White Rock

White Rock is a small rural community located on Farm Road 1566 about nine miles north of Greenville in northern Hunt County. Settlement began as early as the 1850s, and the community was originally called Tidwell Creek, probably after early pioneers Esram Tidwell and his heirs, who had a large land grant in the area. The community was a stop on the Sherman-Jefferson Road. The town's name changed to White Rock when a post office was established in 1868. The new name was inspired by Austin chalk outcroppings in the vicinity. The White Rock Methodist church was formally organized in 1880, and the congregation held services in the local school until building a church in 1898. In the mid-1880s the community had a population of 150 and included a general store, gin, gristmill, three physicians, a blacksmith, and a lawyer. By the late 1890s the population had increased to 200. A Baptist church was built at White Rock in 1901. The community maintained its own district school, and highway maps in the 1930s showed the school, two churches, several businesses, and numerous farms. As railroad service expanded in other sections of Hunt County, the town of White Rock declined. In the 1940s the population fell to fifty and the school was closed. Population figures recovered somewhat and remained steady at seventy-three from the 1970s through 2000. White Rock received three Texas Historical Markers in 1987, honoring the community and the Methodist and Baptist churches.