Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Study Butte Study Butte, TX

Study Butte (pronounced 'STEW-dee BEWT') is a census-designated place (CDP) in southern Brewster County, Texas - an unincorporated desert community, not a city.

Study Butte sits on Texas State Highway 118 just a few miles from the west entrance of Big Bend National Park, making it one of the park's main gateway communities.

The community sprang up after mercury (quicksilver) was discovered in the area around 1900 by Frederico Villalva, and it was originally called Big Bend, receiving a post office in May 1904.

It was renamed Study Butte for Will Study, manager of the Big Bend Cinnabar Mining Company, after the prominent desert butte nearby.

The Rainbow Mercury Mine was the community's economic base; Study Butte had about 120 residents in 1920, and the area's mines once made the Terlingua district one of America's leading quicksilver producers.

After the mines closed in the late 1940s, Study Butte dwindled to only about 10 to 15 residents in the 1950s and 1960s, briefly reviving when the mine reopened in 1970.

From the 1970s onward, tourism tied to Big Bend National Park replaced mining as Study Butte's economic base, and the community filled with motels and businesses serving park visitors.

Study Butte became its own CDP for the 2010 census, when the old Study Butte-Terlingua CDP was split in two; it counted 233 residents in 2010 and 200 in 2020.

Study Butte's children are served by the Terlingua Common School District, whose high school is Big Bend High School.

The CDP covers about 4.7 square miles in Brewster County, the largest county by land area in Texas at more than 6,100 square miles.