One summer morning in August 1852, Daniel Harmon Brush set out on horseback with his friend and business associate, Asgill Conner, from Conner’s home east of Murphysboro , Illinois .  They rode east for a few miles over easily passable terrain, then turned back southwest and continued into the unimproved wooded underbrush on foot.  After about a mile they came upon a line of surveyor’s stakes.   The Illinois Central Railroad would travel through Jackson County at this line.  Brush and Connor turned north with the stakes and soon found a wide, relatively flat area.  The two consulted with maps, checked the plat numbers written on the surveying stakes and made a decision; they would build a new town on the proposed railway.  The town they created is Carbondale , Illinois .   

            In 1850, Illinois had only 111 miles of railroad. Between 1850 and 1860, rail shipping and travel expanded to include 2,800 miles of track.[1]  The increased availability and use of rail encouraged commercial livestock and grain farming, coal mining, as well as manufacturing and mail order shipping businesses.  This directly influenced the growth of existing towns along its tracks and, in many cases, spurred the creation of new towns.  Carbondale , Illinois is an example of the direct influence of rail on urban creation. 

For a history of Daniel Harmon Brush, click here.

History, cont.