Now Playing: Schools
Topic: Round Rock
I just received a copy of the new (to me, anyway) Austin Monthly. It has a list of the top 10 public high schools in the Austin Area. Three of the four Round Rock schools made the list. The one that didn't is a fairly new school that is perhaps not yet up to snuff.

My husband is a middle school teacher, so I get quite a bit of info on the inner workings of his school. Frankly, from what I've heard, I'm surprised any of them are providing any sort of education at all.

We have a severe overcrowding problem in most, if not all, of the schools in Round Rock. A bond issue to build more schools was defeated at the polls this Spring. Why? The (now lame duck) administrator put together a package of proposed buildings that was a bit more luxurious than the voters thought we needed. It was certainly more than I thought we needed! What we need is schools. Buildings, desks, cafeterias--what we don't need is landscaping and other frills that the administrator proposed. He would not allow the proposal to be trimmed down, so the voters did it for him. Cedar Valley Middle school, where Husband teaches, has approximately 1300 students, and was built to hold 800. Lunch starts at 10:40 AM, and is still being served at 1:30 PM. Each grade level is on a different schedule, which means that they can no longer use the bells, so everyone has to keep track of the time on their own. Husband's largest class last year had 38 students.

I have an idea to raise money for new schools: let's bring in a dunking booth and put that administrator in the hot seat!

Every teacher in town would pay good money to throw those balls, and so would I!

Now Playing: Hairy Man Road
Topic: Round Rock
Hairy Man Road, or Harry Mann Road, is now known as Brushy Creek Road. As the two spellings of the original name suggest, there are two different stories about the name.

The first says that there used to be an unidentified hairy man who roamed the vicinity, a la Lancelot, who went loony toons and ran wild in the woods for several years after the thing with Guinevere didn't work out. The second is that a man by the name of Harry Mann originally owned the property through which the road runs.

There used to be a low water crossing, so low it was almost a ford across the creek. It made for a beautiful view, but, as folks regularly wound up in the water because there was a very sharp turn onto it, it was eventually replaced with a bridge.

The overhanging trees, chuckling creek, and fern-encrusted bluff make it arguably the prettiest drive in Round Rock

Mood:  lyrical
Now Playing: More about Round Rock
Topic: Round Rock
Round Rock started a long time ago. The Rock marks a good place to ford Brushy Creek, which means that indigenous people knew of it thousands of years ago. Remains have been found just a few miles away that prove the area was inhabited 8000 years ago. Googling "Leanderthal Woman" will find you more information than I have room for here.

The trail leading across the ford was known as The Shawnee Trail, until some guy named Chisholm connected the northern end of it to another, way up in Kansas, and thus gave his name to the whole thing.

In the days before Texas Independence, there was a small group of settlers at the site of the rock. They were advised to move east of the Brazos River during the war, and most complied. One person, by the name of Kenney, had built himself a little fort, and decided to ride out the war on his own turf. This fort became the nucleus of the town, which grew to include a stagecoach inn, a post office, and several other lovely stone buildings.

When the railroad came through, there was fierce competition among the several small towns in the area. The final route passed a mile or so to the south of Round Rock. Quite naturally, a second town grew up around the train depot, known as New Town. Old Town began to decline. Eventually, the Post Office moved to New Town, taking the name with it.

It was the death of Sam Bass during a failed attempt on the local bank, that put our little town on the map. 1878 was the year. Sam Bass, at 27, was a handsome narcissist, who thought the world owed him a living. He had been a horse trainer in Tennessee until he embarked on a spree of horse theft and bank robbery that eventually led him and his gang to Round Rock. There was a price on his head by then, and one of his cohorts sold him out to the local constabulary. The result was a shoot-out on Main Street which left a deputy dead and Sam mortally wounded. He was buried in the local cemetery. His stone has had to be replaced, and the grave, fenced, because visitors chipped so many bits off it for souvenirs. I had never heard of him until I moved here, but, in his day, he was as notorious as John Hardin or Billy the Kid.

Mood:  blue
Now Playing: Round Rock, TX
Topic: Round Rock
When I moved to Round Rock in 1977, there were approximately 10,000, certainly under 12,000 people. There was a blinkin' light at the corner of Mays and Main, but not much reason to have a traffic light anywhere else, since there was no traffic.

Never having stayed anywhere more than two years in my entire adult life, I thought it would remain that way. There was no McDonald's, no smog, and no crime. I think the killing of Sam Bass in 1878 put the fear of God into the population for a century.

It was like Norman Rockwell, only hotter!

There were two drugstores across Main Street from each other. Gus's Drugs had an upscale, '50's or '60's interior. Quick Pharmacy was still an old-fashioned drugstore with a soda fountain presided over by Marge Quick, who made the best chocolate malts I ever had.

On my first ever trip to Round Rock, I came with my (ex)husband and baby. I was just going to look around while he had a job interview at City Hall. The library was right next to the City Hall building, so I took Baby Chandra in there to 'splore. The "Library Ladies," as I collectively called them, were absolutely wonderful! A fount of information about the town, its schools, its government, and which was the best laundromat. I had never been so thoroughly welcomed by strangers! When (Ex) came out of City Hall with the job, I couldn't have been happier.

At the time, we were living in Lago Vista, a long drive for (Ex), with the sun in his eyes both ways. We decided to move to Round Rock. We found a little house in town, for $100/month. Our house was within walking distance of downtown, with its library, chocolate malts, laundromat, grocery store, feed store, post office, and other points of interest. I was content!