Brown’s Corners

The Brown Family settled in Browns Corners in the early years of Zorra Township. The Browns built their first cabin in the mid-1820s, having few neighbours. Thomas B. Brown, his sons, and friends erected the Browns Corners Methodist Episcopal Church, later Browns United Church, on the southeast corner of Lot 25, Con 9. In 1905, the church was dedicated. 

The first school in this neighbourhood was built as a cooperative venture by Thomas Brush Brown and his partners. Each family involved in the school paid one-third of the expense of the building and the teacher’s salary. The building was built of heavy logs, measuring around 16 by 20 feet, with a door in the west end and a window 16 inches square. The teacher boarded with the families at the time, and each family was required to pitch in for firewood. The date of the first school building is yet to be discovered, but based on the ages of the children who attended, it is presumed to have been built around 1840. 

Around 1850, the school section was established, and land was cleared on the current site of the Browns school. The eighth concession had been surveyed, and a portion of land was leased from the late John Uren for nine years. Documents from 1869 show that John Uren and Hiram Pudry leased half an acre in the Northeast part of lot 25, concession 8, for 81 years for $10. A new building was constructed, replacing the old one, which had been demolished and auctioned off in 1868. Contractor William MacDonald erected a brick building, and in 1888, a bell was installed, now housed in the steeple of Browns United Church. The school building is still used for various community events and functions. 

The church, Women’s Institute, and school were at the heart of the community’s spirit. In 1936, girls from Browns United Church’s Real Pals Sunday School founded The Nissouri Junior Institute, which evolved into The Senior Nissouri Women’s Institute of East Middlesex in 1939. In May 1943, the word Nissouri changed to Browns, and the branch joined the North Oxford district. From 1938 to 2012, Browns Women’s Institute engaged in various worthwhile and charitable activities, including supporting soldiers overseas during WWII and sending food parcels to England post-war.