Rock Hill - south of Prosper
Site of
ROCK HILL PROBABLY NAMED FOR THE WHITE ROCK ESCARPMENT ON WHICH IT WAS BUILT, ROCK HILL WAS ESTABLISHED BY DECEMBER 1854 WHEN JOHN MOORE BECAME ITS FIRST POST- MASTER. BY THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY THE TOWN BOASTED TWO SCHOOLS, FOUR CHURCHES, THREE DOCTORS, A GRIST MILL, GENERAL STORE, COTTON GIN, BLACKSMITH, DRUGSTORE, DRY GOODS AND GROCERY AND A POPULATION OF 115. IN 1902 THE ST. LOUIS AND SAN FRANCISCO RAILROAD BYPASSED THE TOWN, AND WITHIN MONTHS MOST OF THE BUSINESSES, TOWNS- PEOPLE AND CHURCHES HAD RELOCATED TO PROSPER. THE LITTLE COMMUNITY SURVIVED FOR SEVERAL MORE YEARS. IN THE MID-1930s AN AFRICAN AMERICAN BAPTIST CHURCH WAS THE ONLY ONE REMAINING. THE ANGLO SCHOOL CLOSED IN 1948; THE BLACK SCHOOL CLOSED IN THE 1960s. A GENERAL STORE, THE LAST REMNANT OF ROCK HILL, WAS RAZED IN 1973. MOVING ROCK HILL. TOWN BEING TRANSPORTED BY TWO BIG ENGINES. TO PROSPER ON NEW FRISCO. Texas Historical marker, 2000 |
ON THE WING
McKinney Weekly Democrat Gazette, August 22, 1912
G. J. Barlow and Miss Emma Collins were united in the holy bonds of wedlock Oct. 12, 1886, and only two boys call them by the endearing names of papa and mama. Over seven hundred acres of rich black land are on record in the county clerk's office as belonging to them. More than five thousand bushels of wheat and something over two thousand bushels of oats have been threshed and doubtless the proceeds from the sale of this grain will be placed where it will do the most good. Besides his crops of grain and cotton he keeps hogs. A herd of forty he is going to begin feeding within a very short time and sell the bacon to his neighbors who don't think it pays to raise hogs. Jersey cows to furnish milk and butter to the family with a good garden in which grow vegetables always in plenty and ready for use, no wonder prosperity smiles in the Barlow home. A flock of one hundred and twenty sheep, Shropshire and crossed with the Hampshire Down are kept for raising mutton, wool and for their use on the farm-that of keeping the ground clean of weeds and because they enrich the soil. Another flock of one hundred and forty recently purchased in Fort Worth, kept on stubble land and altogether separate from the home sheep, are to rid the fields recently harvested of weeds and when that is accomplished will be reshipped to Fort Worth and sold, the difference in weight after several weeks' run on pasture will more than pay cost of transportation both ways. We counted a flock of eighty turkeys that Mrs. Barlow is raising for Thanksgiving and requested us to inform the editors of the Democrat-Gazette and Daily Courier-Gazette that one of the largest would be on that occasion provided the field man was allowed the exalted privilege of dining with the family on that day. Mr. Barlow is a Republican of the Lincoln-Taft type and as a result of ridding the party of the Bull Moose there will be, in his opinion, one hundred thousand of straight Republican votes cast in Texas next November.
W. A. Wright a Tennesseean, but came to Texas two years ago, wants to get acquainted with Collin county and the quickest and surest way to accomplish it is by subscribing for the Democrat-Gazette which he did and we thank him for doing so.
Shelby Adams is the only merchant of Foncine although his store is located in the Rock Hill School district. His business has been real good since harvest and to the best of our knowledge the only country store making free deliveries. Reads the Daily Courier-Gazette and says its the best of county dailies.
Walter bridges has been a reader of the Democrat-Gazette for about ten years and we thank him for the kindly sentiments expressed and also for cash on renewal.
W. P. Brooks is another Tennesseean but in 1898 came to Texas where he has since resided. Only ten children and seven of them girls make home pleasant and very attractive to the young men. Cultivates one hundred and fifty acres of land and his crop of eighty acres of cotton looks very promising. He is a new reader of the Democrat-Gazette and we hope he'll continue to abide with us.
J. F. Brooks, son of the above, but three years ago got married to Miss Leona Burgner to whom a wee tot of only eighteen months was born and for whom later on he'll buy laces and other furbelows to make her attractive to the boys. He acts wisely by subscribing for the biggest and best of all country weeklies, the Democrat-Gazette.
J. E. Wilson a Texan since 1882 and owns a farm of over two hundred acres in the "flats" and reluctantly admitted that he was water bound in a certain state east of Oklahoma. Reads the Daily Courier-Gazette and says its a splendid county paper.
W. T. Thorp is one of our latest additions at Rock Hill and we are glad to say owns a pretty home and small farm in the town. We hope he'll find in the Democrat-Gazette -the paper he was looking for one that gives the news while the same is fresh.
Sorry we did not find W. B. Smith at home but Mrs. Smith assured us that the Democrat-Gazette was a number one family paper.
J. C. Smith is a prosperous young farmer and whose good judgment is to be commended for subscribing for the very best paper published in Collin county, the Democrat-Gazette.
R. T. and Mrs. Borum were absent but their son said they both liked the Democrat-Gazette very much. Mrs. Borum has taught the Rock Hill school for several terms and has the contract for the next one. No trouble for a good progressive teacher to hold a paying school.
T. L. Palmer is the only merchant of the berg and his stock is complete and his patrons always know that he's "got it." "If you don't see what you want, ask for it" is the legend of this local beehive. Mrs. Palmer is our painstaking correspondent and we appreciate her services and influence.
H. L. Sterling was a new man to us, but we found him to be a very clever gentlemen. Mrs. Sterling has a friendly greeting awaiting strangers and we are glad for forming their acquaintance. We enrolled Mr. Sterling and hope that in reading the Democrat-Gazette he'll find it one of the best papers published. About five years ago Mr. Sterling had the misfortune to lose by fire his pretty country residence but the proceeds from one hundred and seven acres of black land will soon enable him to replace it.
We could scarcely say that we had been to Rock Hill and not called on A. P. Mahard, one of its oldest and highly respected citizens. This writer formed his acquaintance in May, 1901, and while "on the wing" for the old Democrat. His step then was more elastic than now; he could see more clearly to read the precious truths from his Bible in those days than now; his brow has may furrows now we did not see then, but time is ruthless and will not only mar the beauty of our faces, but also whiten the hair that grows upon our heads because winters' frosts love to dance merrily upon the loftiest peaks and paint them white as an emblem of purity. Old age is honorable and how we love and revere the old and infirm! Their presence is a benediction and their words treasured like "apples of gold in pictures of silver." He is an old timer and has lived upon the same farm for forty-five years, and during that time raised a family of interesting children and all girls but one, A. P. Jr. Two of his daughters are teachers and one, Miss Laura, is an A. B. teacher of Latin and Greek; Miss Margaret is a music teacher and both have positions in the Holiness school at Peniel, Hunt county, and will take charge of their respective departments first of September. We were shown a yearling ram of the Hampshire down breed whose sire is a Canadian sheep. The former when only six months old cost brother Mahard $20.00. Of course we couldn't bid adieu to an old acquaintance and friend without a token; he gave us a dollar and we are going to send him absolutely free for one year, the very best paper that Collin county affords, the Democrat- Gazette.
Now is the best time in the world for all good roads enthusiasts to invite their tight wad friends to take a drive with them. If our black land roads in their present condition won't open their purse strings to the extent of a willingness to assist in constructing better roads, they will remind us of an old woman once who told a Methodist minister that she was open to conviction on sprinkling as a mode of baptism, "but" said she, "show me the man that can convict me!" If we can no do better, the split log beats nothing all hallow, but farmers don't feel disposed to drag the roads after every rain just for the glory of an occasional newspaper puff, then why not our county commissioners hire farmers living along the public highways to do this work? Pay farmers so much per day and bind them to perform the service in a satisfactory manner.
D. W. Leigh
McKinney, Aug. 19
ON THE WING
McKinney Weekly Democrat Gazette, August 29, 1912
G. T. Parvin on a farm of four hundred and forty acres has plenty of room to farm according to his own ideas. From wheat he realized a yield of about thirty bushels per acre: oats, sixty-five bushels; Egyptian wheat, said to yield anywhere from one hundred to two hundred bushels per acre, is unthreshed but in order to test it thoroughly will measure off one acre, have it threshed and furnish the field man of the Democrat-Gazette the result. It is said to be a most excellent feed and Mr. Parvin has seven acres which he says is very fine. Another crop which Mr. Parvin banks on is seeded ribbon cane. On one acre of this splendid forage crop it produced about 40 per cent of silage for his silo of one hundred tons capacity the other 60 per cent was from seven acres of corn. His silo is of red wood said to be non-porous and more durable than other material from which they are constructed. He is not in the strict sense a stockman, but on the farm he keeps a couple of brood mares and from them raised two good mules each year, a flock of sheep help to keep the weeds under control and he intends to devote more attention and time to them as he realizes that if bred up and properly cared for will be a source of profit. We found in him a silo enthusiast, and while he has had no practical experience using the silage as feed, yet he is sure that it is the solution of the great feed problem just now confronting the farmers of North Texas. We were glad to form the acquaintance of Mr. Parvin, thanked him for granting an interview, but as we formed the habit in the long ago and lest we forget, had to place him on the list of Collin's biggest and most popular newspaper, the Democrat-Gazette, and of course farmers who own $100 acre farming lands don't mind for us to tap them occasionally for a little old measley dollar.
Speaking of silos, they have come to say. Joe and Jim Taylor of Foncine are the pioneers, the first to build and to fill it with silage, the results obtained justified the expenditures and the neighbors of these two progressive citizens owe them much. Their cutter for chopping the corn and other forage for the silo is furnished without cost and enables the farmers who have silos to fill them without having to buy or rent them.
G. J. Barlow, neighbor of Mr. Parvin, is a silo enthusiast and while not owning one now expects to have one built on his farm next year with a tonnage capacity of two hundred.
Those having silos now are Joe and Jim Taylor, G. T. Parvin, Will Streathem, all of Rock Hill; Mrs. M. A. Shipley, two, Prosper, C. S. and E. M. Acker and J. C. (Cope) Mayes, Frisco.
Watch Texas and Collin county grow. Come to the picnic, shake hands, look your friends in the face and have a friendly chat with them. Don't forget to call at the Daily Courier-Gazette and Democrat-Gazette office and see how we manufacture news for Collin county's greatest newspapers.
D. W Leigh
McKinney Aug. 26.
COLLIN COUNTY FROM THE OX TEAM TO THE AIRPLANE
McKinney Daily Courier Gazette, 1949
The following letter was printed in Examiner June 30, 1930, nearly 20 years ago. Many changes since that time:
Editors Examiner:
My son, E. L. Naugle and I had a pleasant visit in Collin County sometime ago. Stopping at Frisco, Prosper and McKinney, we met congenial friends at each place. He had not seen McKinney for 21 years, it having been that long since we moved away from the county. The town has grown wonderfully during that time. I pass through there occasionally.
After spending a night at Prosper with relatives, we started to McKinney via the somewhat deserted village, Rock Hill, where my father, B. J. Naugle, located his headright in 1847. That survey corners there where the two roads intersect, and runs 1 mile south and 1/2 mile west being 320 acres. He later pre-empted 160 acres which corners near the same spot, running 1/2 mile east and 1/2 mile north. He first settled by a spring 1/2 mile east of that place. The village, Rock Hill, was not started there until 37 years later. It has been more than 70 years since I first began traveling the road from Rock Hill community to McKinney. I have been familiar with it since I was a small boy. It has been changed some, shortened some, and is a better road. At that time going east from that neighborhood we traveled across the open prairie, varying very little from the section line that passes along the south side of the Esq. Coleman old place and on east until we reached a point near the Grey Branch creek. Then to avoid the two ravines which flow into the creek from the north side, the road turned to the right, leading down into the creek and followed down the bed of the creek for some distance, then climbing a long steep bank at the foot of the well known as Grey Branch hill, to get up out of the creek. The roads then were almost the same as nature made them. They had not been improved much. No bridges then. Some time late (I do not know how long) there was some kind of a crossing made on Grey Branch at that point and the road was taken out of the creek and followed along the north side of the creek, parallel to it. Still late a bridge was built on the creek and each of the ravines. We then had a right good road to McKinney in dry weather except that the long steep hill was still there and we always had "uphill business" at that place when going to McKinney with a loaded wagon.
Going back home in the afternoon it was even more to be dreaded. It was dangerous. There was danger of going down too fast. One man lost his life there, was so badly hurt that he died soon afterward. Going to McKinney this time, after passing Foote, we suddenly found ourselves on a new road and seemed lost for a few minutes. Did not recognize the new road, but it being a good road going east and believing it to be the McKinney road, we drove on intersecting the old road at the Darnell old place near Bowlby. We failed to see the Gray Branch hill, as formerly. I was glad of it. I had seen it too often years ago.
I am glad you have good roads in Collin County now, as well as other good improvements. It is a real pleasure to travel through Collin now. There has been a wonderful transformation of the face of the county since I first saw it. My grandfather, Jacob J. Naugle, came to Collin County during the year 1846, the year the county was organized and also the year in which the war between the U. S. and Mexico began. He came then to look at the country, with a view of making home in Texas. Soon after he left his home in Indiana and started to Texas his son, Benj. J. Naugle, then a lad a little past 15 years old, also left home in that state, either cause he was lonesome without his father at home and wanted to follow him or as a boy at that age he wanted to fight Mexicans or didn't have much love for his step-mother at home (very likely the latter) he went to Louisville, Ky., and joined the U.S. army and went to Mexico to take part in the war. After serving there one year, he received a discharge from the army and went back to Indiana. By that time his father had returned from Texas and was preparing to move to Texas with his family. Soon afterward they all started, 4 in number including the son. They came by boat down the Ohio River, down the Mississippi and up the Red River as far as they could travel by boat. From that point the rode on horseback to Collin County. They had already learned enough about Texas to know what awaited them. A free heritage in a fine country in the great State of Texas. Texas at that time the youngest state in the union was also many times the largest state. Not including the Santa Fe territory or New Mexico, which covered 122,503 square miles, which Texas sold to the U.S. Government for $10,000,000.00, Texas still covered an area of 165,896 square miles. A territory larger than any European country except Russia, nearly 4 times as large as Arkansas, and 6 times as large as Ohio, Pennsylvania or New York and more than & times as large as all the 6 New England states combined. Great in size, great in her variety of soil and climate, great in her hidden internal undeveloped resources, with a geographical location assuring her wonderful commercial possibilities, yet Texas was poor in some respects. Land, her chief stock in trade found slow sale. People would naturally be slow in buying land fro homes in a country exposed to attacks from Mexicans, Indians and wild beasts, in a country too thinly settled for schools and churches to a good advantage. No railroads near, no market near.
What Texas needed then was people. People to settle the land, to civilize the country, to cultivate the soil, to raise stock, to increase the products and material wealth of the country to bring capital into the country, to bring railroads and other industries into the country. No wonder Texas was giving land away in those days. Coming at that time, a man with a family received a land certificate, which entitled him to 640 acres, to be chosen anywhere out of State land not yet taken. Furthermore he was not required to live on it. It might have been expected that he would live on it, but he was not forced to do it. He could sell his certificate or trade it off and transfer his title to someone else. People did not attach too much value to a section of land at that time. Some people coming in those days secured land and went away and never returned. The land reverted to the state years afterward or was sold for taxes.
My grandfather, Jacob J. Naugle, coming in 1847, being a man with a family received a certificate for 640 acres, which he located near Rowlett Creek, as shown on the may of Collin County in the Assessor's office in McKinney. His son, B. J. Naugle, being single, received a certificate for 320 acres which he located at Rock Hill as I have already stated. More later.
W. C. Naugle
(June 26, 1930 - 19 years ago)
ONLY ONE STORE AND ONE CHURCH WILL LIKELY BE LEFT ON OLD TOWN SITE.
McKinney Weekly Democrat Gazette, January 23, 1902
W. B. Smith, one of Rock Hill's best known citizens, was in town Monday. From him a Democrat reporter, learned that the work of moving Rock Hill to Prosper on the new Frisco road had commenced. The distance is two miles north of Rock Hill. He said Dr. Combest's big barn was moved Saturday and his residence is being moved today. (Thursday). W. H. Shrader is ready to have his store moved as soon as it can be reached. Two big engines are furnishing the motive power. The clear weather and dry, compact condition of the public roads are very favorable to the work. All the four or five stores will be moved so Mr. Smith understands except Uncle Bob Burton's who will remain at its present location on the old town site.
Arrangements have also been made for moving the Baptist and Cumberland Presbyterian churches. The M. C. church, south, will also likely be moved later, but the Methodist Episcopal church will probably remain on the present site in Rock Hill.
SIX BIG ENGINES UTILIZED
FURNISH MOTIVE POWER -- HUGE TRUCKS OF GREAT STRENGTH.
SAM SPROLES' OUTFIT.
McKinney Weekly Democrat Gazette, January 30, 1902
Sam Sproles, the hustling house mover, was here Tuesday on a forced vacation due to inclement weather.
His work at Celina lacks only about two days of being completed. He will then go to Rock Hill which he will help move two miles north to Prosper on the new Frisco.
Sam's facilities for his peculiar work are first class and he does about all the heavy moving. He has huge trucks having four-inch square solid steel axles with cottonwood wheels having a 16 inch face and 26 inches in diameter. Sic big engines furnish the motive power and his crew consists of a dozen workmen. The heaviest piece of work done by him was the moving of the big two-story I. O. O. F. building with its stock of dry goods and general merchandise owned by Childress & Stanford.
Mr. Sproles says only one store, that of Mr. Roller's will be left in old Celina. A number of residences won't be moved for some time yet owing to the extravagant price of building lots in the new town, which is located one and a half miles north of the new Frisco.
FINAL LANDMARK RAZED IN ROCKHILL COMMUNITY
by Juanice Stanton
McKinney Examiner, December 21, 1973
The final landmark of the small community of Rock Hill, Texas was laid to rest, recently, just as the many citizens who made up the small community were laid to rest over the years.
The Rock Hill Store, located between Prosper and Frisco, off Highway 289 and Rock Hill Road, was the landmark of a community that was formed in the 1870's. The community grew and developed with twice a week mail pick-up and delivery service out of McKinney; a general merchandise store, cotton gin, blacksmith shop, drug store with a doctor present, dry goods and grocery store, a school, and three churches within a two mile area of the community. Approximately 30 dwellings made up the Rock Hill community in the early 1900's.
However, the Rock Hill community met the same fate of many small communities when the St. Louis and San Francisco railroad built its line through western Collin County in 1902. New communities sprang up nearer the railroad. With the coming of the railroad, the new community or Prosper was created two miles to the north of Rock Hill. At that time, the small Rock Hill community threw in its lot with Prosper and moved closer to the rail lines.
After the move nearer to the rail lines, all that remained as a reminder of the Rock Hill community was the Rock Hill store and Rock Hill school. The school was taken into the Prosper district in the 1940's and the building stood vacant several years before being dismantled in the early 1950's. The store has stood as a stark reminder of Rock Hill's existence for the past 70 years.
People who made up the community included the Shraders, who operated a drug store; the Sones, who operated a dry goods and grocery store; Dr. Douglas, Dr. Combest and Dr. Mathers, country doctors; Burtons operated a general merchandise store; Naugles and Ball operated blacksmith shops.
Other settlers included the Mahards, Cantrells, Goodnights, Sterlings, Lesters, Adamsons, Smiths, Lanes, Barlows, Fields, Robinsons, Burgners, Caveners, Tarlpeys, Sneatherns, Slaughters, Stantons, Lusters, Bells, Talkingtons, Mohons, and old "Uncle Dan Howard" and Burt Sanders.
Winnie Talkington married Jim Mohon and they settled in the Rock Hill area. In 1919 they bought the Palmer's grocery store. That store stood as the landmark of the Rock Hill community until December 8, 1973, when it was torn down. Mr. and Mrs. Drude Talkington own the land now and have built a new home east of where the store was formerly located.
Many a traveler along the old Preston Trail, and later Highway 289, has stopped for gas, groceries or information at the little station at Rock Hill. Mr. and Mrs. Mohon owned and operated the business and maintained a residence at the back of the building from 1919 until his death in 1949 and her death in 1970.
Old Jess, a bulldog of the Mohons, was for many years a familiar sight and had a friendly greeting for anyone who stopped in at the store. He was raised from a pup by the Mohons and was a cherished member of the household until his death when he was thirteen years old.
The passing of loved ones and the dismanteling of old landmark buildings are sad events in the lives of human beings. But, at the same time the events of sadness are made easier to bear by the memories of family relationships and individuals lives intermingled with fellowship in a community. The Rock Hill community no longer exists, but it will never be forgotten. The descendants of the families who made up the original community will never let it die in their memories.
McKinney Weekly Democrat Gazette, August 22, 1912
G. J. Barlow and Miss Emma Collins were united in the holy bonds of wedlock Oct. 12, 1886, and only two boys call them by the endearing names of papa and mama. Over seven hundred acres of rich black land are on record in the county clerk's office as belonging to them. More than five thousand bushels of wheat and something over two thousand bushels of oats have been threshed and doubtless the proceeds from the sale of this grain will be placed where it will do the most good. Besides his crops of grain and cotton he keeps hogs. A herd of forty he is going to begin feeding within a very short time and sell the bacon to his neighbors who don't think it pays to raise hogs. Jersey cows to furnish milk and butter to the family with a good garden in which grow vegetables always in plenty and ready for use, no wonder prosperity smiles in the Barlow home. A flock of one hundred and twenty sheep, Shropshire and crossed with the Hampshire Down are kept for raising mutton, wool and for their use on the farm-that of keeping the ground clean of weeds and because they enrich the soil. Another flock of one hundred and forty recently purchased in Fort Worth, kept on stubble land and altogether separate from the home sheep, are to rid the fields recently harvested of weeds and when that is accomplished will be reshipped to Fort Worth and sold, the difference in weight after several weeks' run on pasture will more than pay cost of transportation both ways. We counted a flock of eighty turkeys that Mrs. Barlow is raising for Thanksgiving and requested us to inform the editors of the Democrat-Gazette and Daily Courier-Gazette that one of the largest would be on that occasion provided the field man was allowed the exalted privilege of dining with the family on that day. Mr. Barlow is a Republican of the Lincoln-Taft type and as a result of ridding the party of the Bull Moose there will be, in his opinion, one hundred thousand of straight Republican votes cast in Texas next November.
W. A. Wright a Tennesseean, but came to Texas two years ago, wants to get acquainted with Collin county and the quickest and surest way to accomplish it is by subscribing for the Democrat-Gazette which he did and we thank him for doing so.
Shelby Adams is the only merchant of Foncine although his store is located in the Rock Hill School district. His business has been real good since harvest and to the best of our knowledge the only country store making free deliveries. Reads the Daily Courier-Gazette and says its the best of county dailies.
Walter bridges has been a reader of the Democrat-Gazette for about ten years and we thank him for the kindly sentiments expressed and also for cash on renewal.
W. P. Brooks is another Tennesseean but in 1898 came to Texas where he has since resided. Only ten children and seven of them girls make home pleasant and very attractive to the young men. Cultivates one hundred and fifty acres of land and his crop of eighty acres of cotton looks very promising. He is a new reader of the Democrat-Gazette and we hope he'll continue to abide with us.
J. F. Brooks, son of the above, but three years ago got married to Miss Leona Burgner to whom a wee tot of only eighteen months was born and for whom later on he'll buy laces and other furbelows to make her attractive to the boys. He acts wisely by subscribing for the biggest and best of all country weeklies, the Democrat-Gazette.
J. E. Wilson a Texan since 1882 and owns a farm of over two hundred acres in the "flats" and reluctantly admitted that he was water bound in a certain state east of Oklahoma. Reads the Daily Courier-Gazette and says its a splendid county paper.
W. T. Thorp is one of our latest additions at Rock Hill and we are glad to say owns a pretty home and small farm in the town. We hope he'll find in the Democrat-Gazette -the paper he was looking for one that gives the news while the same is fresh.
Sorry we did not find W. B. Smith at home but Mrs. Smith assured us that the Democrat-Gazette was a number one family paper.
J. C. Smith is a prosperous young farmer and whose good judgment is to be commended for subscribing for the very best paper published in Collin county, the Democrat-Gazette.
R. T. and Mrs. Borum were absent but their son said they both liked the Democrat-Gazette very much. Mrs. Borum has taught the Rock Hill school for several terms and has the contract for the next one. No trouble for a good progressive teacher to hold a paying school.
T. L. Palmer is the only merchant of the berg and his stock is complete and his patrons always know that he's "got it." "If you don't see what you want, ask for it" is the legend of this local beehive. Mrs. Palmer is our painstaking correspondent and we appreciate her services and influence.
H. L. Sterling was a new man to us, but we found him to be a very clever gentlemen. Mrs. Sterling has a friendly greeting awaiting strangers and we are glad for forming their acquaintance. We enrolled Mr. Sterling and hope that in reading the Democrat-Gazette he'll find it one of the best papers published. About five years ago Mr. Sterling had the misfortune to lose by fire his pretty country residence but the proceeds from one hundred and seven acres of black land will soon enable him to replace it.
We could scarcely say that we had been to Rock Hill and not called on A. P. Mahard, one of its oldest and highly respected citizens. This writer formed his acquaintance in May, 1901, and while "on the wing" for the old Democrat. His step then was more elastic than now; he could see more clearly to read the precious truths from his Bible in those days than now; his brow has may furrows now we did not see then, but time is ruthless and will not only mar the beauty of our faces, but also whiten the hair that grows upon our heads because winters' frosts love to dance merrily upon the loftiest peaks and paint them white as an emblem of purity. Old age is honorable and how we love and revere the old and infirm! Their presence is a benediction and their words treasured like "apples of gold in pictures of silver." He is an old timer and has lived upon the same farm for forty-five years, and during that time raised a family of interesting children and all girls but one, A. P. Jr. Two of his daughters are teachers and one, Miss Laura, is an A. B. teacher of Latin and Greek; Miss Margaret is a music teacher and both have positions in the Holiness school at Peniel, Hunt county, and will take charge of their respective departments first of September. We were shown a yearling ram of the Hampshire down breed whose sire is a Canadian sheep. The former when only six months old cost brother Mahard $20.00. Of course we couldn't bid adieu to an old acquaintance and friend without a token; he gave us a dollar and we are going to send him absolutely free for one year, the very best paper that Collin county affords, the Democrat- Gazette.
Now is the best time in the world for all good roads enthusiasts to invite their tight wad friends to take a drive with them. If our black land roads in their present condition won't open their purse strings to the extent of a willingness to assist in constructing better roads, they will remind us of an old woman once who told a Methodist minister that she was open to conviction on sprinkling as a mode of baptism, "but" said she, "show me the man that can convict me!" If we can no do better, the split log beats nothing all hallow, but farmers don't feel disposed to drag the roads after every rain just for the glory of an occasional newspaper puff, then why not our county commissioners hire farmers living along the public highways to do this work? Pay farmers so much per day and bind them to perform the service in a satisfactory manner.
D. W. Leigh
McKinney, Aug. 19
ON THE WING
McKinney Weekly Democrat Gazette, August 29, 1912
G. T. Parvin on a farm of four hundred and forty acres has plenty of room to farm according to his own ideas. From wheat he realized a yield of about thirty bushels per acre: oats, sixty-five bushels; Egyptian wheat, said to yield anywhere from one hundred to two hundred bushels per acre, is unthreshed but in order to test it thoroughly will measure off one acre, have it threshed and furnish the field man of the Democrat-Gazette the result. It is said to be a most excellent feed and Mr. Parvin has seven acres which he says is very fine. Another crop which Mr. Parvin banks on is seeded ribbon cane. On one acre of this splendid forage crop it produced about 40 per cent of silage for his silo of one hundred tons capacity the other 60 per cent was from seven acres of corn. His silo is of red wood said to be non-porous and more durable than other material from which they are constructed. He is not in the strict sense a stockman, but on the farm he keeps a couple of brood mares and from them raised two good mules each year, a flock of sheep help to keep the weeds under control and he intends to devote more attention and time to them as he realizes that if bred up and properly cared for will be a source of profit. We found in him a silo enthusiast, and while he has had no practical experience using the silage as feed, yet he is sure that it is the solution of the great feed problem just now confronting the farmers of North Texas. We were glad to form the acquaintance of Mr. Parvin, thanked him for granting an interview, but as we formed the habit in the long ago and lest we forget, had to place him on the list of Collin's biggest and most popular newspaper, the Democrat-Gazette, and of course farmers who own $100 acre farming lands don't mind for us to tap them occasionally for a little old measley dollar.
Speaking of silos, they have come to say. Joe and Jim Taylor of Foncine are the pioneers, the first to build and to fill it with silage, the results obtained justified the expenditures and the neighbors of these two progressive citizens owe them much. Their cutter for chopping the corn and other forage for the silo is furnished without cost and enables the farmers who have silos to fill them without having to buy or rent them.
G. J. Barlow, neighbor of Mr. Parvin, is a silo enthusiast and while not owning one now expects to have one built on his farm next year with a tonnage capacity of two hundred.
Those having silos now are Joe and Jim Taylor, G. T. Parvin, Will Streathem, all of Rock Hill; Mrs. M. A. Shipley, two, Prosper, C. S. and E. M. Acker and J. C. (Cope) Mayes, Frisco.
Watch Texas and Collin county grow. Come to the picnic, shake hands, look your friends in the face and have a friendly chat with them. Don't forget to call at the Daily Courier-Gazette and Democrat-Gazette office and see how we manufacture news for Collin county's greatest newspapers.
D. W Leigh
McKinney Aug. 26.
COLLIN COUNTY FROM THE OX TEAM TO THE AIRPLANE
McKinney Daily Courier Gazette, 1949
The following letter was printed in Examiner June 30, 1930, nearly 20 years ago. Many changes since that time:
Editors Examiner:
My son, E. L. Naugle and I had a pleasant visit in Collin County sometime ago. Stopping at Frisco, Prosper and McKinney, we met congenial friends at each place. He had not seen McKinney for 21 years, it having been that long since we moved away from the county. The town has grown wonderfully during that time. I pass through there occasionally.
After spending a night at Prosper with relatives, we started to McKinney via the somewhat deserted village, Rock Hill, where my father, B. J. Naugle, located his headright in 1847. That survey corners there where the two roads intersect, and runs 1 mile south and 1/2 mile west being 320 acres. He later pre-empted 160 acres which corners near the same spot, running 1/2 mile east and 1/2 mile north. He first settled by a spring 1/2 mile east of that place. The village, Rock Hill, was not started there until 37 years later. It has been more than 70 years since I first began traveling the road from Rock Hill community to McKinney. I have been familiar with it since I was a small boy. It has been changed some, shortened some, and is a better road. At that time going east from that neighborhood we traveled across the open prairie, varying very little from the section line that passes along the south side of the Esq. Coleman old place and on east until we reached a point near the Grey Branch creek. Then to avoid the two ravines which flow into the creek from the north side, the road turned to the right, leading down into the creek and followed down the bed of the creek for some distance, then climbing a long steep bank at the foot of the well known as Grey Branch hill, to get up out of the creek. The roads then were almost the same as nature made them. They had not been improved much. No bridges then. Some time late (I do not know how long) there was some kind of a crossing made on Grey Branch at that point and the road was taken out of the creek and followed along the north side of the creek, parallel to it. Still late a bridge was built on the creek and each of the ravines. We then had a right good road to McKinney in dry weather except that the long steep hill was still there and we always had "uphill business" at that place when going to McKinney with a loaded wagon.
Going back home in the afternoon it was even more to be dreaded. It was dangerous. There was danger of going down too fast. One man lost his life there, was so badly hurt that he died soon afterward. Going to McKinney this time, after passing Foote, we suddenly found ourselves on a new road and seemed lost for a few minutes. Did not recognize the new road, but it being a good road going east and believing it to be the McKinney road, we drove on intersecting the old road at the Darnell old place near Bowlby. We failed to see the Gray Branch hill, as formerly. I was glad of it. I had seen it too often years ago.
I am glad you have good roads in Collin County now, as well as other good improvements. It is a real pleasure to travel through Collin now. There has been a wonderful transformation of the face of the county since I first saw it. My grandfather, Jacob J. Naugle, came to Collin County during the year 1846, the year the county was organized and also the year in which the war between the U. S. and Mexico began. He came then to look at the country, with a view of making home in Texas. Soon after he left his home in Indiana and started to Texas his son, Benj. J. Naugle, then a lad a little past 15 years old, also left home in that state, either cause he was lonesome without his father at home and wanted to follow him or as a boy at that age he wanted to fight Mexicans or didn't have much love for his step-mother at home (very likely the latter) he went to Louisville, Ky., and joined the U.S. army and went to Mexico to take part in the war. After serving there one year, he received a discharge from the army and went back to Indiana. By that time his father had returned from Texas and was preparing to move to Texas with his family. Soon afterward they all started, 4 in number including the son. They came by boat down the Ohio River, down the Mississippi and up the Red River as far as they could travel by boat. From that point the rode on horseback to Collin County. They had already learned enough about Texas to know what awaited them. A free heritage in a fine country in the great State of Texas. Texas at that time the youngest state in the union was also many times the largest state. Not including the Santa Fe territory or New Mexico, which covered 122,503 square miles, which Texas sold to the U.S. Government for $10,000,000.00, Texas still covered an area of 165,896 square miles. A territory larger than any European country except Russia, nearly 4 times as large as Arkansas, and 6 times as large as Ohio, Pennsylvania or New York and more than & times as large as all the 6 New England states combined. Great in size, great in her variety of soil and climate, great in her hidden internal undeveloped resources, with a geographical location assuring her wonderful commercial possibilities, yet Texas was poor in some respects. Land, her chief stock in trade found slow sale. People would naturally be slow in buying land fro homes in a country exposed to attacks from Mexicans, Indians and wild beasts, in a country too thinly settled for schools and churches to a good advantage. No railroads near, no market near.
What Texas needed then was people. People to settle the land, to civilize the country, to cultivate the soil, to raise stock, to increase the products and material wealth of the country to bring capital into the country, to bring railroads and other industries into the country. No wonder Texas was giving land away in those days. Coming at that time, a man with a family received a land certificate, which entitled him to 640 acres, to be chosen anywhere out of State land not yet taken. Furthermore he was not required to live on it. It might have been expected that he would live on it, but he was not forced to do it. He could sell his certificate or trade it off and transfer his title to someone else. People did not attach too much value to a section of land at that time. Some people coming in those days secured land and went away and never returned. The land reverted to the state years afterward or was sold for taxes.
My grandfather, Jacob J. Naugle, coming in 1847, being a man with a family received a certificate for 640 acres, which he located near Rowlett Creek, as shown on the may of Collin County in the Assessor's office in McKinney. His son, B. J. Naugle, being single, received a certificate for 320 acres which he located at Rock Hill as I have already stated. More later.
W. C. Naugle
(June 26, 1930 - 19 years ago)
ONLY ONE STORE AND ONE CHURCH WILL LIKELY BE LEFT ON OLD TOWN SITE.
McKinney Weekly Democrat Gazette, January 23, 1902
W. B. Smith, one of Rock Hill's best known citizens, was in town Monday. From him a Democrat reporter, learned that the work of moving Rock Hill to Prosper on the new Frisco road had commenced. The distance is two miles north of Rock Hill. He said Dr. Combest's big barn was moved Saturday and his residence is being moved today. (Thursday). W. H. Shrader is ready to have his store moved as soon as it can be reached. Two big engines are furnishing the motive power. The clear weather and dry, compact condition of the public roads are very favorable to the work. All the four or five stores will be moved so Mr. Smith understands except Uncle Bob Burton's who will remain at its present location on the old town site.
Arrangements have also been made for moving the Baptist and Cumberland Presbyterian churches. The M. C. church, south, will also likely be moved later, but the Methodist Episcopal church will probably remain on the present site in Rock Hill.
SIX BIG ENGINES UTILIZED
FURNISH MOTIVE POWER -- HUGE TRUCKS OF GREAT STRENGTH.
SAM SPROLES' OUTFIT.
McKinney Weekly Democrat Gazette, January 30, 1902
Sam Sproles, the hustling house mover, was here Tuesday on a forced vacation due to inclement weather.
His work at Celina lacks only about two days of being completed. He will then go to Rock Hill which he will help move two miles north to Prosper on the new Frisco.
Sam's facilities for his peculiar work are first class and he does about all the heavy moving. He has huge trucks having four-inch square solid steel axles with cottonwood wheels having a 16 inch face and 26 inches in diameter. Sic big engines furnish the motive power and his crew consists of a dozen workmen. The heaviest piece of work done by him was the moving of the big two-story I. O. O. F. building with its stock of dry goods and general merchandise owned by Childress & Stanford.
Mr. Sproles says only one store, that of Mr. Roller's will be left in old Celina. A number of residences won't be moved for some time yet owing to the extravagant price of building lots in the new town, which is located one and a half miles north of the new Frisco.
FINAL LANDMARK RAZED IN ROCKHILL COMMUNITY
by Juanice Stanton
McKinney Examiner, December 21, 1973
The final landmark of the small community of Rock Hill, Texas was laid to rest, recently, just as the many citizens who made up the small community were laid to rest over the years.
The Rock Hill Store, located between Prosper and Frisco, off Highway 289 and Rock Hill Road, was the landmark of a community that was formed in the 1870's. The community grew and developed with twice a week mail pick-up and delivery service out of McKinney; a general merchandise store, cotton gin, blacksmith shop, drug store with a doctor present, dry goods and grocery store, a school, and three churches within a two mile area of the community. Approximately 30 dwellings made up the Rock Hill community in the early 1900's.
However, the Rock Hill community met the same fate of many small communities when the St. Louis and San Francisco railroad built its line through western Collin County in 1902. New communities sprang up nearer the railroad. With the coming of the railroad, the new community or Prosper was created two miles to the north of Rock Hill. At that time, the small Rock Hill community threw in its lot with Prosper and moved closer to the rail lines.
After the move nearer to the rail lines, all that remained as a reminder of the Rock Hill community was the Rock Hill store and Rock Hill school. The school was taken into the Prosper district in the 1940's and the building stood vacant several years before being dismantled in the early 1950's. The store has stood as a stark reminder of Rock Hill's existence for the past 70 years.
People who made up the community included the Shraders, who operated a drug store; the Sones, who operated a dry goods and grocery store; Dr. Douglas, Dr. Combest and Dr. Mathers, country doctors; Burtons operated a general merchandise store; Naugles and Ball operated blacksmith shops.
Other settlers included the Mahards, Cantrells, Goodnights, Sterlings, Lesters, Adamsons, Smiths, Lanes, Barlows, Fields, Robinsons, Burgners, Caveners, Tarlpeys, Sneatherns, Slaughters, Stantons, Lusters, Bells, Talkingtons, Mohons, and old "Uncle Dan Howard" and Burt Sanders.
Winnie Talkington married Jim Mohon and they settled in the Rock Hill area. In 1919 they bought the Palmer's grocery store. That store stood as the landmark of the Rock Hill community until December 8, 1973, when it was torn down. Mr. and Mrs. Drude Talkington own the land now and have built a new home east of where the store was formerly located.
Many a traveler along the old Preston Trail, and later Highway 289, has stopped for gas, groceries or information at the little station at Rock Hill. Mr. and Mrs. Mohon owned and operated the business and maintained a residence at the back of the building from 1919 until his death in 1949 and her death in 1970.
Old Jess, a bulldog of the Mohons, was for many years a familiar sight and had a friendly greeting for anyone who stopped in at the store. He was raised from a pup by the Mohons and was a cherished member of the household until his death when he was thirteen years old.
The passing of loved ones and the dismanteling of old landmark buildings are sad events in the lives of human beings. But, at the same time the events of sadness are made easier to bear by the memories of family relationships and individuals lives intermingled with fellowship in a community. The Rock Hill community no longer exists, but it will never be forgotten. The descendants of the families who made up the original community will never let it die in their memories.