Brunswick, Mississippi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Brunswick, Mississippi
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Country | United States |
State | Mississippi |
County | Warren |
Elevation | 98 ft (30 m) |
Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
GNIS feature ID | 691733 |
Brunswick is a ghost town located in Warren County, Mississippi. A ghost town is a place where most people have left, leaving behind empty buildings or just traces of a former community. Brunswick was once a small but active place.
Brunswick Landing, a spot just north of the main community, was right on the Mississippi River. This made it an important stop for river travel and trade.
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Brunswick's Early Days
Brunswick started as a "postal village." This means it was a key stop for mail delivery. In 1853, a steamship would leave Memphis, Tennessee, every evening. It traveled south, making many stops along the way. Brunswick was one of these important places where mail was dropped off. The journey was long, taking about 23 hours to reach Napoleon, Arkansas.
Life in Brunswick in 1900
By the year 1900, Brunswick was a small but thriving community. It had a population of about 100 people. The town had important buildings like churches and a school. There were also stores where people could buy supplies. Cotton gins were present, which were machines used to separate cotton fibers from their seeds. This shows that farming, especially cotton farming, was a big part of life in Brunswick.
The Newman Cutoff and Brunswick's Change
Brunswick's connection to the Mississippi River changed over time. In 1934, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started building something called the Newman Cutoff. This was a new channel for the river.
How the River Changed Brunswick
The Newman Cutoff project created two new lakes: Chotard Lake and Albemarle Lake. These are "oxbow lakes," which are U-shaped lakes formed when a wide meander (bend) of a river is cut off from the main river. Because of this new channel, Brunswick was no longer directly on the main Mississippi River. This change likely affected the town's importance as a river stop.
What Remains of Brunswick Today
Today, Brunswick is mostly agricultural land. This means the area is used for farming. The Mississippi Levee, a large embankment built to prevent floods, now lies between the former town of Brunswick and where Brunswick Landing used to be. Sadly, nothing remains of Brunswick Landing itself. The once busy riverfront is now gone, a reminder of how rivers can change landscapes over time.