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Downtown Rotan
Photo Courtesy Noel
Kerns, January 2008 |
History in
a Pecan Shell
Rotan began as
White Flat, a town that predated the organization of Fisher
County (1886).
The town managed to hold on until 1906, when the Texas Central Railroad
decided to make the town their western terminus. The railroad arrived
the following year and when they applied for a post office, they found
the name had already been taken.
Enter Ed Rotan, major stockholder in the railroad. The town was soon
renamed in Ed’s honor, and under the new name the town grew in importance
– not just in Fisher
County, but for neighboring Stonewall
and Kent counties
as well.
The population was 500 by 1914 and in 1923 the Rotan Gypsum Plant
was built for the mining and processing of the abundant gypsum. Just
as the Great Depression was unleashing its fury of unemployment and
foreclosures, Rotan had over 1,600 residents and 100 businesses.
The gypsum plant was sold to the National Gypsum Company in 1935 and
eventually became one of the largest of its kind.
The 1940 population grew to 2,029 and ten years later it reached its
zenith at 3,159.
As the rural population of Texas moved to the cities, the population
entered into a period of steady decline. The 1960, 1970 and 1980 population
figures were 2,788, 2,404, and 2,284 (respectively). In 1990 the population
stood at 1,913, which has since declined to the present 1,508 (2010).
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