Bronson

Bronson is at the junction of State Highway 184 and U.S. Highway 96, nine miles west of Hemphill in western Sabine County. It is served by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. As early as 1895 settler and developer John H. Kirby came to the area and bought large tracts of land, most of which was covered with virgin pine timber. Bronson, named for Samuel Bronson Cooper , was laid out on 200 acres on the course of the Gulf, Beaumont and Great Northern Railway, which was being built through the county in the spring of 1902. Merchants moved in, bought lots and land, and began construction with imported lumber. In 1902 Kirby built the Kirby Lumber Company. That year the Bronson Bulletin , a weekly newspaper, began publication under the direction of William A. Fields, and a post office opened with Nathan Pratt as postmaster. A number of businesses operated in Bronson, including Hamilton-Pratt Mercantile, Dean Mercantile, and Toole Mercantile, a boardinghouse for railroad and sawmill workers, and a restaurant. A Masonic lodge was established in 1904, and an independent school district was formed in 1905. By 1910 the town had a population of 1,000.