Hearne, May 30. -- The people of this city are again called upon to witness a sad accident in railroad life. The victim is a promising young man by the name of John Cole, a resident of Rockdale, Texas, and lately a brakeman on the I. and G.N. railroad. Young Cole, it seems, was attempting to board a freight train, and missing his hold was crushed beneath the wheels, severing his left arm near the shoulder and crushing his left leg below the knee. Owing to some delays that it seems could not be avoided the patient lost a good deal of blood. Drs. Morrison and Matkin, of this place, and Drs. Horton and Walker, of Rockdale, are in attendance, but up to 8 o'clock P. M. the man is too weak from loss of blood to endure the amputation of his mangled limbs, and but little hope is entertained of his recovery. Galveston Daily News, May 31, 1878
Rockdale, Tex., June 11. -- When the new $75,000 high school building now under course of construction is completed and turned over to the trustees Aug. 1, and before the old building, which, it is proposed to turn over to the negro schools, is demolished, it is planned to have a general reunion of all the ex-students, teachers and trustees of the Rockdale public schools since organization, 1884, holding a two days celebration upon the campus.
At a recent meeting of the Parent-Teachers' Association the plan was presented by Ira Perry, formerly a student of this school, but now a resident of San Antonio. C.R. Stribling, president of the Citizens' State Bank, was named as general chairman of arrangements.
Among other attractions of the reunion will be speeches and talks from the ex-students, many of whom have attained distinction in public life since leaving the walls of their alma mater, some of whom are: J.L. Lockett, attorney of Fort Worth; H.W. Wallace, attorney of Cuero; F.A. Wallace, attorney of Cameron; Dr. S.S. Woody, physician of Philadelphia; E.H. Perry of Austin, prominent cotton factor; J. Earls Longmoor, vice president of Drovers National Bank, Kansas City; Leon Rasberry, attorney of Washington County; Charles L. Baxter, wholesale lumber dealer of Chicago; Dr. Thomas D. Baxter, physician of Chilton; Miss Gleanie Wilson, now Mrs. W.T. Corby, teacher of Calvert; Miss Fannie Stribling, wife of W.A. Morrison, lawyer of Cameron; Miss Lena Wright, wife of A.C. Walker, physician of Fort Worth; Miss Gussie Rowlett, well-known instructor of Arkansas, and others. The Galveston Daily News, Monday, June 12, 1922
Rockdale Reporter, Thursday, June 5, 1997. Homecoming's Deep Roots Traced to '33-'34 Gatherings.
Rockdale's annual homecoming . . . has some mighty deep roots. Franklin D. Roosevelt had been in office less than three months and not too many people outside Germany had even heard of a fellow named Hitler when the Rockdale Home Coming (that's the way it was chartered) Association was formed on a sunny Sunday in 1933. . . .
Rockdale's annual homecomings are the brainchild of Ira Perry, a rancher and former Rockdale resident who settled in the Pipe Creek area of Bandera County but never lost contact with Milam County. Under Perry's guidance, a small group gathered at Fair Park in June 1933, for the first homecoming.
They elected officers and planned a 'full-fledged' homecoming the next year. That's the meeting where it was decided to hold the annual homecoming on the second Sunday of June. Marion Burck Smith of Austin was named the first association president with Mrs. C.M. Sessions of Rockdale vice-president, Perry as secretary, and Mrs. D.H. Sanford of Rockdale and Mrs. W.A. Morrison of Cameron as historians.
The Rockdale Reporter termed the 1933 gathering "a rather impromptu affair" but had praise for Perry. "The fact that he was named to the key position of the organization is a guarantee that the next annual meeting will be largely attended," John Esten Cooke, Reporter editor, wrote.
FIRST TRAIN. Rockdale roots don't come much deeper than those of Mrs. Smith, first homecoming association president. She was the daughter of A.A. Burck, Rockdale's first mayor. Burck brought his family to Rockdale on the first International & Great Northern (I&GN) train that chugged into the new town in 1874. Rockdale's official founding is traced to that year, when the bustling new community was the railroad's western terminus.
Mayor E.A. Camp called the first homecoming to order and delivered a speech. "An hour or two was then spent in general conversation and the relating of reminiscences of the 'good old days.' Miss Polly Smith of Austin, the attractive daughter of the president, and an expert photographer, took several pictures of the group." In addition to Rockdale, Cameron, Austin and Pipe Creek, the first homecoming drew participants from Dallas, Rocksprings, Taylor, Palestine, San Antonio, Bastrop and Houston.
MOMENTUM. Perry began the next day to seek addresses of "all former Rockdale citizens" for the next event. Having decided to hold each reunion on the second Sunday in June, the new association used an interesting 1934 calendar and scheduled the next homecoming for June 3.
Nevertheless, over 60 persons participated including E.H. and W.A. Richardson of Dallas, sons of Rockdale's first lumber dealer, and C.G. Green of Hamlin, Rockdale school superintendent for almost two decades. City Secretary Branch Lewis, R.L. Orr and Mayor Camp helped organize the meeting.
Names of those attending form almost a litany of Rockdale history and include Marrs, Isaacs, Sessions, Baxter, Phillips, Bullock, Williams, Baggerly, Mundine, Porter, Henry, York, Wallace and, as the Reporter noted, "probably others who failed to register."
The 1933 and 1934 meetings provided the momentum for all future homecomings. . . .
