Milam County Historical Commission
Milam County, Texas
Milam County, Texas
Looking Back
100 Years Ago...
Interesting headlines and recaps of articles
from the
Rockdale Reporter
100 years ago
Compiled weekly by the Reporter staff
100 Years Ago...
Interesting headlines and recaps of articles
from the
Rockdale Reporter
100 years ago
Compiled weekly by the Reporter staff
2012-02-23
100 YEARS AGO....
Aftermath of the Great Rockdale Fire of 1912 continued to dominate the news. Owners of Rockdale’s oldest millinery shop, destroyed in the blaze, announced they would reopen in new quarters after a re-stocking trip to St. Louis.
Modern Dry Goods took out a page ad, complete with a drawing of an exploding store, to tout its upcoming “water damaged goods sale.”
A popular Rockdale hamburger stand joined the ranks of burned-out businesses, with no announcement yet on whether it would re-open.
The 1912 “meningitis scare” may have been officially proclaimed over but a Minerva woman died of the disease at her home.
**********
2012-02-16
100 YEARS AGO....
Downtown Rockdale experienced the “Great Fire of 1912.” Most of an entire block of Cameron Avenue burned with the blaze claiming four multi-story brick buildings, a total of 12 businesses that included two grocery stores.
When the owner of Modern Dry Goods, identified only as “Manager Shaw” saw the Rockdale VFD had saved his business from burning he brought all the volunteers inside and gave them new sets of clothes - including underwear, shoes and sweaters - on the spot.
J. Branch Lewis, who lost his Lewis & Perry Grocery in the big fire, announced he would seek the office of Rockdale City Secretary. (Lewis would win and hold that position until Feb. 19, 1938, when he committed suicide in his office late one night at City Hall.)
R.W.H Kennon, previous owner of The Reporter, announced he would seek the office of district clerk.
**********
2012-02-09
100 YEARS AGO....
The presidential election year of 1912 had already drawn 5,691 Milam County residents to pay their poll taxes.
In a bizarre incident in a Cameron motel, a railroad employee attempted to kill his estranged wife with a knife and was shot to death by a relative of the hotel proprietor.
Rockdale High School’s Literary Society was debating whether or not women should be allowed to vote, according to student newspaper editor Wynette Marrs.
A major renovation at the Wolf Hotel saw the number of rooms increase from 14 to 20, new brass beds, wallpaper and paint.
**********
2012-02-02
100 YEARS AGO....
The Rockdale School Board agreed to extend the 1911-1912 school year by 10 days to make up for days lost during the recent hepatitis scare.
Reporter Publisher John Esten Cooke continued his campaign for a new post office, terming the current structure “too small for a town of Rockdale’s size.”
A resident of The Knobbs community in Lee County was waylaid on the road, while returning home in a horse-drawn wagon and hit with two blasts of buckshot from a shotgun. He was expected to recover.
Commenting on the housing shortage Cooke wrote that Reporter employee J. A. Shapard “has finally succeeded in finding a vacant house and will move his family in from the farm.”
**********
2012-01-26
100 YEARS AGO....
Tragedy in Tanglewood as three-year-old Myrtle Platt died of burns sustained when her clothing caught fire as she approached a burning log.
Rockdale schools re-opened after a 9-day unplanned vacation during a hepatitis scare. Sulfur was burned in all school buildings as a disinfectant.
Rockdale recorded its first hepatitis death as a man identified only as “an out-of-town man visiting relatives here” died of the disease.
New businesses were the Elite Cafe, across from the railroad depot and The Favorite, a millenary shop on the second floor of Rockdale Mercantile Co.
**********
2012-01-19
100 YEARS AGO....
Rockdale recorded its first two cases of hepatitis as an epidemic swept through Texas. A pit boss at the Wallis Coal Mine and a three-year-old girl were both recovering after receiving treatment.
Modern Dry Goods advertised “there are no germs” in our store, telling customers they could shop there without fear of being exposed to hepatitis.
Carl Walter of Gay Hill froze to death in a neighbor’s field as a blizzard swept through the Rockdale area.
The Rockdale Volunteer Fire Department battled a blaze, and two rekindles, at the Wolf Ice & Beer Warehouse downtown.
***********
2012-01-12
100 YEARS AGO....
All Rockdale schools were closed and churches suspended services indefinitely. Parties and any other gatherings were discouraged by City Health Officer J. W. Reaves as a meningitis epidemic swept through Texas.
Reporter Publisher John Esten Cooke: “Passengers getting off the train in Rockdale are forced to alight in as muddy a spot as this pretty little town affords, then wade across the muddiest crossing in town.”
Each of the 15 members of the Rockdale High School class of 1912 planted a hackberry tree on the school campus.
Ella McCall of Dripping Springs was seriously injured when she fell from an International & Great Northern passenger train between Rockdale and Milano.
**********
2012-01-05
100 Years Ago....
A Davilla man turned himself in to Sheriff Allen Hooks after a card game ended in gunfire and the death of another Davilla man.
Rev. Walter Smith told The Reporter: “On account of the bad roads and uncertain weather, I will not try to preach at Tracy until better conditions.”
B. Y. Aycock of Rockdale was elected statewide secretary of the Texas Colored Teachers Association.
Deputy Arledge arrested, in the words of Reporter Publisher John E. Cooke “another foxy grandpa grafter (con artist) in the act of tapping a local till.
**********
2010
2011
.
100 YEARS AGO....
Aftermath of the Great Rockdale Fire of 1912 continued to dominate the news. Owners of Rockdale’s oldest millinery shop, destroyed in the blaze, announced they would reopen in new quarters after a re-stocking trip to St. Louis.
Modern Dry Goods took out a page ad, complete with a drawing of an exploding store, to tout its upcoming “water damaged goods sale.”
A popular Rockdale hamburger stand joined the ranks of burned-out businesses, with no announcement yet on whether it would re-open.
The 1912 “meningitis scare” may have been officially proclaimed over but a Minerva woman died of the disease at her home.
**********
2012-02-16
100 YEARS AGO....
Downtown Rockdale experienced the “Great Fire of 1912.” Most of an entire block of Cameron Avenue burned with the blaze claiming four multi-story brick buildings, a total of 12 businesses that included two grocery stores.
When the owner of Modern Dry Goods, identified only as “Manager Shaw” saw the Rockdale VFD had saved his business from burning he brought all the volunteers inside and gave them new sets of clothes - including underwear, shoes and sweaters - on the spot.
J. Branch Lewis, who lost his Lewis & Perry Grocery in the big fire, announced he would seek the office of Rockdale City Secretary. (Lewis would win and hold that position until Feb. 19, 1938, when he committed suicide in his office late one night at City Hall.)
R.W.H Kennon, previous owner of The Reporter, announced he would seek the office of district clerk.
**********
2012-02-09
100 YEARS AGO....
The presidential election year of 1912 had already drawn 5,691 Milam County residents to pay their poll taxes.
In a bizarre incident in a Cameron motel, a railroad employee attempted to kill his estranged wife with a knife and was shot to death by a relative of the hotel proprietor.
Rockdale High School’s Literary Society was debating whether or not women should be allowed to vote, according to student newspaper editor Wynette Marrs.
A major renovation at the Wolf Hotel saw the number of rooms increase from 14 to 20, new brass beds, wallpaper and paint.
**********
2012-02-02
100 YEARS AGO....
The Rockdale School Board agreed to extend the 1911-1912 school year by 10 days to make up for days lost during the recent hepatitis scare.
Reporter Publisher John Esten Cooke continued his campaign for a new post office, terming the current structure “too small for a town of Rockdale’s size.”
A resident of The Knobbs community in Lee County was waylaid on the road, while returning home in a horse-drawn wagon and hit with two blasts of buckshot from a shotgun. He was expected to recover.
Commenting on the housing shortage Cooke wrote that Reporter employee J. A. Shapard “has finally succeeded in finding a vacant house and will move his family in from the farm.”
**********
2012-01-26
100 YEARS AGO....
Tragedy in Tanglewood as three-year-old Myrtle Platt died of burns sustained when her clothing caught fire as she approached a burning log.
Rockdale schools re-opened after a 9-day unplanned vacation during a hepatitis scare. Sulfur was burned in all school buildings as a disinfectant.
Rockdale recorded its first hepatitis death as a man identified only as “an out-of-town man visiting relatives here” died of the disease.
New businesses were the Elite Cafe, across from the railroad depot and The Favorite, a millenary shop on the second floor of Rockdale Mercantile Co.
**********
2012-01-19
100 YEARS AGO....
Rockdale recorded its first two cases of hepatitis as an epidemic swept through Texas. A pit boss at the Wallis Coal Mine and a three-year-old girl were both recovering after receiving treatment.
Modern Dry Goods advertised “there are no germs” in our store, telling customers they could shop there without fear of being exposed to hepatitis.
Carl Walter of Gay Hill froze to death in a neighbor’s field as a blizzard swept through the Rockdale area.
The Rockdale Volunteer Fire Department battled a blaze, and two rekindles, at the Wolf Ice & Beer Warehouse downtown.
***********
2012-01-12
100 YEARS AGO....
All Rockdale schools were closed and churches suspended services indefinitely. Parties and any other gatherings were discouraged by City Health Officer J. W. Reaves as a meningitis epidemic swept through Texas.
Reporter Publisher John Esten Cooke: “Passengers getting off the train in Rockdale are forced to alight in as muddy a spot as this pretty little town affords, then wade across the muddiest crossing in town.”
Each of the 15 members of the Rockdale High School class of 1912 planted a hackberry tree on the school campus.
Ella McCall of Dripping Springs was seriously injured when she fell from an International & Great Northern passenger train between Rockdale and Milano.
**********
2012-01-05
100 Years Ago....
A Davilla man turned himself in to Sheriff Allen Hooks after a card game ended in gunfire and the death of another Davilla man.
Rev. Walter Smith told The Reporter: “On account of the bad roads and uncertain weather, I will not try to preach at Tracy until better conditions.”
B. Y. Aycock of Rockdale was elected statewide secretary of the Texas Colored Teachers Association.
Deputy Arledge arrested, in the words of Reporter Publisher John E. Cooke “another foxy grandpa grafter (con artist) in the act of tapping a local till.
**********
2010
2011
.