During the twentieth century, Elm Avenue served as a commercial hub and community center in East Waco. Looking to launch his own venture, entrepreneur Ike Kestner opened a bank and grocery store in the 500 block of the street in 1914. A full-page advertisement in the Waco News-Tribune announcing “fifteen days of wonderful bargains” reveals the store’s transition to dry goods’ sales by the 1920s.

Kestner’s Family Department Store became a central part of life along Elm Avenue. Patrons loyally returned to the store because of its quality merchandise offered at low prices. McLennan County Commissioner Lester Gibson told the Waco Tribune-Herald that he grew up shopping in Kestner’s where his mother bought him overalls and ties because it was “a working man’s store.” Waco newspapers frequently ran advertisements for Kestner’s manufacturer outlet sales which proudly offered merchandise for less than the raw materials could be purchased for. The family atmosphere of the department store also contributed to its success. Ike trained his son, Jack Kestner, to run the store alongside him. Jack later passed on the ownership of the store to his son-in-law, Howard Cohen, although he himself continued to work in the store until he retired in 1985.

The 1950s and 1960s represented Elm Avenue’s prime. The street filled with crowds travelling amongst shops and restaurants, stopping in various stores. Kestner’s employees often found it impossible to stop for breaks because the shop filled with customers. However, the suburbanization of Waco took a heavy toll on East Waco. Shops left Elm Avenue for the swiftly developing Valley Mills Drive, and walk-in traffic at Kestner’s waned following the opening of Wal-Mart.

To meet this trend, Kestner’s Family Department Store expanded to a second location in 1979 on North Thirty-Fourth Street under Cohen’s ownership. Since the majority of the department store’s sales were composed of men’s clothing, Cohen also opened Kestner’s Fine Jewelry Store on Bosque Boulevard in order to widen Kestner’s customer base.

Longtime employee Donald Fadal began working in the store during its heyday in 1960 and became the owner in 1984. To meet the challenge of the department store’s dwindling customer base, Fadal carried on the Kestner’s tradition of hard work, customer service, and quality merchandise. He developed personal services such as free alterations to entice greater sales and drew upon the loyal following which Ike and Jack had cultivated during the store’s early days.

Much to the dismay of longtime patrons and many East Wacoans, Fadal decided to retire in 2002 due to health concerns. Although Kestner’s Family Department Store closed in March of 2003 after one final sale, its nearly ninety years of low prices, quality goods, and dedicated customer service established it as a vital piece of the history of both Elm Avenue and Waco.

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In 1886, Wacoans Isaac A. Goldstein and Louey Migel formed the Goldstein-Migel Company in order to try their hand at retail. The partners opened their first store on the ground floor of a building in the 700 block of Austin Avenue with only two clerks in their employ. After just one year of business, Goldstein and Migel possessed sufficient means to annex the adjacent building, thereby doubling their store’s capacity.

The store moved to the corner of Sixth Street and Austin Avenue in the 1890s. The new two-story, double-front brick building allowed Goldstein and Migel to expand the store’s inventory to meet the demands of a rapidly growing customer base. However, on August 18, 1891, tragedy struck when a fire destroyed the entire building. The company lost $80,000 in property damages.

Following the fire, the store was rebuilt and then renovated and expanded several times in the following years. In order to remain competitive with their local rivals, Goldstein-Migel became one of the first dry goods stores in Waco to make use of electric fans, elevators, air conditioning, and public restrooms. The department store even featured a soda fountain and a small restaurant for a time. Goldstein-Migel touted itself in advertisements as “Waco’s greatest department store.” While this claim was certainly embellished for promotional purposes, shoppers could find a variety of quality goods within its walls. The store carried a diverse assortment of clothing, furniture, jewelry, housewares, and other dry goods, spread out in lavishly decorated departments. 

During the second half of the twentieth century, Goldstein-Migel faced the challenges of suburbanization and economic downturn. In a bid to cater to a customer base that was increasingly relocating to the suburbs by the early 1960s, Goldstein-Migel opened a second location at the Lake Air Mall. Not to be forgotten, the original Goldstein-Migel location became one of the centerpieces of the Austin Avenue Pedestrian Mall, an urban renewal project sponsored by the City of Waco in 1970. Urban planners hoped that by closing the street to traffic and beautifying the space, residents would see the downtown as a viable shopping destination once again. Unfortunately, the mall failed to attract the long-term loyalty of customers, and the venture was abandoned in 1984. The demise of the pedestrian mall led to the demolition of Goldstein-Migel’s downtown location and the transfer of all operations to the suburban department store. Yet not even the suburbs could save Goldstein-Migel when difficult economic times led to the closure of the Lake Air Mall, forcing the department store to cease operations for good.

In spite of a competitive retail industry and the fickle economy, Goldstein-Migel proved its success through over a century of faithful service to Wacoans.

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Decades before American Idol made stars out of wannabes, Waco had its own hit-maker, Mary Holliday.

Holliday (1901-1969), believed to be the first female radio announcer in Texas, broadcast a thirty-minute youth talent show each Saturday for more than thirty years. She started in radio in 1925, working as a studio pianist at WJAD-AM, which became WACO-AM in 1927. The show launched shortly thereafter.

But the program — known as the "Jones' Fine Bread Kiddie Matinee Show" — proved so popular it was moved in 1932 to the Waco Theatre. It was broadcast there weekly until 1956.

In the show's heyday, Holliday would invite youngsters ages 5 to 14 who could sing, play an instrument or act to come two weeks in advance to audition for the show. Successful performers were given a slot in the program. If an act wasn't up to par, the ever-gracious Holliday would not dash the auditionee's hopes but rather suggest that they go home and practice some more.

One of the most famous alumni of Holliday's show is Hank Thompson, a Country Music Hall-of-Famer whose career has spanned six decades and who has sold more than sixty million records worldwide.

The young performers received free admission to Holliday's show, while audience members paid a quarter a head to get in. The children competed for humble cash prizes of fifty cents to two dollars.

Besides the variety show, Holliday was known for the talk show What's Doing Around Waco, which began as a fifteen-minute filler in 1938 and had expanded to an hour long show by 1950.

Holliday also was much in demand as a public speaker because of her many adventures overseas. 

"She took her radio audiences to France, England, Italy, Germany and other faraway places with her tape recorder," Holliday's July 7, 1969, Tribune-Herald obituary noted.

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Bridge Street holds an important legacy of connecting North, South, and East Waco, and serving as a center of community for the city’s many ethnic groups. Known as Main Street during Waco’s early days, this historic street earned its new name after the construction of the Waco Suspension Bridge around 1870. Over time, many of the wooden buildings lining Bridge Street became so dilapidated that the street earned the nickname Rat Row. A fire devastated the street in 1871, and businesses rebuilt using stone, thereby improving the image and stability of Bridge Street.

The majority of the African American community worked in businesses on Bridge Street during the nineteenth century. After the close of the Civil War and the emancipation of slaves, African Americans hired themselves out in Waco in positions according to the skills and experience they possessed. Most worked as laborers and servants, though many worked in positions such as farmers, schoolteachers, and carpenters.

Near the turn of the century, Bridge Street emerged as the center of the minority-owned business community and became a communal gathering point. According to the Waco city directory, African American-owned barbershops emerged on Bridge Street as early as 1877, and several Chinese laundries and a Hispanic grocery store opened in 1892. Over the next decade, the number of minority-owned businesses increased rapidly.

On the weekends, Bridge Street filled with families and citizens from all over Waco. Restaurants, taverns, hotels, and theaters offered entertainment and enjoyment, while doctors, dentists, grocers, tailors, and other business owners met the community’s other needs. Bridge Street also served as the center for several African American newspapers for Waco, including the Waco Messenger.