Rice

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight with a little color on the side. This is the story of Rice, Navarro County, Texas. It starts, like so many good Texas stories do, with water doing what water does.

Back in 1866, a flood came through and devastated the nearby settlement of Porter's Bluff. Folks there had built something, had roots, had neighbors. And then the water took most of it.

So in the late 1860s, settlers started arriving at a new site, many of them coming right out of that wreckage, looking to start again. Now here's where the railroad enters the picture, and in Texas, the railroad always enters the picture. By 1872, the Houston and Texas Central Railroad was routed right through that new site.

It bypassed Porter's Bluff entirely. One of the railroad's principal investors was a Houston businessman by the name of William Marsh Rice, born in 1816 and who would live until 1900. Rice donated five hundred acres of land for a station and a townsite.

The town was named in his honor. That same year, 1872, the Rice Post Office was established, and the place was open for business. And business, in this part of Navarro County, meant cotton.

Cotton was the main crop of the area, and it accounted for much of the community's interests. One of the first businesses in Rice was a cotton gin, and the Rice Railroad Station became a major cotton shipping point. Bales going out, money coming in, a town taking shape.

The Rice Railroad Station saw some history roll through it, too, and I mean that almost literally. In 1898, a train carrying Spanish-American War recruits came through that station. Think about that platform, those young men, that moment.

And then, during a World War I Liberty Bond campaign, the Liberty Bell itself passed through Rice. The Liberty Bell. Right there in Navarro County.

The early settlers of this community were a particular kind of people. Isaac Sessions had arrived way back in 1846. Joseph Calloway Bartlett, a veteran of the Texas Revolutionary War, became Rice's first postmaster.

And scattered among the founding generations were many veterans of the Civil War. The community's first school opened in 1875. And the city's incorporation came through a vote in December of 1912.

Rice grew from flood and loss and a railroad decision, from five hundred donated acres and one businessman's name on a post office door, into a city that voted for itself and claimed its own future. That's a story worth remembering the next time you roll through Navarro County.

What the marker says

Settlers began arriving at this site in the late 1860s, mostly from the nearby settlement of Porter's Bluff, which had been devastated by a flood in 1866. By 1872, the Houston and Texas Central Railroad, which bypassed Porter's Bluff, was routed through this site. One of the railroad's principal investors, Houston businessman William Marsh Rice (1816-1900), donated five hundred acres of land for a station and a townsite, which was named in his honor. The Rice Post Office was established in 1872. Cotton was the main crop of the area, and accounted for much of the community's business interests. One of the first businesses in Rice was a cotton gin, and the Rice Railroad Station was a major cotton shipping point. A train carrying Spanish-American War recruits came through the station in 1898, and the Liberty Bell passed through on a World War I Liberty Bond campaign. Early settlers of Rice included Isaac Sessions, who arrived in 1846; Texas Revolutionary War veteran Joseph Calloway Bartlett, who was Rice's first postmaster; and many Civil War veterans. The community's first school opened in 1875. Citizens voted to incorporate the city in a December 1912 election. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986