By Amanda Sawyer
Waco’s rapid development established it as one of the most significant urban centers of the South by the late nineteenth century. Home to one of the longest-spanning suspension bridges in the country,…

By Amanda Sawyer
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…

By Amanda Sawyer
Calle Dos emerged in the early twentieth century as a haven for Mexican immigrants fleeing border violence and rapidly developed into a center of culture and community for Waco’s Hispanic population.…

By Prisca Bird
One of the largest municipal parks in Texas, Cameron Park has provided Wacoans with ready access to natural beauty and recreational activities for over one hundred years. Though it is hard to imagine…

By Sarah Miller
What began as a small collection of native animals in the 1950s grew into the Cameron Park Zoo Wacoans know today. Cameron Park Zoo rests on fifty-two acres of land near the Brazos River, and is a…

By Amanda Sawyer
Ten weeks after the United States declared war on Germany in 1917, Waco was chosen as the site for a military training camp. The United States initially lacked the military manpower needed to fight in…

By Geoff Hunt
On June 18, 1918, a troop train carrying soldiers from Camp MacArthur’s 80th Field Artillery left East Waco and traveled eastward on the Cotton Belt line, heading toward a southern training camp.…

By J. B. Smith
In its early days in the 1920s, Castle Heights was just a grassy hill at the end of the streetcar line, with a clear view of the Amicable building downtown. The city of Waco has since grown miles…

By Skylar Ray
While chiropractic therapy might now seem like a widely accepted treatment for physical ailments, the practice was hotly contested from the time of its emergence in 1895 until the middle of the…

By Skylar Ray
From the 1940s to the 1970s, Wacoans could enjoy the full spectrum of the cinematic experience from the comfort of their own cars at the Circle Drive-In Theatre. This theatre, named for Waco's nearby…

By Maggie Dean & Skylar Ray
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…

By George Graves
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…

By Terri Jo Ryan
Waco’s law enforcement has seen many a hoodlum since the days of the town’s founding in 1849. One of the most notorious was Clyde Barrow—half of the infamous gun-slinging duo Bonnie and Clyde. On…

By Dalton Strouse & Amanda Sawyer
An African American-owned hotel during the period of segregation and Jim Crow laws, the College View Court-Hotel provided respite for black travelers on the road. The College View Court-Hotel offered…

By Amanda Sawyer
For nearly half a century, cotton reigned as king of Waco's economy, establishing the once small frontier town as a thriving urban center known throughout the country. The area later named Waco…

By Amanda Sawyer
Near the turn of the twentieth century, a booming cotton industry was quickly establishing Waco as one of the major urban centers of the South, encouraging many residents to more readily invest and…

By Terri Jo Ryan
One of the most infamous publicity stunts of all time, "The Crash at Crush," took place about 3 miles south of West, Texas, featuring two locomotives of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad…

By Regina Wenger
Two popular amusements at the turn of the twentieth century—staged locomotive collisions and baseball—came together in the life of Crush Holloway. As the story goes, Holloway’s father went to see the…

By Sylvia Hernandez
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…

By Ashley Yeaman
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…

By Megan Danner
Among the names of the many individuals who served valiantly during World War II, Waco’s own Doris Miller was a hero of national and international acclaim. Although many noted the valor he displayed…

By Katie Chakmakjian
Among 1920s literary enthusiasts, Dorothy Scarborough was a familiar name, especially in her home state of Texas and in New York, where she taught at Columbia University. Initially well-known among…

By Jim Stingley
Few major products are as closely identified with the people and environment where they began as Dr Pepper in Waco. Developing from a soft drink invented at a local drugstore to one of the largest and…