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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]]>R. T. Dennis and Co. helped furnish the homes of Central Texas for nearly seventy years. Known for its exceptional quality furnishings, R. T. Dennis thrived in downtown Waco and served as the premier home décor destination. Unfortunately, the R. T. Dennis building, as well as the company, met their end when an F5 tornado leveled the building in May 1953.
R. T. Dennis and Co. was born out of the dream of two brothers, Robert T. Dennis and James K. Dennis, in 1886. The two brothers first moved to Central Texas in 1874 and worked as rail-splitters in Hillsboro for a short time. Robert then tried his hand in the grocery and dry-goods businesses, but his passion existed elsewhere. Robert joined the furniture business, taking a job in 1875 with W. P. Martin and Bro., Furniture as a delivery wagon driver. He saw promotions to salesperson and bookkeeper in the coming years. After twelve years of learning the trade, Robert felt confident to step out on his own, and he started R. T. Dennis and Brother with James in Gatesville. In 1889, they decided to move their operations to Waco, as the city was growing rapidly and taking off as a market center. In 1892, the Dennis brothers rented a building on the corner of Fifth Street and Austin Avenue constructed by Richard Coke, which they later purchased in 1904, and the scene was set for the expansion of their business.
What began largely as a coffin and funeral service business soon exploded into a vibrant retail and wholesale enterprise for all types of furniture and carpets. In the first six months of operations in Waco, the company’s net worth skyrocketed from $8,000 to $50,000. R. T. Dennis and Co. also opened stores in Hillsboro (run by James Dennis), Bryan, and Temple. This sudden rise to success made Robert Dennis an important man in the Waco community, and he soon became the director of the Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Waco and eventually invested in a number of business ventures in town, including the ALICO building. He also kick-started Dennis Manufacturing, which produced some of the furniture for his store. Robert even used a bit of pageantry to advertise his business and attract attention, sometimes putting the costumes from the local opera in his shop windows and always having an impressive display at the Texas Cotton Palace each year. By 1915, the Dennis brothers were able to buy out rival furniture store Stratton Furniture and further expand their reach in the Waco economy. Following World War I, R. T. Dennis and Co. purchased the Tom Padgitt Company building that abutted the store to use as a warehouse, making the entire block of Fifth Street from Austin Avenue to Franklin Avenue under R. T. Dennis’s ownership.
The 1920s brought further growth for the company but also the loss of its founder. In 1920, Dennis decided to incorporate for an impressive sum of $500,000, and the company became R. T. Dennis and Co., Inc. The same year, Dennis sold Dennis Manufacturing and dedicated the business entirely to retail and wholesale furniture. By 1924 the company had started a mattress factory and employed four traveling salesmen covering three states: Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. These men traveled with photographs and catalogs and allowed people to place orders for R. T. Dennis furniture from afar. This required the company to keep a large stock on hand, and as a result it purchased real estate around Waco to use as warehouses. One such purchase came in 1926 when R. T. Dennis bought Waco Dry Goods on Sixth Street and Jackson Avenue. The Hilton then tapped R. T. Dennis to furnish its new hotel in downtown Waco in 1928 (which later became the Roosevelt Hotel). This turned out to be Dennis’s last major business deal, as he died in June of 1928 of a prolonged illness. Treasurer Willard Robert Wigley, whose father, W. J. Wigley, had helped found R. T. Dennis and Co. and R. T. Dennis and Wigley Co. (Dallas), took over as president upon Dennis’s death and remained in that position until the dissolution of the company.
R. T. Dennis and Co. went on to weather the Depression of the 1930s quite well, marketing their products as necessary and practical. Robert Dennis’s nephew-in-law, Rush H. Berry, enjoyed a promotion in the mid-1930s from secretary to vice president, a position he held until his death. In the 1940s his own son, Labon E. Berry, filled the secretary position and become general manager, with business continuing steadily throughout World War II. In 1950 the company was named to the Grand Rapids Furniture Makers Guild, a guild reserved for only the highest-quality furniture companies.
Despite all its success, the end of R. T. Dennis and Co. came swiftly and suddenly. On May 11, 1953, a massive Category 5 tornado ripped through downtown Waco. The site of the R. T. Dennis building was classified as the “impact area,” receiving the full force of the twister. Both the R. T. Dennis and Tom Padgitt buildings were reduced to rubble. Of the thirty-one employees in the building, twenty-two were killed. Some employees sought shelter in the basement, only for the basement to flood when the debris punctured a water pipe. Rescue volunteers worked for three days straight trying to clear the rubble and recover the bodies of those inside.
Included in the deceased were Rush H. Berry, vice president and treasurer, and Labon E. Berry, secretary and general manager. President Willard Wigley stood as the only surviving executive of the company, and he was soon hospitalized in Dallas for leukemia. With all its leadership deceased or incapacitated, the R. T. Dennis Board of Directors decided to close the company for good and to liquidate the remaining stock in Hillsboro, Temple, and Bryan. In a somber address, the granddaughter of R. T. Dennis and chairwoman of the board, Mrs. William Sloane, broke the news to the public in October 1953 that R. T. Dennis and Co., Inc., would not reopen. The historical marker of the tornado is located near the former R. T. Dennis building location.
Though the memory of R. T. Dennis and Co. will forever be linked to the 1953 tornado, the company was a source of light and prosperity in Waco for decades through its dedication to the community and quality service.
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]]>Over the past forty years, Kitok Restaurant has gone from a humble diner to a local institution, known for its blend of American and Korean fare. But when it first opened in 1975, owner Kitok Moore stuck to diner classics and hesitated calling her restaurant Kitok. During the first several months of business, she kept up the signage from the previous tenant, The Burger Factory. But as the restaurant gained a reputation for delicious food and friendly service, Moore gradually began introducing Korean dishes to the menu. Today, Kitok Restaurant is beloved for both its Korean and American dishes, including the customer-favorite combo—the Lip Locker with cheese and oriental fries—developed in the restaurant’s kitchen.
Robert and Kitok Moore met in South Korea, where Robert was stationed after the Korean War. They began dating in 1962, and three years later married at the military base in Pusan, South Korea. Soon after, they returned to America, where they settled in Waco in 1973. Robert retired from the military and began work as a data processing manager for First National Bank of Central Texas. Meanwhile, Kitok began work at the Marathon Battery factory.
Kitok became interested in opening a small hamburger restaurant, and an opportunity arose in 1975, when she saw a newspaper listing advertising that The Burger Factory was available for rent. She had saved several thousand dollars and invested it into leasing the property. For the first several months Kitok focused on cleaning and repairing the restaurant, which at the time included one small room with a bar and a kitchen one-third of its current size.
Word of mouth helped grow the business, and the restaurant soon had several regular customers—including reporters from the Waco Tribune-Herald, who wrote positive reviews about their dining experience. Soon Kitok Restaurant had regulars, and one day, one of them suggested that adding a more unique dish to the menu alongside the classic diner options might make the restaurant more competitive. That idea helped spur the creation of the beloved oriental fries—a take on vegetable tempura with shredded potatoes, carrots, onions, and parsley, deep-fried in a crispy batter.
Business continued to do well, and soon Kitok’s husband Robert quit his job to work at the restaurant full time. Robert managed the front of the restaurant, while Kitok and two other Korean American women worked in the kitchen. In 1978, the Moores changed the name of the restaurant to Kitok. Spurred on by their success, Korean-inspired dishes were gradually added to the menu. The first was a spicy potato and chicken soup in a clear broth, followed later by bulgogi—thin slices of chicken or beef marinated in soy sauce, green onions, sesame seeds, and other spices. Kitok’s bulgogi became a customer favorite, outselling the previously popular chicken-fried steak. By the time the restaurant changed ownership in 2001, fifteen Korean dishes had been added to the menu.
Throughout its history, Kitok Restaurant has been owned and operated by Korean American women. Min Ja Chung purchased the restaurant from Kitok and Robert Moore and ran it until 2007, when she sold the business to her sister, Kyung Brendemuehl. Chung and Brendemuehl both kept the dining atmosphere and menu consistent with what Moore had established. In January 2018, Brendemuehl sold Kitok to Kyong Dehnert, who had initially wanted to purchase the restaurant from Chung in 2007. Unable to acquire Kitok at the time, Dehnert purchased the Burger Boy in Gatesville in 2008. Following a similar model to Kitok Restaurant, Dehnert added Korean options to the Burger Boy’s menu—though she did not attempt to recreate iconic Kitok dishes, including the oriental fries.
What began as a small burger joint has evolved over time into a unique fusion restaurant, offering American, Korean, and mash-up dishes. This unique menu, shaped by customers through the years, has been Kitok Restaurant’s key selling point. Its food, coupled with its familiar, friendly atmosphere that has remained unchanged since opening, has kept customers coming back for more—and bringing their family and friends.
]]>Positioned on what used to be the only highway through town, Magnolia Table now draws in patrons from around the country and the globe. Though a new restaurant itself, the Table resides in a building with a rich history that has welcomed hungry visitors for decades. The unique Spanish-style structure used to be home to a local staple, the Elite Café. Originally started in 1919 by the Colias brothers in downtown Waco, the second location on the traffic circle opened in 1941. After the 1953 tornado decimated downtown, the brothers decided to cut their losses and only continue with the traffic circle location. Through changes of ownership and multiple remodels during the next five decades, the Elite remained a favorite, sentimental spot for many.
Chip and Joanna Gaines came onto the scene after the Elite Café closed its doors in 2016. The café had fallen on hard times, and many were sad to see it go. Yet the Gaines had other plans: they quickly bought the property and started designing a restaurant of their own. First, the couple decided to auction off all the original Elite contents to benefit Mission Waco and help build a grocery store in a local food-insecure neighborhood. Then, they made minimal renovations to the restaurant, as the building is a historic landmark. Now a blend of history and Joanna’s unique style, Magnolia Table still includes some special touches to honor the Elite Café. For example, the coffee corner in the restaurant holds an Elite mural, and the menu has a “1919” sandwich giving nod to a sandwich on the original Elite menu. You can see the complete transformation on season five of Fixer Upper. Though there was some initial controversy between the Gaines and the local historic commission about changing the name, most people were relieved that the building would still feed the hungry travelers of Texas highways.
The menu itself is true to the Gaines farmhouse style, with many entrees featuring produce from their own personal garden. With the recipes designed by the Gaines themselves, Chip, a self-named “breakfast connoisseur,” is proud of the restaurant and the attempts to keep things local. Though breakfast is the specialty, the Gaines did not limit the menu, and lunch entrees are served as well. Reportedly, the first customers were their four kids (before the birth of Crew), but they were certainly not the last, as patrons today often wait a few hours for a table. To broaden the experience for those who do not want to wait, the Gaines have also opened a take-away section inside the restaurant and a Magnolia Table food truck at the Silos.
Chip and Joanna have helped preserve a historic landmark of Central Texas, and the Gaines will surely continue to further impact the Waco community in years to come.
]]>A decade ago no one dreamed that two abandoned cottonseed silos would become the icon of a burgeoning retail empire—yet that is exactly what happened. After the Brazos Valley Cotton Oil Mill closed in 1958 and the silos ceased to serve as storage in the 1990s, they became little more than a challenge for trespassing youth to climb for over a decade. Though some students still bemoan the fact that they missed their chance to scale the old rusty edifices, the Waco community has undoubtedly benefited from the newfound fame of Magnolia Market at the Silos.
Just like any booming business, Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Market blossomed from humbler roots. The retail giant began in Spice Village, a local Waco shopping spot that houses over sixty boutique stalls under one roof in downtown. But Joanna Gaines quickly needed more room to develop her brand, so she and Chip bought the “Little Shop on Bosque” in 2003 that served as their first stand-alone retail store. The shop also happened to be one of their first “fixer-upper” projects, as they transformed the small, rundown building into an attractive home décor destination.
But the Little Shop on Bosque was only the beginning. In 2013 the couple took on a whole new challenge: television. Chip and Joanna took their Magnolia Homes brand and brought it to HGTV—a popular home improvement network. On the show, the Gaines bought run-down homes in the Waco area and turned them into manifestations of Joanna’s farmhouse chic style. The new TV show, Fixer Upper, exploded in popularity, turning more attention than ever on Waco and their small retail shop.
With Fixer Upper came worldwide acclaim, and with worldwide acclaim came tourists. Thrust into the modern tourism scene, Waco had some catching up to do, and so did the Gaines. Within a year, Chip and Joanna procured what would become the symbol of the brand, the Silos, and surrounding real estate. True to the nature of the TV show, these old silos needed immense renovation and the Joanna Gaines touch before they could welcome visitors. The Gaines quickly turned the neighboring building into the retail store, built a stage in front of the silos and a small building for the Magnolia Seed & Supply Garden Store, and drew up plans to convert the other adjacent building into a bakery. After turning these buildings around, in addition to copious landscaping and gathering of food trucks, the Silos were ready to go.
Even with the launch of the store and food truck park in 2015, it was not until the Silos Baking Company moved into the last empty building in June 2016 that the Silos felt complete. Joanna had spent a great deal of time crafting recipes for her baked goods, and they were ready to be enjoyed by locals and tourists alike. Already known for its crowds, the Silos now also had a bakery line stretching around the corner each day.
In all, the Gaines not only transformed an old Waco landmark, they helped transform the city, as evidenced by a growing downtown, expanded restaurant scene, and even tour buses seen around town daily. Though Fixer Upper stopped filming in 2018, the droves of tourists have yet to abate. But with a new Magnolia line at Target and a construction company that continues on without the cameras, the Gaines are not really slowing down. Whether it is for the home décor, the food trucks, or the cupcakes, during their time in Waco thousands of travelers go and rest in the shade of the Silos and soak up the atmosphere the Gaines crafted. It is no overstatement to say Magnolia Market at the Silos is and will continue to be an important addition to Waco history.
]]>In the midst of war, some towns stay far removed from the action. For Waco in 1917, this was far from the case. Engineers and workers broke ground for Camp MacArthur training base in July, famously taking up over 10,700 acres of the small Texas city. But its smaller counterpart, Rich Field Army Air Base, had just as much to offer. After studying meteorological reports, topography, and location, the War Department and the Military Committee of the Waco Chamber of Commerce approved the 690-acre plot in August 1917.
Rich Field was born from an explosion in aeronautics. After a poor performance of US planes in Mexico, President Woodrow Wilson realized that American aircraft were disturbingly inferior to their European counterparts. American planes were slower, had no mounted weaponry, and lacked performance characteristics. Therefore, when the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Wilson approved $640 million to expand the air division of the army (the air force as a separate military unit did not yet exist). The money would fund the building of 6,000 pursuit planes, 3,000 observation aircraft, and 2,000 bombers. With such an increase in air power, pilots were now in high demand.
Sitting upon the land that is now Extraco Events Center, Waco High School, and Lions Park, the US military named this new sixteen hanger base after Second Lieutenant C. Perry Rich, who died when his plane crashed into Manila Bay in the Philippines in 1912. The first man to arrive was medical officer Major Emory C. Gaffney, followed by First Lieutenant Frederick T. Ealand and Captain J. S. Foster, who were sent to get everything in shape. Within two months, First Lieutenant Lotha A. Smith piloted the first flight out of Rich Field in a J-1 Standard plane with a 100 horsepower A7A Hall-Scott motor. By late November, twenty-five aircraft arrived to the $2 million base, and on a chilly Thanksgiving Day twenty-five eager cadets began their training in Standard J-1s, later to be replaced by Curtiss JN-4s.
While today seeing an airplane may be nothing spectacular, residents of Waco felt quite differently in the 1910s. The Wright Brothers flew for the first time in 1903, and a mere fourteen years later Waco residents marveled at the planes now flying regularly above their homes. They clamored to see the planes practice maneuvers out at the base. On top of free air shows, Camp MacArthur and the air base also bolstered the Waco economy by bringing in 35,000 soldiers and their families, ready to spend their monthly wages at the stores downtown. Waco residents fully supported the construction and operation of both the camp and air base, as it spurred tremendous growth and put Waco on the map.
Rich Field quickly developed a culture of its own. With its own publication, the Rich Field Flyer, enlisted men could keep up with the events of the war, the camp, other aviation training centers, and much more. The publication was intended first and foremost to be a morale booster, its pages filled with humor, cartoons, poems, and “kadetograms” from the men at the base. Kadetograms could be as simple as a shout-out to a friend or poking fun at an officer because they were all anonymous and simply grouped by squadron. The Flyer also had a sports section to keep everyone up to date on the rivalries between the base football teams, especially keeping tabs on Rich Field’s rival, Love Field Air Base in Dallas, Texas. The local YMCA used the Flyer to advertise its programs for the soldiers and encourage activities and attendance.
The three main units assigned to Rich Field were the 39, 150, and 249 Aero Squadrons. Other squadrons were equipped and trained at Rich Field to then be moved to other bases. Others also went straight from Rich Field to the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe and received further training from the Royal Air Force of Britain. In all, four hundred pilots were trained at Rich Field, and only eight training fatalities occurred. Most of the young men who made it through training saw combat in France.
After the war, the airfield stayed in business until the 1940s, much longer than its counterpart Camp MacArthur, which closed in 1919. Yet at the end of World War I, those at Rich Field knew the base would never quite be the same, and to them its future remained uncertain. In the final edition of the Rich Field Flyer, the men paid tribute to Waco:
"No history of Rich Field would be complete without a mention and sincere appreciation of the debt it owes to the citizens of Waco. A hospitable people always, they have left no thing undone to make the lives of the personnel of this post pleasant… We have railed at Waco, but then too ‘I have eaten your bread and your salt, I have drunken your water and wine, the deaths we have died I have watched beside, and the lives that ye led were mine.’ We have laughed together. There has been marriage and giving in marriage. We have carried our dead through your streets. And when this field echoes no more to the cry of ‘Contact!’ and the thunder of half a hundred motors, when we who played here our little parts in the Great Drama are scattered over the seven seas, be sure that each of us carries the most pleasant memories of this post and wherever two or three foregather the name of Waco will be mentioned with affection."
Later Waco Municipal Airport, the former Rich Field offered flying lessons and even ten minute flights to downtown and back for one dollar. One airline even operated limited commercial passenger service to Waco until the beginning of the Second World War. After World War II, the air base closed for good, as it was not large enough to accommodate the newest commercial planes now in use. The Heart of Texas Coliseum (Extraco Events Center) claimed some of the available land in 1951, and the city constructed Rich Field High School on the grounds in 1960, later to be renamed Waco High.
Rich Field blessed and invigorated the small town of Waco at a time when America needed it most. Though it was war that brought the men to Waco, the resulting growth and prominence changed the face of Central Texas forever.
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]]>Nestled behind several fast food chains at Fifteenth Street and Speight Avenue, Cupp’s Drive-Inn has been offering diner favorites to local residents and Baylor students and staff for seventy years and counting. The small diner offers a window into the past, as the layout of the restaurant—with just four booths and eight old-fashioned barstools facing the flat-top grill—has remained virtually unchanged since its founding. The awning on the side of the building once sheltered carhops who took customers’ orders as they passed through for a quick meal.
The location has a long history of being in the restaurant business. In the mid-1920s W. R. Bosley operated a restaurant there, followed briefly by the Tourist Sandwich Shop, which moved to 1426 Speight in 1930. For a time, the location was strictly a residence until 1940-41, when Robert P. and Clara Heaton opened Heaton’s Eatins, which served customers at that location until 1946. Price’s Hamburger Stand opened shortly after for a year before the location was purchased by longtime Waco resident Charlie Leroy Cupp and his wife, Bessie. It was briefly called Cupp’s Place before becoming Cupp’s Drive-Inn.
Before entering the burger business in 1947, Charlie Cupp had previously worked for Geyser Ice Company as a delivery truck operator, and in 1946, he briefly managed Coffee Cup, a restaurant at 1514 Speight Avenue. As business picked up at Cupp’s Drive-Inn, waitress Flo Owen came onto the staff, soon followed by Betty Johnson and Pat Walker.
In addition to indoor dining, Cupp’s Drive-Inn also offered car service to patrons. Elvis Presley, then a young soldier training at Fort Hood, often frequented Cupp’s Drive-Inn in the back seat of family friend Eddie Fadal’s Cadillac, ordering double cheeseburgers with bacon. Elvis regularly retreated on weekends and days off to Waco during the sixth months of his army training in 1959. Fadal, a former DJ who met Elvis on one of his earliest tours to Texas, built an addition onto his house to accommodate his friend whenever he visited Waco. Willie Nelson, from nearby Abbot, has also been known to eat at Cupp’s since it first opened its doors.
In the 1970s, the Cupp family passed on the business to longtime waitress Flo Owen, who would later go on to open another restaurant in Hewitt. In the late eighties, Owen approached Betty Johnson—who had worked for both the Cupp family and Owen—about taking over the restaurant. At first hesitant, Johnson agreed and together with her husband managed Cupp’s Drive-Inn from 1988 until retiring in 2010. The Johnsons children, Freddie Johnson Jr. and Sherry Caughenbaugh, then took over management and presently own the restaurant, serving breakfast and lunch.
In the late nineties, the carhop feature was phased out with changing times. Trays would no longer sit straight on windows with the style of modern cars, and the service was not used frequently regardless. Because of this, focus shifted to strictly inside. Today, along with indoor seating, a picnic area outdoors serves as additional space for patrons.
Cupp’s prides itself on its fresh ingredients, all sourced in Texas. They prepare their own meat for their well-known thin patties, using the same recipe from their 1947 founding. French fries and onion rings are still hand cut and fried to order. Their simple, no- frills menu options, classic diner atmosphere, and longstanding legacy in Waco have been keeping customers coming back—many since the fifties and sixties. Today, many of those customers now bring their children and grandchildren when they dine at Cupp’s Drive-Inn.
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]]>For over 100 years, Vitek's Grocery and, now, BBQ restaurant, has remained a cherished business in the Waco area, providing residents with quality meats and a community gathering place.
The story of Vitek's BBQ began in 1915, when butcher William Martin Vitek, the son of Czechoslovakian immigrants, opened a grocery store and meat market in Granger, Texas. From the very outset, Vitek was always willing to accommodate special requests and deliveries, establishing a customer-first ethos that would define the Vitek family business for the next century. Shortly after opening the new business, William and his wife, Hattie, moved sixty miles north to Waco, eventually setting up shop at 1715 Speight Avenue. The fledgling venture changed locations several times during its first decade as it weathered both the Great Depression and the death of its original owner. Vitek's entered a new phase, however, when William Martin's son, William "Willie" Frank Vitek, took over following his father's passing.
As the small town of Waco grew and developed over the next several years, so did Vitek's Grocery. In addition to running the business, Willie also built Vitek's current location at 1600 Speight Avenue in 1958, the same year that construction of Interstate 35 began in Waco. While many businesses were unable to survive the disruption of highway construction, the creativity of Willie and his son, Billy Joe Vitek, helped the business to stay afloat. Willie began to cook barbecue on a portable pit, serving barbecue sandwiches and homemade sausage to customers. Vitek's takeout service was thus born, making the shop's premium barbecue more accessible than ever.
The building of I-35, however, was not the only challenge that Vitek's met. During this time, many smaller family stores were driven out of business by larger chains that could offer a greater variety of goods at lower prices. The number of small grocers and butcher shops dramatically decreased in the second half of the twentieth century as towns expanded into suburbs and cars became more ubiquitous. Luckily, the decline of small family grocers in the United States roughly paralleled the rise of quick-service restaurants—a shift that the Vitek family was poised to take advantage of. Billy Joe and his wife, Susan, took over the business in 1972, officially changing the name from Vitek's Grocery to Vitek's BBQ. While the original restaurant contained only one picnic table and operated off of a takeout-only business model, it rapidly evolved into the quick-service restaurant that remains a local staple today.
Vitek's identity as a Waco icon was cemented when, in the early 1980s, Billy Joe and a Baylor student employee concocted the now-famous Gut Pack, which later went on to be recognized in such publications as The American Way, The New York Times, and Texas Monthly. Thanks to the advent of the Gut Pack and the restaurant's status as a cherished Waco eatery, Vitek's was named one of the "Best College Eats" by the Cooking Channel and has received praise from the likes of ESPN and the Travel Channel.
In 2006, Billy Joe and Susan retired, leaving the restaurant to their daughter, Julie Vitek Keith, a fourth-generation owner of the establishment. In 2007, Julie and her husband, Jason, expanded the dining area and added an outdoor biergarten well-suited to live entertainment. While the Waco of today presents a marked contrast to that of the restaurant's early days, Vitek’s is proof that innovation, customer service, and delicious barbecue have indeed remained constant.
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]]>The Watson Feed Store is an inseparable part of downtown Mart. Built over 100 years ago, it still stands proudly at its place along Texas Avenue. In 1903, Ruff Watson moved to Mart and purchased property in the middle of town. He constructed a building on the site and in 1906, the R. Watson Feed Store opened for business.
From the beginning, the building was more than just a place to buy feed. Watson sold a variety of products, from livestock and paint, to home appliances and flour. The business was one of seven approved to sell Purina products in the state of Texas. He also operated other businesses in the same building as the feed store, including slaughter and butcher shops as well as a leather goods store.
Ruff Watson was not only a businessman, but also an ambitious farmer. Money he earned from farming went back into the Feed Store business and vice versa. Mart was a railroad stop between Fort Worth and Houston, and Watson took full advantage of the railroad tracks which crisscrossed through town. During the years of the Great Depression, he purchased a corn sheller and a mill at the edge of the tracks. This addition brought people from miles around to Mart and the Feed Store. He also used the railways to ship crops he purchased from other farmers, such as corn, wheat and oats, selling them to other areas of the state. When the railroads became too unreliable, Watson switched to hauling crops to Fort Worth via trucks and even, at times, horse-pulled wagon.
The Feed Store, with its central location downtown, drew members of the Mart community as a place to congregate, chat, and catch-up with neighbors. During election years, local politicians used the store as a central meeting place to campaign. There was a dance hall in the upstairs of the building, and the Railroad Brotherhood and other fraternal organizations used this space for meetings. Watson even sold barbecue at the back of the store on Saturdays as a way to use up any leftovers from the butcher shop.
The Feed Store has always been a family business, and when Watson’s sons, Murray and Orlette, came of age, they worked alongside their father. Murray’s son, Murray Watson Jr., began helping at the store as a child, going every day after school to work with his grandfather. In 1940, Murray Watson Sr. bought out his father and brother, renaming the business, the Watson Feed Store. Ruff Watson died ten years later in 1950. Murray Watson Sr. continued to own and operate the Feed Store, working there almost every day until his death in 1990.
Murray Watson Jr. assumed ownership of the store until he passed away in 2018. In 2003, the Watson Feed Store was honored with its own Texas Historical Marker. The store remains much the same as it did over 100 years ago. For the community of Mart, the Watson Feed Store is much more than just a place to buy corn and birdseed. It is a significant part of their town history, a place to go for a friendly smile and a dose of daily gossip, and a reminder that the small town principles of neighborly kindness and kinship still exist.
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]]>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.
]]>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.
]]>The story of Reed’s Flowers is as much about its founder, Albert Harry Reed, as it is about the shop. Reed emigrated from London, England, in 1908 at the behest of his brother, Tom Reed. The two Reed brothers worked side by side in Waco as growers for Wolfe’s Florists, and later for Harrick’s Hardware, until the onset of World War I. Although Albert had not attended school past fifth grade, he passed a communications test and entered into radio school. After graduating from Harvard’s Radio Material School, he served in the US Navy.
Although he could have easily found a job working as a radio operator following the conclusion of the war, Reed recognized that his true love was growing plants. He and his wife Blanche opened up a small flower shop on Speight Avenue, but lost everything when the market crashed in 1929. Yet Reed was not ready to give up his dream of running his own flower shop, and he decided to borrow fifty dollars from his mother-in-law to build a small greenhouse on the Old Dallas Highway.
In 1930, Reed opened a second shop at 1025 Austin Avenue with the help from some friends in the Waco Founder Lions Club. The loan of a refrigerator and a rent-free building to house the shop enabled him to get the store up and running, despite the difficult economy of the Depression. Though the Reeds could not always afford to ship in cut flowers, they ensured Reed’s Flowers was always stocked with roses and marigolds they grew in their greenhouses.
During these early years, customers cited the “finest service” and “quality merchandise” as reasons why the business continued to grow even during the Depression. The owners worked tirelessly to support the flower shop. Albert produced the potted plants and cut flowers in the greenhouses while his wife Blanche managed the business operations in the store on Austin Avenue.
Business took off in the years following the Depression. Wolfe’s Flowers, just down the street, proved to be the shop’s largest competitor, until it moved out to South Twelfth Street following World War II. Around a decade later, Reed Flowers Inc. moved down the street to a new shop located at 1029 Austin Avenue in the late 1950s.
Albert continued to operate the flower shop with no intention of retirement, sharing his love of flowers and plants with his son Harry. In 1980, the father and son attended the International Florists Convention in London. Blanche and Albert passed away in 1990, leaving the shop to Harry.
Although Harry sold the greenhouses in 2000, he continued to carry out his father’s legacy through the operation of the flower shop on Austin Avenue until his death in 2019. Today, Reed’s Flowers—now under the management of third generation florist Debbie Reed—serves as a testament to the importance of local family businesses throughout Waco’s history.
]]>Waco entered an economic slump in the aftermath of the 1953 Waco tornado, urban renewal in the 1960s, and the Austin Avenue Pedestrian Mall in the 1970s and ‘80s. Many businesses either moved or closed their doors permanently during this time. Yet one business thrived during the downtown economic collapse—Tito’s Downtown Barbershop. The barbershop survived because its owner, Santos “Tito” Martinez, provided motivation for customers to come downtown for haircuts through his customer service.
For Tito, cutting hair is not merely a means of employment, but also the art of human interaction. His dedication to his customers is the reason why his barbershop has flourished.
Tito entered into the barber trade in 1957, at the age of twenty, following a brief stint with the former William Cameron Company. “Get in. It’s good. You’ll learn something,” Tito recollected his friend, Joe Gutierrez, saying while trying to persuade him to enter the Waco Barber College as he was walking one day. After six months of training and a brief trip to Austin for the examination, Tito began cutting hair professionally at a barbershop on South Third Street on the city square.
Yet the United States government had another plan for Tito. Just eight months after beginning his new trade, the US Army drafted him as a medic to serve in Korea during peacetime operations. Though his situation had changed, Tito continued to practice his barber trade while in the service.
Following his discharge in 1961 and a brief stint working in a barbershop owned by Manuel Cruz on Jefferson Avenue, Tito found a new home for his own barbershop on Austin Avenue between Third and Fourth streets. Nearly seven years later, he moved to his current location in the National Lloyds Building located near the corner of Austin Avenue and Ninth Street.
Inside his current barbershop, numerous photographs of people hang along the walls, small black-and-white testimonies to the many relationships Tito has formed over the years as one of Waco’s longest-serving barbers. A majority of these photographs are of his family. He frequently enjoys sharing his pride for them and the joy they bring to his life with his customers.
There are also two small oatmeal-colored business cards that rest inside the bottom left corner of his mirror. They are among Tito’s most cherished items. Written on the cards are the names of Lyndon Lowell Olson Jr., former United States Ambassador to Sweden, and the late Bernard Rapoport, famed philanthropist and founder of the American Income Life Insurance Company. Tito considers each of these men to be among the many friends he has made over the years.
Tito recalled, “Some people say, Well how come you don’t have appointments? And Mr. Rapoport and Lyndon says, What do you want an appointment for? You sit and talk and enjoy yourself.” Both of these men understood that you came to Tito’s Barbershop primarily for a good chat and then a haircut.
Looking back Tito said, “You know, really I say, in my business, I enjoy it, what I do. That’s why I still come down here. I believe it’s good to get out and meet people and talk to people.”
Tito has no intentions to quit his beloved occupation anytime soon, planning to continue his conversations and haircuts for years to come. He and his barbershop serve as a testimony to the way in which some businesses were able to weather tough economic times through their dedication to customers and the community.
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]]>Waco rapidly industrialized in the early decades from its founding. The arrival of the railroad and the building of the Suspension Bridge increased the numbers of travelers through the region, and the city soon became a thriving urban center. In 1871, Peter McClelland, a local civic leader, built the McClelland House Hotel at the corner of Fourth Street and Austin Avenue in order to meet the growing demand of visitors. The hotel opened in 1872, and served as an important attraction for businessman and travellers until McClelland’s death in 1886. Issues with his will arose, and in the 1920s the hotel was put up for sale in order to pay attorney fees associated with settling the estate. Conrad Hilton, who would later become known for his international hotel chain, bought the property at that time. The third Hilton Hotel in Texas opened in Waco in 1927.
Despite Hilton’s early success, the Great Depression took a toll on his finances. Forced to give up three of his eight hotels, Hilton decided to sell his Waco business to local investors. At that time, the new owners left the original style of the hotel largely intact, changing only the name. In 1934, the hotel became known as the Roosevelt Hotel, in honor of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal.
The Roosevelt Hotel soon became known as the “acme of hoteldom,” according to the Waco Tribune-Herald in 1936. Owned and staffed completely by Wacoans, the hotel’s friendly atmosphere and vigilant attentiveness to guests’ needs established it as a Waco institution. Many visitors expressed that the hotel’s desirability came from its unique combination of modernity and hospitality. The Tribune-Herald also noted that the hotel brought in a constant stream of transcontinental tourists and traveling men to the city, stimulating economic prosperity. During the 1940s, the hotel's Cadet Club was a popular hotspot where Waco Army Airfield cadets and their dates could enjoy the dancefloor and the music of the day.
The Roosevelt Hotel stood strong through the mid-twentieth century, surviving the Great Depression and even the 1953 Waco tornado. It was one of three buildings in the deadly storm’s path to remain standing. The building’s solid architecture and steel frame ensured that it incurred little damage; even the large sign on the roof remained intact. Yet the hotel could not survive the serious blow dealt to downtown when large retailers began moving out into the suburbs. As more and more retailers left the city, business slowed for the Roosevelt. The hotel closed in 1961.
In 1963, the Roosevelt Hotel became the Regis Retirement Home after Allan McDonnell bought the building and donated it to the Catholic Church. The retirement home added an outdoor terrace and sundeck to the former hotel and renovated several other aspects of the building. In 2003, the retirement home moved all of its residents to Providence Park and placed the historic building up for auction.
Local builder Mike Clark bought the building in 2004 and began a renovation project converting the former hotel into luxury high-rise offices. The renovations included opening the first floor to restaurants and retail and the creation of ten floors of office space. The grand ballroom on the second floor has been restored and can be rented out for parties and events. The majority of office space in the Roosevelt Tower is now occupied by businesses interested in reinvigorating downtown. The renovation of historic buildings such as the Roosevelt Tower provides a unique opportunity for the community to participate in Waco’s future by supporting its history.
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]]>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.
]]>Completed in 1970, the Austin Avenue Pedestrian Mall opened to high expectations. The City of Waco created the pedestrian mall in an effort to bring consumers back to the downtown district, closing down the street to automobiles and only allowing foot traffic. The Austin Avenue Pedestrian Mall featured walkways connecting many stores in one central location. After a 1953 tornado wiped out much of the city's downtown commercial life, Waco's Downtown Merchants Association proposed the creation of a pedestrian mall to lure Wacoans back into the traditional commercial district and away from the suburban shopping centers. In 1958, the City of Waco became one of thousands of cities to participate in the nationwide urban renewal program. Urban Renewal efforts in Waco aimed to clear blighted areas around the city including homes, buildings, and city streets, forcing many citizens and businesses to relocate.
The downtown district was one of the areas chosen for Urban Renewal in 1968. According to a city planning report from 1966, the attitude of downtown merchants had been one of discouragement, with clerks uninterested in making sales and large numbers of panhandlers downtown. The Urban Renewal Agency of Waco aimed to remedy this situation, and began efforts to restore downtown Waco through was became known as the Brazos Project. The Austin Avenue Pedestrian Mall was to be the central feature in the Brazos Urban Renewal district, which would cover 155 acres from 12th Street to the river, between Washington and Franklin avenues. The project awarded to Young Brothers Inc. in December 1969 and cost upwards of $850,000. When the mall was formally dedicated in January 1971, cars were banned from the area of Fifth to Ninth streets until the Waco City Council voted in February 1979 to reopen the Austin Avenue to vehicle traffic going one-way. Though the construction of the mall heralded a brighter future for the downtown district to the citizens of Waco, they were ultimately disappointed, and the Pedestrian mall proved a failure.
The reasons for the decline of the mall are numerous. For instance, customers could only enter the walkway of the mall by parking their vehicles outside and walking in through the back of a store. Parking for the mall was supposed to be "available, convenient and free," but those plans were never formulated. Inclement weather also proved to be a major issue since store awnings provided little cover from rain, and the hot days of Central Texas summers made the concrete structure unbearable for people to visit. By 1984, few pedestrians walked the closed-off streets, and even fewer made purchases. The perception of downtown business in Waco was so poor that a Waco Tribune-Herald article sarcastically noted that the debate about reopening Austin Avenue to traffic drew more attention to the mall and downtown Waco than it had received in years, and that the “pigeons have had no trouble keeping the right-of-way.”
In a nation where city planners attempted to renew the modern landscape, the Austin Avenue Mall was not the only pedestrian mall to fail. City planners throughout the country wanted all centers of government, businesses, and social life to be located in a single strong operating area. They believed the pedestrian malls would attract customers to downtown, and these customers would then make use of other services in the area while visiting retailers. The planners failed to realize that the automobile was changing the way people commuted, shopped, and went about most daily routines. Citizens were able to move farther away from city centers, and many retailers themselves moved to the suburbs as well. The late 1960s and 70s saw numerous new strip malls and businesses relocate to the residential neighborhoods across Waco and across the nation. The Austin Avenue Pedestrian Mall fell victim to this poor climate for downtown city life. Though city officials hoped the mall would reinvigorate downtown, it merely sped its decline. Only the most resilient merchants remained downtown following the reopening of Austin Avenue to traffic. Today, Waco’s city planners strive to revive downtown life, especially along Austin Avenue, through the preservation of historic buildings, bringing in more merchants and businesses, and bringing back the traditional pedestrian experience of downtown.
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]]>For over a century, the Baylor University Homecoming Parade has played an important role in the relationship between the institution, its alumni, and the greater Waco community. The tradition began in the fall of 1909, when Baylor alumni received a postcard inviting them to return home to campus in order to rekindle school spirit and renew former friendships. This announcement of Baylor’s first homecoming drew hundreds of alumni back to campus on Thanksgiving weekend for what would become one of university’s largest celebrations. The weekend included concerts, class reunions, speeches by professors, and, on the morning of the last football game of the season, a grand parade through downtown.
The Baylor Processional of 1909 began by heading west on Washington Avenue, continuing to Austin Avenue, and traveling along the city’s major streets before arriving on campus for the game’s kickoff. Nearly twenty-five blocks of participants lined the streets, eager to share their school spirit. Led by the university’s marching band, the processional included faculty, the football team, and various student organizations. Automobiles and carriages decorated with green and gold pennants and yellow chrysanthemums carried dignitaries such as the university president, Samuel Palmer Brooks, and notable alumni.
The greater Waco community also took part in the homecoming parade since its debut. Shopkeepers and restaurant owners downtown decorated their storefronts with green and gold and joined the throng lining the streets as the parade passed through downtown. Some even joined the processional, setting a precedent for cooperation between the Waco community and the university. Alessandro’s Band, a family brass ensemble who regularly held concerts in venues such as the Brazos city riverboats and the Texas Cotton Palace, performed and marched in the 1909 processional.
Baylor Homecoming was not initially conceived as an annual event. The next homecoming parade did not occur until 1915, held to mark the seventieth anniversary of the founding of Baylor University. Floats first appeared in the parade that year. One 1915 float depicted a freshman entering a hall and exiting as a senior. By the 1920s, floats became the standard method of transportation during the parade, often portraying patriotic themes. In the 1915 parade, the Baylor mascot also made its debut. In the months preceding the festivities, students voted on their choice of mascot and the bear was revealed as the winner over options such as the antelope, buffalo, and ferret.
Baylor’s 1924 football season was so successful that the Baylor Alumni Association voted to make the homecoming celebration an annual event. The basic elements of the homecoming parade remained constant from the 1920s forward, although each year the alumni association sought to outdo the previous years’ celebration.
Escalating international tensions in the 1940s cast a shadow over university activities. All male students between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-five were required to register with the military, and many were called away from their studies to serve in the war. From 1943 to 1945, the alumni association canceled the homecoming celebrations in order to best preserve supplies during times of dire shortages. As the war came to a close, the alumni association put plans into motion for the “greatest parade to date” in 1946. It promoted not only Baylor spirit but also celebrated soldiers returning home and the end of the war.
Baylor’s homecoming celebrations have continued annually since the end of World War II, and in 2009, Baylor celebrated its homecoming centennial. The parade has grown to include dozens of student organizations, local businesses, and Waco high schools. Now, each fall is marked by this grand and time-honored spectacle, an essential element in the fabric of the university and greater community.
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]]>During World War II, Waco provided a place of refuge and hope of starting anew for many seeking refuge from persecution, such as Otto and Hilde Levy. As tensions escalated throughout Germany as a result of Nazi discrimination, Otto Levy and Hilde Rosenfeld were married in May of 1937 in Mannheim. Their wedding was held in a large dance hall, though few of their friends and family attended out of fear of attracting unwanted attention from the Nazis. In the months following their marriage, the Levys watched as “Jews Not Wanted” signs appeared in storefronts and as friends and neighbors began to disappear. The Levys decided to flee their home in Germany at the end of 1937 to seek refuge in the United States.
Strict immigration laws passed under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration made it difficult for European Jews to secure visas for passage to the United States during the 1930s. The Levys attempted several times to obtain a visa from relatives and friends who had already fled Europe but were initially unsuccessful. Just as they began to despair, the Levys’ friend Gretel Weiser offered to contact her great-uncle Fred Mailander in America on their behalf. He agreed to help the Levys and wrote a letter to the American consul in Germany in order to obtain visas for the couple.
The Levys were excited about the prospect of moving to an urban city such as Waco with a university and a population of 55,000. They hoped to begin a glove-making business similar to the one Otto worked in while in Germany. In addition to securing their visas, Mr. Mailander provided the Levys with a house and covered the cost of moving their furniture. Yet the Levys encountered more obstacles as they began their journey to the United States in 1937. The American consul initially denied Hilde’s passage on the basis of health issues but in the end made an exception for the young couple. The Nazi Party prevented the Levys from withdrawing money from their bank accounts, leaving them with eighteen dollars each for the entire trip. The Levys arrived in New York unable to pay their train fare to Waco. After receiving aid from the United Jewish Appeal Help Committee, the Levys finally reached Waco in August of 1938.
The Levys received a warm welcome in Waco from Mr. Mailander and several other Jewish members of the community, but they encountered difficulties in the beginning of their new lives. Hitler called back many of the boats from Germany, including the one with the Levy’s furniture. Their furniture and belongings did not arrive in Waco until October. On top of this, Hilde and Otto spoke only German, making communication difficult. Unable to start a glove business in Waco, Otto began working at Rainbo Bread, and Hilde worked at a women’s department store in order to make enough money to get by.
A few years later, several prominent Jewish women approached Hilde and encouraged her to take over a store on South Eleventh Street in the Bell’s Hill neighborhood and run a small grocery. In 1941, Hilde borrowed $54.50 from Cooper’s Wholesale Grocery and began selling everyday items such as coffee, canned goods, and kosher meats. At the recommendation of two of the first customers, the Levys named the store O&H Foods. The Levys began introducing foods and products that could not be found anywhere else in Waco after traveling to a fancy food convention in Chicago in 1946. Specialty items such as cheeses from Finland, chocolates from Holland, and imported beers from around the world became the staple of O&H Foods. After a devastating tornado tore through Waco in 1953, damaging the storefront beyond repair, the Levys reopened on North Twenty-Fifth Street, changing the name to O&H Rare Foods.
Otto and Hilde believed that a strong work ethic and good personal relationships with their customers would set them apart from other businesses in Waco. In the early years, the store was open seven days a week, often from seven in the morning until eleven at night. Otto and Hilde knew all of their customers by name and remembered their exact sandwich orders. They treated their employees as family members, and their decision to retire in 1990 was very difficult. Although they could no longer run the store because of Otto’s health, the Levys were comforted knowing that the store was in the hands of long-time employee John Peters.
O&H Rare Foods officially closed on July 31, 1998, after nearly half a century of providing Texans with specialty grocery items. By the end of World War II, nearly 40 percent of O&H’s customers were located outside of Waco in areas such as Austin, El Paso, and Odessa. O&H Rare Foods offered glimpses of culture outside the United States for citizens who never left their small towns, while the Levys’ tireless dedication to customer service and innovation in the food industry made O&H Rare Foods a center of community for Wacoans.
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