Early History of Brownstown
Taken from “Jackson County History – 1886”

Brownstown Township took its name from the county seat which was named in honor of Gen. Jacob Brown, who was distinguished for his many acts of bravery in the War of 1812.

After the American Revolution in 1783, the land included in Jackson County was a part of the Northwest Territory which belonged to Virginia and had been ceded to Congress to be divided into states. So in 1800, by an act of Congress, the territory of Indiana was organized with the seat of government at Vincennes and William Henry Harrison as governor. Harrison entered into several treaties with Indians who still held claims to the lands. Jackson County had been occupied by the Piankeshaws who were of the Algonquin tribe, a few Wyandots and some Shawnees. County land bordered on the hunting grounds of the hostile Miami tribe.

The oldest settlement in the county was at Vallonia, which was first settled by the French. Most settlers came after 1810 and life was difficult during the War of 1812. When the war started, there were 93 families, but at its end, there were only 23 left. Hutchinson’s Fort was built at Vallonia and Ketcham’s Fort near Brownstown for the safety of the early settlers. There was one recorded battle with the Indians at Tipton’s Island near Rockford in 1812. Gen. John Tipton and his men killed several Indians and scattered the rest.

The territorial capital of Indiana was moved from Vincennes to Corydon in 1813. Settlers began to flock to the county. The year of 1816 was eventful as Indiana was admitted to the Union as a state, Jackson County was created and the town of Brownstown was born.

Commissioners met at the cabin of John Ketcham on Driftwood River and arranged to buy from him 150 acres of land at $8 an acre on the present site of Brownstown. Ketcham donated the land to be included in the public square to the county, as long as it was to be used for the county seat. Streets running north and south were Main, Poplar, Sugar and Water Streets and those at right angles, east and west, were Cross, Tanner, Commerce, Walnut, Spring and Bridge Streets.

Soon after, a log courthouse was built, a graveyard was laid out, a tannery was built by John Elliott, churches were organized and a weekly paper, the Jackson County Advocate, was published by Henry B. Wools. In 1819, Alexander Craig built a hotel, The Aetna House, the first brick building in Brownstown. The first merchant was thought to be William Burr who had a log building west of the public square. William Congleton built a frame house on the northwest corner of Main and Walnut Streets in which he kept a tavern. One of the first houses built in Brownstown, Congleton’s building was the first hostelry and was later occupied by the Durland Grocery and Provision Store. In the early days of Brownstown, the streets were dirt and most of the buildings frame and the forest came to the edge of town. Pigs and other stock roamed the streets at will.

A national road extended through Brownstown in an east and west direction. The road led through the bottom land to the river but there was no bridge until 1875. The first railroad was the Ohio and Mississippi. Brownstown was first incorporated in 1837. There was a mule-drawn street car which ran on a track built in 1891 from courthouse square to a depot in Ewing, about one mile west of Brownstown.

Ewing founded in 1857 and had a post office, railroad depot and many manufacturing and shipping facilities such as the Ewing Mill Co., an oak and hickory spoke factory, a stave factory, W.R. Bolles’ cooper shop and Zabel’s furniture manufacturing. A house built by C. L. Wayman was the first one built after the town was laid out and the first brick building was a store owned by William H. Ewing and John Dowing. The first blacksmith and wagon shop was by Baker and Johnson and Charles Wayman built a sawmill and corn cracker soon after. Ewing became a thriving town with its own post office, a hotel and schoolhouse. The two communities united as one civil unit in 1870, with the name of Brownstown.