DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Brewster County — the biggest county by area in all of Texas. Let that sink in for a second.
The whole state, and this one county just stretches out like it owns the place. Well, it practically does. It was carved out of Presidio County, brought into being on February 2, 1887, and from the very start it had an appetite for land.
By 1897, the territories of Buchel and Foley counties had been added to Brewster, and that right there tells you something about the scale of ambition out in that part of West Texas. The county takes its name from Henry Percy Brewster — 1816 to 1884 — soldier, statesman, and a man the marker calls a hero of San Jacinto. That's the kind of name you put on something you want to last.
Now when Brewster County first stood up and needed a seat of government in 1887, the town that answered was called Murphyville. Murphyville. It had a certain frontier ring to it, sure, but by 1889 the name had been changed to Alpine, and Alpine it has been ever since.
So the county grew, it absorbed its neighbors, it kept the name of a San Jacinto hero, and it wound up the largest county in area in the state of Texas. Out here, they don't just go big — they go Brewster County big.
What the marker says
Brewster County formed from Presidio County. Created February 2, 1887. In 1897 the territory of Buchel and Foley counties was added to Brewster. Named for Henry Percy Brewster 1816-1884 soldier and statesman, a hero of San Jacinto. Murphyville county seat, 1887, name changed to Alpine, 1889. Largest county in area in the state.