The Town of Brewton, Escambia Co., AL http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/escambia/history/brewtontown.txt ==================================================================== USGENWEB PROJECT NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Project Archives to store this file permanently for free access. This file is copyrighted and contributed by: Lygia Cutts ==================================================================== August 1998 THE TOWN OF BREWTON On February 13, 1885, the town of Newport was established. It was named Newport for the new port established by barges making runs on both Murder and Burnt Corn creeks to and from Pensacola, FL. In 1861 the railroad came through this area and a depot was constructed. This depot was named after the station agent, Edmund Troupe Brewton. This eventually brought about the name change from Newport to Brewton Station, later shortened to Brewton. The Brewton family is a predominate family known in Escambia County (see bio on Brewton family). Since the Brewton family connects to my husband's family I do have info on the Brewton family that I would be glad to share with anyone reseraching this family. The first county seat was located in Pollard. In 1883 the county seat was moved to Brewton. Since Pollard refused to send the records to Brewton, several residents of Brewton went to Pollard and broke into the courthouse and brought the records to Brewton. This is a story that I would like to go more in depth with at another time. Agriculture and the Lumber Industry has played an important part in the growth of Brewton and in it's economy. In the early 1900's strawberries were an important crop and there were several lumber mills, such as T.R. Miller in this area. Because of the lumber employees, merchants started businesses. Some of the largest stores in South Alabama such as Luttrell Hardware, Hainje's and Robbins & McGowins were located in Brewton. Downtown Brewton today remains much the same as it did in the early 1900's. It is still a thriving and ever growing town. Brewton is known as one of the "Top 100 Small Towns in America". Source: The Historical News, Vol. 16 No. 7 - AL, February 1996