Jonesboro is an unincorporated community in Coryell and Hamilton Counties in the state of Texas, but it should not be confused with Jonesboro (or Jonesborough) in Red River County, Texas. The town began with the construction of a steam sawmill and gristmill on the Leon River in 1866. Several families moved to the area after the Civil War had ended and the community became known as Jones Mill (after the brothers who built the mills). The community changed its name to Jonesboro in 1877, and it continued to grow into the mid-1880s and 1890s. The construction of a railroad in 1911 that bypassed Jonesboro led to a decrease in the town's population; the construction of Highway 36 in the 1930s boosted the town's economy but not its population.