|
|
 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
The county is named after early colonist Hayden Edwards of Nacogdoches.The
city is named after the Springs. After the courthouse burned, the spelling of
the town changed from Rock Springs to Rocksprings.
1881
was the year the site was selected, the year they got a post office and the year
they were made county seat. The population was 250 in 1892 and the town had everything
they needed. By 1914 the population had doubled.
The tidy courthouse
and jail
sit on the square and speak of a small population. The courthouse was damaged
by a tornado in 1927 that killed nearly 70 people. Both the Courthouse
and The Rocksprings Hotel served as shelters.
Rocksprings underwent
a flurry of activity in the year 2000 with buildings on the square remodeled,
freshly painted or under construction. |
Vintage
postcard of 1927 Rocksprings Tornado destruction
Courtesy of Barrows family |
1927
Tornado injured child
Vintage
photo courtesy of Barrows family |
Wool
and Mohair
Rocksprings
is also a big center for wool and mohair which is attested to by the name of the
weekly newspaper: The Rocksprings Record and Texas Mohair Weekly.
|
Robert
L.Barrows with wagons of wool leaving Rocksprings for Sonora
Texas.
Vintage
photo courtesy of Barrows family |
Historical
Marker TextThe Rock
SpringKnown to
early Texans as one inch flow of water out of rocks. Site of a camp for travelers
and freighters. Occupants of land around the spring included W. J. Greer, with
a sheep camp, 1882; Francis Winans, with a cattle
and sheep ranch,
1884; A. O. Burr, farming, about 1885. Cattlemen,
including Frank Gray, camped here during roundups. Outlaws
in 1880s frequented a hut nearby. Rocksprings Post Office opened 1891 in townsite
platted for a new county seat at center of Edwards County. The rock spring still
seeps in city and county historic park and playground.
(1972) |
 |
 |
Historical
Marker TextRocksprings
Cemetery The town
of Rocksprings traces its beginnings to 1889, when J. R. Sweeten dug the first
water well in the area to serve new settlers. Three years later, in 1892, Sweeten
donated two acres of land to be used as a community cemetery.
There were
some burials at this site prior to its formal designation as a cemetery. Two children,
Willie J. Blackwell and Ben Smith, were interred here in 1891. Many of the people
buried in the Rocksprings Cemetery in the early years were travelers passing through
the area. Among the more than one thousand graves are those of victims of a devastating
tornado which struck the town of April 12, 1927.
Over the years, additional
land acquisitions have increased the size of the cemetery. Iron fencing which
once surrounded some grave sites was donated to scrap metal drives during World
War II.
The Rocksprings Cemetery Association, which originated in
1897, was formally chartered by the state in 1967. Through such projects as surveys
and landscaping, the association continues to maintain the historic graveyard,
which remains as a visible link to the community's past.
(1989) |
 |
|
| Book Hotel Here
- Expedia Affiliate
Network | |
