Name: Gause, Texas
Address: Gause, TX

Rockdale, TX RoadyGoat

Rockdale sits nestled in the heart of the post oak savanna, its story deeply intertwined with the land itself. The town owes its existence to the railroad, arriving in 1874 and transforming a scattering of homesteads into a proper town—a place to ship cotton and cattle, a place to buy supplies. Even the name, Rockdale, speaks to the terrain that shaped it, different from the blackland prairie to the east. But it was the discovery of lignite coal that really put Rockdale on the map in the 20th century. That black gold fueled an enormous aluminum smelting plant, bringing jobs and transforming the town's economy for decades. While the plant is now closed, and agriculture remains a key part of the economy, Rockdale still carries that industrial legacy in its bones. You can feel it in the broad streets, designed to handle heavy trucks, and in the faces of the people who remember a time of boom. Today, visitors might come for the small-town charm, the quiet escape from city life. But ask a local why people stay, and they’ll tell you it's the community, the shared history, the enduring spirit of a town that has weathered booms and busts, and still calls itself home. And, of course, they'll probably mention that '97 state football championship at Rockdale High. That's still talked about a lot.

19.1 mi away

Rockdale, TX RoadyGoat

Rockdale's a place where the past feels close, a living thing. Drive around, and you’ll see the post oak savanna stretching out, much like it did when the Tonkawa called this land home. But the real story, for me anyway, is the people who left their mark here. We’re not talking about sprawling cities with endless lists of famous names, but a few folks who carried a piece of Rockdale with them.

19.1 mi away

Rockdale, TX RoadyGoat

Rockdale's always been a town tied to industry and the land. For decades, the Alcoa plant dominated the landscape, both physically and economically. You could see it for miles, those towering structures a testament to the jobs it provided. But when Alcoa closed in 2008, it left a hole bigger than any mine pit. Folks worried about the future, about how a town of around 5,300 could possibly recover from such a blow. It was a tough time, no doubt, but Rockdale's got a resilience you can't deny. Now, you see a different kind of energy, a cautious optimism. The old Alcoa land is being repurposed, attracting new kinds of businesses. Agriculture, of course, remains a constant, just like the post oak savanna that surrounds us. But there's a renewed focus on small business, on creating a future that isn't dependent on one single giant. And you still hear the echoes of the past, too. It’s a slow climb, but there's a feeling that Rockdale's finding its footing again, building on its history while looking ahead.

19.1 mi away

Nashville

1835

Surveyed in the fall of 1835 as the capital of Robertson's colony. Named for Nashville, Tennessee where Sterling C. Robertson and many of his colonists had formerly lived. Seat of justice Milam municipality, 1836; Milam County, 1837. First home in Texas of George C. Childress, chairman of the committee who drafted the Texas Declaration of Independence.

Historical Marker → · 4.9 mi away

The Town of Gause

1872

William J. Gause (1829-1914), born in Alabama, moved to Texas in 1849, to the Brazos region in 1856, and to this locality in 1872. Buying lumber in Montgomery, he gave his friend Dan Fowler half in return for hauling it here. The two built the first homes in this settlement. In 1873, Gause gave right of way and 100 acres of land to the International & Great Northern Railroad, and the town was platted. Gause Post Office opened in 1874, with James S. Reynolds as postmaster. The I. G. N. freighted out great quantities of cotton, and the town thrived. Cotton gins, stores, blacksmith shops, a lumber yard, a bank, hotels, livery stables, a newspaper and other businesses were established. Besides W. J. Gause, civic leaders included Dr. J. E. Brown, Richard Cox, Dr. James dollar, Lafayette Ely, Bill Faubian, Dan Fowler, J. C. Lister, C. C. Moore, Dr. John Porter, Frank Thomas, and T. L. Watts. Churches were organized and a Masonic Lodge chartered. The county's first independent school was established in Gause. Good highways, mechanized farming, and decline of railroading halted commerce in the town of Guase. It survives, however, as a residential site chosen by descendants of the pioneers and by commuters of industrial plants and businesses in this vicinity.

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Gause, TX

1872

Gause is on U.S. Highway 79 and the Missouri Pacific line sixteen miles southeast of Cameron in eastern Milam County. It was named for William J. Gause, who moved to the area in 1872 and built a home out of lumber hauled from Montgomery. In 1873 he gave right-of-way and 100 acres to the International-Great Northern Railroad, and the town of Gause grew rapidly. A schoolhouse, which doubled as a church, was built there in 1876. By 1884 Gause had steam cotton gins, grist and saw mills, two churches, and 300 residents. Area farmers shipped cotton, cottonseed oil, and corn. The Gause Independent School District, which was established in 1905, was the first such district in Milam County. The town reached its peak of prosperity around 1915 with an estimated population of 1,000. Gause began to decline in the 1920s. Its bank, which had been in operation since 1910, was discontinued in 1927. The number of businesses dropped from twenty in the early 1940s to four in the 1960s. Mechanized farming, improved highways, and the declining importance of the railroad contributed to a decrease in commercial activity in Gause. The town's population fell from 750 in the 1940s to 278 by the late 1960s and 210 by the early 1970s. This downward trend was reversed in the late 1980s as more people chose to live in Gause and commute to jobs in nearby industrial plants. In the early 1990s Gause reported 400 residents and eight businesses. The population remained the same in 2000, though only four businesses were reported.

Tsha Handbook →

Pin Oak Cemetery

1850

This burial ground, which extends along Pin Oak Creek, has served the rural Pin Oak Settlement, as well as the surrounding gause, hanover and liberty communities. Most of the area settlers, the earliest of whom were here by the 1850s, took advantage of the area’s fertile soil and engaged in agriculture. Many of the early Pin Oak settlers were related, with a number coming from Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, and Morgan and Marshall counties in Alabama. The settlers established a school prior to the Civil War, which served Pin Oak until it consolidated with the Milano Independent School District in 1949. This property was deeded by Walker P. Perkins for use as a cemetery in 1896, when he conveyed it to trustees W.H. Spinks, R.T. Littleton and John Ditto. The earliest known burials, of Charles Shafer and then James D. Faubion, occurred in 1861, though there may be older unmarked graves. Cemetery features include vertical stones, curbing and obelisks. Among the interred are veterans of conflicts dating to the civil war. The Pin Oak community began to decline after World War II, as many residents followed the national trend in moving to urban areas for employment opportunities. The cemetery deteriorated, but concerned family members worked to preserve the burial ground. Today, residents and relatives of the deceased continue to care for the cemetery, which serves as a record of the pioneering men and women of the Pin Oak community.

Historical Marker → · 3.9 mi away

Hearne, TX

1858

Hearne is on the Missouri Pacific and the Southern Pacific railroads, U.S. highways 79 and 190, and State Highway 6, twelve miles southwest of Franklin and nine miles south of Calvert in southwestern Robertson County. It is on land originally granted to José Francisco Ruiz , Mexican commander of Fort Tenoxtitlán in 1830. In the 1840s Code Brown operated a tavern and stage stop in the area. Passengers traveling between Houston and Port Sullivan stopped there for refreshments, and the tavern functioned as the local post office and general store. During the 1850s Robertson County grew rapidly. The Hearnes, gentlemen planters of the Old South, moved in 1852 to the region, where they acquired 10,000 acres. There they operated large cotton plantations. In 1858 Christopher C. Hearne, determined to construct a railroad through the county, offered railroad promoters right-of-way and townsite land. However, the Civil War erupted before the railroad reached Hearne's plantation, and work halted. Eventually, Hearne's widow deeded 700 acres to the Houston and Texas Central Railway. Railroad construction resumed in 1867 and finally arrived at the new Hearne depot in April 1868. Soon large homes, a hotel, general stores, several saloons (initially housed in tents), and a drugstore lined the streets of Hearne. Soon thereafter churches organized, a Masonic hall was built, and Daniel Brady established a cotton gin. A post office opened in 1869. In 1870 the International-Great Northern negotiated a right-of-way across Robertson County on an east-west axis. The two lines intersected at Hearne. The cotton gins and two railroads established Hearne as the regional center for cotton marketing. The town incorporated in 1871 and in 1885 had four churches, schools, two gristmill-cotton gins, two hotels, and a newspaper, the Hearne Enterprise . The Hearne Democrat was published by J. Felton Lane in 1911. The population grew from 1,300 in 1885 to 2,129 by 1900 and 3,511 in 1940. German prisoners of war were housed at a camp built just west of the Hearne city limits in 1942. The camp housed up to 8,000 men, and the first prisoners arrived early in 1943. The facility closed in 1946. By the 1960s Hearne had an airstrip and businesses involved in manufacturing and agricultural industries. In 1991 it had a factory that manufactured steel tanks and cotton gin machinery, a vitreous sanitary ware plant, an oil mill, and a door factory. In addition, the town served as a terminal for the distribution of petroleum products, operated dehydration facilities, and was a regional center for the marketing of cotton and other agricultural products. The population in 1990 was 5,132; in 2000 it was 4,690.

Tsha Handbook → · 9.8 mi away

Milano, TX

1874

Milano is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 79 and State Highway 36, twelve miles southeast of Cameron in southeastern Milam County. The International-Great Northern Railroad laid out the original site of Milano in 1874 about 1½ miles west of what is now its site. A post office opened the same year, and a Baptist church was soon established; the community became a voting precinct in 1880. Local sources offer several possibilities for the origin of the name. One story suggests that the town was named for Milan, Italy, because of the similarity of the climates; another says that the name was to have been Milam, but the Post Office Department either got it wrong or changed it intentionally because a Milam, Texas, already existed. When the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway built the section of track between Brenham and Belton in 1881, it established the town of Milano Junction at its intersection with the International-Great Northern, less than two miles east of Milano. As the focus of local social and economic life gradually shifted to the new town, Milano became known as Old Milano and Milano Junction became Milano. By the 1880s Milano was a commercial center with 500 residents and served as a shipping point for cotton and hides produced in the area. Truck farming became an important industry for Milano in the 1920s, with tomatoes, watermelon, and cantaloupes as the principal crops. Milano reached a peak in 1939, when 920 residents were reported there. The number of residents began to decline in the early 1940s and fell to a low of 380 by the early 1970s before beginning to grow again in the late 1970s. When Milano was incorporated in the early 1980s, it had 468 residents; its population was reported as 495 in 1988 and 408 in 1990. By 2000 the population was 400.

Tsha Handbook → · 9.6 mi away

Gause, Texas

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Rockdale, TX RoadyGoat

Rockdale, TX RoadyGoat

Rockdale, TX RoadyGoat

Nashville

The Town of Gause

Gause, TX

Pin Oak Cemetery

Hearne, TX

Milano, TX

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