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Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Brownwood.
Brownwood's history is marked by a significant event during the Second World War when it became the location of U.S. Army Camp Bowie. At its peak, the camp was home to over 80,000 soldiers. Today, Camp Bowie continues its role as a training camp at the intersection of Farm-to-Market Roads 45 and 2126. Another notable event was the F5 tornado that struck near Brownwood on April 19, 1976, causing extensive damage but fortunately no fatalities.
Nature lovers in Brownwood can enjoy Lake Brownwood, a 7,300-acre reservoir 7 miles north of the city. The lake offers a variety of recreational activities such as camping, waterskiing, jet skiing, and boating. It is also home to a wide variety of fish species, including largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, white bass, striped bass, white crappie, yellow and flathead catfish, sunfish, and alligator gar. Lake Brownwood State Park, a 538-acre area, opened in 1938 and is located on the lake.
The original site of Brownwood was east of Pecan Bayou, but due to a dispute over land and water rights, settlers were forced to find a new location. Greenleaf Fisk donated 60 acres to relocate the county seat to the west side of the bayou, on what is now the current site of Brownwood, and an additional 100 acres for county use. The town was incorporated in 1884.
John Wesley Hardin was one of the most notorious outlaws of the Old West and Charlie Webb was a Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy who was shot and killed by Hardin. Charlie Webb was a Texas Ranger and served Brown and San Saba Counties. In 1874 Webb had been appointed deputy sheriff in Brown County with instructions to go after the Hardin-Taylor Gang who operated in the southern portions of Comanche and Brown Counties. John Wesley Hardin was an outlaw who was aligned with Jim Taylor and his anti-reconstruction faction. Hardin fled De Witt and Gonzales counties after killing Sheriff Jack Helm. Taylor and Hardin went on a cattle drive to Brown and Comanche Counties where the Hardin Gang had a reputation for lawlessness. On May 26, 1874, Charlie Webb and John Wesley Hardin were both in Comanche. Having a good day and winning money, cattle, wagons and horses, Hardin was celebrating in local saloons. Outside of Jack Wright’s saloon, Hardin shot and killed Webb. Witnesses stated that Hardin was the first to draw. Hardin fled Texas with his wife and child and was on the run for three years. Texas Rangers and the Pinkerton men captured Hardin in Florida and he was extradited back to Texas to stand trial. Hardin was found guilty of second degree murder and sentenced to twenty-five years in the state penitentiary in Huntsville. While in prison Hardin studied law and when released after fifteen years began a law practice in El Paso. Hardin was killed on August 19, 1895 in the El Paso Acme Saloon and is buried in Concordia Cemetery. Charlie webb is buried in Brownwood’s Greenleaf Cemetery in the Masonic section.
Greenleaf Fisk, a pioneer who later would be known as the “Father of Brownwood,” gave the city five acres in 1868 for a public burial ground. It is now the Main City Cemetery of Brownwood. The original main gate to the cemetery was given by the Coggin family, who also helped found Brownwood. The gate consisted of large sculptured columns supporting an iron archway. Several decades later, that entrance was closed and a new entrance gate was donated by the Brownwood Garden Club. In 1978, the Greenleaf Cemetery Association was incorporated under the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act. Those buried here lie beneath native trees such as cedar, oak, pecan, crepe myrtle and cottonwood. The first known burial is that of Emma B. Adams who passed in 1873. Citizens and families of those buried here cared for the cemetery until 1916, when the city wrote its maintenance into the city charter. Among those buried here are Noah T. Byars, owner of the blacksmith shop where the Declaration of Texas Independence was signed; Weston Lafayette Williams, Sam Houston’s son-in-law; Dr. Mollie Armstrong, the first woman optometrist in Texas; Robert Howard, author and creator of Conan the Barbarian; Will E. Mayes, who served as Lt. Governor of Texas, and was founder and dean of the school of journalism at the University of Texas; and Greenleaf Fisk himself. Also buried here are veterans from every war, including Buffalo Soldiers. Today, the Greenleaf Cemetery numbers more than 22,000 graves, reflecting a continuum of the area’s history from pioneer times to the modern day.
(January 24, 1906-June 11, 1936) Born in Parker County, Robert Ervin Howard grew up in the Brown and Callahan County communities of Cross Cut, Cross Plains, and Brownwood. He attended Brownwood High School and Howard Payne College, and published his first works of fiction in school newspapers. He later wrote poetry and short stories for popular magazines. His main interest was in science fiction and fantasy. In 1932 he created the character Conan the Barbarian. Howard committed suicide at age 30. His Conan character has become known worldwide through books, magazines, and movies. (1991)
Mollie Wright Armstrong, optometrist, was born on January 23, 1875, in Bell County, Texas, the daughter of Thomas C. and Elizabeth (Neal) Wright. After attending Baylor Female College, she studied at optometry schools in Georgia, Illinois, and Missouri. When she began her practice in Brownwood in 1899, she was the first woman optometrist in the state and only the second in the United States. She was active in the passage of the first optometry law in Texas, became a member of the Texas Board of Examiners in Optometry, and served as vice president and president of the board, to which she belonged for twenty-four years. She was president of the Texas Optometric Association from 1923 to 1925 and at another time served as the association's director of publicity. When the Texas Optometrist was first published, she was its editor. It was largely through her efforts that the first optometric professional liability policy was made available to optometrists nationwide, and she became a trustee of the American Optometric Association. In 1927 Dr. Armstrong was instrumental in organizing the Texas Woman's Auxiliary to the American Optometric Association. That same year she was appointed a regional director of the American Optometric Association Auxiliary. In Brownwood she was the organizer and first president of the American Legion Auxiliary, the Brownwood Business and Professional Women's Club, and the Brownwood Civic League. She served as director of the Brownwood Chamber of Commerce and represented her district as a member of the State Democratic Executive Committee. She was married to Brownwood jeweler Walter D. Armstrong, who died in 1948. She retired from practice in 1962 and died in Fort Worth on May 23, 1964. She was buried in Greenleaf Cemetery, Brownwood. See also OPTOMETRY .
D. Harold (Dry Hole) Byrd, oilman, was born in Detroit, Texas, on April 24, 1900, the youngest of five sons and three daughters of Edward and Mary (Easley) Byrd. He grew up in Texas and Oklahoma. His first job in oil was as a roughneck in the Burkburnett oilfield. In 1917 he went to Trinity University, and from 1919 to 1921 he studied geology at the University of Texas. During the summers he worked on a rig in Santa Anna, where his penchant for wrestling got him into a match with a carnival bear. He lost. After college Byrd worked for A. E. Humphreys as a geological scout. In 1924 he worked for the Old Dominion Oil Company of San Antonio. In 1925 he decided to become independent and moved to Brownwood, where he worked as a geological consultant and contracted for drilling. During this time he acquired his nickname by drilling fifty-six dry holes. Then, on May 5, 1928, he hit two good wells at once: the Byrd-Daniels produced 1,000 barrels a day, which sold for three dollars a barrel; and one of his wells opened up the Baker gas field in Brown County. During the East Texas oil boom, Byrd rented office space in the Gregg Hotel in Longview and secretly bought out the Gregg Abstract Company. He then hired seventy-two typists from Dallas and assigned each of them to a volume of the county abstracts. With his control of lease information thus secured, and with an office set up in the courthouse yard, Byrd could force anyone who wanted to verify a lease to consult him; he could also get service to anyone he was dealing with by the end of the day or pay cash for any lease that he wanted to acquire. He comments in his autobiography, "At one time I owned 34,000 acres, but . . . ended up owning 15,000 in partnership with Gulf, Humble, and Atlantic Oil Companies, with whom I drilled about 5,000 wells. . . . Needless to say I became an overnight millionaire." In 1931 Byrd and Jack Frost founded Byrd-Frost, Incorporated, to operate 492 East Texas wells that were soon producing 4,000 barrels of oil a day. In 1944 Byrd founded Byrd Oil Corporation and B-H Drilling Corporation. Byrd Oil was later bought by Mobil. In 1952 the entrepreneur began to phase out Byrd-Frost and organized the Three States Natural Gas Company, which was purchased by Delhi-Taylor Oil Corporation in 1961. Byrd also invested in Temco Aircraft and, in 1961, helped organize Ling-Temco-Vought, a conglomerate that reflected his continued interest in aviation. Byrd was a lifelong advocate of aeronautics. He had invested in his cousin Adm. Richard E. Byrd's exploration of the poles, and Admiral Byrd had named a mountain range in Antarctica for him. In 1938 Byrd was appointed by Governor James Allred to the Texas Civil Aeronautics Commission. In September 1941 Byrd and Gill Robb Wilson formed the Civil Air Patrol. During World War II Byrd commanded an antisubmarine base for the Civil Air Patrol at Beaumont. In 1968 he received the Alpha Eta Rho annual award for the man outside the aviation education profession to contribute most to aviation. In 1963, in resistance to the activity of the Teamsters' Union among farm workers in Texas, Byrd moved his frozen food business from Crystal City to La Pryor. He regarded the teamsters as "a terrible cancer." On June 8, 1935, he married Martha Caruth of Dallas. They had two sons. Mrs. Byrd died in 1972, and on February 14, 1974, Byrd married Mavis Barnett Heath, the widow of William W. Heath . Byrd made two African safaris and was known for his trophy room. He was awarded the University of Texas Ex-Students' Association Distinguished Alumnus award in 1966. He donated the drum Big Bertha to the UT Longhorn Band and gave many scholarships to university students. Byrd was a deacon in the First Presbyterian Church of Dallas, where he contributed the Byrd Fellowship Hall. He died on September 14, 1986, in Dallas.
Greenleaf Fisk, Brown County pioneer, was born in Albany, New York, on May 19, 1807, to English immigrants. He served in the Texas army at the battle of San Jacinto and as a member of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Texas from Bastrop. One of many children, Fisk began earning his own living at the age of twelve when he worked on a dairy farm in New Jersey. Despite the need to work for a living he managed to get a good general education and, at the age of twenty, entered Lane's Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio, to prepare for the Presbyterian ministry. He later attended Hanover College at Hanover, Indiana. For some reason he gave up his plans to enter the ministry and moved to Texas in 1834. He settled at or near Mina (now Bastrop) shortly before Texas independence was declared. There he married Mary A. Manlove before serving as a volunteer Texas Ranger in the Mina Volunteers under Capt. Jesse Billingsley and participating in the battle of San Jacinto. After the war he and his wife and their first son returned to Bastrop, where he served as clerk of the district court (1837) before he was elected to the House of Representatives (1838–39). He served as chief justice of Bastrop County from 1841 to 1844. His wife bore him seven children before her death. In the early 1840s he moved to Williamson County, where he was one of the founders of Liberty Hill and Georgetown . Fisk and his brother Josiah Fisk also founded Fiskville in Travis County. Greenleaf Fisk married Mary Piper Hawkins, whose children from a previous marriage were adopted into a family that eventually totaled fifteen children. Fisk served as a member of the Third Congress of the Republic of Texas. During the Mexican American War fought with Bell's Regiment of Mounted Volunteers, Capt. Shapley Ross' Company, and John Coffee Hays' Ranging Company of Mounted Volunteers, participated in the Battle of Monterrey, and filed for his pension in 1887. In 1860 Fisk moved his family to Brown County, portions of which he had surveyed in 1846. He had been granted title to 1,280 acres of land, called the Marcus Hulen survey, in Brown County on December 8, 1846, by J. Pinckney Henderson for his service to the Republic of Texas . In Brown County, between 1862 and the mid-1870s, Fisk served variously as a teacher, chief justice, county judge, justice of the peace, county surveyor, district clerk, county clerk, and county treasurer. Because of his service in these offices he was known as Judge Fisk. His first home in Brown County was a log house on a slough east of the site of present downtown Brownwood. He is known by local historians as the father of Brownwood, where he ultimately donated one hundred acres , including land for a courthouse, civic center, and community cemetery. He later built a two-story stone home and a stone gristmill, doing the masonry work himself. The gristmill has since been converted into a private residence and is still standing in Brownwood. Fisk also taught what was perhaps the first school in Brown County, and a Brownwood school that existed as late as 1876 was named for him. When a drought left the main settlement without water and a problem with the title of an alternate townsite developed after a few years, Fisk donated sixty acres near his own home for a townsite and an additional 100 acres for county use. The deed of this transaction was burned in the courthouse in 1880, but the move was made sometime between 1867 and 1879. In a replacement deed filed in 1880 Fisk described the deed of the townsite as made by him "about ten years ago." As a teacher and father of fifteen children, Fisk wanted enough settlers to move to the new townsite to provide students for a school in Brownwood. He sold T. D. Harriss 800 acres of land adjoining the townsite at a good price, on the condition that Harriss move his family of many children to the new town. In 1877 Brownwood was incorporated. At Fisk's death on January 26, 1888, the entire town clo
A 1963 highway-department roadside marker on US Highway 377 northeast of Brady noting the geographic center of Texas which actually lies about five miles away…
Featured on The Daytripper — a full-episode local travel guide.
3 alumni who reached major-college or pro sports
Brownwood High School has a proud tradition of developing athletes who excel beyond their high school years. The school's athletic programs have been a stepping stone for several individuals who pursued sports at the collegiate and professional levels. These former Lions have represented Brownwood across various competitive stages, showcasing their skills and dedication.
Among the notable alumni are Matt McCrane, who played kicker for Kansas State and several NFL teams. Shelby Miller went on to become a Major League Baseball Pitcher. Casey Pachall played quarterback for the TCU Horned Frogs football team and the Toronto Argonauts, further highlighting the diverse athletic talent nurtured in Brownwood.
Shelby Miller became a Major League Baseball Pitcher.
158 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
Brownwood's history is marked by a significant event during the Second World War when it became the location of U.S. Army Camp Bowie. At its peak, the camp was home to over 80,000 soldiers. Today, Camp Bowie continues…
You're driving through Brownwood, a city that owes a lot of its growth to one man: Henry Ford. No, not *that* Henry Ford, but a Texas pioneer who arrived in 1869 and became a legendary cowboy. He settled here in 1876,…
John Wesley Hardin was one of the most notorious outlaws of the Old West and Charlie Webb was a Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy who was shot and killed by Hardin. Charlie Webb was a Texas Ranger and served Brown…
Greenleaf Fisk, a pioneer who later would be known as the “Father of Brownwood,” gave the city five acres in 1868 for a public burial ground. It is now the Main City Cemetery of Brownwood. The original…
(January 24, 1906-June 11, 1936) Born in Parker County, Robert Ervin Howard grew up in the Brown and Callahan County communities of Cross Cut, Cross Plains, and Brownwood. He attended Brownwood High School and Howard…
You're driving through Brownwood, and right here is the site of a truly remarkable Texan. Veda Wells Hodge was more than just the wife of an oil magnate; she was a force in her own right. Born to a pioneer preacher, she…
You're driving past the resting place of Noah Turner Byars, a true pioneer of faith in Texas. Born in South Carolina, Byars arrived in Texas in the early 1830s, just in time to witness the birth of the Republic. He even…
You're driving through Brownwood, the birthplace of a song that became a global phenomenon! In the fall of 1962, right here at Howard Payne College, two Texas natives, Raymond Hildebrand and Jill Jackson, met. They'd…
You're driving through Brownwood, and right here is the story of the Rev. Dr. John David Robnett. Born in Missouri, Robnett was a Baptist minister who came to Brownwood in 1883 to lead the First Baptist Church. He met…
You're driving past the Brownwood location of Dr. Mollie W. Armstrong, a true pioneer in Texas optometry. Born in 1875, she became the first woman optometrist in the state after studying on her own and earning her…
You're driving through Brownwood, where Brooke Smith arrived in 1876 and saw an opportunity. This town was a frontier settlement with no banks, so Smith and his partners placed a big safe in their general store. They…
You're driving past the site of the Brownwood Harvey House, a place that served up more than just food. Built in 1914 right next to the Santa Fe Railroad Depot, this was part of Fred Harvey's brilliant idea to offer…
You're driving through Brownwood, and you might be wondering what the 'Old Gray Mare Band' has to do with Texas history. Well, this wasn't just any band. Formed from the 142nd Infantry Band of the 36th Division after…
You're driving past the old Brownwood Santa Fe Passenger Depot, built in 1909. Designed by Jarvis Hunt, this Romanesque beauty was a hub between California and Texas, fueling regional growth. Passenger traffic peaked…
You're driving past the R. B. Rogers House in Brownwood, a snapshot of early 20th-century prosperity. Built between 1904 and 1905 by R. B. Rogers, a major local merchant and civic leader, this home showcases stunning…
You're driving past the site of old Daniel Baker College, a place that tried to serve multiple faiths before finding its final home. Named for a famous circuit-riding minister, this school was founded in 1888 by…
You're driving through Brownwood, home to Howard Payne University. It began in 1876 as the Pecan Valley Baptist Association, which decided to found a college. Named for a major donor, Edward Howard Payne, the school…
Mollie Wright Armstrong, optometrist, was born on January 23, 1875, in Bell County, Texas, the daughter of Thomas C. and Elizabeth (Neal) Wright. After attending Baylor Female College, she studied at optometry schools…
D. Harold (Dry Hole) Byrd, oilman, was born in Detroit, Texas, on April 24, 1900, the youngest of five sons and three daughters of Edward and Mary (Easley) Byrd. He grew up in Texas and Oklahoma. His first job in oil…
Greenleaf Fisk, Brown County pioneer, was born in Albany, New York, on May 19, 1807, to English immigrants. He served in the Texas army at the battle of San Jacinto and as a member of the House of Representatives of the…
You're driving through Brownwood, Texas, a town that once held a man rumored to be the legendary outlaw Jesse James. Henry Ford, a respected banker and businessman here, arrived in Texas at seventeen. He became a…
You're driving through Brownwood, the heart of Texas football country, and right here is where Gordon Wood cemented his legacy as one of the greatest high school football coaches in American history. For over forty…
You're driving through Brown County, right in the heart of Texas. This land, named for Captain Henry Stevenson Brown, was settled in 1856. But life on this frontier wasn't easy. For twenty years after its formation,…
You're driving through Brownwood, and right here is the site of Camp Bowie, a massive World War II training center established in September 1940. It was the first major defense construction project in Texas for the war,…
You're driving through Brown County, the heart of a vast cattle empire built by two brothers, Moses and Samuel Coggin. Arriving in Texas in 1851, they started hauling freight, but by 1854, they were buying their first…
You're driving through Central Texas, near Brownwood. Right here is Lake Brownwood State Park, a testament to the Great Depression's Civilian Conservation Corps. Back in the early 1930s, the local water district dammed…
You're driving past the Adams-Shaw House, built around 1876 for George H. Adams, a rancher and former Texas Ranger. His cattle brand is literally carved into the front step – a lasting signature of his life on the…
You're driving through Brownwood, a town with roots stretching back to the frontier days of Texas. It was named for Henry Stevenson Brown and chosen as the county seat way back in 1857. But this wasn't just a sleepy…
You're driving through Brownwood, and right here is a place that bears the name of a man who devoted his life to educating the community. Rufus Forley Hardin, born into slavery in Kaufman County, came to Brownwood in…
You're driving through Brownwood right now, and if you look around, you might just see the campus of Howard Payne University. But did you know this Baptist-affiliated school started out down the road at Indian Creek? It…
You're driving through Brownwood, Texas, a town that owes a lot to Charles H. Jenkins. He arrived here in 1879 and immediately became mayor, serving multiple terms. But Jenkins wasn't just a politician; he was a…
You're driving through Brownwood, Texas, the county seat of Brown County. Right here, in the late 1800s, William Harding Mayes was building a Texas legacy. He arrived in Brownwood in 1882, already admitted to the bar in…
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here in Brownwood, back in 1915, a statewide music organization was born. The Texas Federation of Music Clubs formed to help Texas musicians connect and promote music…
You're driving through Brownwood, Texas, the hometown of Lynn Nabers. He wasn't just any local politician; Nabers served fourteen years in the Texas House of Representatives, representing this area from 1969 to 1983. He…
You're driving through Brownwood, and to your right, you might catch a glimpse of the J.A. Walker House. Built in 1901 by a prominent businessman and civic leader, this home showcases classic Colonial Revival style.…
You're driving through Central Texas, maybe near Brownwood. Right here, you're passing through the legacy of Matthew Thomas Andrews, a Baptist preacher who left his mark across the Lone Star State. Andrews wasn't just a…
You're driving through Brownwood, the birthplace of Robert Wright Armstrong. Born in 1892, Armstrong's life was a symphony of railways and music. He played in bands, directed orchestras, and even performed with…
You're driving through Brownwood, the county seat of Brown County. Back in 1910, local citizens here dreamed big, chartering the Brownwood North and South Railway. Their goal? To build eighteen miles of track north to…
You're driving through Brownwood, the birthplace of Julian Edgeworth Gillespie. Born in 1893, Gillespie wasn't your average Texan. After studying law and serving as a captain in World War I, he embarked on a remarkable…
You're driving through Brownwood, Texas, where Brainard Taylor McClelland arrived in 1876. A Presbyterian minister, he didn't just preach; he organized churches across a hundred-square-mile area. It was his…
You're driving through Brownwood, the heart of Texas, where a remarkable educator named Thomas Hendricks Taylor dedicated nearly fifty years of his life to Howard Payne College. He started teaching in 1907 and…
In 1940, Brownwood was a quiet town of about thirteen thousand people. Two years later, it was the temporary home of sixty thousand soldiers. The reason was Camp Bowie, one of America's largest infantry training centers…
As you travel through this part of Texas, you're in the heart of 'Howard Country.' Just up the road in Cross Plains lived Robert E. Howard, the prolific writer who fathered the whole 'sword and sorcery' genre and its…
The key to Brownwood's survival and growth isn't in town, but eight miles north: Lake Brownwood. And that lake only exists because of a feat of engineering that straddled the start of the Great Depression. By the 1920s…
In many ways Howard Payne University is the anchor that has kept Brownwood steady. The Pecan Valley Baptist Association founded it on June 20, 1889, out at Indian Creek, and named it for Edward Howard Payne, the…
You're driving past the former home of John Wesley Malone, a key figure in early Brownwood. This house started as a rancher's home after 1874, built by the Coggin family. Malone bought it in 1888 and later added the…
You're driving past Jenkins Springs Cemetery, a place with deep roots in Brown County history. The earliest known graves here belong to four army surveyors ambushed and killed nearby, buried on the Jenkins farm.…
You're driving through Brownwood, and right here is the site of Lee Chapel A.M.E. Church. Named for Bishop Benjamin Franklin Lee, who served until 1926, this church was organized way back in 1888. The Reverend George E.…
You're driving past the area where Greenleaf Fisk, known as the 'Father of Brownwood,' settled. He abandoned plans for the ministry to brave the Texas frontier, fought at the Battle of San Jacinto, and served the…
You're driving through Brown County, heading southwest from here, past the site of Camp Collier. This wasn't a camp for glory, but a vital frontier post during the Civil War. Think of a chain of forts, a day's ride…
You're driving past the site of the former Rufus F. Hardin High School, a crucial part of Brownwood's African-American history. It began in 1885 as the town's first school for Black children, established by George…
You're driving past the Lovell-Dobbs House, built around 1889 by Scottish contractor Tom Lovell. Lovell was a busy builder, working on structures like the Arizona state capitol and several Texas courthouses. Later, the…
You're driving through Brownwood, Texas, the heart of Brown County. Look around – this was all wilderness until Welcome William Chandler arrived in 1856. He’s credited as the very first permanent settler and farmer…
You're driving past the old Brown County Jail, completed in 1903. Designed to look like an ancient fortress, its castle-like appearance with stone, turrets, and arches made it a standout. The English stonemasons who…
You're driving through Brownwood, and right here is the Coggin and Parks Building, a commercial hub from way back in 1876. Brothers Samuel and Mody Coggin, big-time ranchers and philanthropists, teamed up with…
You're driving past 5049011769. In 1875, Robert Morrison English (1837-1910), his wife, Clarabelle Louisa (Stratham) English (1847-1914), and their children moved from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to Brown County. They…
You're driving past Brownwood, a town with a story that's been bubbling for over a century! It all started back in 1857, and by 1858, it had its own post office. But here’s a twist: in the 1860s, an oil vein actually…
You're driving through Brownwood, the county seat of Brown County. This area was officially created way back in August of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1856</say-as>, and organized the following March. It's…
You're driving past the site of Camp Bowie, a massive World War II training ground right here near Brownwood. Opened in September 1940, this place could hold up to 45,000 soldiers! It was home to the famed "Texas" 36th…
You're driving past the site of Camp Bowie, a World War II prisoner of war camp right here near Brownwood. In 1943, thousands of German POWs arrived, some directly from General Rommel's North African campaigns. The U.S.…
You're driving past Connell Cemetery, likely one of the oldest in Brown County. It was probably in use before 1861, but the first headstone was erected in 1866 for William Archibald Connell. The last burial here was in…
Early might look like a quiet neighbour of Brownwood, but it's a town that had to decide to exist. There was no railroad here, no courthouse square. What there was, was a school. In 1928 a new district was formed on…
The road you're on, Early Boulevard, carries U.S. Highways 67 and 84 together, and 183 and 377 run through here with them. That's a remarkable amount of federal highway for a town this size, and it's the reason for…
As you drive near Leary, you’re just a few miles from one of the largest and most significant industrial and engineering projects in Texas history: the Red River Army Depot and the adjacent Lone Star Army Ammunition…
Before there was a City of Early, there was the Early School. In the 1920s this stretch of Brown County was farms and ranches with no town center at all — settlement here goes back to Welcome W. Chandler in the early…
Leary sits ten miles west of Texarkana, between Interstate 30 and the St. Louis Southwestern tracks, and it very nearly didn't make it. The town carries the name of an early settler, Daniel T. Leary. A post office…
The city of Early is named in honor of Walter U. Early, who generously donated land for the establishment of local schools. This act of philanthropy has left a lasting impact on the community.
For most of the twentieth century, the heart of community life in Leary was its school. The Leary Independent School District served generations of local children, and the schoolhouse was the center for everything —…
You're driving through the town of Early, named for Walter Urie Early. He arrived in Brownwood back in 1893, a Kentucky native who quickly became a respected attorney. He served as city attorney, then county attorney,…
You're driving through Brown County, and right here is where Texas history was literally built, cabin by cabin. Welcome Williams Chandler was the very first settler in this area, arriving in 1856 with his family and…
You're driving through Brown County, near the community of Thrifty, where a brutal event unfolded in December of 1873. Bill Williams and his family lived along Sand Creek. While his wife was milking, Kiowa renegades led…
You're driving through what is now Brown County, the home of Camp Bowie, where the legendary Texas Division, the Thirty-sixth Infantry Division, mobilized for World War II. Nicknamed the 'T-Patchers,' these…
You're driving through northeastern Brown County, near the pass known as Salt Gap. Back in 1858, this was a crucial Indian passage. On this very trail, settlers intercepted a band of Native Americans returning from a…
You're driving through Brown County, and right here, you're passing the approximate site of Camp Collier. <break time="400ms"/> Established in March of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1862</say-as>, it was one of…
You're driving through Brown County, and right here is Lake Brownwood, a massive reservoir created to supply water to nearby communities. But its creation wasn't exactly smooth sailing. Authorized in 1929 after a big…
Thrifty is on Farm Road 2492 six miles north of Bangs in northwestern Brown County. In 1858 the sons of Republic of Texas pioneer Isaac Mullins-Isaac, Jr., John C., and William-established the I C Ranch headquarters on…
Winchell is located twenty-one miles southwest of Brownwood on U.S. Highway 377 near the McCulloch county line in southwestern Brown County. First named either Broadtown for E. J. Broad who built a store there, or Brown…
You're driving through Early, Texas, a community with roots stretching back to the 1850s. Right here, in 1858, Brown County's very first post office opened its doors, not in a town hall, but in the home of farmer…
You're driving through Early, Texas, the namesake of this county. Look for the marker dedicated to William Franklin Brown. A Georgia native, Brown arrived here in 1857, becoming a pioneer cotton farmer. The very next…
You're driving through Brownwood, home of a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Katherine Anne Porter. Born Callie Russell Porter in Indian Creek, she moved to Hays County as a child. After leaving Texas in 1915, she lived a…
You're driving past the site of Rocky Creek Baptist Church. Eighteen people gathered here in 1877 to organize the congregation, starting under a brush arbor. The church has seen multiple buildings constructed and…
The man this town's name comes from, Samuel Bangs, was a real-life adventurer who probably never laid eyes on the place. Born around 1798, most likely in Boston, he sailed from Baltimore in 1816 as the printer for…
You'll hear drivers on Interstate 45 call Angus a speed trap. What's actually on the record is stranger. The community goes back to 1871, founded by a man named A. Angus after the rails came through. It had the first…
The tracks that slice through Bangs did make this town, but the name on the depot came off a piece of paper, not a locomotive. Long before there was any rail out here, Texas was carved into land grants and surveys, each…
You're driving through Bangs, Texas. The Bangs Cemetery was established in 1905 and was designated a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2002.
You're driving through Bangs, Texas, where the Santa Fe Railroad actually helped get education rolling! In 1892, the railroad deeded land to the city, and boom – the first schoolhouse was ready. It was a simple,…
Bangs is on U.S. highways 67 and 84 and the Santa Fe Railroad six miles west of Brownwood in west central Brown County. The town was named for its location in the Samuel Bangs survey. In 1886 a post office was…
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Bangs. This congregation started in 1883 in the Mukewater community and moved to the new railroad town of Bangs in 1890. A sanctuary was built in 1891,…
In the late 19th century, Bangs, Texas, came into its own. Named after Samuel Bangs, who was awarded the land for his service as a printer in the Texas Revolution, the city began to take shape in 1886. That year,…
You're rolling through Bangs, Texas, and the name on that sign traces back to a single man, so here is his story. Samuel Bangs was born around seventeen ninety-eight, probably in Boston, and trained as a printer's…
Here in Bangs, Texas, the name comes not from a founder who built the place but from a line on a surveyor's map. The town sits inside a block of land recorded as the Samuel Bangs survey, and Samuel Bangs was one of the…
Look at where you are actually standing. Bangs sits in Brown County in west central Texas, up around one thousand six hundred feet above sea level, in country drained by Pecan Bayou and by a stream with one of the best…
For a small town, Bangs has thrown a long shadow into American culture. Start with baseball. A man named Debs Garms was born here, and in nineteen forty, his first season with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he won the National…
Here's a puzzle worth untangling. Ask around town and you will hear that Bangs is named for the printer, and you will also hear it is named for a railroad man, and both answers get delivered with total confidence. The…
Standing here in Bangs, Texas, it is worth stopping on the part people skip right over, the word survey itself. In early Texas a survey was not a clipboard and a questionnaire. It was a measured block of ground, and the…
Bangs is a railroad town in the purest sense. It exists because a line came through. When the Santa Fe pushed track across this part of Brown County in the middle eighteen eighties, a depot went up, and a general store…
So think about how much a five-letter town name can hold out here. Bangs starts as ink, the name of Samuel Bangs, the first man to run a printing press on Texas soil, who earned his land grant for that service and then…
Nestled in the heart of central Texas, Lake Brownwood is a census-designated place in Brown County, known for its serene waters. The area is defined by its proximity to the western arm of Lake Brownwood, a reservoir…
You're driving past the Elkins Cemetery, a resting place for folks who shaped this part of Texas. It all started back in 1876, the same year Civil War veteran Silas H. Wood moved his family here. He donated land for a…
You're driving through the historic heart of Brown County, near where the community of Thrifty once thrived. It all started in 1857 when the U.S. Army established Camp Colorado nearby to defend the frontier. The Mullins…
The Blanket you see today exists because of a decision made in 1891. Before that, the town was a mile and a half away, a small community called 'Old Blanket' near the creek. But when the Fort Worth and Rio Grande…
Blanket got its name in 1852. Surveyors came over a rise and found a band of Tonkawa caught out in a downpour, blankets spread over the sumac bushes along the creek for shelter. The creek took the name, and then the…
U.S. Routes 67 and 377 pass along the southeastern edge of Blanket, providing key transportation links for the town. These routes lead southwest 14 miles to Brownwood, the county seat, and northeast 12 miles to…
You're driving through Zephyr, where the Presbyterian Church congregation got its start way back in 1890. They built this stone church in 1909, holding services twice a month and sponsoring community events. The church…
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Zephyr. Its organizational meeting was held in 1886, and the fellowship erected its first sanctuary in 1892. Members rebuilt their church home after a…
You're driving past Mullins Heritage Park, a place that's been a gathering spot for over a century. Back in 1894, Brown County commissioners needed a public road connecting Bangs and Cross Cut. The key crossing point on…
Zephyr, Texas got its name as a wry joke about a gentle breeze, and here's the thread that turns that joke grim. On the night of May thirtieth, nineteen oh nine, near midnight, a tornado dropped on Zephyr and very…
Welcome to Zephyr, Texas, a town that got its name as a joke about the weather. The story, and every good source hedges it with the word supposedly, goes like this. Around eighteen fifty, a party of land surveyors was…
You're passing through Zephyr, Texas, a town whose surveyors named a killing cold front a gentle breeze as a joke. Here's what actually rolled over them out here, because the meteorology is worth a minute. A blue…
Rolling through Zephyr, Texas, the name begs an obvious question, so let's follow the word itself all the way back to ancient Greece, because it reaches back a very long way. In Greek mythology, Zephyros was the god of…
Here in Zephyr, Texas, stay on the town's name for one more beat, because the word's trip into English is a small history lesson by itself. The Greek Zephyros became the Latin Zephyrus, and from there it drifted into…
You're rolling through Zephyr, Texas, a town a freezing survey crew named in sarcasm, and that name had a second life far from here worth the detour. In the nineteen thirties, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad…
So look at what one small, joking name manages to hold. Zephyr, Texas got its name, supposedly, from surveyors mocking a blue norther by calling it a gentle breeze, and pull on that thread and the whole thing unspools.…
Underneath the wind stories, Zephyr, Texas rests on a plain frontier economy, and it explains why the town sits exactly where it does. The Lazarus Vann family settled here in eighteen sixty-three, over on Blanket Creek…
You're driving through Zephyr, a town with a name that means a gentle breeze, but it was born from a fierce wind. In 1850, surveyors got trapped here by a sudden, powerful blue norther. They ironically named the spot…
You're driving through Zephyr, where this Gospel Tabernacle was built starting in 1898. Townspeople donated labor and materials to erect this open-air shelter, which was rebuilt after a devastating cyclone in 1909. Many…
You're driving through Brown County, near where William W. and Pency Heflin settled back in 1875. Local stories say the first soul laid to rest here was a child who died tragically in 1876, after eating wild berries…
You're driving past Eureka Cemetery, a resting place for some of the earliest settlers in the Blanket area. The oldest marked grave here belongs to Luperda Cox, who died in 1876. This cemetery also holds the remains of…
You're driving past Zephyr Cemetery, a final resting place for generations of this Brown County community. While it's served residents since the 1870s, its most dramatic chapter came in 1909. On May 29th of that year, a…
You're driving past Antioch Cemetery, serving this community since the late 1800s. Land was deeded here in 1880 for school and cemetery use, and the earliest marked graves date to 1881. Among those resting here are…
You're driving past Mud Creek Cemetery, a burial ground that's seen over a century of life and loss in the Thrifty and Fry communities. The first known burial here was little Martha Blackwell, who died in 1864, though…
You're driving through Blanket, Texas, the birthplace of Thomas Vernor Smith. Born in a two-room cabin in 1890, Smith didn't even have a high school diploma, but he talked his way into the University of Texas. He went…
You're driving through Blanket, Texas, a town with a name that comes straight from the wilderness. Back in 1852, surveyors were working in this area when they stumbled upon a group of Tonkawa Indians. Caught in a sudden…
You're driving through Blanket, a town with a name that comes from a rainy day in 1852. Local legend says surveyors named Blanket Creek after finding Tonkawa Indians drying their wet blankets on bushes. Later, in 1873,…
You're driving past Windham Cemetery. Named for early settler and cattle rancher S. R. Windham, this cemetery dates to 1879. The earliest documented grave is that of J.
You're driving along a route that was vital to Texas's frontier defense in the 1850s. This was the Old Military Road, connecting a chain of U.S. forts from Belknap on the Brazos River all the way down to Fort Clark near…
You're driving past Fairview Cemetery, serving rural Brown County for over a century. James Jackson Martin and Daniel Hulse donated land for this burial ground before 1878. The first person interred here was Mrs. M. C.…
You're driving past where Trickham used to be, the oldest town in Coleman County. It started around 1855 as a cowboy trading post, serving cattle barons like John Chisum. From the 1860s to the 1890s, this was a wild…
You're driving through Trickham, Coleman County. Look for the site of the W.P. Williams homestead. William and Elizabeth Williams arrived here from Mississippi during the Civil War, part of a wagon train. Their land…
You're driving past the Buffalo-Ebony Cemetery near Goldthwaite. Oral tradition says this place started when two sheep herders died and were buried here. The oldest marked grave belongs to William R. Yankee, dating back…
You're driving past the Trickham Cemetery, established in the 1870s. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2004.
You're driving past Lost Creek Cemetery, but its story started a bit rocky... literally. The original Hog Creek Cemetery, established in the 1870s, was moved after only two burials because the soil was too tough. The…
You're driving past May United Methodist Church. Methodists in this area were initially served by circuit-riding preachers. First to come to the region in the 1860s was the Rev. Hugh M. Childress, and worship services…
You're driving near Goldthwaite, and you're passing the site of the Regency Suspension Bridge. Built in 1903, this was the first bridge across the Colorado River in this area, serving local ranchers and farmers. But…
You're driving past the Santa Anna Cemetery, a resting place with roots stretching back even before the Santa Fe Railroad arrived in 1886. Oral history tells us W.C. Brooks was the first to be buried here, though his…
You're driving past Santa Anna, where John Banister spent much of his life. He arrived in Texas way back in 1867, learning the cowboy trade and driving cattle north. But Banister wasn't just a rancher; he served as a…
You're driving past the Santa Anna area, home of Emma Daugherty Banister. Born in 1871, she was just 14 when she left home to become a teacher. In 1894, she married John R. Banister, a lawman who would later become…
The ground beneath Santa Anna held a remarkable scientific and industrial treasure. It wasn't oil or gold, but sand — Cretaceous sand, laid down more than a hundred million years ago and left in the peaks just north of…
That prominent hill on the horizon, Santa Anna Mountain, is the town’s namesake and its oldest story. Long before the town existed, this was Comanche territory, and the mountain was named for a respected 19th-century…
Santa Anna's history is deeply rooted in its geographical features and the early settlers. The town was named after the Comanche war chief Santanna, or Santa Anna, and the twin mesas in central Coleman County, known as…
You can't tell the story of Santa Anna without the railroad, but the town was here first. Duke Jackson drove cattle in and built the first cabin at this spot in 1860, and the place was called Gap, for the pass through…
You're driving through May, a town with roots stretching back to a Mexican land grant in 1827. It really started growing in the 1870s, with pioneer families arriving and quickly setting up churches and the first school,…
You're driving through western Mills County, an area settled by pioneers drawn to its fertile land and water. Communities like Regency, Ebony, and Ridge sprang up, with schools and churches. But during World War II, the…
You're driving past the site of the First Christian Church of Santa Anna. Founded in 1894, the congregation built this frame church, dedicated in April 1901. It still features its original beaded ceiling and…
Here is the twist a lot of folks miss. This town of Santa Anna, out in Coleman County, was not named for Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the Mexican general who stormed the Alamo and lost at San Jacinto back in eighteen…
The Comanche chief this town is ultimately named for lived a life that took a remarkable turn. Santa Anna was a Penateka Comanche leader in the eighteen forties, and folks who met him described him as a large,…
You're driving through North Texas, maybe near Santa Anna, where a legend was born. Bobby Layne, born in 1926, became a football icon. He led the University of Texas Longhorns to a Cotton Bowl victory in 1946,…
To understand the Comanche chief who gave this town its name, you have to know about a bloody day in San Antonio. On the nineteenth of March, eighteen forty, a group of Penateka Comanche chiefs came into San Antonio…
Those twin peaks just north of town are more than a pretty skyline. They are the whole reason this place has its name, and how they formed is a neat little lesson in geology. They are what geologists call mesas, from…
Here is a fun one for the road. The name Santa Anna belonged to two very different men who lived at almost the same time, and Texas remembers them in opposite ways. First there is Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the…
For a small town, Santa Anna produced one giant of American football. Bobby Layne was born right here on the nineteenth of December, nineteen twenty-six. He grew up to become one of the toughest, most fearless…
Before this place was ever called Santa Anna, people just called it Gap. Simple as that. If you look north of town, you will see why. Two flat-topped peaks rise up, and between them the land opens into a natural pass, a…
You're driving through Santa Anna, Texas, the hometown of Dean Beard, a rockabilly pioneer sometimes called the 'West Texas Wild Man.' He was known for his frantic piano playing and stage presence. In 1955, Beard shared…
You're driving through Coleman County, and right here is Santa Anna. This town owes its name to twin mountains just north of here, named for a Comanche chief. These peaks were a vital landmark for early surveyors and…
You're driving through northwestern Colorado County, right near the Fayette line, on what used to be a vital Spanish road. Back in 1824, Joseph Duty and Jesse Burnam, two of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists,…
You're driving past the town of Santa Anna, named for a Comanche chief who was friendly to Texans back in the 1840s. This mountain and the surrounding area were important for centuries. Comanches used Santa Anna peaks…
You're driving past the site of the Jackson Massacre. In October of 1858, settlers Moses and Lydia Jackson, with four of their children, were attacked by a party of Native Americans. The parents and two children were…
You're driving past Democrat Cemetery, established right around the turn of the 20th century. The first documented burial here was little Lee Ella Deen in 1904. Just a year later, in 1905, three acres were deeded to…
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