Jonesboro, Illinois

City: Jonesboro

County: Union

State: Illlinois

Lat/Long: 37.4500, -89.2667

The city of Jonesboro is located in southwest Illinois, thirty miles southwest of Marion. In February 1818, Jonesboro became the county seat of the newly-formed county of Union. It was chartered as a town in 1821 and as a city in 1857. A post office was established in 1818 as Union Courthouse and was renamed Jonesboro five years later. On September 15, 1858, Jonesboro was the site of the third debate during the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

Merriam-Webster’s Geographical Dictionary, 3rd ed. (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1997), 557; Edward Callary, Place Names of Illinois (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 179; “An Act adding a Part of Pope county to Johnson, and Forming a New County Out of Johnson County,” 2 January 1818, Laws of Illinois Territory (1818), 15-17; “An Act appointing Trustees of the Towns of Jonesborough, America, Covington, Vienna, and the Village of Prairie du Rocher,” 14 February 1821, Laws of Illinois (1821), 160-64; “An Act to incorporate the inhabitants of Jonesboro,” 28 January 1857, Private Laws of Illinois (1857), 74-80; William H. Perrin, ed., History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1883), 286; Edwin Erle Sparks, ed., The Lincoln-Douglas Debates (Dansville, NY: F. A. Owen, 1918), 50-75.