Coming into Rockport from Atlas..on the right hand side there was Ogle Grocery and dry goods store.(that was owned by "Wid" Ogle of Barry...he had one in Barry also) , then there was the Rockport Lumber Yard, after that was the pool hall/cafe run by Paul Garner then after that was Sears Grocery store and then the Post Office. (It is boarded up now, that is the 2nd PO on that spot because I recall one building housed the PO and cafe., ran by a couple named Boyer and then one night it burned down).

Now lets back up, and coming from Atlas again, on the left where the old school/PO, that is the spot that the old brick school house was that housed grade school and high school. I was in the first grade when it burned down. I well remember that the 2nd floor was on fire, and the north west side of the building on the lower lever was the 7/8 grade room.

George Borrowman's mother Vera drove up to the school and yelled "Where is George Deans desk,..someone told her and she crawled thru the window and got all his books, just as she was crawling back out the window, the flaming roof caved onto the 2nd floor. There was an old model A fire truck from New Canton go there too late to do any good. By the way, I think later years Pleasant Hill bought that old truck. When I worked for Tom Wall there was a fire up past Walter Brummels place and after I set off the siren, Dean Hillman and I "manned" the fire truck up the road. When we got the the engine was hotter that the fire that someone had already put out.

Back to Rockport...after the school on the corner of the next block there was a big 2 story building that had one time been the Bank Of Rockport which had gone busted in the late 20's, most of the time it sit empty, however a little before and during WW2 Dale Hoskins from New Canton ran a movie theater in the downstairs. I remember seeing a movie there called the "Yellow Canary" with Bob Hope, it was a suspense movie and it scared the heck out of me..The old building was used for a teen center for a little while, and some of the bigger kids, had a crank phonograph and there would be dancing. After that old building which is long gone there was a house, that sat over a creek, that is where Donald Payne and his wife and daughter Joyce lived. Years later the house was moved from over the creek and it still sits there in Rockport on the west side of the creek. Past the house there is a garage there now, but when I first remembered anything about Rockport...there was the block foundation and some concrete stairs that had once been the Haines Store....it was quite a store and if you ever get a chance to read the Haines store called "Gilgal Landing" it talks a lot about the two stores on that location as one burned in earlier years and was rebuilt, only to burn again.

Past that garage , in the middle of that street was a flag pole, and people would turn around there a lot to get on the north bound side of Rockport.

Remember too that it was all gravel roads back then thru and into Rockport. If you turned left past the garage, there was the combination barber shop and in the back room was the undertaker. Past the barber shop was a filling station, owned by Ike Ogle who later moved to Louisiana MO and had a station there. After the station was the Odd Fellows Hall. When the Rockport school burned down that was one of the buildings that housed 1, 2,3,4 grades. From the Odd Fellow building which still stands, you crossed the railroad tracks, and there was a house and next to it was a building, which was a harness repair shop and he sold apples there from his orchard which was a little ways up Jim Town Holler. His name was Claude Ator.

Continuing thru Rockport on the left is the towns park, and Atlas Township Hall, this building was also used for class rooms when the school burned down. After the town hall there was a filling station, operated by Mr Ervin Lewis, and also another building which was a restaurant at one time. There at that spot now, is a memorial for the Black lady who passed away at an early age..think it might have been Dale Blacks wife. Behind that area was a shack where Limber McMullen lived, and in back and across the road from him was the CB&Q rail road station, (by the way that old depot is now located down Scot Lane between Atlas and Rockport.) a little past the depot there was a tavern which was owned by a Mack Ator.

Next to that was another filling station/garage, which was owned by a Sam Bolin, later it was owned by Art Ator and is now Henry's body shop. After that was a stockade which was used to ship livestock by train out of Rockport. I should add that the daily train (Monday thru Friday) used to go all the way down to Pike Station, at a elevator which was nearby what is now Rue's fish market. I don't know if Rue is still there but her building still stands. Also near by was a turn table that the rail men would position the engine on and then turn it around to go back to Quincy. One time as a small kid my dad took me on the train down to Pike Station, the crew let us ride in the cab of the steam engine. Later on they went to diesel. This train was locally known as "Old Jerk". Think it took it all day long to come down to Rockport and back to Quincy. There were two covered bridges on that rail line, one was over Dutch Creek by our farm, the other was south of New Canton, over Hadley (?) Creek. I sure wish I had a picture of that old bridge over Dutch Creek. But I don't.

Beyond the stockade was the elevator which was managed by Strother Grisbey.....that is about all I can tell you about Rockport.

George Borrowman is a "walking history " about Rockport and a lot of its citizens.