Jackson County, Illinois

County: Jackson County

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 37.7667, -89.3500

The legislature of Illinois Territory created Jackson County in 1816. The county seat was located at Brownsville until 1843, when a fire consumed the court house and all the county records. Commissioners appointed for the purpose relocated the county seat to a site they named Murphysboro in August 1843.

"An Act to Erect a New County out of the Counties of Randolph and Johnson," 10 January 1816, Laws of Illinois Territory (1816), 62-65; Historical Sketches of Jackson County, Illinois (Carbondale, IL: E. Newsome, 1894), 155, 158-59, 162-63; "An Act in relation to the County Seat of Jackson County," 24 February 1843, Laws of Illinois (1843), 119-21.