Fort Madison is the Mississippi river crossing and station stop for Amtrak's Southwest Chief.

With a rich variety of architectural styles like Gothic Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Eastlake Stick, Richardson Romanesque, Queen Anne, and Tudor.

Fort Madison was built to control trade and pacify Native Americans in the Upper Mississippi River region.

[11] A disputed 1804 treaty with the Sauk and affiliated tribes led to the U.S. claim of control over western Illinois and parts of what is now Iowa.

To establish control, the U.S. Army set out to construct a post near the mouth of the Des Moines River, a major trading route into the interior of Iowa.

Not finding suitable land near the mouth of the Des Moines, the expedition also considered land near Quashquame's Sauk and Meskwaki village at the head of the Des Moines Rapids, a choke point of trade and transportation on the Upper Mississippi below modern Montrose.

It was poorly situated at the base of a bluff next to a deep ravine, areas from which enemies could safely fire at the fort.

Its construction led to resentment among the local Native Americans, especially the Sauk: They considered the 1804 treaty invalid, the fort threatened established trading networks, and American trade goods were considered inferior to French or British goods.

These improvements could not fully compensate for the fort's poor location, however, and it was again attacked in March 1812, and was the focus of a coordinated siege in the following September.

Significant damage resulted to fort-related buildings, and the attack was only stopped when cannon fire destroyed a fortified Indian position.

[15] Black Hawk participated in the siege, and claimed to have personally shot down the fort's flag.

[16] As the War of 1812 expanded to the frontier, British-allied Sauk and other tribes began a determined effort to push out the Americans and reclaim control of the upper Mississippi.

The date of the abandonment is unknown, as much of the military correspondence from this period of the war is missing, but it probably happened in September.

"We started in canoes, and descended the Mississippi, until we arrived near the place where Fort Madison had stood.

"[16] United States government had established a federal fur trade station at Fort Madison in 1808.

Early settlers built their homes near the ruins and named the town that grew up around them for the fort.

Archaeological excavations in the parking lot of the Sheaffer Pen Company factory in 1965 exposed the fort's central blockhouse and the foundations of officers' quarters.

[20] A replica fort was built several blocks away; much of the labor was supplied by volunteer inmates at the nearby Iowa State Penitentiary.

[24] Fort Madison is famous for the Tri-State Rodeo, RiverFest, Mexican Fiesta, Balloons Over the Mississippi, Art in Central Park and Annual Lighted Parade.

[30] The Sheaffer Pen Museum in Fort Madison features many exhibits of the company's writing instruments.

The Iowa State Penitentiary, a maximum security institution for men, is in Fort Madison.

The Southwest Chief crosses the Mississippi River on the Fort Madison Toll Bridge just to the east of town.

The span, owned by the BNSF Railway, is the world's longest swing bridge, and it carries both road and rail traffic across the Mississippi River over its upper and lower deck, respectively, between Fort Madison and Niota, Illinois.

In addition to Amtrak, two other railroads serve Fort Madison: the BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) and Union Pacific.

Greyhound Bus Lines stops to pick up or discharge passengers at 5002 Avenue O in Fort Madison.

A controlled access US Highway 61 bypass around Fort Madison opened to traffic in the fall of 2011.