Maurita Miller, the postmaster at the Rocky Hill Post Office, fills out a check for customer Lillian Delle Beckner behind the old bank teller window in the two-room office Thursday morning. Miller recently bought and renovated the old town hotel with her fianc, Larry Vincent, and plans to open a bed and breakfast.

Photo by Miranda Pederson

ROCKY HILL It was a warm July night in 1941 when flames quickly spread through the tiny downtown. The creamery, drug store and barbershop burned. The post office, homes and a grocery store burned. Halcyon Wheeler, whose father, Mark Wheeler, owned the store and a house that would burn, ran through the streets, screaming Fire! Fire!We all got up and came up here and sat on the porch and watched it, said Mary Virginia Madison, now 89 and living in the Edmonson County home that she ran to years ago so she could see the fire that destroyed Rocky Hill. It was scary to see all that, she said. Alta Doyle, 82, was horrified. It was the worst night I ever experienced, she said. People were crying and hollering and trying to help other people. A lot of people said they knew what hell was like then. Luckily, no lives were lost in the fire. It was stopped after several men, including Jack Sanders, now 86 and of Park City, used blasting powder to blow up the Wheeler house. It was on fire to where there wasnt any way to put it out, Sanders said. We had a pretty long fuse and set it off. That blew the house down and saved the rest of the town. Still, the fire was the end of Rocky Hill, Sanders said as he sat in his car with his wife, Evelyn, 78, on Wednesday. Now, Rocky Hill is like a ghost town, said Fran Beckner, 67, who lives, and grew up, just outside of town. The towns nice sidewalks are long gone, as are the many businesses that once made it a booming railroad town. It seems no one was inclined to rebuild Rocky Hill after the fire of 41. So as the years slipped away, businesses that werent destroyed by the fire slowly began to close their doors. Now, only a tiny post office, a volunteer fire department, a Masonic lodge, a few houses and two old churches, which have few members, are open along lonely streets. Many of the buildings are dilapidated, including an old storefront where Junior Marr builds furniture. Id love to see it come alive a little bit, Beckner said. Beckner talked as she pored over mementos shes saved and been given from the history of Rocky Hill. There was a newspaper clipping about a Dr. Quigley being gunned down by Harry Cochran, who was Madisons uncle. There were photos of kids at the Rocky Hill School, which has been gone for decades. Then there was a journal entry Beckners now late mother wrote about three children being run over and killed by a Pan American train. Older people in Rocky Hill still talk about the deaths, which happened in the 30s. They talk about many of the things that happened when the town was booming. But Beckner doesnt remember when Rocky Hill was a busy place, complete with milliners. Neither does her husband, Albert, whose first trip there, when he was a boy, was the day after Rocky Hill burned. But the Beckners and others, including Sanders, have some new hope for Rocky Hill, where the only life in the streets Tuesday was a cluster of chickens walking across the road. Postmaster Maurita Miller two years ago bought an old railroad hotel that through the years had nearly fallen into disrepair. Now she has plans to open the place as a bed and breakfast and site for weddings and other parties. On Wednesday, workmen labored in the yard while Miller gave a tour of the place. I think Im going to call it The Olde Rocky Hill Station Inn, she said. Then, shes going to do more in the town that hasnt had a bank since the 1930s.In an old building that was once a printers shop, shes going to install an antiques store, as well as a photography studio, where her daughter, Lori Vincent, will work. To Miller, its part of helping out the place where she became postmaster four years ago. Now, she plans to retire in Rocky Hill in July. Its just got history, she said of the town, which was founded in the early to mid-1800s as Rocky Hill Station. And its quiet. We love the people. Millers fianc, Larry Vincent, now wants to help revive Rocky Hill. This place is a wealth of history, said Vincent, an auto mechanics teacher at Russellville Technology Center. Recently, Larry Vincent bought the old house Jack Sanders grew up in downtown, as well as an old building where Sanders father, V.R. Sanders, once ran a store. He plans to fix up both places. Sanders, whose father also owned a Ford agency and sold International Harvester trucks and tractors in Rocky Hill decades ago, is thrilled, and soon hopes to sell the old Rocky Hill Station Depot. In 1960, Sanders had the depot moved from near the train tracks to another spot downtown so it would be preserved. But the depot needs to be restored. Sanders thinks it would make a nice antiques store, or a museum someday. So do others around Rocky Hill. But such things cost money, and such things take time, and there arent many young people in Rocky Hill. Charla Gaige, 14, lives with Madison, who is Rocky Hills oldest resident. Charlas mother was once married to Madisons son, who died years before Charla was born. Charla said theres not much to do in Rocky Hill these days. Sometimes, she goes to friends houses. Sometimes, she walks along quiet roads. Still, Charla prefers Rocky Hill to Brownsville, the bigger town where she used to live. Its easier to walk down the roads without worrying that someone will run you over, she said. It seems that many who live in Rocky Hill wouldnt consider living anywhere else. And generations tend to stick together there. Doyles son, Kenneth Hulsey, and his family live near her. The Beckners have descendants near them, too. In addition to Charla, Madisons grown grandson, Tracey Madison, lives with her. Bea Keith, who used to own a grocery store with her husband, Estill, in the storefront where Junior Marr builds furniture, said she wouldnt live nowhere else. Ive lived here 62 years, she said. So it wouldnt feel right to live anywhere else.