Bryson was settled by people from Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia. They arrived while seeking land to farm on because farming was very profitable to large families. They grew cotton and grain because they were productive. Less than a century later, oil and gas were found in Bryson, causing its population to explode.

During the nineteenth century, the town was called Mt. Hecla and Cottonwood, but by the twentieth century the town had been renamed to Bryson after one of the largest land owners, Henry Bryson, who also became county commissioner.

In 1874, near Carmichael Creek, a loose community grew into Mt. Hecla. Hecla meant many different things like “to promise” in Scottish, “dark goddess of magic” in Greek, “one hundred” in French, and “hackle” in Middle English. The first postmaster was Ham Milliken in 1878. Three years before that, the first school was started by Professor Willis called “Cottonwood.” It started as a log cabin, but was soon moved to a frame building. A year before the first post office, Elizabeth Simpson died at age 59 and in 1877 the Cottonwood cemetery was created. Dwellings continued to be built westward and the frame school was replaced by a two-story structure. Cattleman Hop Lowe built a house in 1878 and next came the Birdwell family. Henry E. and Mary (Cope) Bryson also moved to Mt. Hecla in 1878 and they built a log house. In 1881, the Methodist Church was founded by Rev. J.M. McCloud and in 1882, Henry Bryson received postmastership and renamed the post office to “Bryson, Texas.” In 1885, the school became Bryson Academy and four years later the Church of Christ was created.