County Clerk's Office
Jackson County Courthouse
1001 Walnut Street
Murphysboro, IL 62966
Phone: (618) 687-7360
Fax: (618) 687-7359
Website:
http://www.jacksoncounty-il.gov/
Office of the Circuit Clerk
Jackson County Courthouse
1001 Walnut Street
Murphysboro, IL 62966
Phone: (618) 687-7300
Website:
http://www.circuitclerk.co.jackson.il.us
"On the night of the 10th of January 10, 1843, the court house was
discovered to be on fire; the flames spread so rapidly that nothing could be
saved. All of the books, papers and records were destroyed, except perhaps
one or two small books that were not in the court house at the time.
“On the 13th of January, 1843, the county commissioners met to make
arrangements for the purchasing of new books, and they empowered the clerk,
D. H. Brush, to purchase such books as were necessary to carry on the county
business.
"Soon after this, there was a movement among the people of the county to
select another place for a county seat, so on the first day of August, 1843,
Murphysboro was chosen and located.
“When the courthouse at Brownsville was destroyed by fire on the night of
the 10th of January, 1843, the people of the county took legal steps to have
the county seat removed to some other place, so commissioners were appointed
by the county commissioners court to select the site of the proposed town.
William C. MURPHY, Samuel RUSSELL and John COCHRAN were the men that were
appointed to perform that duty. They reported that after due examination of
several places, a site was chose, situated on land belonging to Dr. John
Logan. Dr. John Logan donated twenty acres for the town plat.
"The location was made permanent on the first day of August 1843. The land
was laid off into lots and streets with a central square for the use of the
county for buildings. The county commissioners had the plat recorded and
proceeded to sell lots. The town was named after one of the commissioners,
Murphy's Borough, but the name was, by common consent, joined into one word,
the apostrophe and the last three letters dropped, and spelled Murphysboro.”
Source: Historical Sketches of Jackson County, Illinois, E. Newsome,
Publisher, Carbondale, Illinois, 1894
