Brushy Creek 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 Anderson 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 sove ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 50 in 2000. It is located within the Palestine, Texas micropolitan area.

History

The area around Brushy Creek was settled about 1840 as part of Frankston and Montalba. Settlers from

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

ended a long wagon train journey here in 1873 and named it Bushy Creek. A post office by that name was established that same year. Sources differ as to whether the community and post office was named for the nearby Brushy Creek or named by a settler, Charles Murphy, for his origin in

. The settlement had three churches, steam-powered gins and

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

s, grain and

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...

that were shipped into the community, and a population of 300 settlers by 1884. A

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

was built in the community in 1890 and it had a population of 100 inhabitants, as well as two

coal mine Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

s operating just west of Brushy Creek. In 1900, it had a population of 131 inhabitants, and a year later, it had a

Masonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

lodge. Telephone service began operating in the community 13 years later, in 1914. The population returned to 100 and remained at that level from 1925 to 1948. The post office shut down in 1925. There were two churches, two to four businesses, and several homes in the 1930s and 1940s. The community lost 70% of its population in the late 1940s and 1950s, but the development of several oilfields in the community in the early 1960s caused a revival in the community. The population of the community then grew dramatically to 200 residents in 1964. The boom looked to be temporary, as the community's population plunged to 70 from 1970 to 1988. It had two churches, the Pisgah church, and Brushy Creek church, as well as several homes in 1982. Both of these churches were still standing in 1985. Its population in both 1990 and 2000 was 50. The Anderson Camp Ground in the community is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

Geography

Brushy Creek stands at the junction of Farm to Market Road 315 and

837 __NOTOC__ Year 837 ( DCCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Byzantine–Arab War: Emperor Theophilos leads a massive Byzantine ...

on a tributary of Brushy Creek, northeast of Palestine in northeastern Anderson County.

Education

Brushy Creek had its own school in 1884. The community's schools in 1932 served 102 White students and 82

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

students living in the community. It had two schools in the 1930s and 1940s. Today the community is served by the

Frankston Independent School District The Frankston Independent School District is a public school district based in Frankston, Texas ( USA). The district is located in northeastern Anderson County and extends into southeastern Henderson County, including the town of Berryville ...

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Anderson County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas