One of the prospectors in the area around Goose Creek is Edwin Rice Brown II, a rancher from Mississippi, who lives across the San Jacinto river in Deer Park.

In 1910, he buys 530 acres of the old Wooster estate for $15,000.

The land fronts Scott, Burnet, and Crystal Bays. Later, it will be named after him: Brownwood.

The land is an investment: he hopes to find oil. In the meantime, Brown uses the land as a seasonal grazing pasture for his cattle.

Each winter he swims 400 head of cattle across the San Jacinto River to feast on the salt grass. The Houston Ship Channel has not yet been expanded into the deepwater port it is today, so it is an easy crossing.

This is Brown's prize Brahman bull. Brahma cattle are valued because their thick hides mean mosquito bites don't bother them. But they have nasty tempers.

In 1928, Brown dies, and the land is willed to his widow and children.

Ten years later, the Humble Oil & Refining Company decides it wants to get out of the business of housing its own executives.

They live on refinery property, in stucco row houses.

The executives are eager to find more substantial, more permanent homes of their own.

Officials from Humble approach the executor of the Brown estate. They offer to plat and subdivide the property. They will cover all the development expenses. Then Humble executives will buy their own properties.

To Brown's son, Edwin R. Brown III, it sounds like a good deal. Selling the land will make it easier to divide the estate.

Brownwood is born: the fanciest subdivision in the area, dotted with lush estates for oil-company executives. No lot is smaller than 100 feet by 100 feet. Deed restrictions prohibit Mexicans, Chinese, and Japanese from living there.

The Browns build a house in Brownwood for themselves, on the bay.

"I expected to make $1 million for the Brown heirs off Brownwood," Brown tells a newspaper reporter more than 40 years later.

"We didn't get a dime."

Edwin R. Brown II in Tampico, flanked by Barney Holland, president of the Holland Oil Company of Ft. Worth, and a Mexican rancher. Shortly after this picture was taken, the rancher was murdered, reportedly by members of Pancho Villa's gang. Courtesy Suzanne and J.T. Brown.

Man in boat, believed to be on land that later became Brownwood. Courtesy Baytown Historical Museum.

Farmer Brown's Brahman bull. Courtesy Suzanne and J.T. Brown.

Edwin Rice Brown II with his son, Edwin Rice Brown III. Courtesy J.T. and Suzanne Brown.

Stucco houses, Humble Oil refinery, Baytown. Tanks now occupy this site. Courtesy Sterling Municipal Library, Baytown.

Humble Oil & Refining Company executives at Joint Conference Group, 1932. Courtesy Sterling Municipal Library, Baytown.

Edwin Rice Brown II with his wife, Mary Catherine Brown, in 1942. Courtesy J.T. and Suzanne Brown.