100 YEARS AGO....
A devastating fire swept through a block of businesses in Gause. Most heavily damaged was the J. R. Fraim Mercantile Store where the blaze started. Other businesses damaged included the Gause Guide newspaper and Godfrey Barber Shop.
O. L. Moody died at age 76 while conducting business in the office of Rock-dale Justice of the Peace Ed Gunn. Moody was a rarity in Milam County, a Union Civil War veteran. He served in a Michigan brigade for most of the war.
Over 4,100 Milam men between the ages of 18 and 45 registered for the draft in one day before the Milam War Board. Numerous others who said they had not been aware of the requirement subsequently contacted the War Board, which had received so much business it had to move into larger offices.
Merchant Ben Loewenstein Jr. said his store would serve as a collection point for peach seeds, prune pits and nut hulls. The government was collecting the items to extract a material it used in manufacturing the “toxic straining” ingredient in gas masks.
FORTY YEARS AGO....
On a 2-1 vote, the State Banking Commission in Austin approved a charter for the proposed new Community Bank & Trust in Rockdale.
It was the most special pep rally ever in the RHS gym. “Mona,” a 28-month-old, 350-pound Bengal tiger was a special guest, courtesy of Rockdale State Bank, there to supply support to those “other Tigers.”
A representative of the P-TO asked the city to re-install stop signs on Murray Avenue at Brazos and Meadow. Signs had been removed to accommodate a traffic survey and there were safety concerns.
For the second straight week, kicker Randy Leech provided the margin of victory for Big Blue. Leech’s 30-yard field goal was the only scoring as Rockdale edged Taylor 3-0.
TWENTY YEARS AGO....
Rockdale ISD voters approved a local tax cap by an 84-to-16-percent margin. It had been discovered a forgotten 1955 election instituted a one-dollar tax cap and taxes had risen to $1.42 in the interim.
The Rockdale City Council was mulling the feasibility of using Alcoa “depressurization” water which was then being pumped into Yegua Creek.
Rockdale police were cracking down on unpaid traffic fines, noting a similar crackdown in Cameron had raised $15,000.
An inadvertent whistle by an official cost a Tiger football player a chance to make a little history in a 42-7 rout of Austin Anderson. Drew Hirt’s 55-yard TD interception return was called back. Had it stood, Hirt would have scored touchdowns running, passing, on special teams and on defense in the same game.
TEN YEARS AGO....
About 60 persons fleeing Hurricane Ike took shelter in two Rockdale churches, Meadowbrook Baptist and First Christian.
Even though Milam County is 120 miles inland, Ike still affected the area. The Gause community lost electric power due to damage at its power supplier in Beaumont. The Gause ISD acquired a generator to allow its classes to resume.
Addition of taxable values from the Sandow 5 Power Plant, then under construction, allowed Rockdale ISD trustee to drop the tax rate 1.4 cent from the current level.
The Rockdale ISD had received 21 candidates for the soon-to-be-vacant superintendent position. Longtime Supt. Walter Pond announced he was retiring at the end of the school term.
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