Thrifty

The Handbook of Texas dates the Mullins family's start here to 1858, when Isaac Mullins's sons set up the headquarters of the I C Ranch on the north side of Jim Ned Creek, seven miles east of Camp Colorado. The Allen family arrived in 1875. A school opened in 1876. Besides the store, the Mullins-Allen partnership ran a freight line and a cotton gin, and a flour mill went up in 1880 when news came of the Santa Fe's planned extension to Brownwood. Thrifty had about 100 people in 1892, sixty in 1915 and fifty-four in 1936.

What the plaque says

Once a thriving agricultural area and regional trade center, the community of Thrifty was established after the U. S. Army relocated Camp Colorado, a frontier defense post, along nearby Jim Ned Creek in 1857. The first family to settle permanently in the area was that of Charles Mullins, whose three sons and one daughter and their families established ranches and homes in the Jim Ned Creek valley. Once federal troops were withdrawn from the area after Texas voters elected to secede from the Union in February 1861, settlers were on their own to provide for their defense, encountering many of the dangers of frontier life. Thrifty saw its greatest development in the period following the Civil War and Reconstruction, when a post office was established (first under the name Jim Ned, later named Thrifty). John Charles Mullins donated four acres of land for school and church purposes in 1881. At one time, Thrifty had a hotel, saloon, sawmill, sorghum press, cotton gin, blacksmith shop and physicians' offices. The mercantile store, operated by Dr. G. W. Allen and John Charles Mullins, served as a regional trading center for farmers and ranchers in the area. In 1886, the railroad bypassed Thrifty, and its life as a vital trade center diminished. This event, coupled with a severe drought between 1885 and 1888, triggered an exodus from the community, as residents sought viable employment elsewhere. The story of Thrifty remains as a lesson in the development of the Texas frontier and a part of Brown County's history. (2001)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake Brownwood State Park — 6.7 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

• Mud Creek Cemetery — 3.6 mi
• Bangs Public Schools — 6.4 mi
• First Baptist Church of Bangs — 6.8 mi
• Welcome William Chandler — 11 mi