1896 :: First Bale of Cotton

Rockdale, Tex., July 24. -- The first bale of cotton of this season's crop was brought in here yesterday morning, was ginned by Mr. Rexford Wells, and was sold to Strelsky & Clark for 6.80c. There was a premium of $12.50 paid, making it net the owner $52.75. The bale of cotton was raised by Mr. Forrest Randle on Mr. John T. Randle's farm in Little river valley about fifteen miles northwest of Rockdale, it weighed 598 pounds and classed middling. This is the earliest by three days that the first bale was ever before received here. Galveston Daily News, July 26, 1896

1897 :: A Fatal Explosion

Rockdale, Tex., Oct. 10. -- One of the seventy-five horse-power boilers of the water and electric light plant blew up last night, completely wrecking the entire plant, house and machinery. An eight-foot section of the front end of the boiler was blown three blocks away, passing over several houses, and fell on Mr. Rexford Wells' seed shute, completely demolishing it and otherwise damaging his gin house. The other portion of the boiler was blown about a block in the opposite direction, landing in Mr. Davis' cow lot. Two large pieces of timber crashed through the roof and ceiling of Mrs. Charles Brieger's house, over a block away, and completely demolished two bedsteads on which he and three other members of his family were sleeping. Fortunately none of the family were hurt. The fireman, Mr. Antone Strelsky, was killed, and M. Wooldridge and J.L. Wooldridge, father and son, injured, the young man seriously. The town is left without light or water, and it is thought it will be thirty days before either can be supplied. The situation grows more serious every hour, as the people realize they are entirely without water and the difficulty of procuring it. The loss is estimated at $8000. Dallas Morning News, October 11, 1897

1901 :: Fearful Boiler Explosion

Fearful Boiler Explosion. One Man Killed and Several Injured at Rockdale - Waterworks Entire Wrecked. Special to The News. 

Rockdale, Tex., Sept. 19. -- At 10:40 o'clock this morning one of the immense twin boilers of the Rockdale water and electric light plant exploded with a terrific crash. The concussion was so great that the jar was felt for a mile away. The entire plant is a total wreck. Nothing remains but a tangled mass of torn and twisted machinery, lumber and other building material.


There were six men in and around the building. All of them escaped with their lives except Snort Wilson, the fireman, who was in the front of the boiler, firing. He was blown across an eighty-foot street and hurled against a strong board fence with such force that a section of the fence was carried away. He was so badly scalded and bruised that he was almost unrecognizable and died in a few minutes.


R.H. Ames, superintendent and general manager; George De Board, William Jones and Charles Fithur, employes, and Will Pleasants, a bystander, were all more or less injured, as was also a child of Otto Lingert, playing in a yard near by.


Sections of the boiler and other portions of the machinery were blown into the air and landed with terrible force for 200 yards around. This explosion, coming in the midst of a long-continued drouth, makes the water problem a serious questions in this city. The water in the standpipe is shut off for fire purposes, so that the citizens are left without water.


A similar explosion occurred in the same plant on the same ground Oct. 9, 1897, in which Anton Strelsky lost his life. The loss to the company is estimated at 6,000 to $10,000. Dallas Morning News, September 20, 1901

1895 :: Bone of a Mastadon

Rockdale, Milam Co., Tex., April 14. -- Andrew Strelsky, living six miles north of town on Little river, came in town yesterday with the bone of an animal supposed to be from a mastadon. What part of the animal it represents has not yet been determined, but it is believed to be the lower jaw. It would represent from its dimensions, an animal about twenty or twenty-two feet high. It is in a very good state of preservation. About three years ago the foreleg of such an animal was found on the banks of the Brazos above Velasco, which probably came from the same source, floated there by a rise in the river. This section, from the number of specimens, was at one time the feeding grounds for these large animals. An investigation will be made. The bone is now at the drug store of Wallis & Glesecke. Galveston Daily News, April 15, 1895

1887 :: Drowning of Fowler Kopp

Drowned by the Boat Overturning. Rockdale, Tex., May 16. -- Yesterday afternoon while three German farmers were fishing in a boat in the San Gabriel, about six miles north of town, the boat capsized and one of them, Fowler Kopp, was drowned. Deceased was a single man and a tenant on Anton Strelsky's plantation. Dallas Morning News, May 17, 1887