Brenham, Texas

Name: Brenham, Texas
Address: Brenham, TX

Everything Brenham is known for

6 songs mention this city 12 artists from here

RoadyGoat plays music like this when you drive through Brenham. It's free on iPhone, and full songs play through Apple Music.

Brenham, Texas, located in east-central Texas, is known for its German heritage and as the home of Blue Bell Creameries. The city also has a musical identity, with several artists calling it home and songs mentioning its name. Country artist Abigail Taylor is from Brenham, and the polka band The Czechaholics also hails from the area.

Music is further woven into the city's fabric through songs like "Ohio (Come Back to Texas)" by Bowling for Soup, which explicitly mentions Texas, and "Texas Armadillo" by Dale Watson, a track that evokes the state's imagery.

Music in Brenham

Songs About Brenham

Brenham, TX

Into It. Over It.

82%

"Brenham, TX"

Brenham

Luke Levenson

79%

"Brenham"

Reception

Yung Delirious

53%

"Best crew outta Brenham, that’s bar none"

Happier Alone

Austin Meade

40%

Ohio (Come Back to Texas)

Bowling for Soup

"And Blue Bell wants you back"

Texas Queen

Rich O'Toole

"sweetest Blue Bell ice cream"

Artists From Brenham

L.C. Good Rockin' Robinson

Rivers & Roads in Song near Brenham

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Brenham.

Brazos River 43 songs Texas State Highway 71 2 songs US Route 90 9 songs Interstate 10 36 songs Texas Colorado River 6 songs

Musical Heritage

Dixie Motel RoadyGoat

Sarah Stopschinski spun records for a living before she ever owned a motel. She and her husband Karl found the Dixie in Brenham after it had lost every trace of its nineteen-fifties self — shag carpet, pink asbestos siding, the works. So they tore all that out. Eight rooms now sit around a gravel courtyard. Karl's an engineer; he did the plumbing and the wiring himself, then built the pine beds and tables out of wood salvaged right there on the property. On the walls, West Texas landscapes by a Marathon photographer named James Evans — fitting, since the two of them got married at the Marathon Motel out that way. And in every single room, a Victrola, with a stack of vinyl Sarah picked by hand. Check in, drop the needle.

RoadyGoat →

History of Brenham

The Night More Than Half of Brenham Burned RoadyGoat

1866

Downtown Brenham was under federal military rule in 1866, and the town and the garrison were already at each other's throats. D. L. McGary, editor of the Brenham Banner, had been hammering the local Freedmen's Bureau in print, and federal authorities arrested him for it. Not long after his release, on the night of September 7, 1866, a dance was underway to raise money to build a school for Black children. Soldiers were asked to pay the same admission everyone else had paid. They refused, were turned away, and forced their way in anyway. The dance broke up, the argument spilled into the street, and three soldiers were shot. Other troops came back, arrested two citizens, and set fires that took more than half the town. Their commander, Brevet Major George W. Smith, a decorated Vermonter who had fought at Gettysburg and the Wilderness, insisted his men were innocent and refused to hand them over. A state legislative committee laid the blame on the soldiers. The federal and state inquiries together never conclusively settled it. Smith was transferred to Seguin, convicted of embezzling Freedmen's Bureau money, had that conviction reversed on appeal, and resigned his commission in 1869.

RoadyGoat →

The Town Is Named for a Doctor Who Died Breaking Out of a Mexican Prison RoadyGoat

Richard Fox Brenham was a doctor. Born in Kentucky around 1810, schooled at Transylvania College, practicing medicine in Austin when Texas was still its own country. Nothing about that suggests how he died. In 1841 President Lamar named him a civil commissioner on the Texan Santa Fe expedition, which was supposed to bring Santa Fe under the Republic and instead marched a column of Texans into the ground. The Mexican authorities arrested the whole outfit. Brenham was locked up in Mexico City and not released until April of 1842. Most men would have taken that as a lesson. He went back to Austin, and when the Somervell expedition rode for the border he went with it. When Somervell called it off and told the volunteers to go home, Brenham was among those who refused, and the men who refused went on to Mier. That fight ended the same way the last one had, with Texans in Mexican custody. So he was a prisoner for the second time. And on the eleventh of February, 1843, at a place called Salado, the prisoners rose up and made a break for it. A good many of them got out of the building. Brenham did not. He was killed in the fighting. The next year this town took his name. He was thirty-three or so when he died, he had been jailed twice by the same government, and he never once saw the county seat that has been carrying his name for more than a hundred eighty years.

RoadyGoat →

Thirty Dollars for a Carousel Rotting in a Pasture RoadyGoat

During the Depression a traveling carnival came through Clay, Texas, ran out of money, and could not pay the rent on the ground it was parked on. So it left the carousel where it stood and went away. A wooden merry-go-round, sitting in a pasture, weathering. In 1930 a man named Hugh Durden found it out there and told the Washington County Fair Association. Three men, F. C. Winkelmann, Hans Schleider and O. H. Fischer, went and got it. The price was about thirty dollars. Thirty dollars. For what turned out to be the oldest carousel in Texas. The twenty-four horses were carved in the country fair style by Charles W. Dare, a nineteenth century hobbyhorse maker, and some of them still carry tags from the Armitage-Herschell company out of New York. The frame under them came from C. W. Parker of Leavenworth, Kansas, and dates to 1911. O. H. Fischer and his son Clarence rebuilt the horses by hand, and the thing turned again for the public at the Washington County Fair on the twelfth of October, 1932. Twenty-five cents got you six rides. In 1935 the WPA built a sixteen-sided building around it. Ride it and you will notice the horses do not go up and down. They are fixed to the platform. That is how the old ones were built, before the jumping mechanism became standard, and it is part of why this one matters: it is one of only five classic wooden carousels left standing in this entire state. A carnival abandoned it as not worth hauling. Brenham has been keeping it running for almost a century.

RoadyGoat →

Washington County

1836

Washington County is in the Blackland Prairies region of southeast central Texas. The center of the county is at 30°14' north latitude and 96°24' west longitude. Brenham, the seat of government, is near the county's center and seventy-five air miles east of Austin. The county was named for George Washington, the first president of the United States. Washington County encompasses 611 square miles of gently rolling land with elevations ranging between 200 to 500 feet above sea level. Sloping generally southeasterly, the area drains into the Brazos River, which runs along the eastern border. Other prominent streams include New Year's Creek, East Fork Mill Creek, Doe Run Creek, Wolf Creek, and Yegua Creek, which forms the county's northern border. Soils along the Brazos River are brownish to reddish, cracking and clayey or loamy; in most of the rest of the county, shallow to deep clayey soils cover a bed of chalk. Subterranean water reservoirs include the Catahoula, Oakville, and Lagarto formations. Washington County, located in the post oak belt, is well timbered, and elms, ashes, hackberries, hickories, pecans, cottonwoods, red cedar, mulberry, and other trees grow in its forests. The county's climate is subtropical and humid, with an average annual precipitation of forty inches. Temperatures range from an average low of 39° F in January to an average high of 96° F in July; the growing season lasts 277 days. The principle mineral resources include oil, natural gas, lignite, brick clay, salt and sulphur. The county is linked to the rest of the state by U.S. Highway 290, which crosses east to west, and by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, which runs north-south. Artifacts from the Paleo-Indian culture have been found in the area that is now Washington County, indicating that it has been occupied by humans for perhaps 9,000 years or more. Early Indian residents most likely included the Tamique and Xaraname tribes, who inhabited the prairie between the Tonkawas of Central Texas and the coastal-dwelling Karankawas. Early frontiersmen found Tonkawas living in permanent settlements in the central portion of the area that is now Washington County and encountered transient Arananamus and Apaches in the area. Frenchmen led by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle , were likely the first Europeans to cross the area of present Washington County. In reaction to French incursions into territory claimed by Spain, the Spanish established the earliest Texas presidio in East Texas near Nacogdoches. Later, after the relocation of the La Bahía mission to Goliad, the Spanish constructed a road through what is now Washington County to connect these two settlements. The area remained unsettled by Europeans until 1821, when settlers recruited by Stephen F. Austin moved into the region. According to Austin's colonization plan, participating families would receive 640 acres for the head of the household, 320 acres for the wife, and 100 acres for each child. Slaveholders would receive an additional 80 acres for each slave possessed. Many, though not all, of the Old Three Hundred colonists settled in what is now Washington County. In November 1821 Andrew Robinson , accompanied by Abner , Joseph , and Robert Kuykendall , crossed to the west side of the Brazos River with their families. From there Abner Kuykendall and Thomas Boatwright moved some ten miles west, establishing farms on New Year's Creek in January 1822. Other early settlers to the area included James Gray , Abner Robinson, John P. Coles , and William Gates and his sons, Amos, Samuel, and Charles. A ferry began operation across the Brazos River near its confluence with the Navasota in 1822, and in 1825 a cotton gin was established in the area. Washington (usually known as Washington-on-the-Brazos), the county's first community, arose at the site of the ferry. By the mid-1830s the town had grown to become a commercial center for the area. Following the establishment of

Tsha Handbook → · 3.4 mi away

Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site

1836

Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site is on Farm Road 1155 seven miles southwest of Navasota in Washington County. The 293-acre park occupies most of the site of the old town of Washington, commonly called Washington-on-the-Brazos, which served as last capital of the Republic of Texas . The Texas Declaration of Independence was signed at the site on March 2, 1836. The legislature appropriated funds to purchase about fifty acres of the old townsite in 1916 and subsequently erected a replica of the hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed. In 1936 the state acquired additional land, built an amphitheater, and moved the home Anson Jones built at his Barrington plantation to the site. In 1949 the Texas Legislature transferred the land from the State Board of Control to the State Parks Board , one of the forerunners to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department . In 1955 a number of local people formed the Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park Association which has raised money for numerous improvements, including a better replica of the Independence Hall. Additional land was purchased from private owners in 1976 and 1996. Operational control of the site was officially transferred from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to the Texas Historical Commission by the Eighty-sixth Texas Legislature. The transfer took effect on September 1, 2019. Facilities at the park include picnicking areas, two pavilions, restrooms, a visitor center, and the Star of the Republic Museum . The Barrington Living History Farm, also at the site, includes the restored Anson Jones home and features farming demonstrations by interpreters in period costume.

Tsha Handbook → · 3.4 mi away

Washington-on-the-Brazos, TX

1836

Washington-on-the-Brazos, officially named Washington, in the upper northeastern corner of what is now Washington County, was a major political and commercial center in early Texas. The town was originally named Washington and began to be called Washington-on-the-Brazos or Old Washington only after the Civil War . Washington was one mile southwest of the junction of the Brazos and Navasota rivers, where the La Bahía Road crossed the Brazos River, seventy miles northwest of Houston and nearly 200 miles up the Brazos from the coast. The major part of the original townsite is at the intersection of Farm Road 912 and Park Road 12 within Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historical Site . Washington's historic townsite also includes the section of Washington that borders Washington-on-the-Brazos at the intersection of State Highway 105 and Farm Road 1155. In 1821 Andrew Robinson 's family and other members of the Old Three Hundred settled near the future townsite. By 1822 Robinson was operating a ferry at the La Bahía crossing; in 1824 he obtained a grant of a half league from the Mexican government. A settlement named La Bahía developed at the much-traveled ferry crossing. In 1831 Robinson gave one-quarter league to his daughter Patsy and son-in-law John W. Hall . Recognizing the site's commercial potential, Hall surveyed and laid out a town in December 1833, when Methodist leader John W. Kenney built its first residence. After Captain Hall bought the remainder of Robinson's grant, he established the Washington Town Company in 1835 with Dr. Asa Hoxey , Thomas Gay, and the Miller and Somervell Company to promote sales of town lots. Hoxey, a former resident of Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia, named the new town after his hometown. By 1835 Washington had become a supply point. Attracted by its location on the river and on or near major roads, merchants and tradesmen from neighboring communities settled in the new town. Washington's commercial growth resulted from provisioning emigrants to the interior and from the surrounding area's increasing agricultural development and population. The town was elevated on bluffs above the river and had a plentiful water supply from nearby springs; its location was therefore more healthful and less flood-prone than that of settlements at the river's edge. In December 1835 Washington became Gen. Sam Houston 's headquarters and the concentration point for Texas army volunteers and supplies. By 1836 the residents numbered approximately 100. To stimulate further growth, Washington businessmen offered an assembly hall without charge to attract the Convention of 1836 to their town. These town promoters rented the only structure large enough for deliberations, an unfinished building, from entrepreneur Noah T. Byars . Although the town had an inn, most delegates could not find lodging. At Washington between March 1 and March 17, 1836, delegates signed the Texas Declaration of Independence , wrote the Constitution of the Republic of Texas , and established the ad interim government . To escape Antonio López de Santa Anna 's army, the Texas government and the inhabitants of Washington evacuated the town. After the Texas victory at San Jacinto, the rapid influx of new settlers into the interior and the expanding agricultural cultivation in Washington's hinterland augmented the town's significance as a supply and transit point. The selection of Washington as county seat made the town a legal center. Abundant timber in the vicinity encouraged the development of sawmills, which began operating by 1837. A brickyard begun the same year also facilitated town construction. The Republic of Texas established a post office at Washington in 1836. In 1837 Texans from all sections attended a ball at Washington to celebrate the first anniversary of Texas independence. The town was incorporated by the Texas Congress on June 5, 1837, and reincorporated under a mayor-alderman form of city government on December 29, 1837. Hall

Tsha Handbook → · 3.4 mi away

Rosedale Nursery

1860

Established around 1860 by English immigrant William H. Watson as the state's first commercial nursery, Rosedale grew from three acres in Brenham to 200 acres southeast of the town by 1897. At Rosedale, Watson specialized in peach and grape cultivars. The nursery's 31-page catalog for the 1869-70 season revealed that Watson stocked not only fruit trees and grape vines, but also numerous ornamental plants. In 1874, he produced the "Rosedale Hybrid" arbor vitae. Over the years, Rosedale employed several professional gardeners who trained at England's Royal Botanic Kew Gardens. Watson's sons continued the business into the 20th century. (2014)

Historical Marker →

Washington County, C.S.A.

1861

Washington County was the most populous in the state during the Civil War. It served as a center for production, warehousing, transportation and communications, and had a large quartermaster depot. Local wartime factories made spinning jennies, lumber, pots, kettles, wagons and army ambulances. Government cotton was held in Brenham, one of four state depots. From here, wagons and carts hauled it to Mexico in exchange for vital military and civilian supplies. Brenham, terminus of rail connections to Houston, was alive with troops, stagecoaches and freighters. Here, the early morning train was met by a pony express operation that carried the Houston Telegraph to Austin so that town's Gazette might publish the latest war news in the state capitol. A Confederate paper shortage forced the Brenham Banner to suspend publication. In nearby Washington-on-the-Brazos, however, Eva Lancaster never missed an issue, printing The Texas Ranger while her husband and two sons spent four years fighting for the South. Cavalry, infantry and artillery units from Washington County fought on all fronts during the war. Waul's Legion organized and trained in the county, and Brenham served as the headquarters for the reserve corps of Texas. Additionally, Gen. Jerome Roberston of Independence led the celebrated Hood's Texas Brigade for seventeen months. (1965)

Historical Marker →

Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church

1850

This historic church, the oldest African American Baptist congregation in Brenham and one of the first in Washington County, has its origins in secret meetings held by runaway slaves and freedmen in the 1850s. After the Civil War, federal troops posted near this site in an area called Camptown. The presence of the 17th Infantry Division and an Office of the Freedmen’s Bureau ensured freedom of religious expression for emancipated blacks in Brenham. First Baptist Church of Brenham offered letters of membership to the freed blacks, but they wanted to form their own church. Mount Rose was formally organized in 1868, led by rev. Joe Lawson and Rev. James McBride. When U. S. Troops left, their land was sold and proceeds divided between Mount Rose and St. John A. M. E. Churches. The church is named for Rose Armstead-Whitaker, a founding member who contributed much of her time and finances. Good Hope Missionary Baptist District Association organized under a chinaberry tree on the present Mount Rose Campus in 1870. For several years, church services were held in Brush Arbors, in nearby homes, and finally, in the soldiers’ dining hall at Camptown. Mount Rose and St. John A. M. E. Held services there on alternating Sundays. The first permanent sanctuary was built in 1874, under Rev. Alfred Parker’s tenure. Mount Rose joined the Lincoln District Baptist Association in 1878 and remained a member for more than 130 years. Mount Rose has enjoyed continuity in increasingly larger facilities on the same site since its organization. The two longest-serving pastors were Rev. Moses Johnson (1876-98) and Rev. J. Emerson Dennis (1946-97). The leadership and members of Mount Rose have made significant contributions to the religious, educational and social history of Brenham. (2013)

Historical Marker →

Things to Do in Brenham

quirky 0.1 mi away

The Underground City Beneath the Streets

After fires ravaged Brenham three times in a decade the town did something no other Texas city had attempted. They built twenty-seven underground cisterns…

historical 0.1 mi away

The Night Federal Troops Burned Brenham

In 1866 Union soldiers occupying Brenham during Reconstruction clashed with local residents and set fire to an entire city block. The flames consumed…

quirky 0.1 mi away

From Cotton Gin to Ice Cream Empire

In 1907 a group of Washington County dairy farmers converted an abandoned cotton gin into a creamery and started making butter. Ice cream production began in…

quirky 24.0 mi away

The Blues Capital of Texas

Mance Lipscomb picked cotton all week and picked guitar all weekend on the farms outside Navasota for decades before anyone beyond Grimes County knew his name.…

historical 24.0 mi away

The Explorer Who Died Lost

On March 19 1687 the French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle was walking through the bottomlands near the Navasota River when one of his own men…

historical 0.1 mi away

The Fire Department That Was Really an Army

The Brenham Volunteer Fire Department was organized after the 1866 burning but its true purpose had nothing to do with flames. The department was a civilian…

historical 0.1 mi away

The First Tax-Funded Schools

In 1875 Brenham became the first city in Texas to operate a tax-supported public school system. They didn't stop there. The system included a school for Black…

quirky 0.1 mi away

The Oldest Festival in Texas

When German immigrants fleeing the 1848 revolutions settled in Brenham they brought their traditions with them. The Maifest celebration they started became the…

day trip

Day Trip to Brenham 🍦(FULL EPISODE) S2 E1

Featured on The Daytripper — a full-episode local travel guide.

Sports in Brenham

⭐ HOMETOWN LEGENDS Class 5A · Football

Brenham Cubs — Brenham — a college & pro athletic pipeline

5 alumni who reached major-college or pro sports

Brenham High School, a Class 5A powerhouse, has a proud tradition of athletes who went on to achieve greatness in major college and professional sports. The Cubs' legacy is evident in the careers of several former students who made their mark on the national stage. These athletes exemplify the spirit and dedication fostered within the Brenham athletic program, inspiring current and future generations of Cubs.

Among the notable alumni are professional football players Malcom Brown, Joe Routt, Courtland Sutton, and Wilson Whitley. The school also celebrates the accomplishments of Teaira McCowan, a professional basketball player in the WNBA. Brenham High School continues to be a source of exceptional talent, with its alumni making significant contributions to the world of sports.

Pro/D1 alumni

Class

Key Players

Malcom Brown — (Class of 2012), professional football player
Teaira McCowan — (Class of 2015), WNBA player
Joe Routt — , professional football player, Bronze Star Medal recipient, posthumous hall of fame induc
Courtland Sutton — (Class of 2014), professional football player
Wilson Whitley — (Class of 1973), professional football player

The moment

Joe Routt was a professional football player and a Bronze Star Medal recipient.

Sources: Wikipedia · SI High School (ScoreBook Live)

Everything Near Brenham

777 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

The Night More Than Half of Brenham Burned
Downtown Brenham was under federal military rule in 1866, and the town and the garrison were already at each other's throats. D. L. McGary, editor of the Brenham Banner, had been hammering the local Freedmen's Bureau in…
The Town Is Named for a Doctor Who Died Breaking Out of a Mexican Prison
Richard Fox Brenham was a doctor. Born in Kentucky around 1810, schooled at Transylvania College, practicing medicine in Austin when Texas was still its own country. Nothing about that suggests how he died. In 1841…
Thirty Dollars for a Carousel Rotting in a Pasture
During the Depression a traveling carnival came through Clay, Texas, ran out of money, and could not pay the rent on the ground it was parked on. So it left the carousel where it stood and went away. A wooden…
It Started in a Dining Hall the Union Army Left Behind
In 1866, one year after emancipation reached Texas, Black families in Brenham started a school. They had no building. Classes met in whatever could be borrowed: small rented rooms, church buildings, and a dining hall…
The Christmas Pageant That Started a Career
Sadie Sink was born in Brenham in 2002, one of five kids in a family that ran on sports. Her father Casey taught math here and coached the offensive line at Brenham High School. She was seven years old when she got cast…
Dixie Motel
Sarah Stopschinski spun records for a living before she ever owned a motel. She and her husband Karl found the Dixie in Brenham after it had lost every trace of its nineteen-fifties self — shag carpet, pink asbestos…
The Hidden Cisterns Beneath Brenham
There is a water system under downtown Brenham that most people walk over without knowing it. After fire repeatedly gutted the business district in the 1860s and 1870s, the town did something no other Texas city is…
The Railroad Brenham Built for Itself
Brenham could easily have been bypassed into irrelevance. The Galveston and Red River Railway was chartered in 1848 and its line was supposed to serve this county, but in 1856 the company decided against building branch…
Brenham, TX
Brenham's history is deeply rooted in the mid-19th century, when numerous German immigrants settled in the area following the revolutions in German states in 1848. The city was named Brenham in 1843 in memory of a local…
He Cut a Park Out of His Own Cotton Field
Ed Henderson, who everybody called Daddy Ed, ran cafes in Brenham and farmed on the side. In the 1920s he looked at a plain problem: Black residents of this town had nowhere they could safely play ball, throw a party,…
Three Students in a German Church Became a College District
Blinn College enrolls a great many people now across several campuses. It opened in Brenham in 1883 with three. The Southern German Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church wanted a place to train preachers, so they…
Rosedale Nursery · Historical Marker
Established around 1860 by English immigrant William H. Watson as the state's first commercial nursery, Rosedale grew from three acres in Brenham to 200 acres southeast of the town by 1897. At Rosedale, Watson…

Show all 200 nearby places

Washington County, C.S.A. · Historical Marker
Washington County was the most populous in the state during the Civil War. It served as a center for production, warehousing, transportation and communications, and had a large quartermaster depot. Local wartime…
The Fire Company That Was Also a Militia
Brenham Hook and Ladder Company Number One was organized in 1867, directly after fires in September and October of 1866 tore through the business district. On paper it was what any town would do after burning. The City…
The Steam Fire Engine They Pulled by Hand
In 1879 Brenham bought a Silsby steam fire engine, and for a town this size that was a serious piece of machinery. A steamer works by burning a fire in its own boiler to raise steam, and the steam drives a pump that…
Blue Bell Creameries · Historical Marker
Blue Bell started in 1907 as the Brenham Creamery Company, making butter from excess cream that local farmers brought in by horse and wagon. They didn't start making ice cream until 1911, and they didn't bother…
The Man Who Designed the San Jacinto Monument Designed This Theater
In 1925 the James Simon family, who were already in the entertainment business in Brenham and ran the Opry House, decided to build a real theater. They did not hire a local man for it. They hired Alfred C. Finn out of…
The Brenham Maifest · Historical Marker
You're driving through Brenham, home of the Maifest! It started as a German Volksfest, a spring tradition brought by early settlers. When the Brenham Fire Department took over in 1880, they opened it to everyone and…
Texas Confederate County Commissioners Court · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Texas Confederate County Commissioners Court. During the Civil War, these elected officials were crucial, providing arms and clothing for troops, and distributing scarce medicine,…
Giddings & Giddings · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Giddings & Giddings, Brenham's very first bank, founded way back in 1866 by two lawyer brothers, J. D. and D. C. Giddings. This building you see, erected in 1872, also housed the Brenham…
Washington County Courthouse · Historical Marker
You're driving by the Washington County Courthouse in Brenham, a stunning example of Art Moderne architecture. Built in 1940 with funds from the Public Works Administration, it's the fourth courthouse to serve this…
When Brenham Was a German Town · 0.1 mi
On the eve of World War One, Brenham was known as a German town. German and Polish were spoken on these streets, a German language newspaper called the Texas Volksbote ran here for about fifty years, and the city even…
The Night Federal Troops Burned Brenham · 0.1 mi · Things to Do
In 1866 Union soldiers occupying Brenham during Reconstruction clashed with local residents and set fire to an entire city block. The flames consumed…
The Underground City Beneath the Streets · 0.1 mi · Things to Do
After fires ravaged Brenham three times in a decade the town did something no other Texas city had attempted. They built twenty-seven underground cisterns…
From Cotton Gin to Ice Cream Empire · 0.1 mi · Things to Do
In 1907 a group of Washington County dairy farmers converted an abandoned cotton gin into a creamery and started making butter. Ice cream production began in…
The Brenham Foundry That Cast the Storefronts Downtown · 0.1 mi
Many of the old storefronts around downtown Brenham were cast right here in town. In about 1883, two brothers, Joseph and L.C. Beaumier, bought the Brenham foundry and machine shop and turned it into the Beaumier…
Must Be Heaven: Brenham's Soda Fountain, Named by a Blue Bell Ad · 0.1 mi
Must Be Heaven, at 107 West Alamo Street just off the Brenham square, has been a downtown soda-fountain and deli since 1982. The name is pure Brenham. In the 1970s, Blue Bell Creameries, made right here in town, ran an…
The First Tax-Funded Schools · 0.1 mi · Things to Do
In 1875 Brenham became the first city in Texas to operate a tax-supported public school system. They didn't stop there. The system included a school for Black…
The Oldest Festival in Texas · 0.1 mi · Things to Do
When German immigrants fleeing the 1848 revolutions settled in Brenham they brought their traditions with them. The Maifest celebration they started became the…
The Summer the Fever Came · 0.1 mi · Things to Do
In 1867 just one year after Union troops burned part of Brenham a yellow fever epidemic swept through town. The mosquito-borne disease killed dozens and…
The Fire Department That Was Really an Army · 0.1 mi · Things to Do
The Brenham Volunteer Fire Department was organized after the 1866 burning but its true purpose had nothing to do with flames. The department was a civilian…
Santa Fe & SP Cafe: Downtown Brenham's Early-Morning Home Cooking · 0.1 mi
Santa Fe & SP Cafe is a small, family-owned home-cooking diner at 302 West First Street in downtown Brenham. It opens early on weekday mornings and serves classic home-cooked breakfast such as bacon, eggs, pancakes,…
Washington County State Bank · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Brenham, and right here is the Washington County State Bank. This isn't just any bank; it's the oldest state-chartered bank still operating in Texas! It all started back in <say-as…
Southern Pacific Freight Depot · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the old Southern Pacific Freight Depot in Brenham. Back in the 1860s, this town wasn't on the map like it is today. Local folks built their own rail line, hoping to connect to bigger routes. By 1869,…
St. Anthony Hotel · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Brenham, where the St. Anthony Hotel was the heart of local hospitality for over 120 years. It started as a log stage depot and cabin complex, eventually becoming the Washington County Hotel. Even…
The 1848ers Who Built a Town · 0.1 mi · Things to Do
After failed revolutions swept across German states in 1848 a wave of immigrants washed up in Washington County Texas. They brought brewing traditions…
The Orthodox Congregation on the Prairie · 0.1 mi · Things to Do
In 1885 Jewish residents of Brenham founded an Orthodox congregation in a town better known for German Lutherans and Baptist churches. They built a community…
Schmid Bros. Building · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Schmid Brothers Building in Brenham, a testament to Swiss immigrant Josef Schmid's entrepreneurial spirit. He started a mercantile business here in 1880, joined by his brothers Benjamin and…
Bassett and Bassett Banking House · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Brenham, and right here is the spot where brothers Benjamin and Thomas Bassett opened their bank and law office in 1873. This Italianate building, made with local bricks, served as their banking…
First Christian Church of Brenham · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Brenham, and right here is the First Christian Church. Organized in 1877 with just 18 members, this congregation was born from missionary work. It took them a while to find a permanent home, but…
First Baptist Church · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Brenham's First Baptist Church. It all started way back on December 20, 1846, originally called New Year's Creek Church. Imagine, meeting in a schoolhouse with founders like Judge R. E.…
First Methodist Church · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Brenham, and right here is the site of the very first Methodist church in town, established way back in 1844, the same year Brenham was founded. Imagine, in 1846, an early member named R. B. Wells…
The Trainload of Germans That Built Brenham · 0.3 mi
A big part of why Brenham became such a German town arrived almost all at once. In October 1881, a steamship named the Crown Prince Frederick Wilhelm docked at Galveston carrying somewhere between eleven hundred and…
Brenham Public Library · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Brenham, and right here is the site of the first public library in Washington County. It all started back in 1901, thanks to the Fortnightly Literary Club. They founded it and still help maintain…
First Public High School in Brenham · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Brenham, Texas, and right here, you're passing the site of a Texas first! In 1875, this area established Independent School District Number One, creating the very first free public high school in…
Pampell-Day Homestead · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the Pampell-Day Homestead, a home built way back in 1844. It started out with native pine and sand brick, a solid start for any Texas family. Then, in 1875, T. J. Pampell, a Civil War veteran who…
Ross-Carroll House · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Ross-Carroll House in Brenham, a beautiful example of Queen Anne architecture. About 1899, Mary Dwyer Ross built this home on land she inherited from her father. Notice the cypress construction,…
Schuerenberg House · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Schuerenberg House in Brenham, a beautiful example of Queen Anne architecture. Built in 1895 by local contractor Alex Griffin, this home was the center of life for Frederick William Schuerenberg,…
Wood-Hughes House · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Wood-Hughes House in Brenham, a beautiful example of late Victorian architecture. Built in 1897 by lumber yard owner W. A. Wood, this home showcases the finest materials of the era, like oak,…
Birthplace of Hedwig T. Kniker · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Brenham, and right here is the birthplace of Hedwig T. Kniker. Born in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1891</say-as>, Kniker was a child of a Lutheran minister. But she went on to blaze her…
Brenham Fire Department · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Brenham Fire Department, but this wasn't just about putting out blazes. Back in May of 1867, two volunteer groups, the Hook and Ladder Company and the Fire Protection Company, formed.…
Evangelical Lutheran Colleges of Texas · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Brenham, and right here is the story of Lutheran education in Texas. It all started back in 1851 when eight pastors organized the first Evangelical Lutheran Synod in Texas, gathering German…
Site of Rees Sanitarium · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Brenham's very first hospital. In 1897, Dr. H. Clay Rees built this two-story sanitarium, complete with a separate building for surgeries. It was quite advanced for its time! Sadly, Dr.…
St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Brenham, the heart of Washington County, where German immigrants put down roots in the 1840s. Right here, in 1890, this Lutheran congregation got its start, first known as the German Evangelical…
Seelhorst-Lehrmann House · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past a real Brenham beauty, the Seelhorst-Lehrmann House. Built around 1879 by W.E. Seelhorst, a German immigrant who really knew how to build. Check out those thick, 13-inch plastered brick walls and the…
Wittbecker-Weiss House · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Wittbecker-Weiss House in Brenham. Built in 1895 by Frank Wood, a local builder and lumberman, it was sold the very same year to bakery owners H. G. and Annie Wittbecker. Take a look at the…
How Brenham Keeps Texas Frozen · 0.6 mi
Brenham is famous for making ice cream, but the real story is that an ice cream factory is a giant chemistry lab bolted onto an enormous refrigeration machine. It started with a problem. In 1907, Washington County dairy…
Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
This historic church, the oldest African American Baptist congregation in Brenham and one of the first in Washington County, has its origins in secret meetings held by runaway slaves and freedmen in the 1850s. After the…
Blue Bell Creameries · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here in Brenham is the home of a Texas legend: Blue Bell Creameries. It started way back in 1907, not as an ice cream maker, but as a cooperative of local dairy…
Brenham, Richard Fox · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, near the town named for him: Brenham. Richard Fox Brenham was a doctor who came to Texas before the revolution. He served in the Texas army and practiced medicine in Austin. But…
Short, Thomas H. · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here, in what's now Fayette County, lived Thomas H. Short. He was a Texas Ranger, a Civil War veteran, and a farmer. But in 1849, at just seventeen years old, Short joined…
Why You Add Salt to Make Ice Cream · 0.6 mi
Here's the trick behind every old hand-cranked ice cream maker, the kind Blue Bell used in 1911: you don't pack the churn in plain ice. You pack it in ice AND salt. And that sounds backwards, because salt is what we…
Ice Cream Is Four Things That Hate Each Other · 0.6 mi
The Blue Bell creamery in Brenham is really a chemistry lab that happens to freeze cream. A scoop of ice cream is really four things that would rather not be together: fat, water, air, and sugar. Left alone, the fat…
The Unbroken Chain of Cold · 0.6 mi
From the moment a carton of Blue Bell leaves the line in Brenham, it can never fully thaw again, and keeping it that way is one of the hardest jobs in food. Engineers call it the cold chain: an unbroken run of…
Barnett, George Washington · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, not far from Brenham, where George Washington Barnett settled in 1834. He wasn't just a doctor; he was a fighter for Texas independence. He was chosen captain of a volunteer…
Blinn College · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brenham, home to Blinn College. It started in 1883 as the Mission Institute, founded by German Methodists to train ministers. Imagine, just three students and a president meeting in a church…
Clemons, Lewis Chapman · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, maybe near Brenham, where Lewis Chapman Clemons died in 1892. But back in 1836, he was right in the thick of it, fighting in the Battle of San Jacinto. He first came to Texas in…
Dwyer, Thomas B. · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brenham, the site of a shocking crime that rocked this community. Thomas B. Dwyer, a wealthy businessman and former Republican party leader, was murdered right here in his office on January 29,…
Giddings, Jabez Demming · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here is the town named for Jabez Demming Giddings. Giddings came to Texas in 1838 to claim land bounty after his brother died at the Battle of San Jacinto. He became a…
Glenblythe Plantation · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, not far from Brenham, and you're passing through the heart of what was once Glenblythe Plantation. Opened around 1859 by Thomas Affleck, this wasn't just a farm; it was a hub of…
Martin, Louise Ozelle · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brenham, the birthplace of Louise Ozelle Martin. Born in 1911, she overcame significant barriers to become a pioneering African-American photographer. Despite facing segregation in photography…
McGary, Dan H. · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here in Brenham, a fiery newspaper editor named Dan McGary found himself in a battle for free speech during Reconstruction. McGary, who had served in both the Mexican…
Powell, Robert Micajah · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, Texas, where Robert Micajah Powell made his home in Brenham. He arrived in 1849, practiced law, and even served in the Texas Legislature. But when the Civil War broke out,…
Shepard, James E. · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here in Brenham, you're passing through the hometown of James E. Shepard. Shepard was a lawyer and a leader, serving in the Texas legislature and even arguing before…
Brenham, TX · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Brenham, a town with roots stretching back to 1843. It wasn't always called Brenham, though. The community was originally known as Hickory Grove. It changed its name to honor Dr. Richard Fox…
Harrington, Arabella Jemima Gray Deaver · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Arabella Jemima Gray Deaver (Dever) Harrington, pioneer settler and landowner, was born probably in Rowan County (parts of which later became Burke County), North Carolina. According to her grave marker, she was born in…
Smooth or Grainy Comes Down to Speed · 0.6 mi
Why a scoop of Blue Bell comes out silky instead of grainy gets decided on the freezing line back in Brenham, and it comes down to one thing: how fast it froze. Ice cream is full of tiny ice crystals, and your tongue…
Half of Cheap Ice Cream Is Air · 0.6 mi
Blue Bell built its Brenham reputation on a carton that feels surprisingly heavy in your hand, and the reason is a number the industry rarely says out loud: a lot of ice cream is mostly air. When the mix freezes,…
Giddings-Wilkin House · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Giddings-Wilkin House in Brenham. Jabez Giddings, a lawyer and businessman from Pennsylvania, bought this land way back in 1837. He built this home before marrying Ann Tarver in 1843, using…
Brenham State School · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here is Brenham State School. It opened in January of 1974, the culmination of a unique alliance. Speaker of the House Gus Mutscher championed services for Texans with…
Giddings, DeWitt Clinton · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, near Brenham, where a significant political battle unfolded in the early 1870s. DeWitt Clinton Giddings, a Confederate veteran and Brenham lawyer, won a special election for the…
Law, Francis Marion · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, heading towards Brenham. Right here, in 1859, Francis Marion Law arrived. He wasn't just a doctor or a pastor; he was a builder of communities and a champion for education. He…
McAdoo, John David · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here is where John David McAdoo ended his days. Born in Tennessee, McAdoo came to Texas in 1854 and settled near Washington-on-the-Brazos. He served as a Civil War…
Sayles, John · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here in Brenham, you're passing through the stomping grounds of John Sayles. He arrived in Texas back in 1846, a lawyer and scholar who would go on to become a legal…
Shepard, Seth · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, near Brenham, the birthplace of Seth Shepard. Born in 1847, Shepard became a key figure in Texas politics in the late 1800s. He served as a state senator, leading the fight…
Urbantke, Carl A. · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Austin County, not far from Millheim, where Carl Urbantke settled after sailing from Austria in 1853. He wasn't just a farmer, though. Urbantke became a pioneer Methodist minister, serving German…
Washington County Rail Road · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here is a story about how this land got connected. Back in 1856, the Washington County Rail Road Company was chartered, aiming to build a line from Hempstead all the…
Low, Samuel Donaldson Warren, Jr. · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, not far from Brenham, the birthplace of Samuel Donaldson Warren Low, Jr. Low was a lawyer and businessman, but you might know him best for his long service as the collector of…
Mt. Zion United Methodist Church · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in Brenham. After emancipation in 1865, African American families settled here, and by 1877, services were being held under a brush arbor. This congregation,…
Morin, John Milton · 0.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
John Milton Morin, commander of the Third Cavalry Battalion, Texas State Troops, was born in Campbell County, Kentucky, around 1822. John married Mary A. Keen of Kentucky in the 1840s, and the two had their first child,…
Site of Masonic Academy · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Brenham's first real school, the Masonic Academy. It started way back in 1840 as Hickory Grove School. Then, in 1849, the local Masons, Graham Lodge No. 20, built this academy, making it…
Brenham Presbyterian Church · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Brenham Presbyterian Church. This fellowship was founded in 1877, and a sanctuary was erected within three years. Despite financial hardships that forced the church to close for eight…
Federal Troops Gave Camptown Its Name · 0.7 mi
East of downtown Brenham, between two creeks, sits the site known as Camptown. The earliest reference to it dates to 1850, when it sheltered enslaved people who had run away. In 1866, federal troops set up camp there to…
Hogan Funeral Home · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Brenham, and right here on South Park Street is the site of a vital community service. In 1914, educator Columbus H. Hogan founded the Washington County Undertaking Company, the only funeral home…
Camptown Cemetery · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Camptown Cemetery, a place with roots stretching back to the end of the Civil War. This is the oldest predominantly African American cemetery in Brenham, dating to the 1860s. After emancipation,…
The Hidden Science of a Clean Dairy · 0.7 mi
Every clean carton of Blue Bell that leaves Brenham depends on a quiet bit of microbiology first. Raw milk is full of living microbes, so the first step is pasteurization, named for Louis Pasteur: heat the milk just hot…
Blinn College · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Blinn College, which started life way back on March 28, 1883, as the Mission Institute. It was affiliated with the Methodist church. In 1887, a generous gift from Reverend Christian Blinn…
The Little Creamery in Brenham · 0.8 mi
Just off the highway here in Brenham is the headquarters of an American icon: Blue Bell Creameries. But it didn't start as a national brand. It began in 1907 as the Brenham Creamery Company, a local co-op where farmers…
Blind Willie Johnson's Song in Space · 0.8 mi
Brenham is where it started. Blind Willie Johnson was born near here on January 22nd, 1897 — his death certificate points to the Brenham area, out toward Independence — before his family moved him up to Marlin as a…
The Science of a Crisis: Blue Bell and Listeria · 0.8 mi
In 2015, Brenham's most famous company, Blue Bell, faced a crisis rooted in microbiology. Health officials linked a multi-state outbreak of a dangerous foodborne illness, listeriosis, to Blue Bell products. The culprit…
The Future President Who Sent Brenham to Radio School · 0.8 mi
There is a quiet presidential connection right here at Blinn College. During the Great Depression, the federal government set up the National Youth Administration to train unemployed young people, and in 1935 a young…
Maifest: A German Spring · 0.8 mi
If you're in Brenham during the first week of May, you'll see the town's German soul on full display. That's when Brenham hosts Maifest, a spring festival that dates all the way back to 1881. Started by the town's…
Where Texas Declared Independence · 0.8 mi · Things to Do
Just outside Brenham lies the town of Independence where Texas declared its freedom from Mexico in 1836. Washington County became the cradle of Texas liberty…
Baine, Moses · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the land where Moses Baine made his home after fighting for Texas independence. Born in Ireland, Baine arrived in the U.S. in 1819 before joining Stephen F. Austin's colony in 1830. He fought in the…
Petty, George Washington · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
Right now, you're driving past the resting place of George Washington Petty. He was born in Tennessee back in 1812, but he came to Texas and fought in the Battle of San Jacinto, the fight that won Texas its…
The Texan Who Drew Against Wild Bill Hickok · 1.0 mi
In Prairie Lea Cemetery here in Brenham lies a plain stone marked with the name Philip Houston Coe, and nothing about it hints that the man beneath it died in one of the most infamous gunfights of the Old West. Coe was…
Ninety-Three Points on a September Friday · 1.0 mi
The UIL includes Brenham's September 25, 1987 game against Crosby in its official list of the most memorable games in Texas high school football history. Brenham won 48-45 at Cub Stadium before 6,494 people, after…
The Lombardi Award Winner Out of Brenham · 1.0 mi
Wilson Whitley was an all-district tackle at Brenham four years running, on teams that went a combined 50-9-1, and added three years of All-Cen-Tex, three years of all-state and two years of prep All-America honors. At…
Beaten in a Final by the Best Scoring Team in History · 1.0 mi
Brenham reached three state finals and lost all three, and Aledo accounted for two of them. In the 2009 Class 4A Division II final at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Aledo won 35-21 behind sophomore Johnathan…
Prairie Lea Cemetery · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Prairie Lea Cemetery, a resting place for Texas history. Graves here go back to the 1840s, but the land was formally set aside in 1871. It became the main cemetery after yellow fever victims…
Twenty Years, 185 Wins, and Every Title Game the School Has · 1.0 mi
Glen West coached Brenham for 20 seasons, from 1998 through 2017, and went 185-61. He missed the playoffs exactly once — in his first season — then reached the postseason 18 times in the next 19 years, winning 11…
Four Cubs in Super Bowls · 1.0 mi
Four Brenham graduates have played in Super Bowls. Defensive tackle Wilson Whitley started for Cincinnati in Super Bowl XVI after the 1981 season. Punter John Baker handled punting for the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl…
Hasskarl House-"Far View" · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Hasskarl House, also known as "Far View." The impressive vistas here inspired Dr. Walter Hasskarl to buy this land in 1925. He served as Washington County Health Officer for an incredible 51…
LJ's BBQ: A Texas Monthly Top 50 Joint in the Heart of Brenham · 1.1 mi
LJ's BBQ, at 1407 West Main Street in Brenham, is a family-owned barbecue joint that has grown into one of the finest in the state. Pitmaster Matt Lowery opened it in 2015, honing his craft after graduating from the…
City of Brenham · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Brenham, a city founded in 1844. It's named for Dr. Richard Fox Brenham, a surgeon who served the Republic of Texas. Brenham was a veteran of the Mier Expedition, a disastrous raid into Mexico. He…
Milroy's Garden and Orchard · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving near Brenham, and just up ahead is the site of what was once Milroy's Garden and Orchard. Alexander Douglas Milroy, a Scottish immigrant who made his fortune in the cotton trade, settled here in 1893. He…
William H. Watson · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Brenham, and you might be passing the legacy of William H. Watson, a true pioneer in Texas horticulture. Born in Ireland in 1837, Watson came to Texas by 1859 and established Rosedale Nursery…
Milas Roberson "Burney" Parker · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of Milas Roberson "Burney" Parker, a man who served Washington County for nearly two decades. Parker, grandson of a Nueces County sheriff, first took public office as County Road…
Blue Bell Creameries · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the birthplace of a Texas legend: Blue Bell Ice Cream! It all started back in 1907 as the Brenham Creamery Company, buying up local dairy products to make butter. By 1911, they were experimenting…
Thomas Deye Owings · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Washington County, and we're passing the spot where Thomas Deye Owings made his home after the Texas Revolution. But this wealthy Maryland businessman was already deeply involved in the fight for…
Blue Bell Creameries · 1.2 mi · Things to Do
Tour the home of Texas' beloved ice cream in tiny Brenham. Free samples.
Giddings-Stone House · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Giddings-Stone House, a beautiful example of Greek Revival architecture right here in Brenham. Completed in 1870, this home was built for Jabez Giddings, a prominent banker and lawyer who also…
St. Peter's Episcopal Church · 1.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Brenham, and right here is the site of St. Peter's Episcopal Church. This parish holds the distinction of being the fourth oldest in all of Texas. It was officially organized way back on May 2nd,…
100th Anniversary Brenham "Banner-Press" · 1.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Brenham "Banner-Press," a newspaper with a dramatic start. Founded in 1866 as the "Southern Banner" by Confederate veterans, its editor, Dan McGary, was jailed and his shop burned…
Germania Mutual Aid Association · 1.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Washington County, and right here, you're passing the birthplace of a Texas institution. Back in 1894, a merchant named L. A. Niebuhr had an idea to help farmers protect themselves from fire,…
Brenham · 1.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Brenham, a town founded way back in 1843. It's named for Richard Fox Brenham, a patriot of the Republic of Texas who died the same year the town was born. Brenham quickly became a vital railhead and…
Truth BBQ: One of the Finest Barbecue Joints in Texas, Right Here on 290 · 2.5 mi
Truth BBQ, at 2990 US Highway 290 just west of Brenham, is the original location of one of the most decorated barbecue joints in Texas. Self-taught pitmaster Leonard Botello IV opened it in the summer of 2015 in a small…
Washington County, TX · 2.5 mi
In Washington County, Texas, history was made with the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence at Washington-on-the-Brazos during the Convention of 1836. This pivotal event marked the birth of Texas liberty and…
Eben-Ezer Evangelical Lutheran Church · 3.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the Berlin community, settled by Germans way back in 1847. Look around – this area owes its spiritual roots to a Christmas Eve service in 1854. That's when Reverend Johann Ebinger held the very…
Salem Lutheran Church · 3.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Washington County, and you're passing the site of the Salem Lutheran Church. Organized in November of 1856 by Reverend Johann Ebinger and just seventeen members, this is the second oldest German…
Salem School District No. 4 · 3.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Salem School District No. 4. Early schools of Salem were created through the organization of Salem Lutheran Church is 1865. Two acres of land was given to the Salem church trustees by William Bohne…
Washington County · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Washington County is in the Blackland Prairies region of southeast central Texas. The center of the county is at 30°14' north latitude and 96°24' west longitude. Brenham, the seat of government, is near the…
Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site is on Farm Road 1155 seven miles southwest of Navasota in Washington County. The 293-acre park occupies most of the site of the old town of Washington, commonly called…
Washington-on-the-Brazos, TX · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Washington-on-the-Brazos, officially named Washington, in the upper northeastern corner of what is now Washington County, was a major political and commercial center in early Texas. The town was originally named…
Barrington · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Washington-on-the-Brazos, and right here is where the last president of the Republic of Texas, Anson Jones, made his home. He called it Barrington, after his birthplace in Massachusetts. Jones bought…
Baylor, Robert Emmett Bledsoe · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, Texas, and right here is a place tied to the incredible life of R.E.B. Baylor. He wasn't just a judge and a lawyer; Baylor was a Baptist minister who rode the circuit, holding…
Clay, William Roger Campbell [Sonny] · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Chappell Hill, Texas, the birthplace of Sonny Clay, a pioneering jazz pianist. Born in 1899, Clay moved west as a young man and became one of the first major jazz musicians in California. Around…
Crawford, William Carrol · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, and right here, you're passing through history. William Carrol Crawford was the last living signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Born in North Carolina and trained as a tailor,…
Exodus of 1879 · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, but imagine a time when thousands of Black Texans decided to leave it all behind. Between 1875 and 1880, 'Kansas Fever' swept through communities here, especially in 1879. Tired of…
Hill, James Monroe · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, Texas, where James Monroe Hill arrived with his family in 1835, just in time for the Texas Revolution. After the Alamo fell, young Hill, then just 18, joined Sam Houston's army.…
Independence Baptist Church · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Independence, Texas, and right here is a church with a presidential connection. Independence Baptist Church was organized way back in 1839. But the big story? Sam Houston himself was a member. He…
Lawrence, Joseph · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Washington County, Texas, a place that played a crucial role in the Texas Revolution. Right here, in 1836, Joseph Lawrence was present at Washington-on-the-Brazos when calls went out…
Lincecum, Gideon · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, not far from Long Point. Right here is where Gideon Lincecum, a physician and naturalist, settled in 1848 after years of practicing medicine with Native American herbal…
Matthews, James Fiske · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, Texas, where James Fiske Matthews, known as 'Doc', fought with Terry's Texas Rangers. He enlisted in 1861 and by the war's end, he'd been wounded seven times. At the Battle of…
McArdle, Henry Arthur [Harry] · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the heart of Texas, and right here in Independence, you're passing through the former stomping grounds of Harry McArdle, a painter who brought Texas history to life on canvas. Born in Ireland,…
Robertson, Jerome Bonaparte · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here is where Jerome Bonaparte Robertson, known as 'Polly' to his men, made his mark. He arrived in Texas in 1836, a doctor by trade, but quickly became a respected…
Woodlief, Deveraux J. · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, Texas, and right here is where Deveraux J. Woodlief, a settler and soldier, made his home starting in 1828. He fought bravely at the Battle of San Jacinto, even earning a wound.…
Greenvine, TX · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Greenvine (Green Vine) is on Farm Road 2502 near Pond Creek five miles southeast of Burton in southern Washington County. In 1860 J. Frank Kiefer , a German Baptist evangelist, conducted a revival in the new community,…
Independence, TX (Washington County) · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Independence is at the intersection of Farm roads 390 and 50, twelve miles northeast of Brenham in northeast Washington County. It was founded in 1835 by J. G. W. Pierson, Robert Stevenson , Colbert Baker, and Amasa F.…
Ross, Lawrence Sullivan [Sul] · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Lawrence Sullivan (Sul) Ross, soldier, statesman, and university president, second son and fourth child of Catherine (Fulkerson) and Shapley Prince Ross , was born at Bentonsport, Iowa Territory, on September 27, 1838.…
Alexander, Robert · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the Republic of Texas, and right here, you're passing through the legacy of Robert Alexander. He was a Methodist minister who arrived in Texas in 1837, the very first of his…
Boatwright, Thomas · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County right now, and maybe you've heard of New Year's Day. Well, you're passing near where Thomas Boatwright and his family camped on New Year's Eve, 1821. They'd traveled down…
Buffington, Anderson · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here, in what was then Washington-on-the-Brazos, Anderson Buffington helped start the very first missionary Baptist church in Texas. Buffington arrived in Texas in…
Byars, Noah Turner · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here, near Washington-on-the-Brazos, is where Noah Turner Byars set up shop back in 1835. He wasn't just a gunsmith and blacksmith; he was a pioneer Baptist preacher…
Carter, George Washington · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, near Chappell Hill, where George Washington Carter once led a unique Confederate cavalry unit. Carter, a Methodist minister and educator, was invited to Texas in 1860 to lead…
Chance, Joseph Bell · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the heart of Stephen F. Austin's second colony. Right here, in the early 1830s, J.B. Chance arrived, swearing allegiance to Mexico while dreaming of Texas independence. He was a…
Coe, Philip Haddox · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Washington County, and right here, Philip Haddox Coe was building a life on the Texas frontier. Born in Georgia in 1800, Coe arrived in Texas sometime after 1829, possibly fleeing a…
Coles, John P. · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Right here, you're driving through history, the heart of what was once Coles' Settlement. John P. Coles, one of Stephen F. Austin's first settlers, arrived in Texas in 1822. His cedar log cabin became the center of this…
Cooke, James Russell · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, Texas, where James Russell Cooke lived. Cooke was a soldier who fought in the Texas Revolution, even participating in the pivotal Battle of San Jacinto. But his story doesn't…
Evans, Moses · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here, in what was then Washington-on-the-Brazos, lived a man known as the 'wild man of the woods.' That was Moses Evans, a surveyor and soldier who arrived in Texas…
Gant, William Washington · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, not far from where the first shots of Texas independence were fired. Right here, William Washington Gant arrived in Texas in 1835, settling in what was then Washington County.…
Gantt, William Henry · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, Texas, near the old Union Hill community. Right here, Dr. William Henry Gantt, a physician and scientist, was practicing medicine in the late 1850s. He wasn't just a doctor; he…
Graves, Henry Lee · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here is where Texas's higher education got its start. In 1846, Henry Lee Graves arrived to become the very first president of Baylor University. He wasn't just an…
Greer, Nathaniel Hunt · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, Texas, and right here is where Nathaniel Hunt Greer settled his large family after fleeing Creek territory in Alabama. He was a pioneer, a legislator, and patriarch to fourteen…
Hemphill, John · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, the very place where John Hemphill, a giant of Texas law, first hung his shingle. Arriving in 1838, Hemphill quickly rose through the ranks of the Republic of Texas. He became a…
Houston, Margaret Moffette Lea · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, not far from Independence, where Margaret Moffette Lea Houston lived. She was the wife of Texas legend Sam Houston, and a force in her own right. Despite Sam's struggles with…
Hoxey, Asa · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, near the site of Independence. Right here, Asa Hoxey, a doctor and planter from Georgia, arrived in Texas in 1833. He brought with him a fortune and thirty enslaved people,…
Jones, Mary Smith · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, near Washington-on-the-Brazos. Right here is where Mary Smith Jones, wife of Republic of Texas President Anson Jones, built their plantation home called Barrington in 1844. She…
Lea, Nancy Moffette · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here near Independence, you're passing a place with a story tied to a very famous Texan. Nancy Moffette Lea, the mother-in-law of Sam Houston, lived out her final…
Miller, James Weston · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here is Gay Hill, home to James Weston Miller. This Presbyterian clergyman arrived in Texas in 1844, but frequent illness soon brought him to this very spot. For…
Miller, Simon · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, a place that was home to Simon Miller, one of Stephen F. Austin's original Old Three Hundred colonists. Miller arrived in Texas back in December of 1821, settling near what is…
Morrell, Z. N. · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here, in what was once Washington-on-the-Brazos, you're passing through a place where a determined Baptist preacher named Z. N. Morrell helped found one of the first…
Ruter, Martin · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the Republic of Texas, and right here, in Washington-on-the-Brazos, is where a pioneering Methodist minister named Martin Ruter breathed his last. Born in Massachusetts in 1785,…
Salem, TX (Washington County) · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, not far from Brenham, and right here is the site of Salem. This community began in 1856, not as a town, but as a church. Following a split over doctrine among German Lutherans,…
Saul, Thomas Stovin · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, near the Brazos River, and right here is where Thomas Stovin Saul made his mark in early Texas. He arrived from Louisiana in 1829, a farmer and attorney who quickly got involved…
Sledge, Alonzo L. · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, near Chappell Hill, the hometown of Alonzo L. Sledge. Born into slavery in 1854, Sledge rose to become a Baptist preacher and, remarkably, a Texas legislator. In 1878, he won…
Soule University · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here in Chappell Hill, you're passing the site of Soule University. Founded in 1854 by the Texas Conference of the Methodist Church, it was meant to be a premier…
Stevenson, Robert M. · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Washington County, and right here, you're passing near where Robert M. Stevenson lived. Born in Ireland around 1805, Stevenson came to Texas before the Revolution. He fought in the…
Swisher, John Milton · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Washington County, and right here, in 1836, a young John Milton Swisher was on his way to join the fight for Texas independence. He and a handful of companions heard the call to defend…
Tom, John Files · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas history right now, past the site of Washington-on-the-Brazos. Back in 1836, a seventeen-year-old named John Files Tom was here, a young volunteer fighting for Texas independence. He fought…
Travis, Charles Edward · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, not far from Chappell Hill, where a dramatic military trial unfolded. Charles Edward Travis, son of Alamo hero William B. Travis, found himself in deep trouble with the U.S.…
Women and Education · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here, in what was once Coles Settlement, you're passing the site of Texas's very first boarding school for girls. Established in 1834 by Frances Trask Thompson, this…
Chappell Hill, TX · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Chappell (Chapel) Hill is located at the junction of Farm roads 1155 and 2447, fifty-seven miles northwest of Houston in southeastern Washington County. By 1847 the site was a trading locality, one mile from Cedar Creek…
Union Hill, TX (Washington County) · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Union Hill was a town on the wagon road between Houston and Austin near Carr's Crossing on Yegua Creek and just northwest of the present site of Burton in Washington County. Nearby Kerr and Mayfield Creeks and a deep…
Allcorn, Elijah · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once a vast, untamed frontier, and right here, in what is now Washington County, you're passing through land once settled by Elijah Allcorn. He arrived in Texas in December of 1821,…
Borden, Paschal Pavolo · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Washington County, not far from where Paschal Pavolo Borden farmed and worked in his father's blacksmith shop in San Felipe. Borden, brother of the famous Gail Borden Jr., came to…
Garrett, Christopher Columbus · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, near Chappell Hill, where Christopher Columbus Garrett was born in 1846. He became a lawyer and judge, eventually serving as the first chief justice of the Texas Court of Civil…
Hall, John W. · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Washington-on-the-Brazos, a place that played a pivotal role in early Texas history. Right here, Captain Jack Hall settled in 1822, establishing a ferry and eventually becoming the county judge and…
Hill, William Warner · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Washington County, Texas, a place that played a role in the early days of the Republic. William Warner Hill was here, a soldier who fought in the Texas Revolution. He was a first…
Hogan, Columbus Henderson · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here in Chappell Hill, you're passing through the heart of a remarkable life. Columbus Henderson Hogan, born in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1870</say-as>,…
Kiefer, J. Frank · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here is Independence, where J. Frank Kiefer, a German immigrant, made his mark. He wasn't just a doctor; he was a Baptist evangelist who organized Texas's first German…
Kuykendall, Barzillai · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Washington County, Texas, a land that Barzillai Kuykendall knew well. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's original settlers, arriving here in 1822. Kuykendall wasn't just a farmer; he…
Kuykendall, Gibson · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, where Gibson Kuykendall arrived with his family in 1821, part of the Old Three Hundred settlers. They navigated the vast Texas landscape, settling near New Year Creek, just…
Morgan, George Washington · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Washington County, Pennsylvania, but back in 1836, a young George Washington Morgan was headed for Texas. He left college at just 16 to join the Texas Revolution, arriving in…
Norris, James M. · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the Texas frontier, a land James M. Norris was tasked with defending. Born in South Carolina in 1819, Norris came to Washington County, Texas, in 1841, a self-taught lawyer. He later…
Roddy, Ephraim · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here, Ephraim Roddy helped lay the foundation for this community. Arriving from Tennessee in 1830 with his family, Roddy quickly became involved in shaping the…
Swearingen, Richard Johnson · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, near Chappell Hill, where Dr. Richard Johnson Swearingen made his mark. He wasn't just a physician and farmer; he was a state legislator! He represented Washington County in the…
Toler, Daniel J. · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, and right here, Daniel J. Toler was a key player in the Republic of Texas. Born in New Jersey in 1801, Toler first made his way to Mexico, becoming involved in land operations…
Vernon, John Alexander · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, Texas, where a man named John Alexander Vernon ended his days. Vernon was a Confederate officer who served along the Texas Gulf Coast during the Civil War, fighting in battles…
Walker, James · 3.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Washington County, right where James Walker settled his large family. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists, arriving in Texas in 1824. Walker received a Spanish land grant and…

Explore Brenham on the Map

All music from Texas → Find another town Vote on city songs

Brenham, Texas

Music in Brenham

Songs About Brenham

Artists From Brenham

Rivers & Roads in Song near Brenham

Musical Heritage

Dixie Motel RoadyGoat

History of Brenham

The Night More Than Half of Brenham Burned RoadyGoat

The Town Is Named for a Doctor Who Died Breaking Out of a Mexican Prison RoadyGoat

Thirty Dollars for a Carousel Rotting in a Pasture RoadyGoat

Washington County

Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site

Washington-on-the-Brazos, TX

Rosedale Nursery

Washington County, C.S.A.

Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church

Things to Do in Brenham

Sports in Brenham

Brenham Cubs — Brenham — a college & pro athletic pipeline

Everything Near Brenham

Sign up for the free newsletter