Texas and Howard Days 2022
Brownwood
Texas trip
Texas
We are not staying in Brownwood, but we have to visit. At least we have to go to Greenleaf Cemetary to see the grave. Brownwood is a city in and the county seat of Brown County. It is located in the Northern Texas Hill Country and is home to Howard Payne University that was founded in 1889.
In the fall of 1922, when Howard was sixteen, he temporarily moved to a boarding house in the nearby city of Brownwood to complete his senior year of high school, accompanied by his mother.
It was in Brownwood that he first met friends his own age who shared his interest not only in sports and history but also in writing and poetry. The two most important of these, Tevis Clyde Smith and Truett Vinson, shared his Bohemian and literary outlook on life, and together they wrote amateur papers and magazines, exchanged long letters filled with poetry and existential thoughts on life and philosophy, and encouraged each other’s writing endeavors. Through Vinson, Howard was introduced to The Tattler, the newspaper of the Brownwood High School. It was in this publication that Howard’s stories were first printed. The December 1922 issue featured two stories, “‘Golden Hope Christmas” and “West is West,” which won gold and silver prizes respectively.
Howard spent his late teens working odd jobs around Cross Plains, all of which he hated. In 1924, Howard returned to Brownwood to take a stenography course at Howard Payne College, this time boarding with his friend Lindsey Tyson instead of his mother.
What to see or do in Brownwood?
We haven’t had any suggestions of what to see in Abilene:
- Lake Brownwood?
- REH’s burial – Greenleaf Cemetery2615 US-377, Brownwood, TX 76801, United States
- Howard Payne University
1000 Fisk St, Brownwood, TX 76801, United States
Phone: 325-649-8020
1-800-880-4478 - Intermission Book Shop
203 Center Ave, Brownwood, TX 76801, USA - More things to do in Brownwood.