La Recluta and La Escuelita

The county's side of La Recluta is in the Handbook of Texas. Coal was surveyed in Milam County in the 1860s, but the first mine did not open until 1890. By the mid-1890s the county had six mining operations producing a total of twenty railcars of coal a day, and at the peak, between 1910 and 1920, the mines shipped as many as forty-five to fifty a day. Most of the miners, the Handbook says, were immigrants from Mexico. The 1913 cave-in the plaque describes came in the middle of that peak, when the demand for labor was greatest.

What the plaque says

La Recluta and La Escuelita La Recluta and La Escuelita Jose Leal received six leagues of land in this area in 1833. In 1867, coal was discovered, and the railroad reached Rockdale in 1874. Not until 1890 did the first coal mine, owned by Herman Vogel, begin operation. Others opened, and more settlers came looking for work. Many workers came from Mexico, leaving behind a revolution. These immigrants settled on land owned by E.A. Camp. They sharecropped, growing enough for themselves, and worked in the mines. They named their settlement, just north of the International-Great Northern Railroad tracks, La Recluta, or "recruitment." Family names represented here include Ruiz, Flores, Casarez, Zapata, Aldama, Montoya and Lumbreras. The men, like many other industry workers at the time, received their pay in tokens, which were redeemable only for mine commissary purchases and doctor visits. Several men were trapped in an International Mine Company cave-in in 1913. Eight men and one mule awaited rescue for six days; one man did not survive. Yards away from the collapsed mine entrance is La Escuelita, the small schoolhouse built for the children of the community. Classes were taught in English, although most students spoke Spanish at home. As part of the Talbott Ridge School District, the students transferred to Rockdale schools in 1944, when the districts consolidated. In 1946, Rockdale merchants donated benches to La Escuelita building. In 1953, the school was deeded to the St. Joseph's Cemetery Association, the support group for the community's cemetery, where nearly 300 gravestones tell the stories of La Recluta's families, many of whom remain in the area. (2002)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Milam County Courthouse and Jail — 12 mi
  Cameron's 1892 Renaissance Revival courthouse and the 1895 St. Louis-built jail beside it, now the county museum, are listed together on the National Register.
• Calvert — 28 mi
  A railroad cotton town of 1868 on State Highway 6 that claimed the largest cotton gin in the world and elected Black men to county and state office during Reconstruction.

More markers nearby

• Springfield Missionary Baptist Church — 1.9 mi
• Matinee Musical Club — 2.0 mi
• First Baptist Church of Rockdale — 2.0 mi
• St. Thomas Episcopal Church — 2.0 mi