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Rock Island, Washington County, Texas

Central Texas geography stubsGhost towns in East TexasUnincorporated communities in TexasUnincorporated communities in Washington County, TexasUse mdy dates from July 2023

Rock Island is a historical settlement located on the Brazos River in Washington County, Texas, United States, northeast of Chappell Hill, and northwest of Hempstead. It emerged from a pre-Texas Republic era plantation named Rock Island for a small island in the Brazos. Conflicting histories place the site either east of the Brazos River in Waller County or west of the river in Washington County. This could be explained by the apparent change in the path of the river at that spot during the existence of Rock Island. By 1837, the plantation had a general store, inn, cotton gin, blacksmith, and a growing population but lost its bid for the county seat. The settlement benefitted by the addition of a ferry crossing and the Rock Island Academy. Rock Island had a post office 1849-1857. In 1857, the railroad was built east of the Brazos establishing the new community of Hempstead but did not cross the Brazos leading to the decline in Rock Island.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Rock Island, Washington County, Texas (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Rock Island, Washington County, Texas

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Stagecoach Inn of Chappell Hill
Stagecoach Inn of Chappell Hill

The Stagecoach Inn of Chappell Hill (also known as the Stage Coach Inn) is a historic stagecoach inn at Main and Chestnut Streets in Chappell Hill, Texas, United States. It was built in 1850 by Mary Elizabeth Haller (née Hargrove), the founder of Chappell Hill. Mary and her husband Jacob Haller (d. 1853), the town's first postmaster, built the stately 14-room Greek Revival inn along the road from Houston to Austin, where some of Texas' first stagecoach lines, the Smith and Jones, and later the F. P. Sawyers, would stop for the night. Prior to the building's use as a stagecoach stop, it served as a boarding house for students attending college in Chappell Hill. At that time it was called Hargrove House or Hargrove House Hotel.Charlotte Hargrove, Mary Haller's mother, operated the Inn until 1859; when it was bought by Judge Benjamin Thomas, who operated the Inn until about 1870. John A. Hargrove, Mary's brother, wrote of traveling to "the Cedar breaks" to cut wood for building the inn. Throughout this period, the town of Chappell Hill (which was named after Mary Haller's maternal grandfather) was a part of a booming cotton-farming economy. As the cotton economy faded after the turn of the 20th century and highways were built bypassing the town, the Inn fell into disrepair, until it was purchased in 1976 by noted Houston architect Harvin C. Moore and his wife Elizabeth. Moore had often seen the Inn while traveling in the 1920s, to and from Austin as a student and member of the Rice University band, and had dreamed of one day bringing it back to life. At the completion of the Moores' restoration, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.The Inn continued to be operated as a bed and breakfast for many years. However, the property was put up for sale in 2014, and the Inn's website is no longer available (late in 2015).

Chappell Hill Circulating Library
Chappell Hill Circulating Library

Chappell Hill Circulating Library is a historic library on Cedar Street in Chappell Hill, Texas. The library was founded by the Chappell Hill Circulating Library Association in 1893, due to the generosity of W.G. Foote, Jr, who donated the library owned by his late father, Dr. W. G. Foote, Sr. Dr. Foote was a Methodist minister and a professor at Chappell Hill's Soule University during the mid-nineteenth century. The collection was stored in various places for the first several years, until the newly formed Civic Club founded by local ladies decided to build a new library on Cedar Street (once called College St.) The three directors of the Circulating Library Association were Mrs. Fannie A. Campbell, Mrs. Joe E. Routt, and Miss Nannie Adams. It was built in 1912 in a Colonial Revival style by J.W. Heartfield. The plan is nearly square, 20' x 24', with clapboard siding and corner beads. There is a hipped roof that is now asphalt, but was once shingled in cedar. The front elevation exhibits a semi-circular portico supported by two Doric columns capped with oversized capitals and two pilasters. The interior is simple, with a single room adorned with beaded board wainscoting along the perimeter. Inside is a wrought iron fence from the balcony of the Hiram Thompson home. When the Chappell Hill Female College closed down in 1912, they donated many of their books to the new public library. Some of them bear the name of the "Philomathean Society," one of two literary societies on the college campus. Over the years, the building wore down and was damaged. By 1964, its columns were collapsing. Descendants of the original members of the Circulating Library Association decided that it should be saved and formed the Chappell Hill Historical Society. They ran a number of fundraisers, the largest of which was the Antique Show, held during the overlap between National Library Week and one of the Bluebonnet Trail Weekends, and thus the Bluebonnet Festival was born. That year they were able to restore the library, and to their delight, discovered that the collection was intact! The Historical Society continues to work to preserve the library, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 20, 1985.

Death of Sandra Bland

Sandra Annette Bland was a 28-year-old African-American woman who was found hanged in a jail cell in Waller County, Texas, on July 13, 2015, three days after being arrested during a traffic stop. Officials found her death to be a suicide. There were protests against her arrest, disputing the cause of death, and alleging racial violence against her. Bland was pulled over for a traffic violation on July 10 by State Trooper Brian Encinia. The exchange escalated, resulting in Bland's arrest and a charge of assaulting a police officer. The arrest was partially recorded by Encinia's dashcam, a bystander's cell phone, and Bland's own cell phone. After authorities reviewed the dashcam footage, Encinia was placed on administrative leave for failing to follow proper traffic stop procedures. Texas authorities and the FBI conducted an investigation into Bland's death and determined the Waller County jail did not follow required policies, including time checks on inmates and ensuring that employees had completed required mental health training. In December 2015, a grand jury declined to indict the county sheriff and jail staff for a felony relating to Bland's death. The following month, Encinia was indicted for perjury for making false statements about the circumstances surrounding Bland's arrest, and he was subsequently fired by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). In September 2016, Bland's mother settled a wrongful death lawsuit against the county jail and police department for $1.9 million and some procedural changes. In June 2017, the perjury charge against Encinia was dropped in return for his agreement to permanently end his law enforcement career. In 2019, Bland's cell phone video became available to the public and to Bland's family for the first time. The video was obtained and shown by Dallas news station WFAA. This video was not available during the civil trials.