Brewster grew up around the Wheeling & Lake Erie shops
Brewster is a railroad town first. The village incorporated in 1910, the same year its post office opened and the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway began building locomotives at its Brewster shops. Today’s regional Wheeling & Lake Erie still keeps its corporate offices and shops in the village, where crews repair and rebuild locomotives and freight cars.
In 1916 the railroad built a dormitory for its crews at 45 S. Wabash Avenue. Known as the Brewster Railroad YMCA or the Wandle House (from W&LE), it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. It now holds the Brewster-Sugarcreek Township Historical Society museum and a restaurant.
Food is the village’s other industry. Brewster is home to Shearer’s Foods, the snack maker, and to Brewster Dairy, which the county planning commission calls the largest Swiss cheese producer in North America.
A tight housing market with an older core
Brewster’s housing is mid-century on average, with few empty houses. Census estimates for 2020-2024:
- About 829 housing units and a median year built of 1958.
- About 30% built in 1939 or earlier, roughly the railroad boom years.
- About 72% owner-occupied, and only about 4% vacant.
- About 75% single-family detached, with about 6% mobile homes.
- A median home value of about $144,600 (owner estimate) and a median gross rent of about $949.
Low vacancy usually means a well-kept house sells without much trouble on the open market. If yours is updated and you aren’t in a hurry, an agent listing is worth pricing out first. A direct sale makes more sense for a house that has been in one family for decades and still has the original kitchen, an old furnace or a wet basement, because you don’t have to fix any of it first.
The township around the village
Brewster sits inside Sugar Creek Township, in a valley along Sugar Creek, where the Middle Fork joins from the south. The township, organized in 1816 and named for the creek, has about 2,401 housing units, a median year built of 1954 and about 40% built in 1939 or earlier, so it is just as old as the village. The county planning commission notes that during the Civil War the township sent more soldiers to the Union Army, for its population, than any other township in the country.
U.S. 62 and State Route 93 meet in Brewster. Route 62 runs east through Navarre toward Canton, and Route 93 heads north toward Massillon.
Septic plumbing checks on township homes
Any Brewster-area house on a septic system needs a Stark County Health Department inspection before transfer. Two plumbing points trip up older homes:
- Laundry water must drain into the septic system, not out to a ditch or dry well.
- Clean water, such as footer drains, downspouts or a sump crock, must stay out of it.
If either is wrong, it has to be re-plumbed to meet the sewage code. The owner or agent also has to uncover the tank ports and boxes before the inspector arrives. You can sell a house with a failed report; our guide to selling a house with septic problems covers how.
Schools and the rest of the county
Brewster is in Fairless Local Schools. The district’s elementary, middle and new high school, opened in 2023, sit together on Navarre Road just southeast of the village, and the district’s mailing address is in Brewster. For probate, sheriff sales and the conveyance fee, see our Stark County page.
When you’re ready to talk numbers on a Brewster house, start with a written offer.