New Madrid is a city in New Madrid County, Missouri, 42 miles (68 km) south by west of Cairo, Illinois, on the Mississippi River. New Madrid was founded in 1788 by American frontiersmen. In 1900, 1,489 people lived in New Madrid, Missouri; in 1910, 1,882. The population was 3,334 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of New Madrid County . This county seat is home to the consolidated middle and high schools. "Madrid" in this name is usually pronounced with the stress on the first syllable (MAD-rid), unlike the Spanish capital Madrid (muh-DRID).
The area is famous for being the site of a series of over 1,000 earthquakes in 1811 and 1812, the most powerful (possibly magnitude 9.0) non-subduction zone earthquake recorded in the United States. New Madrid, Missouri lies far away from any plate boundaries, although it lies on what is called the New Madrid Seismic Zone. The earthquake was felt as far away as the East Coast.
The city also remembered as being the nearby location for the Mississippi River military engagement, the Battle of Island Number Ten, during the Civil War.
