By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
The Ellis County Commission officially changed the name of Noose Road to Rome Road this week.
In a special meeting Monday, the commission approved a resolution that officially changes the name of the 5.5 mile stretch of road that extends west of Hays from 12th Street after the first settlement in Ellis County, Rome.
At their last regularly scheduled meeting of the month on June 15, all three commissioners agreed that the name should be changed.
The commission settled on Rome Avenue, but Commissioner Dustin Roths said this week that east and west roads are called "roads" in Ellis County while north and south roads are labeled "avenues." Roths said naming the road Rome Road keeps it consistent for emergency personnel.
Roths was a vocal supporter of the change and said changing the name was not something he ever thought he would do as a commissioner but called it important.
“Having a Noose Road in our county, at best, was suggesting that we lacked tact and awareness about the situation but, at the worst, that some of us might be proud of our past,” Roths said. “I don’t think anybody around here is proud of that, and I wanted everybody to feel welcome to be able to move to Ellis County.”
The road purportedly got its name because of its connection to Hangman’s Bridge, where three black soldiers and a fourth man were hanged in the 1800s.
Roths said he spoke with a person who suggested the name of the road and he told Roths that he did not think that it would get approved but it fell through the cracks with several residents objecting to the names of several other roads.
Roths donated $200 to cover the cost of replacing road signs and a GoFundMe has been set up to help residents pay for the costs of changing their addresses.