Through The Reporter Files

Looking back...

100 YEARS AGO....

Another Milam County community passed a “good roads” bond election. By a vote of 25-4, Yarrelton-area voters decided to upgrade a road which would provide a better link to Cameron.

“Miss Blanche” McCalla Hall retired from her position in the dry good department of Scarbrough and Hicks. “(She has) the widest acquaintanceship among social, church and sales people than any one person in Milam County,” The Reporter commented.

The Rockdale Chamber of Commerce had moved into its first headquarters, an expanded room on the first floor of City Hall. The Chamber was sharing the room with offices of the Rockdale Volunteer Fire Department.

Downtown Rosebud had a shock when a black bear emerged from an overgrown area between the railroad depot and Wells’ Gin. Apparently the animal had been living in the area for several days.

FORTY YEARS AGO....

Legendary Rockdale businessman H. H. “Pete” Coffield, died at age 85. Coffield served in the U. S. Navy during World War I and began his business career selling war surplus equipment from the back of a flatbed truck, eventually amassing a fortune.

Trustees in the Lexington Independent School District were set to open bids for a new high school and gym. District voters in March had okayed a $1-million bond package for the projects.

An estimated 250 persons attended the annual Rockdale Homecoming at Fair Park. RHS classes of 1928, 1929 and 1930 held class reunions to coincide with homecoming.

Vernon Fewell, head football coach and athletic director at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, was named head coach/AD at Lexington. He replaced Mike Organ who lead the Eagles to the Class A state championship game in 1978.

TWENTY YEARS AGO....

Rockdale’s annual late spring Jubilee Days celebration had a new “flavor,” dewberry. A dewberry cookoff joined the traditional events that included dances and a rodeo.

Just before Jubilee Days began, burglars hit the announcers stand at the Roping and Cutting Club rodeo arena, making off with $1,100 in electronic equipment.

Contributions to expansion of the city’s Lucy Hill Patterson Memorial Library had reached $132,000. A goal of $200,000 was set as the library was expanding into the adjacent Vogel Building.

After the 1998 crops disaster which was Milam County agriculture—59 days of 100-degree-plus heat and virtually no rain—the 199 corn crop was bouncing back with yields of 100 bushels per acre.

TEN YEARS AGO....

After meeting for three consecutive mornings, the Rockdale City Council still had not selected a new city manager from a field of seven finalists for the vacant position.

A making-pornography-available-to-children raid on a Cameron home ended in one arrest and Child Protective Services taking into custody five children ages “very young” to 16.

Jubilee Days, Rockdale’s annual late spring event, was returning to its traditional first weekend in June date after eight years in July. Jubilee Days featured dances a rodeo and a tractor pull.

With construction at the “new” Rockdale High School—the building was being renovated and expanded—the high school office staff had moved to the junior-high for the summer.