Browning is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
in
Smith County, located in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
.
History
Browning is on
Farm Road 2767 (known locally as Old Kilgore Highway) and the eastern edge of the Chapel Hill oilfield nine miles southeast of
Winona Winona, Wynona or Wynonna may refer to:
Places Canada
* Winona, Ontario
United States
* Winona, Arizona
* Winona, Indiana
* Winona Lake, Indiana
* Winona, Kansas
* Winona, Michigan
* Winona County, Minnesota
** Winona, Minnesota, the seat of Wi ...
. The town was named for Isaiah Nicholas Browning (1827–1915), who, with is wife, Mary Ann Morrison ''(maiden;'' 1830–1904), was, beginning around 1850, among its earliest settlers. In the early 1870s, the Brownings built the first large house there, which, in 1990, was still standing. The first post office in Browning opened in 1879. William A. Owens was its first postmaster. Isaiah Browning, in 1884, owned a gin and gristmill; and, in partnership with Bradshaw, owned the general store.
In 1898 the post office moved to
Starrville, but moved back to Browning in 1899, then in 1902, back to Starrville. During the 1890s the population plateaued at around fifty, and included a sawmill, a church, a district school, and a saloon. In 1903, Browning had two one-teacher schools, one with fifty-one white students and the other with forty-seven black students. By 1933 the town reported a population of twenty-five and one business. Records for 1936 show no school at the community, and by 1952 local students attended classes in the Holts Independent School District.
Notes
Smith County, Texas
Unincorporated communities in Smith County, Texas
Unincorporated communities in Texas
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