Rosston is a small farming and ranching

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

in southwestern Cooke County,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, United States. It lies along FM 922 along Clear Creek, midway between Forestburg in Montague County and

Era An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

in Cooke County. In 2000, Rosston reported a population of 110. The community boasts a general store, a volunteer fire department, two church buildings, and several residences, as well as a wealth of agricultural enterprises. Just east of the town, there is the Liberman Broadcasting Tower Era, one of earth's tallest structures, and as of May 2007 was the tallest structure in Texas. The tower is named for its proximity to Era, though it is much closer to Rosston and Leo.''Texas' tallest structure brings emergency communication, Spanish radio to area''
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Gainesville Daily Register The ''Gainesville Daily Register'' is newspaper published in Gainesville, Texas, on Tuesdays and Fridays. It has been published continuously since 1890. The newspaper covers primarily Cooke County, Texas, and parts of Love County, Oklahoma to ...

, 10 May 2007

History

Anglo settlement began as early as the Texas Revolution in Cooke County, drawing many to establish homesteads and ranches in the Rosston vicinity. In 1865, the area of present-day Rosston was settled. The scattered community was promptly raided by

tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conflic ...

from

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

in what would become the last raid of Indians on white settlers in Cooke County. Settlers from Grayson County later established Rosstown in 1870. The namesake Ross family owned a general store, cotton gin, and mill to serve the farmers of the area. A post office opened in 1872 and the town officially became Rosston. The

Butterfield Overland Mail Butterfield Overland Mail (officially the Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service i ...

route passed near Rosston, operating between Gainesville in Cooke County and Jacksboro in

Jack County, Texas Jack County is a County (United States), county located in the north central part of the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, its population was 8,472. Its county seat is Jacksboro, Texas, Jacksboro. The county ...

. Rosston, like many other small Texas towns, was bypassed by railway lines and slipped into relative obscurity in the 20th Century. But one local claim to fame is that notorious outlaw Sam Bass used Rosston as a hideout, and the town celebrates Sam Bass Day every year on the third Saturday in July.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Texas Unincorporated communities in Cooke County, Texas