Brownsville, Illinois

City: Brownsville

County: Jackson

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 37.7333, -89.4333

A post office was established at Brownsville in 1817, and two years later, the town was incorporated. Named for Judge Thomas C. Brown, Brownsville served as the first Jackson County seat. The town flourished until 1843, when the county seat relocated to Murphysboro. Shortly thereafter, the town passed out of existence. Brownsville was located on the north bank of the Big Muddy River south of present day Sand Ridge, Illinois, near the Big Muddy Saline Lands.

Historical Sketches of Jackson County, Illinois (Carbondale, IL: E. Newsome, 1894), 9, 153-56, 159; James N. Adams, comp., and William E. Keller, ed., Illinois Place Names (Springfield, IL: Illinois State Historical Library, 1989), 304; John M. Peck, A Gazetteer of Illinois in Three Parts (Jacksonville, IL: R. Goudy, 1834), 45.