Rockwood

Rockwood is on U.S. Highway 283 and Camp Creek, four miles north of the Colorado River and twenty-three miles south of Coleman in southern Coleman County. Although the area was reportedly known as the Camp Creek community during the early 1870s, the town began in the early 1880s when Lee Shields established a store on the stream. One branch of the Chisholm Trail turned northwest at the site. A post office was established in 1889 in the home of H. L. and Sallie Faulk and was named Discord by Jim Foreman after a disagreement over a town name. It changed its name to Rockwood in January 1890, possibly in honor of local resident Adolph Wood, who later became postmaster. Another story suggests that Wood himself changed the town's name. In 1890 the community had a corn mill and gin, a general store, a blacksmith, a carpenter, and an estimated population of twenty-five. The discovery of coal near the Colorado River between 1890 and 1892 brought a boom. The town was shifted from the north to the south side of Camp Creek in 1892, when its population was seventy-five. By 1914 Rockwood had 100 residents, three general stores, and a cotton gin; however, the coal-mining company functioning in 1892 apparently was no longer in operation. By 1925 Rockwood had a population estimated at 200. In 1931 it had fifteen businesses and in 1933 eight. Although population estimates remained at 200 between 1933 and 1963, the number of businesses fluctuated before finally stabilizing at four. A school was in operation as early as 1926 and was closed in 1955. From 1970 through 2000 the population was estimated at eighty. Although the post office remained in operation, no businesses were reported in Rockwood after 1983.