Rogers

Rogers is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 190/State Highway 36 and Farm roads 437 and 2184, twelve miles southeast of Temple in eastern Bell County. It was established on the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway and was named for John D. Rogers of Galveston, a director of the railroad. By 1884 Rogers had a post office, a cotton gin, three churches, twenty-five businesses, and a population of 150. In 1899 the town incorporated and elected James D. King mayor. King, who was in the real estate business, built a two-story building with an opera house upstairs, and in 1900 Rogers was a stopping point on a vaudeville circuit. In 1908 a post office was opened with F. M. Chandler as postmaster. By 1914 the town had three banks, six gins, a weekly newspaper, numerous businesses, and an estimated population of 1,275. Cotton and cattle were the main products, and in 1918 Rogers shipped more cotton than any other city in Texas. The population remained constant throughout the 1920s, despite a fire which destroyed an entire block of the business district. However, by 1941 it was 911, and the town had forty-one businesses. In 1974 Rogers had an estimated 1,420 residents and fourteen businesses. Since that time the population has remained fairly constant; it was 1,300 in 1989, 1,131 in 1990, and 1,117 in 2000. Dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey was born in Rogers as was soul singer Joseph “Joe Tex” Arrington.