Editing Brownsville, Tennessee (section)

=== Early history and settlers ===
Brownsville was designated the county seat of Haywood County by the legislature on October, 16, 1824, and the town was legally incorporated in 1826.<ref name=":4" /> The town was named for General Jacob Jennings Brown due to a local legend that he has established a trading post just southeast of what is now the town square prior to the treaty with the [[Chickasaw]] people allowing settlement in Western Tennessee.<ref name=":4" /> Fifty acres of land were deeded for Brownsville on December, 14 1825 for a sum of one dollar and the choice of lots.<ref name=":4" /> By 1832, Brownsville had grown to a population of 400. The town continued to flourish until the [[Panic of 1837|major financial depression of 1837]]. Only two of the town's ten stores survived this period.<ref name=":4" /> During this time, the area was also struck with repeated flooding and a number of earthquakes.<ref name=":4" />

Bradford's Landing was founded in 1824 by brothers Hiram and Miles Bradford.<ref name=":15" /> Hiram would later establish the first cotton gin and store in Brownsville in 1825.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bradford's Landing Historical Marker |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=53034 |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=www.hmdb.org |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4" /> This storefront was later purchased by early Jewish settler Emil Tamm, and operated as Emil Tamm & Sons Department Store for 96 years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lot Number 1 Historical Marker |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=194089 |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=www.hmdb.org |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=ISJL - Tennessee Brownsville Encyclopedia |url=https://www.isjl.org/tennessee-brownsville-encyclopedia.html |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":15" /> 

The Tabernacle Campground was founded in 1826 by Reverend Howell Lewis Taylor and his five sons.<ref name=":15" /> This settlement contained Haywood County's first schoolhouse.<ref name=":4" /> It now serves as the site of an annual camp meeting for over 700 descendants of Taylor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tabernacle Historical Marker |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=52978 |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=www.hmdb.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mozo |first=Jessica |date=2013-05-21 |title=Family Tradition: Taylors of Tabernacle Kinfolk Camp Meeting in Brownsville |url=https://tnhomeandfarm.com/tn-living/taylors-of-tabernacle-kinfolk-camp-meeting-brownsville/ |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=Tennessee Home and Farm |language=en-US}}</ref>

James Bond arrived in Brownsville in 1836 and acted as a benefactor for many of the city's institutions. Bond owned in excess of 17,000 acres in Haywood County alone and owned as many as 600 slaves.<ref name=":15" /><ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Rust |first=Randal |title=Bond, James |url=https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/james-bond/ |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=Tennessee Encyclopedia |language=en-US}}</ref> He provided the land for the establishment of both Brownsville Baptist Female College in 1850 and Brownsville Baptist Church in 1870.<ref>{{Cite web |title=James Bond Historical Marker |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=200701 |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=www.hmdb.org |language=en}}</ref> He also invested heavily in various mercantile ventures in Brownsville and the [[Memphis, Clarksville and Louisville Railroad|Memphis and Ohio Railroad]] which would connect Haywood County to Memphis upon its completion.<ref name=":8" /> During the Union occupation of Haywood County in June 1862, Bond swore loyalty to the Union.<ref name=":8" />

One of Brownsville's earliest Jewish settlers was Jacob Felsenthal who arrived in the United States in 1840 from Bavaria.<ref name=":15" /> He arrived in Brownsville in 1847 and opened a retail store by the name of Felsenthal Bros. and Sons. This store would later be renamed Felsenthal's Department Store and served the community until it was destroyed by a fire in 1980.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Felsenthal's Historical Marker |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=194122 |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=www.hmdb.org |language=en}}</ref>

In the mid to late 19th century, German Jewish immigrants also settled in Brownsville. They founded a congregation in the 1860s, and built [[Temple Adas Israel]] in 1882.<ref name=":7" /> It is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. The building is believed to be the [[list of the oldest synagogues in the United States|oldest synagogue]] in Tennessee,<ref>Carroll Van West, [http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1303 "Temple Adas Israel"], ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2009.  Retrieved: February 15, 2013.</ref> and is a rare example of a synagogue built in the [[Gothic Revival]] style.<ref name=":4" /><ref>Marilyn Joyce Segal Chiat, ''America's Religious Architecture: Sacred Places for Every Community,'' John Wiley and Sons, 1997, p 296</ref>

The town is notable for its many well-preserved homes owned by wealthy planters before the Civil War, and multi-generational family-owned farms. Notable among these include James Bond's home, which was moved to nearby [[Dyersburg, Tennessee|Dyersburg]] in 1975,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historic Preservation |url=https://www.haywoodheritage.org/historic-preservation |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=Haywood Heritage Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> the Eader House constructed in 1865, which is now used as an event venue,<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |title=Tennessee Historic Event Venue |url=https://www.eaderhouse.com/venue |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=www.eaderhouse.com |language=en}}</ref> [[Lucerne (Brownsville, Tennessee)|Lucerne]], a former plantation constructed in 1855 which is now on the National Register of Historic Places, and the [[Joshua K. Hutchison House]], also on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref name=":4" />