RHODE ISLAND, TEXAS. Rhode Island, formerly known as Rischer Town, is on Farm Road 833 eight miles north of Fairfield in north central Freestone County. The community was originally named Rischer Town for Anthony Rischer, who had a store there and was a prominent black citizen of the county. The local Methodist church was named Rhode Island, and the town name soon changed to match. By 1891 the community had a school for black students; in 1893 the school had an enrollment of twenty-four, and by 1899 the enrollment was thirty-eight. In the 1930s Rhode Island consisted of a business and a few scattered dwellings, and by the 1960s only the church, a cemetery, and a few dwellings remained. The church and cemetery were still at the site in the late 1980s.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Freestone County Historical Commission, History of Freestone County, Texas (Fairfield, Texas, 1978).

Chris Cravens