100 YEARS AGO.... Rockdale volunteer firefighters didn’t have to hunt for an early morning fire call. It was the home of Fire Chief J. P. Perry. “I never realized until this morning how good it felt to hear that fire truck drive up,” Perry told The Reporter.
The Dixie Theater, after undergoing extensive renovation, was open again with a five-reel feature starring Jack Pickford and a three-reeler with Charlie Chaplin.
A Reporter news short: “Walter Farmer, that handsome berry farmer from the Davilla Country, was kin town yesterday wearing his best clothes and a happy smile.
Reporter Publisher John Esten Cooke noted J. L. Modesette of the Duncan community dropped in to the “sanctum sanctorum: (newspaper office) and exchanged several yards of home-cured, smoked sausage for a year’s subscription.
TWENTY YEARS AGO....
Rockdale ISD administrators and their staffs moved from cramped office space at th high school into the new Administration Building at 520 West Davilla.
A crowd of about 600 persons filled the RHS Auditorium for the annual Lions Club Talent Show which raised $800 for Big Blue Band’s trip to Mexico City in May.
Down by 14 points in the second period, the Columbus Cardinals rallied to edge Rockdale in a basketball semifinal at Blinn College in Brenham.
The Rockdale Chamber of Commerce leased the parking lot at the corner of Green and Bell, vacated when Rockdale State Bank moved to its new location across US 79. Ten of the 30 parking spaces had already been rented.
TWENTY YEARS AGO....
Milam voters were headed to the polls to decide two red-hot Democratic Party political races. District Judge Charles Lance was opposed by Ed Magre and Kerry Spears was challenging incumbent Prosecutor Hollis Lewis Jr.
Two longtime Rockdale businessmen were honored with dedication of the Hogan-Hall Building on the campus of the Rockdale Chamber of Commerce;s rock house headquarters. Honored were W. P. “Red” Hogan and Bill R. Hall.
Rockdale police were looking for a 13-year-old suspect after a youth took a vehicle from an auto repair shop and drove it to the junior-high and crashed into a teacher’s vehicle.
New RHS boys track coach James Saegert kept the winning tradition going at the Rockdale Relays. Big Blue won its ninth straight home meet. Former Coach terry Pope had one the other eight.
TEN YEARS AGO....
Late filings left City of Rockdale voters with a three-way race for mayor. Candidates were Dr. Larry Jones, Collier Perry and Rev. Darrell Grear. Incumbent John Shoemake did not seek re-election.
Vandals overturned 164-year-old building stones in a US 79 roadside park on the Milam County side of the Brazos River. The stones were from the long-gone community of Nashville further upstream.
The Fourth Annual Tejas Art and Book Festival drew a record number of authors to downtown Rockdale and also had a record number of entries in the annual Tejas Car Show.
Led by weight men LeRaven Clark and Logan Dennis, who swapped out 1-2 finishes in the shot put and discus, Brent Hasselbach’s Tiger tracksters won the Rockdale Relays, the first such victory in eight years.
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