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…

For over a century, Greenwood Cemetery has stood as a final resting place for many Wacoans and as an important marker for city history. Established as a segregated cemetery in 1875, Greenwood sits…

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…

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.…

As Americans took to the road in an age of expanded highway systems and ease of travel, the Alamo Plaza Courts Hotel pioneered the field of luxury motels. From a small but luxurious beginning in Waco,…

The Brazos River proved to be both a blessing and a curse for Waco, providing a constant water supply, means of transportation, and fertile farming ground, but also serving as a site of frequent…

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…

At the corner of Clifton Street and Elm Avenue is Jasper’s Bar-B-Que, Waco’s oldest-operating barbecue restaurant. Although East Waco has undergone many changes, Jasper’s has never changed locations…

Paul Quinn College is the oldest historically black college in Texas. Though it is no longer located in Waco, it remains an important part of the city’s history as the “Athens on the Brazos.” In 1872…

On the east bank of the Brazos River stands East Terrace House, a residence with a past that is as remarkable as its Italianate style of architecture. Future industrialist John Wesley Mann moved to…

The Washington Avenue Bridge is a steel, Pennsylvania through truss bridge that spans the Brazos River and connects East Waco to downtown. Before the construction of the Washington Avenue Bridge, the…

Prior to local and federal efforts in the mid-twentieth century to control rivers through the construction of dams, the Brazos River routinely overflowed its banks. In 1913, the most violent flood to…

Before the construction of dams along Texas rivers in the mid-twentieth century, many cities experienced severe flooding. The Brazos River Basin frequently flooded, wreaking havoc upon those who lived…