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 Texas : Towns A-Z / Texas Panhandle : Brownwood

BROWNWOOD, TEXAS

Brown County Seat, Texas Panhandle
At the juncture of Hwys 84 and 377
Just W of Hwy 183
82 miles SE of Abilene via Hwy 84
131 miles SW of Fort Worth via Hwy 377

Population: 18,813 (2000)

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Brownwood Jail Museum, Brownwood, Texas
Brownwood Jail Museum
Photo courtesy Shannan Yarbrough, 2005

History in a Pecan Shell

Present day Early was the original site of Brownwood. The county was organized and Brownwood made the county seat in 1857. Growth was slow until the 1880s and the dawn of the 20th century saw 4,000 residents in Brownwood. The courthouse burned in 1880, the first railroad came through in 1885. The second came through in 1891. Howard Payne College opened in 1889, the same year as Daniel Baker College that later became part of Howard Payne College in 1953.

1900 saw Brownwood as the biggest cotton center west of Fort Worth. An oil boom in the 20s didn't hurt the town, but it was nothing compared to the boom brought about by the building of Camp Bowie.

Camp Bowie, not to be confused with the WWI Camp Bowie near Fort Worth, was to become the largest training camp in Texas. The Brownwood population of 1940 (13,000) was more than matched just by the workers at the Camp. The severe housing shortage for military dependants and workers turned various buildings and even movie theaters into dormitories.

The Camp also served as a prisoner-of-war camp beginning in 1942, that held 3,000 German prisoners. Camp Bowie was deactivated in September of 1946. (See World War II)

The Brown County Courthouse

The Rufus F. Hardin High School and
the Rufus F. Hardin Elementary School
>
Founder George Smith, Educator Rufus F. Hardin and the building. Photos courtesy Jason Grant
Brownwood Vintage Photos

Brownwood Attractions

  • Brown County Museum of History
    Located in the old jail in the 200 block of Broadway
    Open Thursday & Friday 9 to 5, Saturday 10 to 4.
  • Camp Bowie Memorial Park - Burnett Drive and Travis Road
  • Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom - Affiliated with Howard Payne University, The museum contains MacArthur memorabilia and a larger-than-life statue of MacArthur by sculptor Waldine Tauch. Austin Avenue and Coggin - 325-646-2502
  • Indian Creek Cemetery near Brownwood -
    "Sometimes called Texas’ greatest woman writer, [Katherine Anne] Porter died September 18, 1980, in a nursing home at College Park, Maryland, after a series of strokes. She was buried beside her mother’s grave in the Indian Creek Cemetery near Brownwood."
    See Katherine Anne Porter by Bob Bowman
  • Lake Brownwood
  • Lake Brownwood State Park

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    Brownwood Tourist Information

    Brownwood Chamber of Commerce:
    In the recently restored railroad depot.
    600A Depot Street - 325-646-9535
    Website: www.brownwoodchamber.org
  • Brownwood Chronicles
    The Fence Cutter War
    (From "Owen Wister" by Mike Cox)
    "Less than a decade before, Brownwood had been the epicenter of what came to be known as the Fence Cutter War, a bloody feud between those opposed to the end of the old free range days and those who enclosed their acreage with barbed wire.

    The worst of the violence occurred in the mid to late 1880s, but as recently as three years prior to his arrival, Wister wrote, “this part of the country was in a high state of disorder…In 18 months there were 34 murders.”

    Those suspected of fence cutting and or cattle rustling often received a letter giving them 10 days to vacate the area, he noted.

    “The results that followed upon neglecting the hint were so uniform that a man upon being given 10 days…was heard to exclaim, ‘I’ll let ‘em have nine days back.’”

    Some of those involving in issuing the warnings, Wister hinted darkly, later purchased land vacated by those who heeded the dreaded notification."

    Eyewitness by Maggie Van Ostrand
    J.W. Epperson, a carpenter by trade, lived at 1601 First Street in Brownwood Texas, though he wasn't always a carpenter and he didn't always live in Brownwood. He was once a newsboy and lived in Washington DC. This does not sound all that memorable except for one fact: He was selling newspapers at Ford's Theatre on the night of April 14, 1865... more

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    Limited Coffee ghost sign in Brownwood Texas
    Photo courtesy Donna Chevalier, June 2007
    Ghost sign in Brownwood Texas
    Ghost signs in Brownwood
    Photo courtesy Donna Chevalier, June 2007
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