Brewster, MN

Brewster is a Nobles County city near the Jackson County line, with 506 residents in the 2020 census. The town was established in spring 1872 as Hersey and became the first town founded in Nobles County by the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad. That railroad beginning gives Brewster a clear place in the county’s settlement map: the town grew where rail service created a civic center amid the surrounding farm country.

Today, Brewster City Hall sits at 246 10th Street, and the city handles water, sewer, street-light, and other municipal concerns from the same small office. The city’s address, office hours, and resident alerts are posted from that office, keeping routine civic business tied to the center. The current map is still easy to picture from those basics: a railroad-founded town, a local street grid, and utility service organized at the municipal level. Brewster’s old Hersey name survives in the surrounding Hersey Township, keeping the settlement’s earliest chapter visible in the names residents still use.