Thrifty
Brownwood vicinity, Brown County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Once a thriving agricultural area and regional trade center, the community of Thrifty was established after the U. S. Army relocated Camp Colorado, a frontier defense post, along nearby Jim Ned Creek in 1857. The first family to settle permanently in the area was that of Charles Mullins, whose three sons and one daughter and their families established ranches and homes in the Jim Ned Creek valley. Once federal troops were withdrawn from the area after Texas voters elected to secede from the Union in February 1861, settlers were on their own to provide for their defense, encountering many of the dangers of frontier life. Thrifty saw its greatest development in the period following the Civil War and Reconstruction, when a post office was established (first under the name Jim Ned, later named Thrifty). John Charles Mullins donated four acres of land for school and church purposes in 1881. At one time, Thrifty had a hotel, saloon, sawmill, sorghum press, cotton gin, blacksmith shop and physicians' offices. The mercantile store, operated by Dr. G. W. Allen and John Charles Mullins, served as a regional trading center for farmers and ranchers in the area. In 1886, the railroad bypassed Thrifty, and its life as a vital trade center diminished. This event, coupled with a severe drought between 1885 and 1888, triggered an exodus from the community, as residents sought viable employment elsewhere. The story of Thrifty remains as a lesson in the development of the Texas frontier and a part of Brown County's history. (2001)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The community of Thrifty sprang up after the Army established Camp Colorado, a frontier defense post on Jim Ned Creek, in 1857. When troops withdrew as Texas seceded in 1861, settlers like the Mullins family faced the dangers of the frontier alone, but the area flourished after the Civil War with a hotel, gins, mills, and a mercantile store serving nearby farmers and ranchers. The railroad's bypass in 1886, paired with a hard drought, drained the town of its people and its purpose.
Why it matters
Thrifty's rise and fall is a compact lesson in how frontier defense, then the railroad, decided which Texas communities lived and which faded.
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Related people
- · Charles Mullins
- · John Charles Mullins
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Mullins Heritage Park
Thrifty, TX
In 1894 Brown County commissioners cut a public road from Bangs to Cross Cut, and its chief crossing of Jim Ned Creek fell at Mullins Ranch, prompting the county to buy eleven acres here. The Mullins brothers had settled the area in 1857, helping found the nearby towns of Mullin and Thrifty, and their ranch became a regular stop for Methodist circuit preachers, a favored spot for camp meetings, and an open watering hole for cattlemen and neighbors. Many of those gathering traditions continue at the site today.
Route of Old Military Road
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Opened in the 1850s, this military road carried supply trains and cavalry along the chain of U.S. forts that guarded the Texas frontier, running from Fort Belknap on the Brazos down toward Fort Mason and Fort Clark near the Rio Grande. Notable soldiers traveled its route, among them Col. Robert E. Lee, who a decade later would command Confederate armies. The road knit together the far-flung outposts meant to shield settlers.
Henry Ford
Brownwood, TX
A Virginia native, Henry Ford (c. 1845–1910) came to Texas in 1869 and worked as a cowboy on central Texas ranches before settling in Brownwood in 1876. There he served as county clerk and city councilman and, as a banker and businessman, became a leading force in the town's growth—most notably in bringing the Santa Fe Railroad to Brownwood. A supporter of local education and father of ten, he helped shape the young city's institutions.
Santa Anna Cemetery
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When the Santa Fe Railroad arrived in 1886, Santa Anna boomed as a cattle-shipping point, and this cemetery grew with it—its oldest dated monument marking sixteen-year-old Mary Ashley, who died in 1885. Among the buried are the town's first station agent and Texas Rangers John R. Banister and John Benecke Bachman, along with veterans from the Civil War through Vietnam. Fraternal sections for Masons, Odd Fellows, Woodmen of the World, and the Eastern Star reflect the social fabric of the community.