Random Stories
Brazos River
The Brazos River proved to be both a blessing and a curse for Waco, providing a constant water supply, means of transportation, and fertile farming ground, but also serving as a site of frequent flooding and destruction. This tension shaped the…
ALICO Center
In the mid-twentieth century, Waco underwent major changes through the federally funded Urban Renewal Agency of Waco. Areas impacted included numerous city blocks between LaSalle Avenue and Waco Drive. The project greatly affected the city’s people,…
Texas Christian University
Texas Christian University called various Texas cities—including Waco—home for many years before settling permanently in Fort Worth. The university traces its origins to a small private school operated out of a brick church structure in Fort Worth,…
Castle Heights Neighborhood
In its early days in the 1920s, Castle Heights was just a grassy hill at the end of the streetcar line, with a clear view of the Amicable building downtown. The city of Waco has since grown miles beyond the hill, and oaks and magnolia trees have…
Waco Natatorium
Believed to have curative qualities, water from Waco’s artesian wells were popular during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Locals considered the discovery of the artesian water in 1889 one of the most important events in Waco up to…
Shep Mullens
At the end of the Civil War, a new nation seemed to be on the horizon. Emancipation and the beginning of Reconstruction signaled a shift in national, state, and local institutions across the country. The Reconstruction Era, though certainly flawed,…
Featured Stories
Health Camp
In 1948, brothers-in-law Jack Schaevitz and Lou Stein opened a small mobile food cart at James Connally Air Force Base. The two became so successful selling burgers and frozen custard to military men that they opened a small restaurant on the Waco…
William Cameron House
For eighty-eight years, the William Cameron House stood as a nineteenth-century architectural treasure near the intersection of Twelfth Street and Austin Avenue. The fine embellishments on the mansion dazzled Waco residents, and helped it to become…
Kestner's Family Department Store
During the twentieth century, Elm Avenue served as a commercial hub and community center in East Waco. Looking to launch his own venture, entrepreneur Ike Kestner opened a bank and grocery store in the 500 block of the street in 1914. A full-page…
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Historic Homes
7 Locations ~ Curated by Baylor University Institute for Oral History & The Texas CollectionBrazos River
10 Locations ~ Curated by Baylor University Institute for Oral History & The Texas CollectionAfrican American History
30 Locations ~ Curated by Baylor University Institute for Oral History & The Texas CollectionWaco History Podcast
Dr. Stephen Sloan of Baylor’s Institute for Oral History talks with others about Waco’s known and unknown past. This is the Waco History Podcast.
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