Bremond

Bremond is at the junction of State Highway 14 and Farm roads 46, 2413, 2954, and 2293, ten miles east of the Brazos River in northwestern Robertson County. It received its name from Paul Bremond. The site was part of the original 1841 land grant of Mary Peterson, mother of San Jacinto veteran John Peterson. John sold the property to William Keigwin in 1850. In 1869 Keigwin transferred the land to William Baker and a group of investors, among them William M. Rice, who surveyed and subdivided the tract. The investors granted a right-of-way through Bremond to the Houston and Texas Central Railway Company in 1869. Articles of incorporation were forwarded to the secretary of state on August 12, 1869. The first train pulled into Bremond on June 15, 1870, with over 1,000 well-wishers present for the occasion. The town was incorporated on August 13, 1870. A post office opened in 1870 with Sam Morehead as postmaster. The community had several churches, merchants, and a newspaper named the Central Texan and owned by R. H. Purdom. Purdom sold the paper to B. W. Cramer in 1874, and it became the Sentinel. In September 1870 a school was established under the direction of G. W. Holland. By 1871 Bremond had six hotels, several merchants, three physicians, a drugstore, a law firm, and a population exceeding 1,000.

In the 1870s a large number of Polish immigrants arrived. The community assisted in building a Catholic church in 1878. Encouraged by J. C. Roberts, a leading citizen of the community, these immigrants began growing cotton. In 1885 the population of Bremond numbered 800; it declined to 387 in 1890 and was 650 in 1900. In the 1920s and 1930s Bremond had just over 1,200 residents and fifty businesses. In the 1940s and 1950s the population was just over 1,100, and the number of businesses had dropped. In 1948 Bremond was served by State highways 6 and 14 and the Texas and New Orleans Railway. It had two cemeteries, several churches, a school, and many businesses. By 1978–79 the population had dropped to 815, but it began to increase in the 1980s. In 2000 Bremond had a population of 1,110 and fifty-seven businesses, including a weekly newspaper, the Bremond Press, which was established in 1922.