Roaming Around Rhome

I told y’all not too long ago that “all roads lead to Rhome.”

I was talking about the tiny hamlet of Rhome, Texas. Whenever I get lost, I wind up there. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to tell stories at the Rhome Public Library (through a grant generously given by The Texas Women for the Arts). I discovered that when I specifically want to find Rhome, I get lost!

Go figure.

I wasn’t very lost, but it took me a little searching to find “downtown.” There isn’t much in Rhome — except a whole lot of fine people. My Daddy would say that they are “gooder’n gold.” Now, you might not think that a tiny town has much going for it, but I think the folks who live in Rhome probably like it that small. They have all the benefits of living in small town America, but they are just a hop, skip, and a jump from all the activities of the “big city.”

Y’all, when I wind up in a tiny community and don’t see much of interest, I always go snooping around a bit. I figure that sometimes you just have to look a little bit to find a treasure. My idea of a “treasure” might be different than yours, but I get fascinated by old buildings. I don’t know why, exactly. I guess that if I won the Texas Lottery I would probably buy buildings in those itty bitty Texas towns to restore them to their former grandeur.

On “Old Mill Road” I found (what else) an old mill. It’s hard to see the structure through the trees (I wish you could have been there with me so you could see it better).

Did I show you too many pictures? I’m sorry … when I find something I like, I just keep grinding away at it (Didja get it? Huh? Huh? It was a joke! “Mill.” “Grind.” Do I sound like Jay Leno?). I really can’t help myself. I just want to buy that building and love it. Maybe make a very oddball house or restaurant out of it!

I looked on-line to see if I could find some information about that mill. I found this blurb in The Handbook of Texas Online:

“The Rhome post office was established in 1883, and by the early 1890s the town had 175 residents, a school, a church, and two flour mills. One of these mills was the first roller mill built in the county, and possibly the first in Texas. In operation by 1898, this more technologically sophisticated mill used rollers instead of stone burrs to grind wheat into flour. During the 1930s the mill, then owned by L. W. Renshaw, was paid $5,000 by General Mills for the rights to a flour brand name that Renshaw had been using for years-Gold Medal.”

Gold Medal Flour? Heck, both of my Grandmommies used that brand! I wonder if this was “the” mill?

Over the next few days, I’m going to be sharing more of the “treasures” I’ve been finding in Wise County, Texas (an area north of Fort Worth). It isn’t the type of thing you will find in your tourist guide book, and some of it might not be the type of thing that you would go out of your way to see. It’s just simple things that I find interesting in my neck of the woods.

Do you have any forgotten treasures like this old mill in your neck of the woods? Share a picture or a story, and let me know! I’d love to see them.

Related posts:

1. I Brake For Historical Markers
2. All Roads Lead To Rhome
3. Tough Times in Tioga, Texas
4. Alien Buried at Aurora?
5. Haunted House in Black and White

Tagged as: mill, photographs, photos, Prairies and Lakes, Rhome Texas, Texas Travel, Wise County