DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna tell it to you. Monroe Brown Sawyer and his wife Rebecca — born a Skeen — built their home out here in Terry County in 1902, and friend, that was no small thing. This was one of the earliest homes in the entire county.
Brownfield didn't even exist yet. Think about that for a moment. The town that would one day be the county seat hadn't been born, and Monroe Sawyer was already out here putting down roots.
Now, when you're building a house where there's essentially nothing around you for miles, you haul your own lumber. And that's exactly what they did — every stick of building material for those original five rooms came in by wagon, all the way from Colorado City and Big Spring. Wagon.
Through open country. Five rooms' worth. Before Monroe ever broke ground on that house, though, he'd already lived a life worth remembering.
Back in 1881 and 1882, M. B. Sawyer rode as a Texas Ranger — Company C, Frontier Battalion.
A man who'd patrolled the frontier for the state of Texas, who knew this land the hard way. Then in 1901, he bought twenty-one sections of it for himself. And he didn't stop there.
He worked and expanded until that twenty-one sections grew into a thirty-three section ranch. The house has been remodeled extensively over the years, as houses do when they're actually lived in and loved. But it's still standing.
The home Monroe Brown Sawyer built before there was even a town nearby — that's the kind of thing that deserves to be remembered.
What the marker says
Home of Monroe Brown Sawyer and wife Rebecca (Skeen); built 1902. One of earliest homes in Terry County, it predated town of Brownfield. Building material for original five rooms was hauled from Colorado City and Big Spring by wagon. House has been remodeled extensively. In 1881 and 1882 M. B. Sawyer was a Texas Ranger, Company C, Frontier Battalion. He expanded 21 sections of land, bought in 1901, into a 33-section ranch. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1970.