Rockne, Texas

Rockne began as a small farming community. Phillip Goertz (1825-1900), considered the first German Catholic settler in the area, arrived from Germany in 1856 and purchased land along Walnut Creek. More German Catholic immigrants soon joined him and established family farms. The settlers built their first church, Ascension of Christ Church, on Walnut Creek in 1876, but it was destroyed by an arsonist's fire in 1891. A new structure was completed in 1892 and named Sacred Heart Church. The community was first called Walnut Creek for the nearby stream, later became known as Lehmanville when the Lehman Post Office was established in 1900, and was also called Hilbigville after William Hilbig opened a store there. In 1931, children of Sacred Heart School were given the opportunity to permanently name their town, and they chose Rockne in honor of Knute Rockne, the Notre Dame University football player and head coach who died in a plane crash that year. Rockne remains a rural community centered on Sacred Heart Catholic Church and is the only town named after Knute Rockne.

Notre Dame, Indiana · United States