Milam County Historical Commission
Milam County, Texas
Milam County, Texas
‘Shop at Home’ Didn’t Work in 1934
Milam History by Joy Graham
Rockdale Reporter - May 30, 2013
Editor’s note: This is first column on remarkable Rockdale businessman Fred Palmer, a
well known local personality in the first part of the 20th Century.
Fred Palmer was a resident of Rockdale in the late 1800’s. He owned a very popular
business located at the corner of Davilla and Main Street.
That location today is the parking area for Rockdale’s One Stop Center.
Fred was not your usual businessman. As a child he had fallen from a wagon that ran
over both his legs causing them to be amputated at the knees.
He did not let his handicap hamper him. He was a very active businessman, successful in
each of his encounters.
I quote from a letter published in the Rockdale Reporter, titled “Why Rockdale Lost A
Manufacturing Plant.”
“A few weeks ago I sold my Rockdale Bottling Works. I went to work in this plant in
1909 and have operated it with more or less success during the past 25 years.
“Since its beginning back in the early days the business has enjoyed a fine patronage
from a very few Rockdale business houses and I want to take this opportunity of
thanking the few who stayed by me through the years, with special thanks to my friends
in the country.
“Business men who believed in home town enterprise, however, were a small minority in
Rockdale and I am indebted in no way to the majority of Rockdale business men who have
proven by their actions in the past years that they never did care whether or not
Rockdale had a bottling plant.
“I could have stayed in business but decided that it was not worth the effort to
continue running a business that the business men of Rockdale showed by their actions
they had no interest in.
“Most of my business has been from the country and with out-oftown firms and stores who
have found my products and service good.
“With very few exceptions, Rockdale business firms made little or no effort to
cooperate with a home-town manufacturing plant, and in fact, most of them showed a
distinct favoritism to the out-oftown bottlers and trucks.
“Again I say, I am to loyal to a few loyal Rockdale men for their business and co-
operation….but to the majority of them, I owe nothing.
“If there are any local business men who wonder why Rockdale lost a manufacturing plant
with a sizable payroll, here is the answer: They didn’t want it even enough to
patronize it.”
Fred Palmer, Former operator, Rockdale Bottling Works. Research: Newspaper article
shared by Charles Robison Memories of Fred Palmer, Eugenia Newton and Joy Graham.
maryjoygraham@yahoo.com
.
All credit for this article goes to
Joy Graham
and the
Rockdale Reporter
Joy Graham
and the
Rockdale Reporter