The town is located 276 kilometres northwest of the state capital, Chihuahua, and 536 km southwest of Ciudad Juárez on the U.S. border.

Madera is also the place where on September 23, 1965, a guerrilla attack on the military took place; this gave the name to the "Liga 23 de Septiembre," an urban socialist guerrilla group that took the name to commemorate what they considered their martyrs.

Chihuahua governor Práxedes Giner Durán ordered the bodies to be buried in a mass grave.

[3] From 25 April 1966 it was the seat of the Territorial Prelature of Madera; after that was promoted to Diocese of Cuauhtémoc-Madera, with a cathedral in its new see Cuauhtémoc, Madera's San Pedro church, dedicated to Saint Peter, was given the status of co-cathedral.

Frost occurs most mornings from October to April, but daytime temperatures rise to double digits Celsius.