Today’s story is inspired by a mussel shell Rhonda Dunn found over the weekend. She and other Rock & Mineral Club members took a trip to Madison. The mussel shell had several precision-drilled holes through it. “Precision-drilled holes in a mussel shell,” you say? Read on.

This story and more about Madison, Indiana, can be found at keywestshrimphouse.com/madison-indiana-button-factory.

“To make the old ‘pearl’ buttons of a bygone era, mussels were fished out of the river by the tons and brought in by light barges and railroad from miles away, up and down the river to the button factory. Mussels were piled high in nearby vacant lots as reserve supplies to keep the factory going during the winter ‘run.’

“First, the mussels were separated into their two halves, washed and cleaned, and then sent off to the rows of clacking and buzzing button-cutting machines.

“Here the button ‘blanks’ were sawed out of the mussel shells, the holes drilled in the ‘blanks’ and countersunk. Beveled and polished, the finished buttons were hand-sewn upon cards and were ready for the market.

“The hand-sewing onto the cards was an important ‘cottage’ industry in those days because it was largely done by women of the town in their spare time in their own homes. Small boys made pin money by delivering the buttons and cards back and forth from factory and homes.

“The old button factory, the old trolley that ran from one end of town to the other, most of the old shipyards and other businesses have long since faded away into the colorful history of Madison. Few people nowadays realize that the bustling, teeming river town was once the largest city in Indiana.

“It all started back in 1809 when the Revolutionary War veteran, Colonel John Paul, purchased the entire peninsular tract at a public land sale in Jeffersonville. He platted the town and named it for President James Madison, and [gave] generously of his means for public use in the development of the new town.

“Madison was strategically located at the nearest port for the interior of Indiana. Its growth was steady, and by 1850 its population exceeded 5,000, making it the largest city in Indiana.

“Within a few years, however, it was stripped of this honor when new, direct routes to Eastern markets were developed from Louisville and Cincinnati.”

Brown County button factory?

Yes, Brown County had a button factory. Joshua and Emma Tipton operated a button factory that used mussel shells from the creek. They also had a canning factory, an ice house, a blacksmith shop and cattle scales. They had 22 buildings on their farm.

The Tipton farm was in Van Buren Township, on State Road 135 South near Pikes Peak. Before the Civil War, the Tipton farm was the homestead of William Shepherd and his large family.

Of interest: More than 15,483,000 pounds of “pearl” buttons were made from freshwater mussels in 1930, whereas marine shells, particularly all of which were imported from Australia and the Philippines, produced only 4,500,000 pounds of buttons.

Submitted by Pauline Hoover, Brown County Historical Society