Murphysboro, Illinois

History

Established in September 1843, Murphysboro is the second county seat of Jackson County. The town's creation is tied to the disastrous fire which destroyed the courthouse in the first county seat, Brownsville. The fire proved to be the catalyst to move the county seat to a more central location. The name was decided for the new town when William C. Murphy's name was drawn from a hat containing the names of the three commissioners who chose the new location, a 20 acre tract of land donated by Dr. John Logan and Elizabeth Logan.

The son of the site's donors, Major General John A. Logan, later became a volunteer general in the Civil War. General Logan is also remembered for a distinguished political career, serving as Illinois' US senator from 1871 to 1877 and 1880–1886, as well as for running for vice president in 1884. At the time of his death he was considered a presidential hopeful. Logan's greatest legacy, however, is his creation of Memorial Day as a national holiday.

The economy of Murphysboro was based on coal for many of its growing years. It was also important in industry and transportation.

On March 18, 1925, at around 2:30 pm, 234 people were killed when the Tri-State tornado hit Murphysboro. This number exceeds the death toll of any single community in a tornado event in U.S. history. Murphysboro was essentially destroyed. Another F4 affected the area on December 18, 1957, causing intense damage to the southeast portion of the town.

The city was heavily affected by the May 2009 Southern Midwest derecho, which destroyed houses, brought down power lines, and left the town without electricity for a week. One man was killed by a falling tree limb.

In 2017, the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 had its point of longest duration (2 minutes, 41.7 seconds) near Murphysboro, at a point about 8 kilometers to the southeast (89.4030 degrees west longitude, 37.69335 degrees north latitude) in Giant City State Park.

Revitalization efforts

References

1. "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau.
2. {{GNIS. 2395141
3. "Find a County". National Association of Counties.
4. (2007-12-01). "Who Was Who". Oxford University Press.
5. "Welcome to City of Murphysboro, IL".
6. (March 18, 2025). "100th Anniversary of the 1925 Tri-State Tornado, Deadliest Twister in US History". [[WSIL-TV]].
7. "The 'Super Derecho' of 8 May 2009".
8. "Total solar eclipse of 2017 August 21".
9. US Census Bureau. "Gazetteer Files".
10. "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov.
11. "Explore Census Data".
12. [http://www.murphysboro.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&layout=item&id=2&Itemid=187 Link text], additional text.
13. "Oak Street Art Fair".
14. "Logan Historic Arts Neighborhood, 1515 Oak Street, Murphysboro, IL (2019)".
15. "JCMTD Routes".
16. "BOST, Mike".
17. (December 17, 2020). "A breakout star from Ryan Murphy's The Politician". [[The New York Times]].