Brewster County is acounty located in theU.S. state ofTexas. It is inWest Texas and itscounty seat (and only city) isAlpine.[1] It is one of the nine counties that comprise theTrans-Pecos region, and bordersMexico. Brewster County is the largest county by area in the state - at 6,192 square miles (16,040 km2) it is over three times the size of the state ofDelaware, and more than 500 square miles (1,300 km2) bigger thanConnecticut.[2]
Paleo-Indianhunter-gatherers existed in the region at least 9000 years ago.Mescalaro Apaches emerged later and conducted raids that discouraged settlers. Between 1779 and 1787,Col. Juan de Ugalde drove the Mescalaros back north across the Rio Grande and into theChisos Mountains. The three leading Mescalero chiefs, Patula Grande, Quemado, and Zapato Tuerto, agreed in March 1789 to submit to Spanish rule.[4]Comanche raiding parties continued through much of the 19th century.[5]
Northern Mexican military governor Lt. Col. Hugo Oconór led a 1772 expedition to locate sites for forts on theComanche Trail along the Rio Grande.[9][10]
In October 1851,Danish-born Col. Edvard Emil Langberg, Mexican commandant ofChihuahua, visited southern Brewster County.[11]
SurveyorWilliam H. Emory in 1852 sent M. T. W. Chandler to survey what is now the heart of Big Bend National Park. Chandler explored Santa Elena Canyon, the Chisos Mountains Mariscal Canyon, and Boquillas Canyon.[12]
An 1859 expedition of theU.S. Camel Corps under 2d Lt. Edward L. Hartz explored the Comanche Trail through Persimmon Gap and down Tornillo Creek to the Rio Grande. A year later, a second camel expedition under 2d Lt.William Echols also explored along the Rio Grande.[5]
Map of Presidio County, Texas and the counties of Brewster, Buchel, Foley, and Jeff Davis created from Presidio in 1887: Buchel and Foley were abolished and joined to Brewster in 1897.
Brewster County was marked off in 1887 fromPresidio County and named forHenry Percy Brewster. Murphyville, later renamed Alpine, was selected as county seat.[13]
In response to threats of ongoing Indian attacks,Camp Peña Colorado was established in 1879 a few miles south of the future site of Marathon.[14]
Word of mouth about the open rangeland in the area was spread by freighters John W Burgess and August Santleben, leading the way for settlers.[15]
Alfred S. Gage moved to the area in 1882 to help his brother's ranching operation, founding theA. S. Gage Ranch, one of the largest ranching operations in Texas, in 1883. In 1927, he built the Gage Hotel inMarathon.[17][18][19]
Joseph Daniel Jackson came to the area in 1882 as part of Company B of theTexas Rangers assigned to protect the railroad. By 1882, he had settled near Alpine and taken up ranching, branching out later to become a merchant and civic leader. Jackson is known locally as the father ofSul Ross University due to his efforts that helped lead to the establishment of the school.[23] Sul Ross University, named forTexas Governor Lawrence Sullivan Ross, was created by an act of the 35th Legislature in 1917 as a state normal college to train teachers.[24]
The population grew from 710 in 1890 to 5,220 in 1910 due for the most part to industries that relied on natural resources.[5]
From the turn of the 20th century throughWorld War II, the Terlingua Mining District, west of the Chisos Mountains, was a boom town due to the extraction ofcinnabar, a mercury ore. Silver and lead from mines on the Mexican side of the river in the Boquillas area were shipped north, as were candelilla wax produced at factories at Glenn Spring and Mariscal, and the guayule rubber from a factory in Marathon.[25]
Brewster County became targeted by incursions of bandits from Mexico, inspired at least in part byPancho Villa. In June 1915,Governor James E. Ferguson askedPresident Woodrow Wilson to station troops in the Big Bend. The request was denied byMaj. Gen. Frederick Funston, who believed such security was a state issue. Although a number of events took place to effect policy change, the tipping point was the May 5, 1916, raid at Glenn Spring. Only nine soldiers had been stationed in the area for protection against the bandits. Estimates vary as to the number of Mexican raiders who attacked the soldiers, from 60 to several hundred. The raid caused a larger military presence in the area. President Wilson mobilized theNational Guard to reinforce the Army, and by the end of 1916, an estimated 116,957 guardsmen were stationed along the border fromCalifornia to Texas. As the mines and wax factories played out afterWorld War I, raids from across the border abated.[26]
The geographic region known as theBig Bend is a loosely defined section of the Trans-Pecos, although generally agreed to comprise its more southern portions. Characterized by an extremely rugged, aridChihuahuan Desert landscape, the region takes its name from the sharp northeastward turn made by the Rio Grande nearby. Often noted for its stark beauty, the Big Bend was described by the historianWalter Prescott Webb as "the finest example of earth-wreckage in Texas".[27] It was for this reason that a national park was to be established in the region.
Big Bend National Park was established as a state park in 1933 by the state legislature, and expanded the same year byGovernor Miriam A. Ferguson. In 1935, theUnited States Congress passed legislation founding it as a national park. Big Bend opened to the public in 1944.[28] At just over 800,000 acres, it is the fourteenth largest national park in the United States and is larger than the state ofRhode Island.[29]
Terlingua produced 40% of the nation'squicksilver in 1920, but declining population has since qualified it as aghost town. In 1962,The Dallas Morning News columnistFrancis X. Tolbert published his ode to chiliBowl of Red and founded the Chili Appreciation Society. Fellow columnist Wick Fowler joined in the fun and became a charter member. The World Championship Chili Cookoff at Terlingua began as a tongue-in-cheek challenge between Fowler and humoristH. Allen Smith in 1967 and has become a November tradition, celebrated across the state and nation. On the first Saturday in November Terlingua now hosts two competing international chili championships: theTerlingua International Chili Championship, and theOriginal Terlingua International Chili Cookoff.[31]
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 6,192 square miles (16,040 km2), of which 6,184 square miles (16,020 km2) are land and 8.5 square miles (22 km2) (0.1%) are covered by water.[32] It is the largest county in Texas by area. The only substantial water is half the width of theRio Grande.
The county's area is larger than the combined area of Delaware and Rhode Island, and larger than area of the individual statesConnecticut,Delaware, andRhode Island.
TheRoadian Age of thePermian Period of geological time is named for rock strata in Road Canyon in the northern part of the county.[33]
TheWordian Age of the Permian Period is probably named for the Word Ranch in the Glass Mountains, also in the northern part.[34]
Map this section's coordinates usingOpenStreetMapDownload coordinates asKML
About 39.4% of Brewster County is classified as having a hotarid desert climate (KöppenBWh). The remainder has asemiarid steppe climate with 32.1% experiencing a cold steppe climate (KöppenBSk), while 28.5% is assigned as a hot steppe climate (KöppenBSh).[35] Temperatures are coolest and rainfall most abundant in the county's northern highlands and in the upper elevations of the Chisos Mountains in the south. In the southern lowlands along the Rio Grande, snowfall is uncommon, rainfall much reduced, and summer high temperatures can be extreme. Throughout the county, precipitation falls mostly from May through October with the remainder of the year predominantly dry.
Brewster County, Texas – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
Alpine is the headquarters of the Brewster County Sheriff's Office. The current elected Sheriff is Ronny Dodson. The County Sheriff's Office conducts patrols and criminal investigations across the county including the incorporated City of Alpine.
In 1985, there was a daily subscription of, in the county: 483 for theSan Angelo Standard Times, 1.1% of its total circulation; and 270 for theOdessa American, making up 0.7% of its total circulation.[56]
In 1985, KVLF-AM, in Alpine, was the only radio station licensed in Brewster County. An individual quoted in a Federal Communications Report stated that in daylight hours it was possible to get radio fromFort Stockton, Texas.[56]
Brewster County is Republican leaning in presidential elections and has generally remained so despite its high Hispanic population and relatively large state university, though not as strongly Republican as other rural counties in the Trans-Pecos region or West Texas. The last non-Republican candidate to win the county was Barack Obama in 2008. In recent years, Brewster County has shifted to the right, although at a slower rate than other West Texas counties, in 2024 giving Republicans their best results since 1984.
United States presidential election results for Brewster County, Texas[57]
^abcKohout, Martin Donell (June 12, 2010)."Brewster County, Texas".Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. RetrievedDecember 13, 2010.
^Folsom, Bradley (July 23, 2015)."La Junta de los Ríos".Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. RetrievedDecember 13, 2010.
^Kohout, Martin Donell (June 15, 2010)."Kokernot Spring".Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. RetrievedDecember 13, 2010.
^Chipman, Donald E (June 15, 2010)."Pedro de Rábago y Terán".Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. RetrievedDecember 13, 2010.
^Blake, Robert Bruce (June 15, 2010)."Hugo Oconór".Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. RetrievedDecember 13, 2010.
^Hewitt, Harry P (June 15, 2010)."Edvard Emil (Emilio) Langberg".Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. RetrievedDecember 13, 2010.
^Klepper, Dan (2009).100 Classic Hikes Texas: Panhandle Plains / Pineywoods / Gulf Coast / South Texas Plains / Hill Country / Big Bend Country / Prairies & Lakes. Mountaineers Books. pp. 170–172.ISBN978-1-59485-075-2.
^Kohout, Martin Donell (June 15, 2010)."Alfred Stevens Gage".Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. RetrievedDecember 13, 2010.
^Kohout, Martin Donell (June 9, 2010)."A. S. Gage Ranches".Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. RetrievedDecember 13, 2010.
^Ramos, Mary G; Reavis, Dick; Vandivier, Kevin (2004).Compass American Guides: Texas, 3rd Edition. Compass America Guides. p. 66.ISBN978-0-676-90502-1.
^Metz, Leon Claire (2002).The Encyclopedia of Lawmen, Outlaws, and Gunfighters. Facts on File. pp. 94–95.ISBN978-0-8160-4543-3.
^Kohout, Martin Donell (June 15, 2010)."Joseph Daniel Jackson".Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. RetrievedDecember 13, 2010.
^Peterson's (2008).Colleges in the South: Compare Colleges in Your Region. Peterson's. p. 194.ISBN978-0-7689-2695-8.
^abFederal Communications Commission Reports: Decisions, Reports, and Orders of the Federal Communications Commission of the United States.U.S. Government Printing Office. 1985. p. 182.
