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About Us:
Bruceville-Eddy is located on Interstate 35 eighteen miles south of Waco in the southern part of McLennan County
and thirteen miles north of Temple. Bruceville-Eddy, TX was incorporated in April 1974 to become the community
we now have. Read our history and see how we have changed.

Our History:
Bruceville-Eddy is on Interstate Highway 35 eighteen miles south of Waco in southern McLennan County. It began
as two separate communities, Bruceville and Eddy, both of which became stations on the Missouri, Kansas and
Texas Railroad in 1882. Bruceville was named for Lucien N. Bruce, who donated land for the railroad station.
Much of the town's early population came from Mastersville, a community two miles north that the railroad had
bypassed. In February 1868, Mastersville established a post office, with Molly Rutherford as postmistress. In the
early years of Mastersville, the community had a flour mill, two steam cotton gins, a general store, two grocery
stores, two churches, a school and 250 residents.
Bruceville was a growing community; among the businesses that developed in the community was a mercantile
establishment of L. P. Fields & Company, Kincannon Brothers Lumber, Hardware and Implement company, a drug
store, two grocery stores, a barber shop, flour mill, two steam cotton gins and a telephone company; Bruceville
also had a hotel, two churches, and a school. By 1900 Bruceville's population had grown to 289.
The Bruceville Independent School District was established in 1904. A state bank opened in 1907, but it
overextended its resources during World War I. A severe local drought in 1925 prevented many area farmers
from meeting loan obligations, and although the bank borrowed money to increase its available funds, its directors
decided to close the bank in 1927. Bruceville reported 500 residents during the 1930s and early 1940s, but
estimates fell steadily in the years after World War II, as many residents moved to take advantage of job
opportunities in larger towns. The number of residents reported was 250 in 1949, 175 in 1964, and twenty-five in
1970. By the 1930's there was no evidence of Mastersville on the county highway maps.
Bruceville formed a joint city government with nearby Eddy and incorporated in April 1974.
Eddy, on Interstate Highway 35 two miles south of Bruceville on the McLennan-Falls county line, was known as
Marvin until the Katy Railroad was built through the area in 1882 and was named in honor of Everett B. Eddy, a
division superintendent of the railroad. In July 1882, Frank E. Richardson, a local store owner, became the
postmaster of the Eddy Post Office. Also that same year James Madison Bedichek opened the Eddy Literary and
Science Institute, a private school (Bedichek Academy). In the mid-1880s the community had a gristmill, three
general stores, two churches, a school district and 150 residents.
By the early 1890s Eddy also had two hotels and a weekly newspaper, the News and Messenger. In 1895 the
Eddy Eldorado was published and in 1912 the the Eddy Journal was established, with Joe F. Coffey as editor.
Population estimates for that period ran as high as 700. A private bank opened in Eddy in 1901 the Eddy Bank
was established by J. R. Knight, it was incorporated in 1906 as the Eddy State Bank.
The Eddy State Bank consolidated with Farms Merchant State Bank and received a national charter in 1915 and
began operating as the First National Bank of Eddy. The bank at Eddy survived the Great Depression but closed
the doors in 1942.
In 1928 the schools at Bruceville and Eddy were joined to form the county's first consolidated rural high school
district. Eddy's population in the late 1920s was estimated at 450. As some area residents moved away and those
who remained began to do more of their trading in larger towns, business activity in Eddy declined. By the
mid-1940s the population had fallen to 350. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, however, Interstate Highway 35
was built along the U.S. Highway 81 route, bringing more business to the area and making it easy for residents to
commute. Population estimates rose to 600 in the 1960s. After Bruceville-Eddy incorporated in April 1974 the
number of residents increased rapidly, to 1,038 by the early 1980s, to 1,075 by 1990, to 1,490 by 2000 and to
1,534 by 2005.