Since 1958, Jesse’s Tortilla Factory, founded by Waco couple Jesse and Esther Contreras, has provided the Waco community with fresh tortillas and chips made in-house. Jesse’s sells at both wholesale and retail level and provides for many restaurants in the Waco area.

Jesse’s co-foundress Esther Contreras inherited both her business instinct and her tortilla making skills from her mother. As a young woman, Esther’s mother, Hermelinda Niño, and her sisters sold tortillas door to door. After Hermelinda’s marriage, she opened Niño’s Tortilla Factory on South Fifth Street with the help of her husband. In an era where many barriers kept Mexican American women from being business owners, Hermelinda’s perseverance served as an inspiration to the women of her community.

In 1950, Jesse Contreras retired from active duty in the army and got a job delivering tortillas for Niño’s. Esther and Jesse soon married, and the couple took over running Niño’s after Hermelinda retired. They moved to their current location and became Jesse’s Tortilla Factory in 1958.

The original Jesse’s was a corner store which sold deli meat, bread, soda, candy, and cigarettes. The factory aspect consisted of a small rolling machine which rolled one tortilla at a time. Much of the store’s initial customer traffic came from the nearby boys’ club where the Contreras’ grandsons spent much of their free time. The building was originally a duplex. One half held Jesse’s, and the other half was the home of the building’s owner. Eventually,the Contrerases purchased the whole building and expanded their facility.

Tragedy struck the Contreras family in 1989. One morning that January, a masked man entered the store demanding money. Jesse, refusing, did his utmost to protect the store, hurling a trashcan at the assailant. The robber fled empty-handed, but not before he had shot and wounded Contreras. Jesse Contreras died a month later from the wounds he sustained in the fight. The factory only closed for a day, so that the family could attend the funeral. Esther carried on the business as sole owner, with the help of her daughter Alice Rodriguez and grandson Santos Rodgriguez.

In its many years of operation, Jesse’s has seen considerable success. They have made several changes to both their retail and wholesale offerings over the years. Under Jesse Contreras, Jesse’s only sold one style of chip, but after Jesse’s death, they began selling two styles of chips—thick and thin—with the thinner style surpassing the thicker chips in popularity. In 2019, at the suggestion of Santos, Jesse’s started selling meals to go such as tacos, taquitos, tamales, and taco salads.

Alice officially took over ownership of the business after her mother’s death in 2020. A year later, Jesse’s suffered an electrical fire. While the damage slowed production, insurance covered most of the costs, and the repairs provided an opportunity for some much-needed renovations.

Jesse’s produces about 45,000 corn tortillas a day and uses 1,800 lbs. of corn a day. The entire tortilla-making process takes place inside the factory. A silo on-site holds corn which is cooked and then soaked in water and lime for five hours. After this, the corn is transferred to a stone grinder, which grinds the corn into a dough called masa. This dough is rolled out and cut into disks on the tortilla rolling machine, which then drops them onto a conveyor belt which takes them through the oven. About ninety percent of these finished tortillas are then cut into quarters and fried to make tortilla chips.

The factory has grown to employ a staff of about a dozen people. This family business invites their community to be a part of their family and so makes a lasting legacy of love and support for the Waco community.

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On the corner of South Eleventh Street and Cleveland Ave, Cruz’s Drive Inn stood as a cornerstone to the community for over 50 years. Four generations of the Cruz family served both the neighborhood near the Kate Ross apartments and countless Hispanic Wacoans. The store became a hub for news and support for its many patrons.

 Cruz’s Drive Inn was opened in 1965 by Juan and Lilia Cruz. They purchased the store at 826 South Eleventh Street from the Tusa family, prominent Waco grocers at the time, to help relieve Juan’s father Cayetano from a depression caused by the loss of his wife, Leonarda. In the early years, Cayetano and Lilia ran the store during the day, and Juan closed the store at night after his shift at Clark Transit Mix Concrete. Juan maintained his job driving a concrete truck until the store was well established and proved profitable.

 The store had a deli counter selling meats and cheeses, bread, candy, beer, cigarettes, sodas, kerosene, and snow cones. As the business grew, so did the property around the store. Juan purchased a former bar and repair shop that would become storage buildings for the store. Lilia, who ran the financial side of the business, saved profits from snow cone sales to expand the store’s physical footprint. They saved enough to add onto the building, and in early 1980, the expanded store opened without missing a day of business. The larger establishment allowed for the sale of more products, many of which catered to the Hispanic community. Items included religious candles, oils, Mexican herbs and spices, piñatas, Spanish language books and magazines, card games such as lotería and naipes, paletas, Mexican sodas, and more. In later years, the store even sold phone cards and money transfers. These were purchased mainly by Hispanic immigrants and workers to stay in contact with and support their families in Mexico or other Latin American countries.

 As a neighborhood store, Cruz’s maintained a regular clientele, seeing generations of families returning year after year. Through good times and bad, the Cruz Family and their clients supported each other. Mr. Cruz often extended credit to those in need, allowing them to purchase goods and later pay the bill when they were able. Some of these debts remained unpaid when the store closed but were proof of the goodwill and faith between the family and community. This mutual respect also added to Juan’s property holdings. As neighbors moved away or passed, the families often offered Mr. Cruz the first opportunity to purchase the land or houses. In addition to supporting the immediate neighborhood, Cruz’s supported other small local businesses, including Jimenez Bakery and Tiempo Newspaper, by purchasing and distributing their goods.

In 1995, Juan’s first grandchild began working at the store part time in the evenings. Seven of his eleven grandchildren would do the same. In 1999, Juan suffered a heart attack and could not work for several months. At this point, his daughter Diana Hernandez began working full time at the store. She quickly learned the business, taking inventory, purchasing goods from regular vendors, operating the cash register, and serving as the food manager over the deli counter. As more family members became involved in the operation of the store, it became the setting for many birthdays and small holidays and a place for the grandkids to stop by and visit between classes at MCC, TSTC, or Baylor University. 

Juan Cruz passed in May 2007, leaving the business in the hands of his wife and children. His daughter, Diana Hernandez, was integral to the running of the store until it closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Mrs. Cruz sold the property, nearly a half city block acquired piecemeal by Mr. Cruz based on his foresight of the eventual change and development of the neighborhood. Mr. Cruz envisioned opening a storage facility on the land he acquired but never had the opportunity; however, the neighborhood did change as he predicted. Nearby houses that had long been rental properties were sold and renovated to accommodate the influx of visitors to the Magnolia Silos.

 Cruz’s Drive Inn was a family business, not only for the Cruzes, but for those in the surrounding community. Customers often returned after years of absence and recalled to their children buying candy, pickles, chips, snow cones, and chopped beef sandwiches. Additionally, bilingual service (English and Spanish), evoked a sense of place in a new environment for Hispanics new to Waco. Familiar products and the atmosphere made Cruz’s a place of comfort and community to all who walked through the doors.

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For many immigrants throughout the 1800s, the United States seemed to be a land filled with promise. Texas, in particular, appeared to be a place where dreams could be fulfilled. Otto Monnig, a Prussian immigrant to Missouri, believed this to be true. In 1870, Monnig opened a Family General Store in Gasconade County, Missouri, where he sold clothing, toys, and groceries, while also running a drugstore and post office. This business venture served as a precursor for what was to come for the Monnig family. In April 1889, after sending his son William Monnig to assess business prospects in Texas, he decided to open Monnig’s Dry Goods and Hardware Store in Fort Worth, the fifth largest city in Texas.

For the Monnigs, the promise of a better life held true. Business boomed. In fact, on opening day, Monnig’s department store brought in $44—over $1,000 today. The enterprise continued to expand its inventory and remained in competition against other notable Texas businesses like Cox’s. In 1900, after investing in bulk merchandise, their business model expanded, and they also entered the wholesale dry goods business. The retail and wholesale divisions continued successfully, and the business opened locations across the state, including one in an up-and-coming Texas city: Waco.

Otto Edward Monnig supervised the expansion project, following in his father’s and uncle’s footsteps. Though he had lived in Waco and since moved to California, his wife convinced him to return. That advice proved sound as he became the operator of Monnig’s in Waco, growing the business and its inventory.

The first Waco location opened in 1932 on Fifth and Washington, continuing the retail and wholesale model. Monnig’s, branded as “the Friendly Store,” now offered more than dry goods and hardware. The store sold clothes, groceries, toys, beauty products, candy, and flowers, and still maintained their wholesale business. Customers who could not make it to the store had the option to call a “Miss Shopper,” an employee who could shop for needed items and ensure their delivery. With an abundance of merchandise and a growing retail division, the Monnigs decided to open an additional location in town.

The new Monnig’s opened at 604 Austin Avenue on August 27, 1936. While the Waco department store branched out into the downtown area, the grocery division remained at the old location, 120 North Fifth Street. This new location offered an extensive variety of clothing, furniture, and other retail items. After leasing the Horne Building, the business dedicated the 60-by-165-feet ground level to merchandise alone. The second floor remained utilized as storage space for wholesale materials.

Thrilled at the department store’s expansion, Wacoans rushed out to opening day. Multiple local businesses endorsed Monnig’s, including The First National Bank of Waco and Mailander & Company, who aided in the three-month remodeling process. The store expected such an influx of people that they opened at nine o’clock in the morning, rather than eight thirty, to ensure that employees could prepare for the rush.

Though Monnig’s survived the historic 1953 Waco tornado and nationally vexing financial periods, the business eventually filed for bankruptcy in 1988. Monnig’s department stores across Texas closed their doors, and in 1989, Chrysler Technologies Airborne Systems (CTAS) occupied the old Monnig’s building at Seventh and Austin. By 1990, bankruptcy resulted in the closing of all seven Monnig’s locations across Texas. Still, many Wacoans reflected fondly on the local store during its decades of success. While Monnig’s opened business because of the opportunities Texas offered, the Waco department store promised a new future for the downtown area and the city more broadly.

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The Hammond Laundry Cleaning Machinery and Supply Company of Waco, Texas, began in East Waco on Elm Street in 1911 when Texas native William Hammond decided to try his hand at the laundry business. By midcentury, the Waco company boasted operations and sales throughout the world.

Born in Hearne, Texas, on December 5, 1881, William Hammond moved to Waco in 1911. Almost immediately, he joined with Albert Vawter to form the Hammond-Vawter Tailoring company, with stores in Waco, Taylor, Bryan, and Hillsboro. Hammond’s work in the men’s clothing business sparked his interest in dry-cleaning equipment, which he soon began selling as well. Hammond was not content to simply sell cleaning equipment, however. Thanks to self-educated engineer Fred Winslow, who came on board at Hammond’s company in 1923, the company eventually produced a machine of its own, dubbed “the Hammond.” Throughout the 1920s, Hammond utilized his charisma and skill to singlehandedly establish and maintain markets in Central Texas and neighboring states.

While the local business grew in scale and profits during its first two decades, World War II would signal a time of rapid financial growth and geographic expansion for Hammond Laundry. This growth was, in large part, due to the work of employees who showed remarkable acumen in business, engineering, and sales. In 1942, Roger N. Conger (husband of Hammond’s daughter, Lucy Rose) joined the company at a time when its factory produced $100,000 of equipment annually and had recently relocated from Elm Avenue to 413 Webster Avenue. Conger assisted with business aspects such as marketing, contracts, purchasing, sales, and management. During World War II, when the US relied solely on domestic manufacturers for production of defense goods, the company helped in the war effort by making equipment for the US Navy, such as clothes dryers suitable for use in US Naval vessels. Roger Conger later recalled, “We [Hammond] supplied every drying tumbler that the US Navy purchased during World War II.” This would total nearly three thousand machines. The Hammond facility also manufactured small aircraft components during wartime. Through the 1950s, the Waco firm was still under contract with the US Navy to supply shipboard clothes dryers and also expanded to a new location at Second Street and Mary Avenue.

In the postwar years, non-defense production resumed on a large scale, too. Through the combined efforts of the staff at Hammond, the company expanded to fill demand for their machines from around the world. In 1958, Hammond’s California distributor, Romaine Fielding, established the “first quick-service laundry in the Soviet Union,” when it supplied units to “housing projects in Moscow.” This international success prompted Business Week Magazine to feature a story titled “Chasing Soviet Washday Blues.” Indeed, Waco-made products being sold in Russia in the 1950s was extraordinary for the time. In addition to Russia, other markets included Indonesia, Turkey, and Western Europe. In 1964, Danish representatives even came to the Waco facility to study manufacturing processes at the Hammond plant, then located at 220 South 2nd Street.

In 1961, Hammond sold ownership of the company for approximately one million dollars. The company merged with a Philadelphia firm headed by H. J. Mitchell. It still bore the well-established Hammond name and operated in Waco under the name Hammond Industries, Inc. The company’s president, Roger N. Conger, still headed the firm and became its chairman. The laundry units continued to be fully constructed in Waco, the company providing jobs for sheet-metal workers, welders, electricians, assemblymen, and skilled machinists. In August of 1973, the Waco company was sold to Economics Laboratories of Texas, Inc. (now Ecolab), although Hammond equipment manufacturing operations continued. The company’s founder, William S. Hammond, passed away in Waco on November 5, 1977, at the age of ninety-five. At the time of his passing, Hammond had seen his company grow from five workers to over two hundred and also evolve to play a rare role in local, national, and global history.

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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 would become Standard Hat Works in New York City in 1909. Gross got his start in hat-making in Budapest at the age of thirteen, and arrived in the United States with a decade's worth of expertise. Legend has it that Gross would stand at the corner of Fifth Street and Manhattan with a stack of hats upon his head, peddling the hats to passersby on the street. Gross eventually made his way to Texas and opened his first storefront in 1915 at 622 Washington Avenue. It was there that Gross solidified the Standard name.

In 1936, Bill Martin began an apprenticeship under William Gross, learning the tools of the trade and successful business management. When William Gross decided to retire in the 1940s, he sold the company to Bill Martin, who went on to hire Doug Eastland six years later. Together, the two solidified Standard as one of the premier hat shops in the country. After a dip in hat sales during the sixties and seventies, Standard Hat Works saw an uptick in business in the early 1980s, just as Doug Eastland took over following Martin’s retirement. During this time, cowboy culture became more mainstream thanks to a convergence of social, cultural, and political forces. Ronald Reagan, a former western film star, was elected president, country music became trendy, and movies such as Urban Cowboy helped make western wear fashionable for the masses. The cowboy hat became a staple of pop culture, and business boomed once again for Standard Hat Works. The company created hats for a range of celebrities, from musicians such as George Strait and Garth Brooks to talk show hosts like Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman.

While Standard carried on its legacy of quality hat-making, this new era spelled change for the business as well. Due to mounting concerns over the risk of fire during the heat-intensive hat-making process, Doug Eastland moved the store from Washington Avenue to 422 West Waco Drive in 1988. It was there that he did business until, ironically, a fire destroyed all but one piece of original and highly sought-after machinery in 1993. While he continued to sell hats out of the storefront, he was unable to continue making custom hats in the years immediately following the blaze. In 1997 Eastland sold Standard Hat Works to Richard Dick after several years of decreased profits. Standard remained largely dormant for the next decade.

The historic company was revitalized a decade later, however, when Lenny Lawson bought the company in 2006, determined to restore the hat-crafting process at Standard. He moved the business to 1826 Circle Road and traveled around the United States in search of original equipment, some of it dating back to the 1860s. Thanks to Lawson’s efforts, Standard Hat Works began to offer custom hats once again. In 2013, Waco native Cameron Morris purchased the company from Lenny Lawson, under whom he had served as a hat-making apprentice. When the expansion of I-35 forced the company to move in 2016, Morris opened a new location at 1304 North New Road. There the shop stands today, crafting hats and carrying on the Standard Hat Works legacy.

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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 operation called Circle Lumber Company, the business has operated at 2504 La Salle Avenue since its creation. In 1948, William P. Jones purchased the business to serve as lumber supplier for his commercial building company, Jones and Williams Construction Company, which he owned and operated with his brother-in-law, Grady Williams. In obtaining control of their supply chain, Jones and Williams were able to significantly cut costs and expand their company to become one of the most successful and respected commercial construction businesses in the greater Waco area. Because of their success, Jones and Williams Construction became a major sponsor for Waco community growth. The company built several prominent buildings throughout Waco in the 1950s, including Emmanuel Baptist Church, University Junior High School (closed in 2013), and the Sachs Austin Avenue fashion store downtown (now Sironia boutique). After the May 1953 tornado decimated downtown Waco, many prominent families and businesses chose to relocate rather than to rebuild. The partners of Jones & Williams Construction and Circle Lumber, however, chose to stay in Waco and help the struggling community rebuild. While post-tornado construction jobs proved lucrative for both businesses, the partners were also able to form lasting and meaningful relationships with the citizens of Waco. The multitude of buildings constructed by the company served as great publicity for the hardware store and allowed Jones to build a solid customer base. Tragedy struck the business, however, when Grady Williams was killed in a construction accident in 1972. Following his partner's unexpected death, Jones decided to close the construction operation to focus solely on Circle Lumber Company. Jones’s son-in-law, Richard Cunningham, came to work for the business that same year, ushering in a new era for Circle Lumber. Cunningham led the push to build the new, 6,000 square-foot building that houses the store today. While he strove to innovate, the newcomer also worked to preserve his father-in-law’s emphasis on customer relationships and community involvement. Indeed, even after Jones retired in 1985, he played an active role in consulting the business and afterward continued to stop by the store regularly to reconnect with customers. After Richard’s death in 2005, his wife Mary continued to run Circle Hardware until July 2011, when she sold the assets of the business to Heart of Texas Hardware and Lumber LLC. The owners, Larry and Norma Dagley, promptly joined Do it Best Corporation, a hardware supply co-op, in order to offer a greater variety of goods and services. Membership in the co-op made possible a large-scale remodeling and re-merchandising process in 2012-2013, and introduced the company to a new twenty-first century model of business. Since taking control of the company in 2011, the Dagleys have “embarked on a plan to build on the legacy of the past owners and businesses but to have an updated hardware and convenience lumber operation in a remodeled facility with a wider variety of merchandise.” The store continued to serve the Waco community for years until its closing in 2026. Circle Hardware has been a staple for the Waco community since its founding; its strong familial roots and commitment to customer service ensure that they will be fondly remembered by Waco locals for years to come.

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