200px|right|thumb|Rockdale welcome sign

200px|right|thumb|[[Chamber of Commerce building]]

200px|thumb|[[International-Great Northern Railroad Passenger Depot, now a museum]]

200px|right|thumb|[[U.S. Route 79|U.S. 79 is the main street of Rockdale.]]

200px|right|thumb|Kay Theater

Rockdale is a city in Milam County, Texas, United States. Its population was 5,323 at the 2020 census. It is approximately 41 miles west of College Station.

History

thumb|Planta y perfil del reducto proyectado en las márgenes del río San Javier, en la provincia de Texas

As a passing point of the "Camino Real" and the establishment of three missions in the area, a wooden fort was established on the south bank of the San Xavier River, to protect those missions, circa 1751. The fort was called San Francisco Xavier de Gigedo Presidio.[https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/san-francisco-xavier-de-gigedo-presidio][https://www.elcaminorealdelostejas.org/brazos-region/]<gallery widths="200">

File:Reducto San Xavier Texas.jpg|<small>Planta y perfil del reducto proyectado en las márgenes del río San Javier, en la provincia de Texas</small>

</gallery>In 1873, the town developed as the International-Great Northern Railroad came through the area. Rockdale was named for a nearby rock that stood 12 feet high and had a circumference of 20 feet. Rockdale was incorporated in 1878. The rock's location was subsequently lost, and is believed to be north of the city limits.

Geography

Rockdale is located at (30.654674, –97.007439).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen climate classification, Rockdale has a humid subtropical climate, Cfa on climate maps.

Demographics

Demographic statistics below rely on the United States Census Bureau's decennial counts.

Racial and ethnic composition

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census

! Race !! Number !! Percent

|-

| White || 3,326 || 62.5%

|-

| Black or African American || 643 || 12.1%

|-

| American Indian and Alaska Native || 40 || 0.8%

|-

| Asian || 36 || 0.7%

|-

| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 6 || 0.1%

|-

| Some other race || 595 || 11.2%

|-

| Two or more races || 677 || 12.7%

|-

| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 1,686 || 31.7%

|}

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Rockdale had a population of 5,323, 2,137 households, and 1,154 families. The median age was 38.2 years, with 25.2% of residents under the age of 18 and 18.4% of residents 65 or older; for every 100 females there were 90.7 males and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 84.8 males age 18 and over.

96.5% of residents lived in urban areas, while 3.5% lived in rural areas.

There were 2,137 households in Rockdale, of which 33.0% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 40.0% were married-couple households, 18.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 35.0% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 31.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The Alcoa plant profoundly changed the city, as noted in a Saturday Evening Post article by Rockdale native George Sessions Perry. Within a few years of its arrival in 1952, Rockdale almost doubled in population, changing in character from a predominantly agricultural economy to one heavily driven by manufacturing jobs. Smelting operations were halted at the Alcoa plant in 2008. The Alcoa plant closed in February 2014 when production at the atomizer ceased.

Rockdale was also the site of the Sandow Power Plant, which closed in 2018.

Two cryptocurrency miners, Bitdeer, a division of Bitmain, and Riot Platforms, formerly known as Bioptix, occupy former Alcoa facilities less than half a mile apart in Rockdale, using electricity transmission lines built to connect smelters to the power plant. As of 2023, the Riot Platforms facility was the most energy-intensive Bitcoin mining operation in the United States, consuming as much electricity as the nearest 300,000 homes and producing 1.92 million tons of carbon emissions per year.

Education

The City of Rockdale is served by the Rockdale Independent School District.

Media

  • The Rockdale Reporter (newspaper)
  • KRXT radio

Notable people

  • Stan Blinka, a former NFL linebacker for the New York Jets, played for Rockdale High School.
  • Lee Roy Caffey, an NFL linebacker, was born in Rockdale and retired there.
  • Le'Raven Clark, an NFL player with the Philadelphia Eagles, is from Rockdale.
  • Kenneth Cockrell, a NASA astronaut, graduated from Rockdale High School in 1968.
  • Pee Wee Crayton, blues guitarist, was born in Rockdale.
  • Mary Sue Whipp Hubbard, the third wife of L. Ron Hubbard, was a Rockdale native.
  • Dan Kubiak served several terms in the Texas House of Representatives while living in Rockdale. His younger brother, L. B. Kubiak, also a Rockdale resident, held the same House seat from 1983 to 1991.
  • Billy Ray Locklin, a former AFL and Canadian Football League defensive back, played for Aycock High School in Rockdale.
  • Claire Myers Owens, author
  • George Sessions Perry, an author, was born in Rockdale, lived much of his life there and set some of his books either in Rockdale or in fictional towns based on Rockdale. He wrote an article about Alcoa coming to Rockdale in the Saturday Evening Post titled "The Town Where It Rains Money".
  • Sam Williams, a former NFL defensive back, played for Rockdale High School.
  • Joseph S. Stiborik was the radar operator on the Enola Gay.

References

  • City of Rockdale official website
  • The Rockdale Reporter