The Municipal Government of Madison will continue to build a friendly, attractive, safe and well-maintained community for citizens in which businesses prosper; public services and educational opportunities excel; history is preserved; and people live in good health and harmony.

The governing body, administrator and management team provide the professional leadership necessary to achieve this mission in an economic manner. This is accomplished by listening to the community and empowering employees to act effectively. Madison's employees commit themselves to excellence in service, continual improvement and timely, effective action toward the mission.

The earliest settlers of European descent arrived about 1715 and established "Bottle Hill" at the crossroads of Ridgedale Avenue and Kings Road. The Luke Miller house at 105 Ridgedale Avenue is thought to be the oldest remaining home in the Borough, built around 1730. Morris County, created in 1739, was divided into three townships. The area in Madison north of Kings Road was in Hanover Township and the area to the south in Morris Township. A meeting house for the Presbyterian Church of South Hanover, as Madison was then called, was started in 1747 where the Presbyterian Cemetery still exists between Kings Road and Madison Avenue. Later, in 1806, Chatham Township was formed, comprising the present Madison, Chatham Borough, Chatham Township, and Florham Park, and thus the political division of the village was ended. In 1834, the name of the village was changed to Madison, and in 1889, with a population of 3,250 persons, it seceded from Chatham Township and became a borough in order to develop a local water supply system.

Madison's growth accelerated after the Civil War. The railroad provided good transportation for its farm produce. Later it made possible the establishment of a flourishing rose growing industry, still commemorated in Madison's nick-name, The Rose City. The Morris and Essex Line became one of America's first commuter railroads, attracting well-to-do families and contributing to the development of "Millionaire's Row," which stretched from downtown Madison to Morristown.

Rapid population growth in the 20th century, especially in the 1920's and following World War II, has created an almost fully developed municipality. Madison, with an area of four square miles, has a population of approximately 16,000. The dominant land use is single-family housing, occupying 52 percent of the developed land, largely on lots well under one acre. Public and quasi-public uses occupy 25 percent of the developed land and commercial uses 13 percent. Most of the remaining land is used for multi-family housing with less than two percent vacant. Industrial uses are minimal.

Madison is known as a community with strong educational, cultural and historical amenities. The Free Public Library of the Borough of Madison is exceptional for a community of Madison's size and is widely regarded as one of the finest small community public libraries in New Jersey. Madison is the home of Drew University and has the Madison-Florham Park Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University and the College of St. Elizabeth immediately adjacent.

Madison has been very successful in providing federally subsidized low and moderate income housing. The Madison Housing Authority, established in 1981, has been responsible for the construction of a two senior citizen housing complexes (one with seventy-nine units and the other with twelve) and fifty townhouse units. The latter have been developed under a "scatter site" plan and are integrated into the community. The work of the Housing Authority has been nationally recognized for its quality and performance and its management expertise is in demand from other communities.