100 YEARS AGO...
C.F. Drake, secretary of the Rockdale Commercial Club, announced that negotiations had been practically concluded looking to the establishment of a large cotton mill in Rockdale, to employ not less that 5,000 spindles and consumer much of the cotton grown in this county.
Certainly looked the Rockdale-Tracy oil field was going to get developed this year. A pipe line deal has been virtually closed the past week and if the parties to the deal meant business, then the question of marketing facilities will have been settled and the lease holders and land owners will be busy getting more wells drilled and connecting up with the pipe.
Miss Leila Woolley, county tax assessor for Milam, received instructions from the state comptroller’s department to assess all women voters for poll tax, the same as men.
FORTY YEARS AGO...
Red water, look out. The city of Rockdale declared war on you. That was the word from City Manager Robert Luckey and Jim Fischer, public works director, who outlined new maintenance procedures for Rockdale’s water system to go hand-in-hand with the city $975,000 bond issue.
So you think it was hot in the city of Rockdale during the summer of 1980? Well, you are absolutely right. Rockdale may have survived the “Great Texas Heat Wave,” but while it was here June 25 to Sept. 1, it was the longest period of sustained high temperatures in the 56 years of weather records kept by the late Mr. and Mrs W.C. Marrs. Mrs. Marrs died in late December, but kept weather records up until Dec. 15.
County commissioners grappled with the problem of expansion of the Milam County Jail, which had recently be decertified for use as a juvenile detention facility.
TWENTY YEARS AGO...
It’s over. The final two “Texas Seven”—including one with Rockdale ties—surrendered to police in a Colorado Spring, Colorado motel. Four had been arrested earlier in the week in nearby Woodland Springs and a fifth committed suicide in a standoff with police.
Lots of people in Washington got a wave from new president George W. Bush during inauguration day, but not too many got a “Hook ’em Horns” from the former Texas governor. Rockdale’s Allan Miller did.
Relatives, neighbors and friends began a drive for a three-generation family which lost their family home and belongs in a fire. Firefighters arrived to find the house fully engulfed by flames. No one was home at the time of the fire
Rockdale had a slick, new look—at least in a new brochure touting the town. Chamber of Commerce President Denise Doss announced the completion and delivery of the Village Profile promoting Rockdale.
TEN YEARS AGO...
Rockdale ISD school trustees headed into one of their most challenging years ever as Rockdale joined 1,029 other Texas school districts in finding ways to operate with less state money. Supt. Dr. Howell Wright told The Reporter the district was mulling its options in dealing with what looked to be the largest state funding cutbacks in decades.
Hopes for identifying almost half a human skeleton, found by a road cleanup crew in northern Milam County, rested with a team of forensics scientists at Texas State University. Deputy Sheriff Chris White said about 40 percent of a skeleton was found by a crew doing cleanup work for the Texas Department of Transportation five miles north of Cameron.
A demolition firm with strong ties to Rockdale felt it was being left out of the mix by Austin authorities in its quest for a major project in the capitol city. Dixie Demolition bid $18.8 million to demolish the Holly Street Power Plant on Lady Bird Lake. But Dixie finished second by about one-half point in a complex “matrix” ranking devised by city officials. Apparent winner TRC Environmental bid $24.9 million, $6.1 million more than Dixie.
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