HISTORY PAGE The Rockdale I&GN Railroad and Depot

Welcome to the award winning Rockdale International & Great Northern Railroad Depot & Heritage Museum, a restoration project undertaken by the Rockdale Historical Society in 2000.

HISTORY OF ROCKDALE, MILAM COUNTY, TEXAS

Rockdale was founded as a train town in 1873 when the International & Great Northern Railroad acquired right-of-way in Milam County and began laying out the town site of Rockdale. Specific strips of land on both sides of the track were marked off solely for the passenger depot and construction of freight warehouses for freight pickup and deliveries by the railroad company. The first Rockdale train depot,constructed in the 1873-1874 timeframe, was a wooden structure located at the foot of Ackerman and Milam streets that served as a combination passenger and freight station.

With the arrival of the railroad, the cotton crop of 1873 could be shipped by rail and the town of Rockdale quickly became a freight center for Milam County.


Rockdale's Hotel District near the International Railroad (IG) Depot

In May of 1874, this wild new settlement along the International Railroad had enought citizens to call for an incorporation meeting as authorized under the texas election code. On May 8, 1874, the vote on incorporation passed by a majority. The first mayor of Rockdale was Alfred A. Burck.


Downtown Scene in Early-Day Rockdale



I & GN Engine and crew that came to Rockdale about 1880





Early day I & GN passenger train




Around the turn of the century, Rockdale continued to grow and the I & GN Railroad prospered creating the need for new depot facilities. A new passenger depot with red brick exterior and cupola was constructed at the corner of Main and Milam streets (about a block west of the original wooden depot structure). The freight depot and platform was built west of the new passenger depot and also had a red brick exterior.


Rockdale's International and Great Northern Railroad Passenger Depot was built in 1900 and restored a hundred years later.

This is a work in progress. Come back often and send me your stories and old pictures and I'll post them on the web.

Leonard Kubiak, 1264 FM2116, Rockdale, Texas 76567 (PHONE: 512 630-4619)

email address: leonard@forttumbleweed.net