By Geoff Hunt
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…

By Geoff Hunt
Floyd Casey Stadium housed the Baylor Football Program from 1950 until the opening of McLane Stadium in the fall of 2014. In 1936, Baylor Football’s home turf was Municipal Stadium, located at…

By Sarah Miller & Geoff Hunt
During the early twentieth century, Waco experienced economic growth, large amounts of community engagement and recreation, as well as racial tension and military training. Photographer Fred A.…

By Geoff Hunt
General Tire & Rubber Company came to Waco in late 1944, the company’s second plant after its Akron, Ohio, headquarters. The company originally constructed the plant in order to supply equipment for…

By Geoff Hunt
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…

By Historic Waco Foundation & Prisca Bird
The history of Fort House is as much a narrative about a nineteenth-century family home as it is local twentieth century efforts to preserve the landmarks of Waco’s prosperous past. The man behind…

By J. B. Smith
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…

By J. B. Smith
Although born of humble beginnings, Greater Ebenezer Baptist Church has been lifting Wacoans up in worship for over a century. The church now known as Greater Ebenezer Baptist began as Oak Street…

By J. B. Smith
The Geyser Ice Company complex has long outlived its heyday when it supplied ice for trains loaded with meat and vegetables, and when icemen drove their red horse-drawn wagons through Waco’s dusty…

By Jim Stingley
Few major products are as closely identified with the people and environment where they began as Dr Pepper in Waco. Developing from a soft drink invented at a local drugstore to one of the largest and…

By Jordan Ortiz-Lovince
The Grand Lodge of Texas on Columbus Avenue has long served as the center of operations for masonry in Texas and is one of the largest freemason lodges in the world.  The Grand Lodge of the Republic…

By Joy Summar-Smith
The Old Corner Drugstore is the birthplace of Dr Pepper. In 1885, Morrison’s Old Corner Drugstore introduced Dr Pepper to customers who eagerly drank the sweet concoction of twenty-three different…

By Kathleen Young
The Washington Avenue Bridge is a steel, Pennsylvania through truss bridge that spans the Brazos River and connects East Waco to downtown. Before the construction of the Washington Avenue Bridge, the…

By Maggie Dean & Skylar Ray
Situated just off of Waco's historic traffic circle, Circle Hardware Supply stands as one of the city's longest-running businesses. Originally founded by Frank Stevens in 1945 as a small lumber…

By Megan Danner
Among the names of the many individuals who served valiantly during World War II, Waco’s own Doris Miller was a hero of national and international acclaim. Although many noted the valor he displayed…

By Megan Danner
On January 22, 1927, tragedy struck Baylor University when a collision near Round Rock, Texas, ended the lives on ten students en route to an athletic event. Aboard the bus that day were twenty-two…

By Michael Woodward
Sandtown was a vibrant and predominately Mexican American neighborhood that was active from the turn of the twentieth century to the 1960s. It encompassed the area of downtown Waco between Third…

By Paige Sullivan
Old Waco High School is the oldest of several extant buildings to have housed Waco High School. Initially the school met in two small buildings in downtown Waco during the 1880s, and for many years…

By Paige Sullivan
For over one hundred years, St. Paul’s has continued to meet the needs of congregants and community members alike from its location at the corner of North Fifth Street and Columbus Avenue. On January…

By Paul Fisher & Prisca Bird
Organized in 1866, New Hope Baptist Church is one of the oldest African American churches in Waco. Noted throughout its history for its excellent church music programs, New Hope is still a vibrant…

By Prisca Bird
One of the largest municipal parks in Texas, Cameron Park has provided Wacoans with ready access to natural beauty and recreational activities for over one hundred years. Though it is hard to imagine…

By Prisca Bird
A picturesque limestone bluff situated high above the Bosque River, Lovers’ Leap is as dangerous as it is beautiful. On June 28, 1917, the Cameron family purchased a tract of sixty acres featuring the…

By Prisca Bird
In the early 1950s, McLennan County voters approved a $1.2 million bond towards the construction of a new agricultural and entertainment venue. Contractors Farnsworth and Chambers of Houston, Texas,…