A Small town in Nobles County

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.36 square miles (3.52 km2), all of it land. It is located one-half mile from the Jackson County line, on section 25 of Hersey Township. The population was 502 at the 2000 census.

Founding of Brewster: The town of Brewster was in established in the spring of 1872, but was known for many years as Hersey. It was the first town established in Nobles County by the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad, and was named after General Samuel F. Hersey, a lumber baron from Maine, and one of the railroad's directors. The first resident was W. R. Bennett, who came to take charge of the railroad station. T. J. Smith put up the first store which was run by A. J. Timlin for many years. Mr. A. O. Conde established a lumber yard and a grain business, Martin Heiser opened a second store, a hotel was opened by a Mr. Humphrey, and John Iverson established a blacksmith shop. All of this occurred in 1872, the same year that A. J. Timlin became postmaster.

Source of name: In 1880, the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad was purchased by the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway, or the Omaha Road, and there was already a station named Hersey on the latter road's track in Wisconsin. In order to avoid confusion, the name of Hersey was changed, briefly to Nobles County Station. Soon thereafter, the name Brewster was settled upon. There is some confusion regarding the choice of name. E. F. Drake, president of the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad once stated that the name "was changed to Brewster after a director of the Omaha Road." But a brochure later put out by the Chicago and North Western Railway Company stated that "the present name was given in honor of Brewster, a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, which was named in honor of Elder William Brewster, one of the first settlers of Plymouth Colony."