The Rockwall Fire Department had better be on standby Thursday April 17.  The heat from 154 candles is going to be pretty intense!  Rockwall is celebrating another birthday, 154 years since it was officially platted as a community by Elijah Elgin.  Rockwall takes its name from an underground formation discovered by Terry Wade in 1852. Wade was digging a well near what is now the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market when he discovered the wall-like formation.

The land that became Rockwall was a small part of the 572-acre homestead of Benjamin Boydstun. When Mr. Elgin submitted his paperwork on April 17, 1854, the new community was born. To this day, Rockwall is still the only community in the world that goes by that name.

The area that is now Rockwall was occupied in the early 1800s by the Caddo and Creek Indian tribes. When the first Anglo settlers reached the area in the 1840s, they found the two tribes at war. The National Road of the Republic of Texas was built through the area in the mid-1840s, and the new community was founded along this road. 

Rockwall began celebrating its birthday with the Founder’s Day Festival, which originated in 2004.  That sesquicentennial celebration was capped off by a concert by The Little River Band.  This year’s festival, scheduled for Saturday May 31, promises to be just as special.  The day-long birthday party will climax with a free concert by The Marshall Tucker Band.  For more information about Rockwall’s birthday and the Founder’s Day Festival, go to http://rockwallfoundersday.com.