Editing Brown County, Texas (section)

==History==
[[Indigenous peoples]] lived here for thousands of years before Europeans entered the area. The historic inhabitants were the [[Comanche|Penteka]] (also known to the Europeans as Comanche), who occupied this area at the time of European colonization.<ref name="Brown County, Texas">{{cite web|last=Leffler|first=John|title=Brown County, Texas|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcb17|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Society|access-date=November 30, 2010}}</ref>
In 1721, the [[Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo]] expedition is said to have passed through the county.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chipman|first=Donald E|title=Notable Men and Women of Spanish Texas|year=1999|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-71218-8|pages=83–102|author2=Joseph, Harriet Denise}}</ref> <!-- Add Spanish rule for more than a century, Catholic Church, and Mexican independence in 1821 -->

In 1838, land surveys were made of the area.<ref name="Brown County, Texas"/> In 1856, Welcome W. Chandler from [[Mississippi]] became the first settler, arriving with his family, John H. Fowler, and seven slaves. They built a [[log cabin]] on [[Pecan Bayou (Colorado River tributary)|Pecan Bayou]]. The county was formed from [[Comanche County, Texas|Comanche]] and [[Travis County, Texas|Travis]] Counties. It is named after Henry Stevenson Brown, an American pioneer from [[Kentucky]].<ref name="Brown County, Texas"/><ref name="Along the Texas Forts Trail ">{{cite book|last=Aston|first=B W|title=Along the Texas Forts Trail |year=1997|publisher=University of North Texas Press|isbn=978-1-57441-035-8|author2=Taylor, Ira Donathon|page=120}}</ref> In 1858, the county was formally organized.<ref name="Along the Texas Forts Trail "/>  [[Brownwood, Texas|Brownwood]] was designated as the county seat.<ref>{{cite web|title=Brownwood, Texas|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Brownwood/Brownwood_Texas.htm|work=Texas Escapes|publisher=Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC.|access-date=November 30, 2010}}</ref>

In 1874, [[John Wesley Hardin]] and gang celebrated his 21st birthday in Brown and Comanche Counties. Deputy Charles Webb drew his gun, provoking a gunfight that ended Webb's life. A lynch mob was formed, but Hardin and his family were put into protective custody. The mob broke into the jail and hanged his brother Joe and two cousins. Hardin fled.<ref>{{cite book|last=Metz|first=Leon Claire|title=John Wesley Hardin: Dark Angel of Texas |year=1998|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-2995-2|pages=133–138|chapter=Charlie Webb Goes Down}}</ref>
The Fort Worth-Brownwood stage was robbed five times in two months of 1875.<ref name="Brown County, Texas"/>
Oil was discovered on the H. M. Barnes farm near Grosvenor in 1879.<ref name="Brown County, Texas"/>
[[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Rangers]] killed two fence cutters in 1886, in the ongoing battle between farmers and ranchers over fencing [[open range]].<ref name="Brown County, Texas"/> By the next year, cotton had become the county's most important crop.<ref name="Brown County, Texas"/> [[Pulitzer Prize|Pulitzer-Prize]] winner [[Katherine Ann Porter]] was born in 1890 at [[Indian Creek, Texas|Indian Creek]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Indian Creek, Texas|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasTowns/Indian-Creek-Texas.htm|work=Texas Escapes|publisher=Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC|access-date=November 30, 2010}}</ref>
The [[Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway]] was built to the county in 1892.<ref name="Brown County, Texas"/><ref>{{cite web|last=Duncan|first=Patrick L|title=Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eqf07|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=November 30, 2010}}</ref> The [[Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway]] was built into Brownwood in 1895.<ref name="Brown County, Texas"/> In 1903, the GC&SF extended the line to [[Menard, Texas|Menard]].

Also in 1903, the county voted itself a dry county. Alcohol did not become legal again until the 1950s.<ref name="Brown County, Texas"/>

In 1909, the [[boll weevil]] moved into the county, destroying the cotton economy.<ref name="Brown County, Texas"/>  The first commercial production of oil came from the efforts of Jack Pippen at Brownwood in 1917.<ref name="Brown County, Texas"/> The first large field began producing from a depth of {{convert|1100|ft|m}} in 1919 near Cross Cut.<ref name="Brown County, Texas"/> In 1926, an oil boom followed the success of the White well on Jim Ned Creek; some 600 wells were drilled in several fields in the county during this time.<ref name="Brown County, Texas"/> By 1991, more than {{convert|50561000|oilbbl}} of oil had been taken from Brown County lands since 1917.<ref name="Brown County, Texas"/>

In 1940, work began on [[Camp Bowie]].<ref>{{cite web|last=White|first=Lonnie J|title=Camp Bowie|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qcc03|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=November 30, 2010}}</ref>  The first [[Nazi Germany#World War II|German]] [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] arrived in 1943; many had been members of [[Erwin Rommel]]'s [[Afrika Korps]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Hurt, PhD|first=R Douglas|title=The Great Plains during World War II |year=2008|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|isbn=978-0-8032-2409-4|pages=312–347}}</ref>

In 1889, [[Howard Payne University|Howard Payne College]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Lively|first=Jeannie F|title=Howard Payne University|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kbh11|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=November 30, 2010}}</ref> and [[Daniel Baker College]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Temple|first=Louann Atkins|title=Daniel Baker College|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kbd06|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=November 30, 2010}}</ref> were established in Brownwood.
They combined under the name Howard Payne College in 1953.<ref name="Brown County, Texas"/>