Brookhaven, MS (BRH)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$333,287

Station Ridership

FY 2011

5,019

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

The Amtrak stop in Brookhaven is a shelter on the platform. The original Brookhaven depot was built in 1907 by the Illinois Central Railroad. Designed by F. D. Chase, the brick station with Tudor-revival influences consists of two buildings, a passenger station and a freight house. In 1980 the station was placed on the National Register of Historic Places due to the significant role the station and railroad played in the history of Brookhaven. The town, with support from Amtrak, Canadian National, and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), is working to build a new multimodal transportation hub to replace the existing shelter with project funding coming through FTA and administered through the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

Brookhaven, the seat of Lincoln County, developed slowly as settlers migrated from the Eastern U.S. Lacking proximity to a commercially navigable river, much of the region’s transportation relied upon rafts and shallow draught vessels in local waterways and upon narrow trails. The intersection of the Bogue Chitto River and an old Indian trail, located southeast of Brookhaven, saw some of the region’s first development, in the form of the Old Brook trading post. The site of Brookhaven was reportedly named in 1818 in recognition of founder Samuel Jayne’s Long Island heritage. The region remained vested in the plantation system throughout the early years of settlement; the lack of viable transportation meant there was accessible market for the resources of the region, limiting all enterprises to subsistence ventures.

During the 1850’s the New Orleans, Jackson, and Great Northern Railroad’s plans to create a continuous railroad from New Orleans to Jackson became public knowledge. The owner of the Old Brook settlement was hostile to the presence of a railroad right-of-way, while those in Brookhaven welcomed the railroad and the advantage it represented. The company agreed to build through Brookhaven and designated the town to be the site of one of the line’s “10 mile stations”. When the railroad was completed in 1858, the town consisted of no more than a dozen wooden houses. Between the railroad’s completion and the start of the Civil War, the access to major markets that the railroad offered drew attention to the region. Cotton production increased and lumber and brick production began in earnest. Shops, saloons, stables, and boarding houses opened, along with Whitworth College, one of the nation’s first four-year women’s colleges.

With Mississippi’s 1861 succession, the Civil War came to Brookhaven. Three companies of Brookhaven residents were sent into battle, and Whitworth College was converted into a military hospital and training facility. On April 29, 1863, the town was attacked by Grierson’s Raiders, a Union Cavalry force composed of three regiments that spent 16 days slashing through confederate territory to create a diversion for General Ulysses Grant’s Vicksburg campaign. In Brookhaven, the raiders destroyed the town’s training facilities, and took prisoner the town’s Confederate soldiers. The raiders also cut the telegraph lines, destroyed rails by bending them into “Sherman’s neckties” and burned depots, water towers, and bridges. These measures rendered the railroad impassable until repairs were completed following the war in 1867. The years after the war saw a boom in demand for yellow pine, leading to the opening of several dozen sawmills in the area that shipped more than 10,000 carloads of lumber annually.

In 1887 the fortunes of the town changed. A local option (prohibition) controversy led to political disagreement which hurt the community’s economy while a vigilante organization terrorized the area and threatened governmental authority. Perhaps worse, the cotton market depressed significantly. The state was forced to suspend Brookhaven’s charter for five years and place the government under direct gubernatorial control.

By the turn of the century Brookhaven had surpassed its prior difficulties, and was again prosperous thanks to the growth of the timber industry. In 1908, the combined output of Brookhaven and the adjoining town of Pearlhaven was 400,000 feet of lumber daily.

Brookhaven became a hub between the Illinois Central mainline (formerly the New Orleans, Jackson, and Great Northern), the Brookhaven and Pearl Railroad, the Mississippi Central, and the Meridian, Brookhaven, and Natchez Railroad. With its newfound economic prosperity the town grew. The community was served by three banks and two newspapers. A public library and hospital were established, and Whitworth College grew to more than 200 students.

Brookhaven has since undergone several changes. It has tripled in size through the annexation of neighboring towns, and the Whitworth College has been reopened as the Mississippi School of the Arts.

The Illinois Central was purchased in 1998 by the Canadian National Railway, which currently operates the former Illinois Central mainline from Chicago to New Orleans.

The town hosts the annual Ole Brook Festival and is home to the Ole Brook Wind Symphony. It also is home to the Military Memorial Museum, among many others.

Amtrak does not offer ticketing or baggage services at this facility.

Brookhaven is served by two daily trains.