Brushy Creek

Brushy Creek is at the intersection of Farm roads 315 and 837, on a tributary of Brushy Creek thirteen miles northeast of Palestine in northeastern Anderson County. The area was settled about 1840 and was originally considered part of the Frankston and Montalba settlements. A wagon train of settlers from South Carolina ended its journey at the site in 1873. A Brushy Creek post office opened that year, and the community and post office were probably named for the nearby creek, though an alternative version states that one of the early settlers, Charles Murphy, named the town for his old home in South Carolina. By 1884 the community had three churches, a district school, steam gin-gristmills, and an estimated 300 inhabitants and shipped grain and livestock. In 1890 the population was estimated at 100, a sawmill had been built, and two coal mines were operating just west of Brushy Creek. The community had a population of 131 in 1900, a Masonic lodge by 1901, and telephone service by 1914. The population was estimated at 100 from 1925 through 1948. The post office closed in 1925. In 1932 the district schools at Brushy Creek enrolled 102 White pupils and eighty-two Black pupils. In the 1930s and 1940s the community had two churches, two district schools, two to four businesses, and a number of dwellings. The population dropped to thirty in the late 1940s and 1950s, but Brushy Creek revived in the early 1960s, possibly due to the development of several oilfields in the vicinity. The town had an estimated 200 inhabitants in 1964. The boom appears to have been temporary, however, and the population of Brushy Creek was estimated at seventy from 1970 through 1988. In 1982 the community had Pisgah Church, Brushy Creek Church, and a number of scattered dwellings. The churches were still standing in 1985. In 1990 and 2000 the population was fifty.