Milam County Historical Commission
Milam County, Texas
Milam County, Texas
All Credit for this article
goes to Mike Brown
and the
Rockdale Reporter
Centennial—Plus 40 years
Town’s big party still remembered
By Mike Brown - Reporter Editor
Rockdale Reporter - June 5, 2014
Where were you 40 years ago this week and what were you doing?
Most people might not be able to answer that question with any degree of accuracy, but
John Ballard can. “I was everywhere and doing everything,” he laughed.
Ballard was chairman of Rockdale’s 1974 Centennial celebration, the biggest, longest,
most ambitious, most welcome, most joyous and most successful party in the town’s now
140-year history.
“Looking at it now what I remember the most after all these years is how everybody worked
together,” Ballard said.
“Everyone in this town was on the same page, pitched in and it sure paid off.”
PARTY — What happened?
What didn’t?
Here’s a sampling:
• The men grew beards - the organization was called Brothers of the Brush—and the women—
Centennial Belles— wore frontier dresses.
• There were “Kangaroo Kourts” in which prominent citizens were “tried and convicted” of
various made-up offenses.
(Rockdale’s three auto dealers were made to sell toilet paper for $1 a sheet. They raised
$41!)
• A four-night, professionally produced outdoor pageant at Tiger Field had a cast of 300,
Broadway-style lighting and sound effects and drew huge crowds.
• A rocking chair marathon on the porch of the city library drew roundthe- clock crowds
and 29 participants.
Four days later, 26-year old Julia Jones of College Station was the last rocker with open
eyes and set what was for a time the Texas rocking chair marathon record, 91 hours and 22
minutes
• A Centennial parade drew a crowd of 6,000 people and well over 100 entries.
• The Old West flavor was maintained throughout with fake shootouts—it was a more
innocent time—and a Bent Horseshoe saloon inside ruins of an abandoned bank building
which had been gutted by fire just six months previously.
• A downtown museum featured plenty of artifacts from the past and an adjacent art
exhibit was well attended.
• Even traditional non-Centennial events got a big boost. Rockdale Homecoming drew its
largest crowd ever, over 400, and Fair Park was packed for rodeo action.
• There were dances, beauty, and not-s0-beautiful— contests, Centennial- themed sports
events, dances, a tractor pull, home tours, a massive religious rally, a Centennial ball,
style shows, trail riders parade and more.
Then, on the second day...
NO SLEEP — Well, it wasn’t quite that hectic, but you can’t prove it by Ballard’s
recollections.
“I’d been in business in Rockdale about 10 years and knew about everybody,” he recalled.
“So I accepted the job as co-chair of this huge celebration,” Ballard said.
“Then my co-chair moved out of town and I was chairman all by myself.”
What does he remember most vividly?
“That I didn’t get any sleep for about eight days!” he said.
He’s sort-of not kidding. Wife Dina who shared that whirlwind week has some memories of
her own.
“The rocking chair marathon stands out for me,”
she said. “We’d never really seen one and certainly didn’t realize it was going to last
four days!”
Someone had to be present with the rockers at all times. The Ballards took many of those
late night-early morning shifts.
INTERRUPTION — But the Centennial was more than lists of events, it had a zany spirit of
its own.
During the event, State Rep. Dan Kubiak of Rockdale was chairing a House committee
meeting on the Texas Constitution at Haus Bavaria—today’s Roma’s Restaurant—when the
doors burst open and he was “arrested” by a group of armed, bearded, Rockdale “lawmen.”
His crime? Not wearing a beard or possession of a special shaving permit— yes, you had to
buy one.
Kubiak was sentenced to buy a round of ice tea or coffee for all present.
MEMORIES — On June 8, the last day—no matter what the Centennial bumper stickers said—a
50-year time capsule was buried on the city library grounds.
Numerous souvenirs and personal items were placed inside. Some Centennial organizers
wrote letters from 1974 to their children and, as yet unborn, grandchildren and placed
them in the capsule.
The capsule, made with aluminum from Alcoa’s Rockdale Operations, was designed to outlast
the elements.
Ironically, one of the things the capsule outlasted was Rockdale Operations, which closed
in 2008-09.
The capsule will be opened in June, 2024. Forty years down, ten to go.
All that remains now are those memories, and more than a few of those souvenirs, but
exactly where people have stashed them is a different story.
The Ballards had virtually a complete collection of the crockery, coins, clothing,
publications, permits, stickers and various promotional items.
All lost in the 2002 fire which destroyed their carpet business.
Many longtime Rockdale residents told The Reporter they still possess Centennial items
but don’t remember where they put them.
THE REASON — “Forty years is a long time,” Ballard muses. “For a number of years after
the Centennial people remembered it and would talk about it.”
“Then it got less and less over time,” he said. “Now, hardly any body ever brings it up.”
“You know, that was a different time,” he said. “We did our best to make the celebration
one for the entire family and I think we succeeded.”
“You could leave your kids on the streets and not fear for their safety,” he said.
“Everyone looked out for everyone else and we sure all worked together.”
What does Ballard think was the key factor in the Centennial’s success?
“We didn’t have any cell phones in 1974,” he said. “We could get things done.”
.
Reporter photos on this page by
Bill Cooke and Mike Brown.
Yes, they were here for the
town’s big week in 1974.
‘Outlaws’ tried to crash
Rockdale’s party but they were
dealt with. Hint, it was fake.
Oh, you knew?
They might have called them the Wild
Bunch — the movie had been made only
five years previously. Clockwise from
left, Nolan Wiley, Dale Talley, J. T.
Talley, Pud Owens, unidentified and Don
Herbst.
Frontier justice was rough on
Rockdale streets during
Centennial. But everybody sure
stayed clean.
Tom Brown (L), Jerry Kirk helped bolt
down the time capsule on the evening of
June 8, 1974.
Check out the buildings in this photo of
Centennial parade. From left, what
remained of the Singer’s Grill
Restaurant and the old columned former
bank building
(which burned six months previously) and
the legendary Dixie Theater.
The rocking chair marathon drew 29
contestants and lasted almost four days.
6,000 people lined US 79 to cheer
Centennial Belles, many other parade
entries.
.