The Brooklyn area was first settled in 1819. Benjamin Cuthbert built a corn cracker on White Lick Creek. White Lick was considered to be the best mill creek in the state at that time.

The first bridge on what is now Mill Street was a swinging foot-bridge erected in the 1820's. Wagon and horses were crossed 200 yards downstream at the shallows of Rocky Ford. In 1875 the great flood washed the foot-bridge away. A full size covered bridge replaced it in 1876. This served the town until the current concrete structure was built in the 1940s.

     By 1826 Col. Johnathan Lyon had bought or built, a grain mill, saw mill, dam, general store, distillery, tannery, hattery and 160 acres of area land. The settlement became known as Lyon's Mill. The colonel was the first postmaster in 1837 but the post office was discontinued in 1839.  In 1843 the Lyon distillery burned down.  Scroggin's Saloon was dynamited in 1844. Col. Lyon had sold all interestsand moved out of the area by the end of the decade.

      Franklin Landers, a merchant and speculator, bought the settlement and laid the plans for the town on May 18, 1854. The name was changed to Brooklyn due to strong temperance sentiment and Lyon's connection with the distillery. Lots sold by Landers specifically stated that no sale of alcohol was permitted. If the agreement was broken the property was to revert to Landers. Brooklyn became a dry town.