Situated on land originally granted (1830) to Francisco Ruiz, commander of Fort Tenoxtitlan. The first settler, S. Code Brown, operated a tavern, stage stand, store, and post office which served a large area. Among the southern planters coming here (1852) were Ebenezer and Horatio Hearne, who later tilled 5,000 acres of land. Mrs. Christopher Columbus Hearne honored promise of her husband by donating 700 acres to Houston & Texas Central when the railroad built to this site in 1868. The town, platted in 1870 and named for the Hearne family, was incorporated in 1871.