City of Brownwood

Duane's take

Well, here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the City of Brownwood, and friend, this one's got layers. Now the town you're rolling through didn't always sit where it sits. Brownwood has had three addresses, so to speak.

The first site was a mile to the east. The second, five miles to the southeast. And then, finally, this one.

Some towns know right away where they want to be. Brownwood took its time. It got settled in 1857, picked up a post office in 1858, and things were moving along just fine.

Then along comes one of history's better ironies. The man who donated the land for the townsite, a fellow named Greenleaf Fisk, had himself a water well on the property. And in the 1860s, that well got ruined.

Not by a flood, not by a drought. By oil. An oil vein came up where the water was supposed to be.

Now, Greenleaf Fisk did not find that funny. History does not record his exact words, but I imagine they were colorful. Fast forward to 1878.

A wagon-yard keeper by the name of Martin Meinsinger had a well of his own, and he was selling the oil out of it, calling it medicinal. Whether it cured what ailed you is between Martin and his customers. But the point is, the oil was there, it had been there, and by 1889 commercial drilling had begun in earnest.

Meanwhile, Brownwood wasn't sitting on its hands waiting for petroleum. By the 1880s it was already a farming, cotton-selling, business town. The Santa Fe Railroad reached it in 1885.

The Frisco line came through in 1890. And in 1889, two colleges opened up here, Daniel Baker and Howard Payne, both of them arriving in the same year, like the town had made up its mind to be serious about things. Then came 1940, and the whole character of the place shifted again.

Camp Bowie, a World War II military post, set up operations in Brownwood and ran all the way through 1946. Six years of soldiers, of movement, of a town folded into something much larger than itself. After all that, Brownwood settled into what it is.

A center for agriculture, retail sales, and industry. A coliseum. Parks.

And a hundred and ten miles of lake shore. Three locations, an oil vein where the water should've been, a medicine man at a wagon yard, two railroads, two colleges, and a World War II military post. That's not a town finding itself.

That's a town that kept going until it got it right.

What the marker 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)