Biohazard Cleanup Near West Murphysboro Murphysboro, IL

Murphysboro is the county seat of Jackson County in southern Illinois, part of the Metro Lakeland area about 10 miles east of the Mississippi River.

Murphysboro was established in September 1843 as Jackson County's second seat, after a fire destroyed the courthouse in the first county seat of Brownsville pushed officials to pick a more central location.

The town got its name by chance: William C. Murphy's name was drawn from a hat containing the names of the three commissioners who chose the new site, on 20 acres donated by Dr. John Logan and Elizabeth Logan.

The donors' son, Major General John A. Logan, became a Civil War hero and U.S. senator from Illinois, and he is credited with creating Memorial Day as a national holiday; his legacy is preserved at the General John A. Logan Museum in Murphysboro.

On March 18, 1925, the Tri-State Tornado killed 234 people in Murphysboro, still the deadliest toll for any single community in a tornado in U.S. history, and the town was essentially destroyed.

The 2020 census counted 7,093 people in Murphysboro, well below the city's peak of 10,703 in 1920, when its economy was built on coal.

Murphysboro had 3,110 households in the 2020 census, and about 40% of them were people living alone.

The point of longest duration of the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, at 2 minutes and 41.7 seconds, fell just southeast of Murphysboro in Giant City State Park.

Murphysboro hosts an annual Apple Festival on the second weekend after Labor Day and the Big Muddy Brewfest each October, which draws more than 100 breweries and over 2,000 visitors.

Riverside Park in Murphysboro preserves a band shell built as a Works Progress Administration project during the Great Depression.