Brownfield Cemetery began in 1904 as the first public burial ground in the new Terry County seat of Brownfield, when 19-year-old Jessie Hill died and was interred there. By 1907 the land belonged to M. V. Brownfield, although records do not indicate whether the cemetery was named for him or for the town. During World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II, the cemetery fell into decline because local residents were unable to maintain it. Hispanic farm workers began settling in the area in the 1940s and 1950s, and by the 1970s the cemetery reflected that change in population. A reorganization of the cemetery association in 1980 brought needed improvements, and in 1999 the cemetery contained more than 2,000 graves, about 375 of them unmarked. It remains a chronicle of Terry County.