FORT MADISON, a city in the south-eastern corner of Iowa, U.S.A., on the Mississippi river; the county seat of Lee county. It is on Federal highway 61, and is served by the Burling ton and the Santa Fe railways. The population was 11,229 in 1925 (State census) and was 13,779 in 1930 by the Federal census. It has railroad shops employing 90o men and various other manufacturing industries, with an output in 1927 valued at $11,286,926, and is the seat of a State penitentiary. A fort was built here in 1808, and was named after James Madison, who was elected president that year. It was constantly harassed by the Sac and Fox Indians, who considered that its erection was a violation of the treaty made with them by Gen. W. H. Harrison in 1804. In Sept. 1813, the little garrison of loo men abandoned the post, burning the fort behind them, and escaping to the river through a tunnel. Permanent settlement began in 1833. The town was incorporated in 1838 and chartered as a city in The court-house, built in 1842 and constantly in use ever since, is the oldest in the State.