Two years after Texas became a republic in 1836, Israel Washington Speegle formed a wagon train in Tennessee with several of his brothers and his wife’s family members and moved to Texas. When Texas was admitted to the union in 1845, McLennan County became a much more inviting place to settle.

In 1849, Speegle, a blacksmith and farmer known by many as “Wash,” became the fifth settler west of the Brazos River in McLennan County. He purchased 320 acres from Lee R. Davis for a dollar per acre on land located near Davis Creek, originally called Duck Creek.

Speegle held church services in his home made of logs. In 1850, he donated land for the construction of a church building, a small log structure that was also used as a school. A cemetery plot in which the first person buried was an African American slave who belonged to Speegle was also on site. When the mail routes were established, the community—now named for the man who first settled the area—appointed Speegle to serve as the first postmaster for Speegleville on May 27, 1879.

A two-room frame structure replaced the log cabin used for church and school in 1860. A Baptist congregation constructed a new church building in the area in 1891 after Louannah Speegle—Wash’s wife—and their son sold an acre of land for one hundred dollars. In 1918, the Mt. Zion Methodist Episcopal Church South and the Greenwood Methodist Episcopal Church South arrived in the area and combined to form the Speegleville Methodist Church. A tabernacle constructed by the men of the church near the east bank of Speegleville Branch served as their first church structure. Church members completed construction of a frame building around 1920. The construction of Lake Waco in 1930 caused the church to be relocated and a new structure was built.

By 1938, the Speegleville community consisted of about thirty-nine homes, three grocery stores, a cotton gin, a blacksmith shop, a Methodist church and a Baptist church, and possessed its own primary physician to serve the community—Dr. A. L. Armstrong. The community constructed a two-story school in 1912 and replaced it in 1948.

Frequent flooding of the Bosque River besought the city of Waco, prompting the construction of a new earthen dam structure on the river. In 1962, the dam enlarged Lake Waco, displacing several communities, including Speegleville. The original village now lies beneath the lake’s waters. The Methodist church was moved to its present location on Willow Grove Road. A new, relocated structure replaced the Baptist church, and Speegleville cemetery is now located on Interstate Highway 35 south of Waco. A new brick structure with a gymnasium replaced the old Speegleville School.

Many community members felt the village closeness and intimacy seemed to be lost in the move. However, in recent years, Speegleville has again regained some of its former sense of community and today boasts approximately two thousand homes.

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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 history of the communities which developed upon the banks of the Brazos.

The longest river in Texas, the Brazos is 840 miles long and drains an area of 41,700 square miles. Spanning from its headwater source in New Mexico to where it drains into the Gulf of Mexico, the river flows through varying terrain, from canyons to the rolling plains of West Texas to its meandering course through the relatively flat Coastal Plain.

Efforts to improve the Brazos and to make it navigable were begun as early as 1870. McLennan County cotton planters began looking for a water route to ship their produce at lower prices than railroads could offer. Barges and steamboats, notably the Kate Ross captained by early Wacoan Shapley Prince Ross, plied the river for a while until the channel shifted and more railroads came into the county. A bridge constructed in 1870 spanning the banks of the Brazos increased the amount of commercial activity within the city.

Notable attempts to build a series of locks and dams on the Brazos were made under the terms of the River and Harbor Act of 1905 and later under a New Deal project in the 1930s. However, the river shifted its course multiple times and floods wrecked construction sites.

Frequent flooding made life near the Brazos River a struggle for many Wacoans. On May 27, 1885, a tornado and flood resulted in the deaths of eleven people and $300,000 in property damage. In 1913, tumultuous flood waters inundated much of East Waco and took the lives of two people. The flood which occurred in September of 1936 resulted in $1.5 million in property damage in the county, especially in East Waco, although no lives were lost.

A United States Army Corps of Engineers study in 1937 recommended a series of dams on tributary streams of the Brazos and a major dam at Whitney on the main stream as the best means of controlling floods. World War II intervened, but in 1946, the first tributary dam was begun in Belton, and soon thereafter the Whitney Dam began to rise on the Brazos. The Flood Control Act of 1954 authorized a dam on the Bosque River at Waco, and as well as several others in different cities in line with the 1937 study.

When Waco Dam was finished in 1965, it completed, with the Whitney Dam, the major flood control instruments to protect Waco and the lower Brazos Valley. The floodplain at Waco became available for development. In 1967 Waco voters approved a $1.5 million bond issue to build a channel dam to create a bank-level lake through the heart of the city for recreation and beautification purposes. Lake Brazos was filled in 1972.

The Brazos River Authority, an independent organization established by legislation in 1929, continues to develop and manage the waters of the entire Brazos River basin. Today, the river continues to serve as an important water source for power, irrigation, and other resources for Waco and McLennan County, as well as other regions throughout Texas.

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Prior to local and federal efforts in the mid-twentieth century to control rivers through the construction of dams, the Brazos River routinely overflowed its banks. In 1913, the most violent flood to date overwhelmed East Waco, taking two lives and destroying numerous houses and businesses. This, combined with other disastrous floods throughout the nation, spurred a movement to harness the powerful force of the river.

In 1923, the Texas State Legislature conducted a flood control study which recommended the creation of a state agency with the power to carry out the tasks necessary to curb the destruction of the Brazos River. In 1929, the state formed the Brazos River Conservation and Reclamation District. That same year, after much local debate, a small dam on the Brazos River was constructed. This dam primarily provided the city with a constant water supply, though it also offered minimal amounts of flood protection.

Rain fell heavily throughout Central Texas in 1936. In September, a torrential downpour filled the Brazos River to record levels, cresting at 41 feet. The surging river proved to be too much for the small protective measures taken for the city. About one mile north of Waco, the river burst through a levee and flooded into the city.

The river rose to just a few inches below the floor of the Washington Avenue Bridge and the Suspension Bridge and overflowed its banks, overwhelming East Waco. Although no lives were lost, the flood resulted in approximately $1.5 million worth of property damage and left two thousand residents homeless. In order to restore order and begin the process of rebuilding, city manager W. C. Torrence declared martial law in the flooded area.

As Torrence appealed to citizens for monetary relief for flood victims, Congressman Bob Poage appealed to the federal government for help in taking more serious protective measures for the city. In 1937, the US Army Corps of Engineers conducted a study which recommended the construction of a series of dams on tributary streams of the Brazos River. This ultimately led to the construction of the Lake Whitney and Lake Waco Dams, which today protect the city from disasters such as the 1936 flood.

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Before the construction of dams along Texas rivers in the mid-twentieth century, many cities experienced severe flooding. The Brazos River Basin frequently flooded, wreaking havoc upon those who lived near the banks. Although periodic flooding aided cotton farmers in the early nineteenth century, it hindered the development of infrastructure along the river.

Despite its destructive force, the river provided a wealth of resources for trade, transportation, drinking water, and hydroelectric power. Additionally, many Wacoans desired to use the river as an alternative to the railroads for transporting crops. In 1905, the Rivers and Harbors Act provided funds for the US Army Corps of Engineers to build a series of locks and dams on the Brazos just south of Waco to make it navigable and less prone to flooding. Yet in December 1913, all these efforts proved to be for naught.

Frequent storms in the fall of 1913 often left rivers swollen and water standing in fields. On the morning of December 5, 1913, widespread, heavy rain began to fall across Central Texas. This rainfall added to the already swollen waters of the Brazos River. As the river grew, it overflowed its banks and inundated much of East Waco. The raging waters killed two people and destroyed numerous businesses and houses. The river shifted course due to the heavy flooding, rendering the corps of engineers’ construction project useless. Due to the high cost of rebuilding and the onset of World War I, further efforts to construct a dam were abandoned.

Further south in Texas, the Brazos River and Colorado River overflowed their banks and joined, thereby changing the course of the river and killing 172 people. Recognizing the dire need to curb the unpredictability of the Brazos River, the Brazos River and Valley Improvement Association formed in 1915. Though the association met with the federal Committee on Flood Control on several occasions, the reach of its efforts was limited by its lack of funding.

Although the results were not immediately visible, the 1913 flood spurred action for institution of measures to protect the city of Waco from further flooding, such as the Texas State Legislature flood control study in 1923 and the construction of the first Lake Waco Dam in 1929. 

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