Brownwood was settled in 1857 and acquired a post office in 1858. An oil vein ruined an 1860s water well belonging to townsite donor Greenleaf Fisk, and wagon-yard keeper Martin Meinsinger sold medicinal oil from an 1878 well. Commercial drilling began in 1889. Since the 1880s, Brownwood has been a farming, cotton sales, and business town; the Santa Fe Railroad reached it in 1885 and the Frisco in 1890. In 1889, two colleges, Daniel Baker and Howard Payne, were situated there. Camp Bowie, a World War II military post, operated in Brownwood from 1940 to 1946. Brownwood became a center for agriculture, retail sales, and industry, with a coliseum, parks, and 110 miles of lake shore.