SEPTEMBER IN ROUND ROCK  (dates in history)

A special thanks the Round Rock Leader for letting the museum  
post these wonderful Articles.
The Time Capsules stories are prepared by Bob Brinkman
Texas Historical Commission

1689:   Captain Alonso de Leon establishes routes from New Spain to planned missions in East Texas; El Camino Real (The King’s Highway) crosses rivers at present San Antonio, Bastrop and Navasota, while El Camino de Arriba (The Upper Road) crosses Brushy Creek and the San Gabriel River.

 1848:   The first school in Williamson County is established at Moss' Spring on Lake Creek, just west of Round Rock.

 1850:   U. S. Census reports the population for Williamson County (created two years earlier) as 1,568; Cole House (the Inn at Brushy Creek) is built.

 1867:   Greenwood Masonic Institute, a college in Old Round Rock, opens for its first year of classes.

 1876:   The Burnet Bulletin reports that Round Rock has 600 inhabitants.

 1889:   The Reverend J. P. Phipps arrives to assume his duties as professor of ancient and modern languages at the Round Rock Institute; also, a thunderstorm ends a 60-day drought.

 1890:   While some school districts in the county vote against 10 cent tax assessments for school improvements, Old and New Round Rock vote 113-18 to impose a 20 cent school tax for every $100 of property.

 1897:   Bradford Brothers' gin at Round Rock burns, along with 200 tons of cotton seed and 3,000 pounds of bagging; the total loss is over $10,000.

1915:   The school board decides "the study of Latin will no longer be compulsory, but left to the option of the student and parent"; also, Professor B. F. Russell organizes Round Rock High School's first athletic association.

 1921:   A hurricane moves ashore and floods Central Texas; Thrall is inundated by 38 inches of rain in 18 hours (over a year's average rainfall in less than a day); 215 people are killed in the flooding (92 in Williamson County alone); it is the deadliest flooding in state history and property damage surpasses $19 million (over 300 million dollars today).

 1938:   The Columbia radio network (CBS - local station KNOW) features a tribute to Round Rock and its retail storekeepers on the Wrigley’s Gum program.

 1950:   Mr. and Mrs. Louis Henna establish the Texas Baptist Children's Home.

 1987:   The Moving Wall, a smaller-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D. C., spends a week in Round Rock.

view other Time Capsule stories