Walter U. Early

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some towns get their names from rivers, or from some long-forgotten surveyor's whim. But the town of Early, Texas, got its name from a man who earned it.

And that's a different kind of story altogether. Walter Urie Early was born in Kentucky in 1868, and by 1893 he had made his way to Brownwood. He came as an attorney, and Brownwood, it turns out, was a place that needed one.

By 1895 the city had elected him city attorney. That was just the beginning. He served as county attorney from 1900 to 1906, then stepped right into the district attorney's chair and held it from 1906 all the way to 1930.

Twenty-four years as district attorney. Let that settle in for a moment. While the rest of the world was spinning through two decades of change, Walter Early was the law in that corner of Texas.

And he wasn't just a courthouse man. He was a leader in civic groups, a presence in the community, the kind of person a town leans on without quite realizing it's doing so. Then in 1929, he did something that would outlast him in ways he may not have fully anticipated.

He donated land east of Brownwood to the Jones Chapel Rural School District. A school was built on that land, and in 1930 that school was named Early. After the man.

After the attorney. After the fellow who gave the ground it stood on. Then in 1951, the citizens of that community voted to incorporate, and when they did, they kept the name.

Early, Texas. Walter Early died in 1939 and was laid to rest in Brownwood's Greenleaf Cemetery. He didn't live to see the incorporation, didn't see the town take his name official.

But the school already carried it, and the community already knew it, and some legacies don't wait on paperwork to become real.

What the marker says

A native of Kentucky, Walter Urie Early (1868-1939) moved to Brownwood in 1893. He became a respected local attorney and in 1895 was elected city attorney. He was county attorney from 1900 to 1906, and served as district attorney from 1906 to 1930. A leader in numerous civic groups, he donated land east of Brownwood to the Jones Chapel Rural School District in 1929. The school built there was named Early in 1930, as was the community when the citizens voted to incorporate in 1951. Walter Early died in 1939 and was buried in Brownwood's Greenleaf Cemetery. (1994)