Bremond

The plaque names William Baker's investors; one of them, the Houston merchant William Marsh Rice, surveyed and subdivided the tract in 1869. Rice's first wife, Margaret, was Paul Bremond's daughter. The start was quick: six hotels and more than 1,000 people by 1871, and a school under G. W. Holland from September 1870. It did not last. The Handbook counts 800 people in 1885 and 387 in 1890, then a recovery to 650 by 1900 and just over 1,200 in the 1920s and 1930s, when about fifty businesses operated. The weekly Bremond Press began in 1922.

What the plaque says

Bremond Part of the 1841 Mary Peterson grant, the land on this site was sold to William Baker and a group of investors in 1869. The investors immediately granted right-of-way to the Houston and Texas Central Railway. The first train pulled into Bremond, named for railroad executive Paul Bremond, in 1870. It was met by a crowd of more than 1,000. The town was incorporated and a post office opened that year with Sam Morehead as postmaster. By 1871 Bremond had several merchants, churches, three doctors, a law firm, a school and a newspaper called The Central Texan. Joseph Bartula and his family were among the first of many Polish immigrants to arrive in the 1870s. The town continued to grow throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1999, Bremond had an estimated population of 1,300. (2000)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Calvert — 13 mi
  A railroad cotton town of 1868 on State Highway 6 that claimed the largest cotton gin in the world and elected Black men to county and state office during Reconstruction.
• Milam County Courthouse and Jail — 28 mi
  Cameron's 1892 Renaissance Revival courthouse and the 1895 St. Louis-built jail beside it, now the county museum, are listed together on the National Register.

More markers nearby

• Paul Bremond — steps away
• Joseph and Catherine Bartula — 0.5 mi
• Wootan Wells — 3.3 mi
• Site of Extinct Town of Hammond — 5.4 mi