100 YEARS AGO...
Rockdale was going after an established Trade Day, selecting the second Monday as the day for all traders to meet and transact business. Upon report of Ben Loewenstein Jr., chairman of the Trade Extension committee, the board of directors voted an appropriation for advertising and other necessary expenses to make the event a success from the start and get it established as a permanent Rockdale institution.
A special called meeting of the Rockdale Truck Growers and Marketing Association was to be held Feb. 19 in the Chamber of Commerce Executive Office. Business of much importance was to come before the meeting and every member was urged to be present, as well as all others who desired to line up with the association for new money this summer.
Rockdale and Milam County could now lay claim to owning probably the most famous registered Poland China hog ever brought to Texas. It is the hog that put Bartlett on the map and started the Bartlett National Pig Club. The hog, Big Bone G, could be found at Mr. W.E. Gaither’s farm just north of town.
FORTY YEARS AGO...
There wasn’t an oil boom in Milam County yet, but it was definitely approaching the “boomlet” stage. Oil well drilling was on the upswing in Milam in recent years and although Milam oil activity was not as big as Lee or Burleson counties, the southeast quadrant of the county had been experiencing almost all of the recent drilling activity.
Seven Milano residents, including three juveniles, were arrested in connection with a series of break-ins at Milano High School dating back at least one year.
Two Milam County men being sought in connection with the Feb. 7 break-in at Tindall’s City Food Market were arrested in New Mexico.
The skeletal remains found by two trappers in northeast Milam County on Jan. 26 had been identified as those of a Waco man missing for a year and a half. Sheriff Leroy Broadus said the skeleton has been identified as Clifton L. Strickland, 65, who was reported missing in July of 1979.
TWENTY YEARS AGO...
A seething Rockdale City Council took the first steps toward “changing the channel” on the town’s cable television franchise. Fed up with what they say was a sub-par product, little or no service and years of inattention from Classic Cable, council members voted to send a letter of noncompliance to the company.
Rockdale’s Ken Cockrell guided the space shuttle Atlantis to a rendezvous with the international space station in a flight that had been one for the history books.
Faced with opposition from the Rockdale area, directors of the Brushy Creek Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 may have had second thoughts about a half-cent property tax election. Directors did not call for the election.
Pearl Harbor was 10 months away and local residents probably thought Alcoa was an Italian food when the Rockdale Lions Club was organized 60 years ago.
TEN YEARS AGO...
A suspect from a methamphetamine drug sting escaped a multi-agency pursuit in a chase that involved two vehicle crashes by the wanted man and Precinct 3 Constable Herbie Vaughan.
“We’re putting everything on the table.” Well, almost everything. Rockdale ISD was grappling with an anticipated annual loss of between $600,000 and $1.7 million in state support. A well-regarded company
A well-regarded company which provides housing units for senior citizens wanted to build an 80-unit complex in Rockdale. City council members, meeting in regular session at City Hall, also heard councilman Allan Miller lament the state of ongoing cleanup efforts in the city. Gary Maddock, representing Hunters Chase, said the $10-million complex was proposed for a 22-acre tract off East Belton, east of the Yoakum Street corner, in northeast Rockdale.
The Milam County Health Department was offering meningitis vaccines, according to Michelle Ferguson, public health preparedness coordinator. Shots were $5 for children ages 11 to 18.
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