New Madrid is located in
New Madrid County, of which it is the county seat, 44 miles south of
Cape Girardeau along Interstate 55 near the Illinois state line at the SE corner of Missouri on the
Mississippi River. Site of an almost 360 degree bend of the Mississippi.
The population estimate for July 1, 1998 was 3,215, a decrease of 135 since 1990.It was the epicenter in 1811-1812 of earthquakes so powerful they changed the course of the Mississippi River.
