The town was laid out in 1884 by George Washington Brewster who had homesteaded the land there.

It was named for one of his ancestors, William Brewster, who had arrived in America on the Mayflower.

[4] Brewster almost became a railhead, when the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad graded a line from Sargent in 1897.

[6] Following the 2010 census Brewster became the smallest incorporated county seat in the United States replacing Amidon, North Dakota for the title.

25.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 25% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There were 33.3% of families and 20.0% of the population living below the poverty line, including no under eighteens and none of those over 64.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 0.09 square miles (0.23 km2), all land.

[11] Brewster has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa/Dfb) with summers featuring hot afternoons, comfortable mornings, and occasional heavy rain, and winters that are generally freezing but vary from mild with chinook winds to frigid Arctic conditions.