Princeton was named for William Berry Prince, who settled on nearby Lake Jackson with his wife Sarah S. Jefferies in the early 1820s.

Based in Princeton, the railroad began constructing a line east from the town to Lake Washington and Deer Creek.

After a second explosion on the Ohio River that same week killed 150, the U.S. government passed its first legislation requiring steamboat owners to take measures to protect those on board.

[5][6] An early settler to Washington County was Junius Richard Ward, who amassed a fortune in hemp, cotton, and mercantile and shipping interests.

The Mississippi River has since changed its course several miles west, and the former townsite is now located next to Carolina Chute, an oxbow lake.