About Us
Welcome to the City of Brownsboro! We are defined less by boundaries on a map than by the sense of shared values our residents hold dear. We take pride in maintaining a wholesome lifestyle, rich in cultural history, along with a deep commitment to the preservation of our environment and a progressive approach to local business.
Brownsboro was first settled in 1849 by John (Red) Brown, who operated a toll bridge across Kickapoo Creek on the road to Jordan's Saline and Tyler. By 1860, Henry Cade had erected a sawmill and a cotton gin. With the construction of the St. Louis Southwestern Railway through the county in 1880, the town moved to the railroad.
The town of Normandy was near the site of present Brownsboro. It was established in 1845 by Johan Reinert Reiersen of Kristiansand, Norway, who urged Norwegian immigrants to settle in the new community. In the summer of 1847, a number of settlers died and many of the Norwegian immigrants moved to Four Mile Prairie in Van Zandt County and Prairieville in Kaufman County, also established by Reiersen.
A Norwegian Lutheran church and cemetery were established in Normandy in 1853, but after that the community merged into the Brownsboro settlement. A nearby Lutheran church served as the chapel for the cemetery until the 1920s