up of single family homes built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some of these homes were built as rental properties, while others became so in later years. The Albright House and the Chief Justice Joseph M. Beck House are contributing properties, and they are also individually listed on the National Register. There are also duplexes and a few small scale apartment buildings in the district. Given its location adjacent to the central business district there are no historic commercial buildings located in its boundaries. Institutions in the district include buildings erected by local governments and churches. The Lee County Courthouse and jail are located across the street from the downtown area. A combination building houses the Fort Madison City Hall and a fire station . The former St. Joseph's Catholic Church complex (various buildings from the 1850s to the 1920s) is located near Old Settler's Park, while St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church (1871), rectory (1876) and convent (1911) are located just west of Central Park. First United Methodist Church is associated with two sets of buildings in the district. Its original church built in 1888 now houses Joy Baptist Church. Their present church building was built in 1923. The present First Christian Church (1958) replaced an earlier church (1903) on the same property. Other denominations are represented by Union Presbyterian Church (1885) and Parsonage (c. 1890), St. John's Evangelical Church (1864) and Parsonage (1893), and St. Luke's Episcopal Church that was built as Hope Episcopal in 1857.

Denmark Congregational Church

Denmark Congregational United Church of Christ is located in Denmark, Iowa, United States. The church building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Denmark Congregational Church in 1977. The church is noteworthy because of its association with the Rev. Asa Turner, Jr. He was a noted abolitionist and supporter of the temperance movement, who was the pastor of the congregation in its early years. He was an early Congregationalist missionary to Iowa and encouraged the American Home Missionary Society to send more missionaries to the Iowa Territory. His requests resulted in the arrival of nine young men from Andover Theological Seminary in 1843. Known as the "Iowa Band", they established churches in eastern Iowa based on Turner's Denmark church. The church building is a brick structure with a truncated square tower. A tall, slender spire had been completed in 1871, but was lost in a storm in 1953. Instead of replacing it, the crenelations were created at the top of the tower instead. A pedimented vestibule is located at the base of the tower. The side elevations are three bays long with a round-arch window in each bay. The interior of the church is plain. An education wing was built to the west of the church in 1958, and a vestibule on the east side replaced a previous vestibule.
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