Freestone County, Texas
Towns


Brewer/Brewer's Prairie

The area was first settled around the time of the Civil War. During the latter 
half of the nineteenth century a small community known as Brewer, grew up at 
the site.  In April 1886, a resident wrote that all they needed was a jeweler 
and shoemaker.  The resident went on to inventory all the businesses they had
such as a good dry goods and grocery store, a blacksmith and wood shop, and
a barber.  Later in 1886, a gin was to open.  The 1895 Rand McNally atlas 
shows Brewer with a post office and no express office or railroad.  Also, the 
same year, 1895, Brewer Baptist Church ministered by A. B. Tedder had 109 
members.  Eventually the railroad arrived in the area and the residents 
eventually moved creating a the new town of Teague in 1906.

Businesses:
Parker-Blackmon Hardware Co.

Church:
Church of Christ at Brewer Prairie
Brewer Baptist (started Oct 13, 1877) (A. F. Peary was pastor)

School:
Had 99 students in 1886.

Post Office:
Opened: 30 Jun 1880 as Brewer.  On April 20, 1906, the name of the post office
was officially changed to Teague.  

Known people of Brewer were:

Beaver, Henry F.
Bryant, Alman
Bryant, Mary
Bryant, Mrs. Sam 
Bryant, Samuel Jr.
Bryant, Samuel Sr.

Carley, Brother A. B. (preacher)
Carley, R. E.
Carroll, John H.
Carroll, J. R.
Clabough, Rev. John
Clark, George 

Deloach, F. W. 
Dies, Dr. (teaching school Nov 1886) (closed July 1887)

Evans, Mrs. J. B. (moved from Butler in 1887)

Gipson, Miss
Glanton, W. C. 
Goolsby, W. T.
Green, J. W.

Harris, Mrs. Betty
Harris, Shade
Headlee, E. J. "Rome"
Headlee, Dr. Emmet
Hunt, Mr.

Jones, Lewis

Lane, Walter

Measles, Mrs. Betty
Meek, Mrs. Marshall
Meek, Marshall
Meek, Mrs. Minnie

Nicholson, Mrs. J. P.

Owens, Frank
Owens, Mrs. Jimmie (school teacher 1886)
Owens, S. G.
Owens, W. T.

Peary, A. F. (pastor)
Peevy, D. D.
Peevy, Mrs. D. D.

Sawyer, J. D. (grocery & dry goods store)
Senter, Mrs. Will 
Senter, Will 
Senter, Clifton (s/o Mrs. Will)
Steagall, Leo
Strother, Mrs.
Strother, Gilley
Stuart, Jack

Taylor, Mrs. T. J.
Tedder, A. B. (pastor)
Thomas, Dr. J. E.
Thomas, Theodore
Thomas, T. S.

Vernon, Prof.

Williamson, A. L.
Williamson, Carrol
Williamson, Green
Williamson, George
Williamson, W. C.
Williamson, W. D.
Wills, Emily

Yerby, John William  
Yerby, Lucy
Yerby, Thomas



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Teague, Texas

Population 3,355 

Teague is at the junction of U.S. Highway 84, State Highway 179, and Farm roads 
80 and 145, nine miles southwest of Fairfield in western Freestone County. 
When the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway was built through the county in 1906, 
it located its machine and car shops at the site. The town, renamed Teague after 
Betty Teague, niece of railroad magnate Benjamin Franklin Yoakum, was 
incorporated in 1906. In 1910, Teague had a population of 1,288.  The community
served as a shipping center for area cotton farmers and grew rapidly. By 1914 
it had Baptist, Catholic, Disciples of Christ, Methodist, Episcopal, Methodist 
Episcopal, and Presbyterian churches, as well as public schools, waterworks, an 
electric light plant, an ice plant, three banks, two cotton gins, a cottonseed 
oil mill, a cotton compress, the Teague Daily News, two weekly newspapers, and 
a population of 3,300. Teague continued to prosper during the 1920s. 

The onset of the Great Depression and plummeting cotton prices, however, began 
a slow decline that continued until the 1980s. The number of businesses dropped 
from 140 in 1931 to 100 in 1936. After World War II many other stores and 
businesses closed, and by the early 1980s only forty-six rated businesses 
remained. The town also witnessed a decline in population during the same period; 
it reached a low of some 2,800 in 1975. After the mid-1980s, however, the 
population grew steadily, and in 1990 Teague had 3,268 residents. The area has 
large coal, lignite, sand, and clay deposits. In recent years natural gas 
production has become an important industry.

SOURCES: Teague Family Center website. 

Railroads:
Trinity and Brazos Valley Railroad (later became Burlington-Rock Island, Fort 
    Worth & Denver railroads)

Post Office:
Opened: 30 Jun 1880 as Brewer.  On April 20, 1906, the name of the post office
was officially changed.  Still Active.  The original post office faced North 4th
Avenue directly to the rear of King Bros. Store which was on the corner of 
Cedar Street and North 4th Avenue.

Banks:
Teague National Bank (a.k.a. First National Bank)

Known people of Teague were:
Boyd, William Rufus Jr.
Compton, Mrs. D. K.
Compton, L. B.
Edwards, Lee C.
Hogan, Mr.
Parker, J. E.
Plummer, Jack
Rhodes, Mary Frances Busby
Sneed, Dr. Jim
Wood, Forrest Edwards Sr. (car dealer)