Royse City

Royse City is on State Highway 66 five miles northeast of Rockwall in the northeastern corner of Rockwall County. It was named for G. B. Royse, who in 1886 platted the townsite and sold its first lots. People began settling in the area in 1885, when it became known that the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad would be constructed through that part of the county. Many of the settlement's earliest residents and businesses were attracted from the nearby community of Fate, which the railroad had bypassed. The new community grew from the beginning. The first business, a general merchandise store, opened in December 1885 and was followed soon after by a variety of business houses, some of which were pulled on rollers from Fate. In 1886 a post office opened in Royse City. Read more at TSHA