Visitors Guide 2015
Brownwood Bulletin
bank was opened and a schoolhouse was built that also served as a town hall and a church. Because Brownwood lay on a feeder line of the Western Trail, stores and saloons served the needs of the cowboys who drove the herds through town. A cotton gin was built in town in 1877 as the State of Texas began to offer the land BULLETIN FILE PHOTO to farmers. Brownwood has a rich sports tradition. The courthouse burned in 1880, and a new one was completed in 1884. That same year, Brownwood became incorporated. At the time, the town had two banks, nine general stores, five saloons, two hotels, and steam cotton and gristmills. The following year the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad was built through Brownwood, and in 1886 the town built its first waterworks. A second railroad, the Fort Worth and Rio Grande, built through Brownwood in 1891. Significant developments in education occurred during these years. Several local schools were consolidated to form the Brownwood Independent School District in 1883. In 1889 two colleges opened their doors in Brownwood Ñ Daniel Baker College, founded by the Presbyterians, and Howard Payne College, a Baptist institution. Daniel Baker closed, and its campus became part of Howard Payne College in 1953. By 1900, the city was dominated by the cotton industry. It supported the West Texas Compress Company, the Brownwood Cotton Oil Mill, and 16 cotton gins. Severe flooding that year covered parts of the town with up to 10 feet of water. Prohibition became popular in the town in the 1890s, and in 1903, after a series of violent incidents, the townÕ s saloons were closed. Equally rowdy-drinking clubs sprang up in response to the saloon closings, and a stretch of
Page 19