Small towns have had this stereotype that there is just not much to do. Aside from eating and going to Walmart, most entertainment had to be found outside Brownwood, Texas. Now, Downtown Brownwood has become its own miniature city with a cascade of local businesses.

Where once there was a struggle to find enjoyment, now residents can spend at least half the day in downtown Brownwood alone. All within walking distance, are areas for food, drinks, shopping, and entertainment.

What’s really incredible, is that it has happened so quickly. It started with the city having an idea about what Brownwood, Texas should be.

“I’ve really felt like we’ve had an unlocked opportunity to market our community in a better light. We started that campaign, I think that brought awareness to all the different compliments and assets we had, and kind of package those together,” said Marshal McIntosh. McIntosh, a Howard Payne Graduate, is the Deputy City Manager, and has been with the City for eight years.

With a specific marketing, the City wanted to utilize what made Brownwood the town that it was. The goal was to bring people to Brownwood through Visit Brownwood marketing. The other was to create a thriving environment for residents living in Brownwood Texas.

“It’s all part of a greater effort to improve quality of life,” said Tipton. “That helps support our large industry. Because they bring in a lot of employees and if their employees have a good quality of life, living in Brownwood.”

Most of that had to do with community investment. Many of the locales in Downtown Brownwood are privately owned and operated, all created within the last three years.

“From the city’s perspective, the key is us finding ways to partner or compliment private investment,” said McIntosh.

The City wanted to create an incentive for potential business owners to invest in the downtown area.

“We have a matching grant program, incentive program, for existing buildings, for renovation and it goes up to 20,000 dollars,” said Ray Tipton. Tipton is the Director of Ecnomic Development for the City of Brownwood. “That’s been in place since 2017. Almost every new business that has gone into downtown the last few years has leveraged that.”

The matching grant program was put in place, and the City began marketing Brownwood by cleaning up the downtown area. But the community first needed inspiration, and that happened when two local businesses took a chance.

“A lot of that started a little over three years ago with Pioneer Taphouse & Teddy’s Brewhaus going into downtown because I think they showed other potential business owners that ‘hey it’s possible. Things can happen.’ And so there was a lot of synergy built off of those two businesses going in first,” said Tipton.

Four years later, Brownwood has is become an attractive and exciting community to be part of. Brownwood has a plethora of shops for clothing and gifts, excellent places to eat and drink, community markets, and various entertainment on the weekends.

Brownwood residents are wanting to stay, and visitors want to experience what people are raving about.

The endeavors investing in the community are not stopping anytime soon. The City has already begun developing its new Event Center.

“I think that will be a great compliment, because, once again, creating that additional base of consumers, having those conventions and bringing people in the middle of the week, will allow additional people to experience our downtown and have a larger pull of consumers,” said McIntosh.

Additionally, the Brownwood Hotel will be restored, and more local businesses are setting up shop downtown.

Exciting things are happening, and coming, to Brownwood. The resurgence of Downtown Brownwood happened because of the opportunity given to people with a vision. Our community is truly blessed to have individuals who are investing in the Heart of Texas.

[Story by Jacob Lehrer]