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Brownsville is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, founded in 1785 a few years after the resumption of westward migration at the site of a trading post near Redstone Old Fort along Nemacolin's Trail. Brownsville is located southeast of Pittsburgh along the east bank of the Monongahela River, and until the 1850s steel boom—because it sat atop the first water routes west—totally eclipsed Pittsburgh in importance, size and population. From its founding, well into the 19th century, as the first reachable population center west of the Alleghenies barrier range on the Mississippi watershed, the borough became quickly grew into an industrial center, market town, transportation hub, outfitting center, and river boat-building powerhouse. It was a gateway destination for emigrants heading west to the Ohio Country when a trading post, and the new USA's Northwest Territory and their 'legal successors' for travelers heading westwards on the various Emigrant Trails both to the Near West and later far west from its founding until well into the 1850s. As outfitting center, the borough provided the markets for the small scale industries in the surrounding counties—and also, quite a few in Maryland shipping goods over the pass by mule-train via the Cumberland Narrows toll-route. Brownsville from a became a major center for building steamboats through the 19th century, producing 3,000 boats by 1888. The borough developed in the late 19th century as a railroad yard and coking center, with other industries related to the rise of steel in the Pittsburgh area. It reached a peak of population of more than 8,000 in 1940. Postwar development occurred in suburbs, as was typical of the time. The restructuring of the railroad and steel industries caused a severe loss of jobs and population in Brownsville, beginning in the 1970s. The borough has a population of 2331 as of 2010. ==History== Because colonial settlers believed that earthwork mounds were a prehistoric fortification, they called the settlement Redstone Old Fort; later in the 1760s–70s, it eventually became known as ''Redstone Fort'' or by the mid-1760s, Fort Burd named eponymously after the officer who commanded the British fort constructed in 1759. The fort was constructed during the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War) on the bluff above the river near a prehistoric earthwork mound that was also the site of historic Native American burial grounds. In 1774, a force from the Colony of Virginia garrisoned and occupied the stockade during Lord Dunmore's War against the Mingo and Shawnee peoples. It commanded the important strategic river ford of Nemacolin's Trail, the western path to the summit; this was later improved and called Burd's Road. It was an alternative route down to the Monongahela River valley from Braddock's Road, which George Washington helped to build. Washington came to own vast portions of the lands on the west bank of the Monongahela; the Pennsylvania legislature named Washington County, the largest of the state, after him. Entrepreneur Thomas Brown acquired the western lands in what became Fayette County, Pennsylvania around the end of the American Revolution. He realized the opening of the pass through the Cumberland Narrows〔See Nemacolin's Trail. the French and Indian War (causes) and the history of George Washington as Lieutenant and Major in the Colonial Virginia Militia.〕 and war's end made the land at the western tip of Fayette County a natural springboard for settlers' traveling to points west, such as Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio. Many travelers used the Ohio River and its tributary, the Monongahela. Eventually the settlement became known as Brownsville after him. In the 1780s, Jacob Bowman bought the land on which he built Nemacolin Castle; he had a trading post and provided services and supplies to emigrant settlers. Redstone Old Fort is mentioned in C. M. Ewing's ''The Causes of that so called Whiskey Insurrection of 1794'' (1930) as the site of a July 27, 1791, meeting in "Opposition to the Whiskey Excise Tax," during the Whiskey Rebellion. It was the first illegal meeting of that frontier insurrection.〔("Timeline" ), Whiskey Rebellion〕 Brownsville was positioned at the western end of the primitive road network (Braddock's Road to Burd's Road via the Cumberland pass) that eventually became known as the National Pike, U.S. Route 40. As an embarkation point for travelers to the west, Redstone/Brownsville became a center in the 19th century for the construction of keel-boats. Its boats were used even by those intending to later take the Santa Fe Trail or Oregon Trail, as floating on a poleboat by river to St. Louis or other ports on the Mississippi River was generally safer, easier and faster than overland travel of the time. A large flatboat building industry developed at Brownsville. This was followed by its rapid entry into the building of steamboats: local craftsmen built the ''Enterprise'' in 1814, the first steamboat powerful enough to travel down the Mississippi River to New Orleans and back.〔 Earlier boats did not have enough power to go upstream against the river's current. Brownsville developed as an early center of the steamboat-building industry in the 19th century. The Monongahela converges with the Ohio River at Pittsburgh and allowed for quick traveling to the western frontier.〔Marc N. Henshaw, ''The Steamboat Industry in Brownsville Pennsylvania: An Ethnohistoric Perspective on the Economic Change in the Monongahela River Valley,'' Ypsilanti, Michigan: Western Michigan University, 2004〕 From 1811 to 1888, boatyards produced more than 3,000 steamboats.〔(Mary Pickels, "Oral history project focuses on Mon Valley's steamboat era" ), ''Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW,'' 26 July 2010, accessed 8 February 2012〕 Steamboats were not thoroughly supplanted by diesel until the late 20th century. The first all cast iron arch bridge constructed in the United States was built in Brownsville to carry the National Pike (at the time a wagon road) across Dunlap's Creek. See Dunlap's Creek Bridge. The bridge is still in use in . After the 1853 completion of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to the Ohio, outfitting emigrant wagon trains in Brownsville declined in importance. The rise of the steel industry in the Pittsburgh area led Brownsville to develop as a railroad yard and coking center. It gradually lost its diverse mix of businesses but generally prospered during the early 20th century. Brownsville tightened its belt during the Great Depression, but the economy grew with increased demand for steel during World War II. In 1940, 8,015 people lived in Brownsville. Its postwar growth led to the development of cross-county-line suburbs such as Malden, Low Hill, and Denbo Heights, which were mainly bedroom communities within commuting distance. With the restructuring of the steel industry and loss of industrial jobs, by the mid-1970s Brownsville suffered a severe decline, along with much of the Rust Belt. By 2000, the population was 2,804, as younger people had moved away to areas with more jobs. In 2011, Brownsville has a handful of buildings that are condemned or boarded up. Abandoned buildings include the Union Station of the railroad, several banks, and other businesses. The sidewalks around the town are still intact and usable. Brownsville attracted major entertainers in the early postwar years, who also were performing in nearby Pittsburgh. According to Mike Evans in his book ''Ray Charles: The Birth of Soul'' (2007), the singer developed his hit "What'd I Say" as part of an after-show jam in Brownsville in December 1958.〔Mike Evans, ''Ray Charles: The Birth of Soul,'' London: Omnibus Press, 2007〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Brownsville, Pennsylvania」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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