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RED ROCK, TEXAS
Bastrop
County, Central
Texas South
29° 57' 35" N, 97° 26' 46" W (29.959722, -97.446111)
FM 812 and FM 20
16 miles SW of Bastrop
the county seat
Population: 40 Est. (2019)
100 Est. (2010),125 (2000) 100 Est. (1960 - 1990)
Book Hotel Here › Bastrop
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History in
a Pecan Shell
In the 1850s
when the people of Red Rock needed to name their community, they
looked around for inspiration. They may have been short of friends
or neighbors they considered worthy - since (so the story goes)
they chose the red rock chimney of their first settler's house.
James Brewer owned the chimney - but evidently they didn't like
Brewerville or Brewerton. It's possible they all owed Jim Brewer
money.
See Naming of Red Rock ›
Prior to choosing Red Rock the village had also been called Hannah
Land. A post office was granted in 1870 and the Red Rock Male
and Female Academy opened its doors later that decade.
In 1884 the population was 150 and the town had both a gristmill
and cotton gin. When the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad arrived
within a mile of the town. People moved to the tracks and within
a few years the population had increased to 200.
By 1909 the town was a healthy population of 500. This was to become
their high-water mark. The yearly output of the Red Rock gin was
2,500 bales of cotton but this
boom was followed by a decline to 350 people by 1914.
Even when oil was discovered in the 30s - the town experienced no
growth. By 1940 the population was below the 1884 figure of 150.
It rose to 250 through the fifties and sixties - but it has returned
back to 100 residents.
Red Rock Landmarks:
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The Old Red Rock
Cemetery refers to the original location of the town. In 1892 the
community moved one mile east, to the newly laid tracks of the Missouri,
Kansas & Texas RR. - John
J Germann
More Texas Cemeteries › |
Red Rock Former
Post Office, 1958
(Across from current post office)
Click on image to enlarge
1958 Photo courtesy Gene Fackler |
Subject:
Red Rock Former Post Office
"In your page about Red Rock, Texas, in Bastrop County, you include
a picture of a building described as the Red Rock Former Post Office.
That is incorrect. The building in that picture was a store owned
and operated by a Mrs. Petty, where she sold meats and other various
goods. The building to the right of that structure with the rusty
roof is the former post office and it still stands today, but is privately
owned.
Attached (above) is a photo of the old post office taken circa 1958,
well before it was replaced in the mid-80s." - Gene Fackler,
December 26, 2020 |
"[A]
store owned and operated by a Mrs. Petty, where she sold meats and
other various goods."
Photo courtesy John
J Germann, May 2016 |
Old Red Rock
Hanna Farm entrance, complete with red rocks
Photo courtesy John
J Germann, May 2016 |
The railroad
still passes through Red Rock.
TE photo, 2002
See Texas Railroads |
RED ROCK, TEXAS
by d.knape
Red Rock, Texas
just a skip and hop
in the rust red dirt
near old Bastrop
What's there to see
there ain't too much
the general store
gas pumps and such
With other towns
it would have been lumped
but truth be told
it's too abrupt
It's standin' still
there ain't no clock
'cause time has stopped
in old Red Rock.
© d.knape
"Once Upon A Line" - Light
verse and poetry by d.knape › |
Book
Hotel Here › Bastrop
Hotels
The Naming
of Red Rock, Texas
Howdy! I was
raised in Red Rock Texas. Just this weekend I was reminiscing about
the old folks' stories about the town. I spent about three hours
a day for years with the town elders downtown while I waited for
my parents to pick me up after the school bus dropped me off. I
got an ear full of old stories. I was wondering if anyone else had
old stories to swap, such as what was the year of the fire that
wiped out the town? I remember stories about the movie theatre and
the sandhills.
I think that the stories of the naming of the town that I have found
on the internet are goofy at best. It is obvious if you have been
out and about in the area that there is a very high iron content
to the rocks and soil. When we were kids and we would play and get
muddy and dirty it was always a red dust film and we would get in
trouble because the red mud (in which we were invariably covered)
was red. The red pigment from the mud would stain our clothes as
well as our skin and we probably looked like wild Indians. Our parents
cars had that unmistakable red film of dust, distinctive to our
little niche, covering their cars from driving down those old red
dirt roads made from local clay- slicker than snot when wet, everyone
kept a tow rope in the trunk. There is even a cutout in the road
out in the sandhills of red rock of which the sides of the walls
which you drive through are deep orange red. Hmm... - Cristina Niemann,
March 7, 2006
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