Brachfield (formerly Murval and Needmore) is a community in the Rusk County of Texas in the United States. According to the

Handbook of Texas The ''Handbook of Texas'' is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). History The original ''Handbook'' was the brainchild of TSHA President Wal ...

, the community had a population of 40 in 2000. It is located within the

Longview, Texas metropolitan area The Longview metropolitan statistical area is a metropolitan area in Northeast Texas that covers three counties— Gregg, Rusk, and Upshur. As of the 2010 census the MSA had a population of 280,000 (though a July 1, 2019 estimate placed the pop ...

History

The town was named after its creek, Murval Creek in the 1860s, it was nearby

Gibson Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gi ...

, which was also named after Murval Creek, and they both shared a post office in 1853, with Archibald H. Watkins as postmaster. Families surnamed Watkins, Miller, Brown, Welch, Hannah, and Debard were early settlers here. Trammel's Trace traveled through the community and may have been the source of settlement for the community. It was referred to as Needmore by its local county newspaper from 1892 to 1905 (because it seemingly "needed more" of everything), but to prevent confusion with

Needmore, Terry County, Texas Needmore is a small unincorporated community in north central Terry County, Texas, United States. History Early settlers of the region included the Beasley, Green, Brock, and Gibson families. A school was established around 1904 and eventually f ...

, it was renamed again after the residents had stuck with the name. A passing hotel and store were built for people coming from the booming Welch Springs by Nathaniel Johnston, who took over as postmaster in 1896. The town is currently named Brachfield because in 1900 Charles L. Brachfield visited the town and stood in one of its fields to make a speech, a new post office was also named after him but closed in 1906. The locals call speeches like this 'stump speeches' because of the cleared field Brachfield spoke in. Population figures before the 1950s aren't available, but in the 1950s and '60s, the community population peaked at 80, but fell in the '70s and '80s and had 30 people in 1990, then rose again by 10 in the '90s to be 40 in 2000.

Geography

Brachfield is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Roads 1798 and 840, southeast of

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, north of Mount Enterprise, southwest of Pine Hill, southwest of Carthage, and north of Nacogdoches in far-eastern Rusk County.

Education

Today, the community is served by the

Henderson Independent School District Henderson Independent School District is a public school district based in Henderson, Texas ( USA). HISD is the largest school district in Rusk County. Current enrollment is 3,365 students and the district employees just over 600 teachers, administ ...

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Rusk County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas Longview metropolitan area, Texas