Rockwall

Rockwall owes its name to a unique underground formation discovered by three men digging a well. In 1852, Terry Utley Wade, Benjamin Boydstun, and William Clay Stevenson exposed what they termed a rock wall. When a city name was needed in 1854, Rockwall was chosen. In the 1880s, the railroad s arrival had a significant impact on the area and ushered in cotton as the main cash crop. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Rockwall was the epitome of small-town Texas: Yellow Jacket football on Friday nights, movies at the Ritz theatre on the square, lunch at the Mecca Cafe, milk shakes at Cunningham s Drugstore, and watching television through the front window of Payne s Appliances. Resting on the banks of Lake Ray Hubbard and sitting in Dallas s shadow, Rockwall is faced with the unique challenge of balancing rapid growth while maintaining its historic charm."