Marker dedicated July 5, 1987

Location: Block East Calhoun, Rice, Texas 75155

Photo by Dana Stubbs

Rice Texas

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 town-site, 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

The text of the historical markers have been posted here with the permission of the Texas Historical Commission

Marker Dedication

Dedication Program, 3:00 P.M.

Sunday, July 5, 1987

Master of Ceremonies ... Jean Foust, Navarro County Historical Commission

Invocation ... Mrs. J. K. Bradley, Sr.

Dedication of Marker ... Idamay Dukeminier

Acceptance of Marker ... Janet Nichols, Mayor of Rice

Unveiling of Marker ... J. T. Allen, Joe B. Fortson, Jr.

Historical Research by Idamay Dukeminier