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History in a Pecan
Shell
First settled in the 1830s, the community was named for early
Alabaman settler Willis I. Roan, who came here in 1841. With the help of slaves,
Roan built a large house and opened a general store.
He also served as
the town’s first postmaster when a post office was granted in 1849. The town was
located on the Huntsville-San
Antonio line, so Roan’s Prairie became a stage stop as well.
The
International-Great Northern Railroad ran a line through Roan’s Prairie (from
Madisonville) in 1903. Shortly thereafter,
the town was organized by the Smith Land and Improvement Company who renamed the
town as Steadmanville, Texas. But this cumbersome name lacked the romantic
sound of the former name and it was soon known again as Roan’s Prairie.
A quarry was developed just north of town and the railroad ran a spur to it. Sand,
gravel, and rock were hauled out of Grimes County – much of it going to the then-under-construction
Galveston
Seawall.
The estimated population of Roans Prairie in 1915 was 250
but declined to only 100 during the Great Depression. At the close of WWII
it had grown to 150 (also an estimate) and remained there until the late 1960s
when it was recorded at 56 – the same figure that’s been used ever since.
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