Town Tours: How Bottle Hill became Madison

MADISON – Up until 1834, Madison went by a different name.

Bottle Hill.

While this may be fairly common knowledge for many in the borough, the story of how the name changed — at the hand of a single vote — is not.

The support for a name change began in 1830, when the temperance movement began to grow and a Madison Temperance Society was formed.

“The Temperance Society decided Bottle Hill was a bad name,” said Cathie Coultas of the Madison Historical Society. “The name implied it was a town full of drunkards.”

A meeting was held in downtown then-Bottle Hill on Aug. 2, 1834, to decide if the name would remain, or change to Madison, a tribute to President James Madison.

The meeting was moderated by Mathias Lindsley Burnet, relative of current Assistant Borough Administrator Jim Burnet, and after a “spirited debate,” it was decided the decision on whether the town should be named Bottle Hill or Madison would be put to a vote at the end of the month.

The result was a tie.

“Because Mathias was the moderator, he didn’t vote,” said Jim Burnet, “But when it was a tie, he had to become the deciding vote.”

Mathias Lindsley Burnet broke the tie, casting his vote in favor of the name change.

Mathias Lindsley Burnet would then become the first postmaster of the newly named Madison, which remained part of Chatham until 1899.

Editor’s note

Today the Daily Record begins a week long tour of the Borough of Madison. For seven days, we will have extra coverage of the borough, its people, its culture and its history.