Love it or hate it, Interstate 35 is a presence that is difficult to ignore. As part of America's major interstate highway system, I-35 has left an indelible impact on the city of Waco, prompting dramatic shifts in Waco's economy, neighborhoods, and aesthetic landscape.
While construction on I-35 did not start until 1957, the beginnings of this interstate system trace back to 1919 when Dwight D. Eisenhower, then a young lieutenant colonel, took part in a cross-country military convoy. The sixty-two-day haul covered 3,242 miles of dirt roads, ditches, and all-but-impassable terrain and convinced Eisenhower of the need for federal investment in building and maintaining adequate roads. The future politician's plan for a national highway system crystalized after he observed the German Autobahn system while stationed in Europe during World War II. In 1956, President Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act. The proposed interstate highway system, he argued, would create thousands of jobs, make roads safer and routes more efficient, and allow for quick transport of people and resources in the wake of a nuclear attack. The act allowed for the construction of a 41,000-mile system of highways and earmarked $26 billion in federal aid to cover 90 percent of construction costs, to which individual states were expected to contribute the remaining amount.
One such stretch of highway was the proposed Interstate 35, which would run from Texas to Minnesota, passing through Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa along the way. The commission appointed to oversee construction through Waco aimed to take into consideration the effect that highway placement would have on the city's future growth and prosperity. While some lobbied for the building up of the pre-existing route on La Salle Avenue, the commission settled on a mid-city route for the interstate. Many believed that this mid-city route would rejuvenate property values along the thoroughfare, an appealing idea as downtown Waco still reeled from the destructive tornado that tore through the area in May 1953. Planners hoped the $17 million mid-city expressway would alleviate traffic congestion as the straightest route from Potts Interchange-now the intersection of Waco Drive and Highway 77-to Waco's traffic circle. One local newspaper hailed the "graceful expanse" as "a sight to the eyes of every traffic-harried motorist who journeys north to Dallas or South to San Antonio."
The mid-city route, however, would displace many homes and businesses along the proposed path. The Texas Highway Commission began informing residents and business owners in the interstate's path of the upcoming construction plans. Not all were pleased. While the city provided affected residents and businesses with the funds to relocate, the new highway veritably erased several historic neighborhoods and disrupted deep-rooted communities.
Construction of I-35 officially began in South Waco in 1962, when building crews began the first of eight sections. The work of planning, staging, and construction, however, stretched on for several years. The subsequent seven sections were offered to independent contractors and were completed incrementally until construction finally ceased in 1972. Together, the eight contracts totaled a sum of $24,906,000. Initially, experts predicted that the new I-35 would see 68,000 vehicles a day by 1975. While the number of cars per day would later rise, the number hovered around 60,000 during the interstate's first decade, in part due to rising gas prices during the 1970s. Today, the portion of I-35 just north of Waco's traffic circle carries 138,689 cars per day.
New plans to widen the eight-mile stretch of I-35 within Loop 340 are currently slated to begin in 2019. Although the interstate has brought significant change to the communities along its path, I-35's perennial construction has proven to be a constant for Central Texas drivers since the highway's inception.
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]]>The McDermott Motors building is a prime example of the way in which many of Waco’s notable architectural structures have been adapted throughout history in order to continually serve the city.
Wilford Dees McDermott opened a Buick dealership in Waco with the help of his father-in-law, Robert Buchanan, in 1926. Buchanan hoped running a business would help McDermott and his daughter settle down and become more responsible, and thus provided McDermott with the funds to construct a brand new building for the dealership on Washington Avenue which opened to the public on November 1, 1928.
The McDermott Motors building reflected the extravagant tastes of its owner and namesake. McDermott commissioned renowned Waco architect Milton Scott to design a Spanish Colonial Revival-style building, complete with a flat red tile roof, Mediterranean-influenced transom windows, and terra-cotta details. The showroom featured decorative spiral columns and scrolled metal balconies, as well as an embellished fireplace. McDermott filled the state-of-the-art facilities with the newest available technology and overbuilt the front portion of the store to accommodate future expansions.
Unfortunately, the McDermotts’s extravagant spending combined with a tough economy led to the business’ end at the onset of the Great Depression. After Robert Buchanan passed away in 1930, McDermott struggled to keep the Buick dealership afloat. The shop closed, but McDermott refused to sell the building, instead choosing to lease it to Waco’s National Guard unit.
Prior to the 1930s, the National Guard made use of the grounds of Waco’s famous Cotton Palace for their training and storage facility. Yet the demise of the cotton industry concurrent with the Depression led to the closure of the Cotton Palace. The vacant McDermott building—with its spacious, sturdy structure which lent itself to vehicle maintenance and storage—proved to be an ideal replacement. After the lease began in 1931, the National Guard temporarily renamed the structure Fort Fiske Wright, to honor a revered local officer who died heroically in World War I. In addition to its utilitarian purposes, Fort Fiske Wright served as a sort of civic center where veterans gathered to smoke and play dominoes and their sons brought dates to dances.
The advent of the Second World War led to the building transitioning from military use to wartime aviation production. Few National Guardsmen remained in Waco, and in 1941, Fort Fiske Wright closed. In 1943, McDermott leased the property to North American Aviation, one of the US military’s main suppliers of aircraft. The company painted over the windows and the army supervised the assembly site, but despite these efforts at secrecy, Wacoans discussed the airplane wings which were constructed there and shipped elsewhere for assembly.
At the conclusion of World War II, the McDermott Motors building served once again as an automobile dealership for a short time when leased to D. T. Hicks, before entering a period of twenty years of disuse. Although McDermott received several offers from prospective buyers, he refused to sell the property until 1978. For a short time, a Christian bookstore resided in the historic building, and beginning in 1988, the charitable organization Caritas ran its operations there. Yet after a furnace fire resulted in enormously high repair costs, the building once again sat vacant.
The turn of the century brought about new uses for the McDermott Motors building. Texas physician Len Dippel purchased it in 2001, completing some renovations on the building as well as an application to list the building on the National Register of Historic Places. However, his plans to adapt the building into loft-style apartments were never realized, and in 2014, local entrepreneurs Joel and Josh Peel, owners of Hole in the Roof Marketing and Sticker Universe, respectively, bought the property. The brothers plan to complete renovations on the historic building and move their growing businesses into the unique and spacious structure.
This recent revival and repurposing of the McDermott Motors building ensures that the building will continue its legacy of adapting to meet the needs of the city.
]]>City Tire and Battery is a third-generation family-owned establishment started by aspiring entrepreneur George Berry Graves Sr. The business began at Third Street, Washington Avenue, and Franklin Avenue, in the commercial center of downtown Waco in 1942. Graves tried several other business enterprises before settling in the tire industry, such as a floor sweep business and a Colorado-based Dr Pepper distributorship. Despite Graves’ entrepreneurial spirit, these businesses struggled due to the slow Depression-era economy. Following these failed attempts, Graves desired to invest in something that people would always need regardless of the economy, deciding to invest in the tire business with his friend Austin Closs. They became one of the few Central Texas tire distributors around this time because of rubber shortages during World War II.
After the war, Closs sold out his half of the business to go into the appliance trade with his son. Graves Sr. still controlled the operation but hired local Wacoan Wilbur Parsons to handle the daily needs of the shop and to keep affairs going smoothly. He also hired Shep Cannon and John Griffis as tire salesmen, and they greatly contributed to the emerging business.
Between 1946 and 1949, City Tire and Battery experienced great success thanks to loyal customers and to the shop’s superior location on the Waco Square. City Tire and Battery was the only Firestone Tire distributor in the Central Texas region. In 1949, Graves decided to move across the street to a bigger building that the Hicks Rubber Company recently had vacated and to delve into the automotive repair aspect of the company. He also opened an additional store at Eleventh Street and Franklin Avenue. This store remained open for several years before the company returned to single-store operations.
The Waco Tornado of 1953 narrowly missed the building and no substantial damage was inflicted, but tires were thrown into the streets by the intense winds and windows were broken. The tornado destroyed most of downtown along Austin Avenue. George Jr. recalls being enlisted by George Sr. to pick up stray tires that had been thrown for blocks around the town. Downtown Waco was the center of the national news, and even today the tornado is known as one of the deadliest storms of the century.
In 1957, the company hired a new mechanic, local E. H. Kelly, jumpstarting the repair aspect of the company. Kelly was a talented mechanic and people came from miles around to have him work on their cars, whether it was a simple alignment check or more complex motor problems. Kelly had a very likeable personality and worked with Graves Sr. until the latter’s death in 1995.
In 1959, Parsons, Cannon, and Griffis left City Tire in order to start their own tire distributorship. They named their business General Tire and located it at Eighteenth Street and Herring Avenue. The following year, Graves’ son, George Berry Graves Jr., graduated from Baylor and joined his father at City Tire and Battery. His tireless work ethic and hands-on work approach kept the business alive and helped it to thrive against the competition.
In 1963, City Tire and Battery moved from Third Street and Washington Avenue to its present-day location on South Valley Mills Drive as a result of the urban renewal of downtown Waco. Today, the business continues to serve customers with the same work ethic and goal of developing personal relationships between customers and staff in order to meet customer needs. City Tire and Battery is still operated by the same family that started it years ago.
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