Coggin and Parks Building

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Coggin and Parks Building in Brown County. Now settle in, because Brownwood's got some stories, and this one starts with brothers. Samuel R.

Coggin, born in 1831, and Moses J. Coggin, goes by Mody, born in 1824. Ranchers.

Business leaders. Philanthropists. The kind of men a town gets built around, if a town is lucky.

And Brownwood was lucky. They partnered up with a businessman named William Claibourne Parks, Clay to his friends, and together, these three put up a two-story commercial building. Completed in 1876.

Two stories. In 1876. You stop and think about what that took, and you start to appreciate the ambition.

Now this building, it didn't sit idle. It housed a grocery. A hardware store.

A business college. A restaurant. That's not a building, that's practically a town unto itself.

And it was originally part of something even larger. Because of where it sat, right there in a primary location, the Coggin-Parks building worked its way into the early history of Brownwood in a way that was hard to ignore. The exterior was later altered substantially, so what you see today isn't exactly what Clay Parks and the Coggin brothers finished in that year of 1876.

Samuel lived until 1915. Mody until 1902. Clay Parks until 1916.

Three men, one building, and a town that grew up around it. That's Brownwood. That's the story the marker tells.

What the marker says

Brothers Samuel R. Coggin (1831-1915) and Moses J. "Mody" Coggin (1824-1902), prominent area ranchers, business leaders, and philanthropists, in partnership with businessman William Claibourne "Clay" Parks (1883-1916) completed this two-story commercial building in 1876. Originally part of a larger structure, it housed a variety of businesses, including a grocery, hardware store, business college, and restaurant. Because of the primary location, the Coggin-Parks building figured prominently in the early history of Brownwood. The exterior of the structure was later altered substantially. (1981)