Sunday Afternoon, May 16, at 2:00 p.m., the San Saba County Historical Commission will dedicate a Texas State Historical Marker for the A. J. Rose Mill at Sloan Pool spring. The public is invited to the dedication.
Archibald Johnson Rose was an early San Saba County settler who came to San Saba with his family in the mid-1850s and settled in the area now known as the Sloan Community. Rose used skills learned on his father’s farm in Missouri to build irrigation ditches and a grist and lumber mill using water from damming the springs flowing from the hillside near present-day Hope Presbyterian Church.
During the dark days of the Civil War, Rose provided a source of relief from war-time privations to the families living in the community. Rose’s farm, known variously as Rose’s Mill, Rose’s farm or Little Egypt, provided food, milling services and even education, as he brought in a teacher and set up a school for community children. After the war, in 1870, Rose, fearing for the safety of his family, facing ever growing threats from Indians, moved to Salado. There, he became involved with the grange movement and was a tireless advocate for education. The mill and irrigation system he left behind remained an invaluable asset for the area’s families. The descendants of the Sloan and Henderson families who purchased Rose’s ranch when he left remain on the land to this day.
The Texas State Historical Commission’s marker program provides a means for communities to commemorate the events, institutions, individuals and historic structures which have built today’s Texas. To date, Texas has recognized over 16,000 subjects with historic markers across the state. Sunday’s dedication will commemorate the 56th official Texas historic marker for San Saba County. The public is invited to Sloan Pool spring (the mill pond for Rose’s mill) to help the San Saba County Historical Commission celebrate this dedication. The site is on Sloan Road (FM2732) 9.4 miles south of the intersection of 2732 and highway 190.