MILAM COUNTY TEXAS - A History of Rockdale Texas (BACKGROUND)
************************************************************************
USGENWEB ARCHIVES PROJECT NOTICE:  These electronic pages may 
NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other 
organization or persons.  Persons or organizations desiring to use this 
material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal
representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb
archivist with proof of this consent.  The submitter has given 
permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently 
for free access.

http://www.usgwarchives.net/
************************************************************************
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Lynna Kay Shuffield for the
Milam County Genealogical Society
milamco@yahoo.com
July 26, 2001
***************************************************************************
There is an html version of this information with pictures at
http://www.usgwarchives.net/tx/milam/rockdale/
***************************************************************************

BACKGROUND
(Researched by Mrs. Ida Jo Marshall)

The city of Rockdale is located in east-central Texas approximately 206 miles south of 
the Texas-Oklahoma border and 144 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico The distance 
eastward to the Texas-Louisiana border is 204 miles, and Mexico lies 465 miles to the 
west. The exact location of the city is 30.39° north latitude and 97:0° west longitude, at 
an altitude of 467 feet above mean sea level.

The two largest cities nearest to Rockdale are Waco, which is 71 miles to the north, and 
Austin, which is 63 miles to the southwest. Houston, which is the largest city in Texas, is 
134 miles southeast of Rockdale, and Dallas, the second largest city in Texas, is 170 
miles to the north.

Rockdale is situated in the southwestern portion of Milam County. It is 14 miles east of 
the western boundary line and 9 miles north of the southern limit of the county. Milam 
County is bounded on the north by Bell and Falls counties, on the south by Burleson and 
Lee counties, on the west by Williamson County, and on the east by the Brazos River. 
The total area of the county iS 1,030 square miles, or 659,200 acres. The total land area is 
1,027 miles, and the total inland water area is three square miles.

(Sources: Texas Almanac, 1947-1948.)