Random Stories
Waco Indian Village
The city of Waco derives its name from the agrarian indigenous group that originally resided in the area. The Waco, orWi-iko, Indians were a tribe of the Wichita that arrived in Central Texas in the 1700s. The tribe’s early history is difficult to…
Clyde Barrow
Waco’s law enforcement has seen many a hoodlum since the days of the town’s founding in 1849. One of the most notorious was Clyde Barrow—half of the infamous gun-slinging duo Bonnie and Clyde.
On October 16, 1929, Waco police arrested Barrow in the…
James Connally Air Force Base
With the possible entrance into World War II on the horizon, McLennan County officials and local city leaders lobbied the federal government to build a military installation in the Waco area. By August 14, 1941, officials learned about the…
First Presbyterian Church
First Presbyterian Church of Waco is one of McLennan County’s oldest Protestant congregations, formed several years before Waco’s incorporation as a city.
On April 20, 1855, a group of Presbyterians in Waco Village petitioned the Central Texas…
Mutualista Hall (La Mutualista Sociedad de Jornaleros)
Mutualistas were first established in Texas during the late nineteenth century by Mexican immigrants. These mutual aid societies provided immigrants with a connection to their home country and a support network to meet basic needs as they forged a…
Camp MacArthur Troop Train Derailment
On June 18, 1918, a troop train carrying soldiers from Camp MacArthur’s 80th Field Artillery left East Waco and traveled eastward on the Cotton Belt line, heading toward a southern training camp. After traveling for fifteen minutes (about seven…
Featured Stories
The Reservation
Though not uncommon to late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century cities, red-light districts were regarded as areas of ill repute where madams and prostitutes worked outside the law. Yet in 1889, Waco—a city lauded for its multitude of educational…
Standard Hat Works
Centered in Waco as one of the nation’s premier shops for hand-crafted cowboy hats, Standard Hat Works has been serving customers from near and far for over 100 years.
William Gross, a Hungarian immigrant to the United States, founded what…
Academy of the Sacred Heart
On the corner of Eighth Street and Washington Avenue once stood a Catholic school and convent that taught thousands of students during its years of operation from 1874 to 1946. The Academy of the Sacred Heart received its name partially because the…
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Houses of Worship
10 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 CollectionHeart O' Texas Foodways
12 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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