City of Brownwood

In 1872 Brownwood was two stores, a log courthouse and five houses. Because it lay on a feeder line of the Western Trail, its stores and saloons served cowboys driving herds through town. By 1884, when it incorporated, it had two banks, nine general stores, five saloons, two hotels and steam cotton and grist mills. The town became a Farmers' Alliance center, with the West Texas District Alliance Cotton Yard and an alliance weekly, the Freemans Journal. After violent incidents the saloons were closed in 1903. By 1920 Brownwood was the largest cotton-buying center west of Fort Worth.

What the plaque says

(first site 1 mile E; second, 5 miles SE, present location) Settled 1857. Acquired a post office 1858. An oil vein ruined 1860s water well of townsite donor Greenleaf Fisk. Wagon-yard keeper Martin Meinsinger sold medicinal oil from 1878 well. Commercial drilling began 1889. Farming, cotton sales, business town since 1880s; was reached by Santa Fe Railroad, 1885; Frisco, 1890. Two colleges -- Daniel Baker and Howard Payne -- were situated here in 1889. Camp Bowie, World War II Military Post, operated in Brownwood from 1940 to 1946. Center for agriculture-retail sales-industry. Has a coliseum, parks, 110 miles of lake shore. (1968)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake Brownwood State Park — 9.2 mi
  A CCC park on a reservoir that filled in a single flood before its dam was done, with stone cabins, a hilltop dance pavilion and a grand staircase climbed by dancers arriving by boat.

More markers nearby

• Brown County — steps away
• Welcome William Chandler — 0.7 mi
• Camp Collier, C.S.A. — 0.7 mi
• Greenleaf Fisk — 0.8 mi