Madison is the county seat, incorporated in 1906 and named for William Madison Peyton, a leader in the movement for the formation of Boone County in 1847. A pioneer in the development of the Coal River Valley, Peyton locked and dammed Coal River in the 1840’s and made it navigable for steamboats to transport coal from the area to markets, and for a period made the Coal Valley one of the great industrial regions of the state.