Roosevelt Post Office and General Store

At this site, in the picturesque valley of the North Llano River and almost on the western fringes of Kimble County, Texas, the village of Roosevelt had its humble beginnings in 1898.  It is generally surmised its name perpetuates the exploits of Theodore Roosevelt, who was said to have made expeditions with his Rough Riders into this backcountry while stationed at San Antonio prior to the Spanish -American War.

The earliest history of the more than a century old Roosevelt post office began when Alice Clara Ella Wagner sent an application (duly authorized and signed by Junction Postmaster  Frank Vickery) to the Postmaster General in the spring of 1898.  She requested that a postal office be established at this site.  The application was approved on June 15, 1898, and Mrs. Wagner received her official appointment August 22, 1898.Family legend relates Mrs. Wagner preferred “Roseville ” because  of her love of roses.   Nevertheless, the “powers that be” in Washington, D.C. wrote the name “Roosevelt” in bold script across the top of the application.

Alice Clara Ella McDonald was born July 6, 1861 in Jackson Parish, Louisiana.  Her father died during the Civil War.  Alice’s husband and helpmate, William Benton Wagner, grandson of a veteran of the American Revolution, was born in June, 1843,in Moultrie County, Illinois.  The Wagners moved to Kimble County in 1885 after purchasing ranch land on the North Llano River on November 30 of that year.

Alice died July 7, 1919, and her husband outlived her four years before his death in 1923.  Both are buried in the Junction cemetery.

A Wagner great-grandson, Larry D. Kirkpatrick of San Antonio, Texas submitted a brief family history for publication in FAMILIES OF KIMBLE COUNTY in 1985, and the following is quoted from his information: “William Benton Wagner was a freighter and brought goods for the store by wagon.  He was noted for walking long distances; even in his very old age, he would walk to Hext to visit his sons.  William kept the kitchen of his house in the old style, a completely separate building removed from the rest of the house.  He kept roses growing on both sides of the walkway to the kitchen.  The storm cellar was used every time the storm clouds came.”

W.B. Wagner did not acquire title to the post office until May 12, 1902 .  Peter Menges deeded it over.

In the Roosevelt Roundup column dated November 13, 1958 an item related that “some of the Peter Menges family who lived here fifty years ago were back recently for a visit.”

The late J. Marvin Hunter in 1954, recalled an occurrence in 1898 prior to the founding of Roosevelt.  In the company of Rev. W.F. Gibbons, Mr. Hunter, then a young man, traveled from Junction to Sonora and we quote a portion of his recollections: “The road was not much more than a cow trail.  I remember we went up the North Llano for twenty miles, crossing that beautiful stream many times.  It was in the month of March, and while glorious Spring had not yet burst forth, the scenery was entrancing, and the rippling waters and overhanging crags presented a grandeur that cannot be described by my pen.  Twenty miles above Junction about where the village of Roosevelt now stands, lived an old Texan by the name of Black…He was not home, but his good wife, in true Texas style, invited us to spend the night.  Here we were given a full measure of that frontier hospitality which all old Texans boasted of.  When Mrs.Black found out that Gibbons was a Methodist preacher, she asked me to run down a fine yellow-legged rooster, and we dined on fried chicken, cornbread baked in a skillet, sweet milk, fresh butter, and wild honey. About 8 o’clock the next morning we resumed our journey to Sonora, following the North Llano River up to Fort Terrett.”

Check in next week to continue the journey…..