In 1862, construction of the Little Rock and Memphis Railroad was begun at this site, using mostly Irish immigrants. The workers originally called the town Lick Skillet, because when the day's work was completed, the railroad crew cooked their supper over an open fire and didn't return home until the last skillet was licked! It was incorporated as a town in 1872 and named in honor of the railroad's president, Robert C. Brinkley.
