Looking back...

100 YEARS AGO...

At a small gathering of farmers and businessmen in Rockdale, a committee was appointed to call general meetings of owners and holders of low-grade cotton to be held in the City Hall Auditorium on Dec. 4 for the purpose of devising ways and means of financing a shipment of low-grade cotton to Germany to be sold in that country.

The Nov. 22 issue of the Texas Oil Gazette said this about the Rockdale oil field: Already endowed with all the bounteous gifts of fertile soil, temperate climate and running stream with many minerals, Milam County is coming into its own as an oil field. The shallow ild sand is found from 350 to 450 feet; oil is flowing over the top casing in many instances; 51 wells have been drilled by companies and all wells were standing full of oil and not being pumped on account of ligation which has not been settled.

Joe R. Shapard, a Rockdale boy, who for the past year has had a responsible position with the Federal Reserve Bank, was arraigned in Dallas on Saturday after his arrest by federal officers on a charge of misapplying funds of the bank.

FORTY YEARS AGO...

Rockdale will officially kick off the 1980 Christmas season Saturday with a gala 1:30 p.m. parade and Santa Party, sponsored by the Rockdale Chamber of Commerce.

The Milam County Central Tax Appraisal District board trustees approved a $132,207 budget for 1981 representing a 22 percent cut from their original budget of $169,041. The $36,834 in budget cuts were made after the board heard opposition voiced by citizens opposing methods used in recent countywide tax appraisals.

Rockdale High School’s Big Blue Band paused in the middle of its quest for a fifth straight Sweepstakes Award last Tuesday, marched in the cold rain of Austin’s Memorial Stadium and came home with a trophy designating it as the third best Class 3A marching band in the state of Texas.

Big Blue basketball went into gear against a pair of 4A teams, A&M Consolidated and Taylor, as the Tigers defeated Consolidated 67-42 and edged the Ducks 48-42 to even their season record at 2-2.

TWENTY YEARS AGO...

Santa Claus is coming to Rockdale, twice. Rockdale’s “Country Christmas” will stretch over two days with a block party and dance Friday night, and a Saturday morning parade, then the annual Cowboy Ball that night in the KC Hall.

Christmas trees are a Norman Rockwellesque tradition for Americans, even here in the less-than snowy south. This is the time of year Bill Wiederhold likes. The Christmas spirit and a pleasant pine smell pervade his small farm in Milano. Wiederhold’s “Santa’s Forest” is open for business.

A Monday morning fire shut down the 545 megawatt Unit 4 at TXU Electric’s Sandow Power Plant at Alcoa’s Rockdale Operations.

Rockdale City Council met Monday with representatives from Waste Management to try and recycle a contract which was in jeopardy.

TEN YEARS AGO...

Santa’s coming to Rockdale but he’s coming on a different day of the week than in years past. Rockdale’s annual night-time, lighted Christmas parade will glitter from downtown to Fair Park at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, ending a twoday holiday celebration that starts Friday.

The latest “new era” in the history of Richards Memorial Hospital began Monday when Rockdale Hospital District directors meet in an anything but regular session in the hospital cafeteria. There’s been a huge change since the last “regular” meeting in November. Blackhawk Healthcare’s four-member leadership team resigned Nov. 22 and the business itself is in the process of being sold to Kevin Owens.

Monday is the deadline to submit applications for Christmas Roundup, a giant-sized effort that last year made the holiday brighter for 331 families containing 1,258 individuals, 800 of them children.