 William Crawford sold the site to Hiram Daily, a Methodist minister and doctor, who opened a general store, and laid out and named the town.In 1861 Ben Brown, a farmer who had moved from Bolivar, Tennessee, suggested the renaming of the town and persuaded residents to vote for the name Bolivar by providing them free rum.John Simpson Chisum ranched near Bolivar but moved his herds in 1863 to West Texas.