Brown's Town

Brown's Town is one of the principal towns in St. Ann, Jamaica.[2] In 1991, its population was 6,762.[3][4] The town is a market and road center in an agricultural region.[3]

Brown's Town
Small market town
Brown's Town Market
Brown's Town
Location in Jamaica
Coordinates: 18°23′31″N 77°22′1″W
CountryJamaica
ParishSt Ann
Elevation
449 m (1,473 ft)
Population
 • Estimate 
(2009)
7,923
Time zoneUTC-5 (EST)

Geography

Brown's Town is located in northwest St Ann in the Dry Harbour Mountains.[5] The town is about 12.87 km (8 mi) from the island's north coast.[5] The ugli fruit was first discovered in 1914 growing wild near the town.[6]

One notable region is called Tobolski.[7]

History

The town was founded by Hamilton Brown (died 1843) who is buried in the local Anglican church.[8]

Dr James Johnston who had been born in Scotland in 1851 arrived in Jamaica in 1874. He started his Jamaican Evangelical Mission in 1876. Johnston created nine churches but the base of his medical mission and his religious assemblies were in Brown's Town. Johnston became the political representative for St Ann's Parish before he left to explore Africa.[9] In the 1890s he took a team of Afro-Caribbean Jamaicans to England where they were equipped themselves to complete a 20-month journey of 4,500 miles through south central Africa. Their journey was photographed and described by a book published in 1893.

Brown's Town became significant as a market centre in the mid-19th century following the abolition of slavery.

According to Kamala Harris’ father (Donald J. Harris) the Democratic presidential hopeful's great-grandmother (Christiana Brown) was a descendant of Hamilton Brown, a Jamaican slave plantation owner who founded the city of Brown's Town, Jamaica. According to Donald J. Harris, Christiana was born in 1889[10], 46 years after Hamilton Brown died in 1843[11] so he is not Christiana's father. He is potentially Christiana's great grandfather, but it is unclear how she became his descendant given that Hamilton Brown has many black descendants in Brown's Town, St Ann, Jamaica. According to one elderly local in 2010; "A good amount of Brown live here, you know," he said. "People what name Brown pack up the place. It all coming from Hamilton Brown who the town name after. Yes man, dem teach it in school."[12] It is possible that Christiana's mother was one of Hamilton Brown's slaves or the daughter of one of his slaves.

Education, health, and recreation

Brown's Town is considered the educational capital of St. Ann.[2] Brown's Town Community College, located in the town, offers pre-tertiary and tertiary courses from the University of Technology, Jamaica and the University of the West Indies.[2] There are three secondary schools in Brown's Town: Brown's Town High School, St. Hilda's Diocesan High School for Girls, and York Castle High School.[2]

In Brown's Town, there is a health centre and a public health service, as well as private medical services.[2] The St Ann's Bay Regional Hospital and the Alexandria Hospital also serve the town.[2]

Popular sports in Brown's Town include football, cricket, netball, track and field, cycling, and lawn tennis.[2]

References
  1. "World Gazetteer".
  2. Brown's Town Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Brown's Town. The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. 2000 Archived 18 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Brown's Town Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Brown's Town Archived 10 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Lovell, Charles J. (February 1951). "Concerning the 'Ugly Fruit' and Other Citrus Hybrids". American Speech. Duke University Press. 26 (1): 35–37. doi:10.2307/453312. JSTOR 453312.
  7. "Tobolski Map — Satellite Images of Tobolski", maplandia.com.
  8. Uncovering secrets in Brown's Town. Robert Lalah, The Gleaner, 10 July 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  9. Robert A. Hill; Marcus Garvey; Universal Negro Improvement Association (1 January 1983). The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers: 1826 – August 1919. University of California Press. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-520-04456-2.
  10. "KAMALA HARRIS' JAMAICAN HERITAGE – UPDATED – 14.01.2019".
  11. "Hamilton Brown Profile & Legacies Summary". ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/11358.
  12. "Uncovering secrets in Brown's Town". jamaica-gleaner.com. 10 July 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
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