This community has historic ties to the settlement of White Rock, one mile west, one of the earliest in McLennan County. When the rail terminus was established here in 1873, bypassing White Rock, residents moved to the new town that developed. It was named in honor of Lawrence Sullivan Ross, the ranger, Confederate general, and McLennan County sheriff who later became Governor of Texas and a noted educator. Because of the area's rich farmland, Ross developed early as a center of European immigration and agricultural trade.