Women's History
It may be said that all history is women’s history, and the history of Waco is no exception. Indigenous women populated this area along the Brazos before European settlers arrived. At its founding, women like Mrs. Sophia St. John contributed land that would become part of Waco. Additionally, Rebecca de Cordova, wife of early settler Jacob de Cordova, suggested the name Lamartine for the village. Since then, women with connections to Waco have served as politicians, educators, and philanthropists. They have shaped and been shaped by their time as residents of the city. Their stories reflect the diversity of experiences found in Waco’s long history.
Some of these women, institutions, and places are well known; others are less familiar. This tour invites you to explore them all, learning more about the history of Waco through examining the history of women.
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Stories 21
Bettie Mae Scott
During World War II, Elizabeth “Bettie” Mae Scott joined a small group of women who took to the skies in support of the United States war effort. Scott served as a member of the Women Airforce Service…
Memorial Hall: Woman's Memorial Dormitory
Baylor University was the first coeducational university in the South, and only the second in the country. Even so, the education women received at Baylor for many years was fundamentally different…
Evangelia Settlement
Seeking to provide refuge to children and families in need, the Evangelia Settlement Home opened in 1908. Established by religious reformers Ethel Dickson and Nell Symes, the home aimed to care for…
Dr. Mae Jackson
Born the daughter of educators in segregated Mexia, Texas, in 1941, Mae Allison Johnson developed an early understanding of the significance of education and equality. Her parents, Allison Johnson and…
Allene Jeanes
Most people have consumed the ingredient xanthan gum many times before, even if it was unknowingly. Xanthan gum is used in a wide variety of products, including gluten-free bread, ice cream, and cough…
Dorothy Scarborough
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…
Texas Guinan
In Prohibition-era New York City, a dose of Texas flair enlivened the city’s roaring nightlife. Larger than life in personality and style, actress “Texas” Guinan commanded the nightclub circuit with…
Helen Marie Taylor Museum of Waco History
Helen Marie Taylor is a native Wacoan who has dedicated her life to preserving history through her efforts in museums, organizations, and foundations. She worked on a council for the National…
Vivienne Lucille Malone-Mayes
Waco native Vivienne Lucille Malone-Mayes possessed a sharp mind with a resilient spirit to match. In an age where few women, let alone women of color, went on to become prominent figures in higher…
Mary Holliday
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…
Mary Maxwell Armstrong
Mary Maxwell Armstrong’s intelligence, insight, and perseverance made her an influential figure in twentieth-century Waco. Her determination combined with her love for great literature aided in the…
Academy of the Sacred Heart
On the corner of Eighth Street and Washington Avenue once stood a Catholic school and convent that taught thousands of students during its years of operation from 1874 to 1946. The Academy of the…
Gladys Allen
Efforts of civic leaders in the late nineteenth century to provide greater educational opportunities established Waco as the “Athens of Texas.” This reputation was later preserved in the early to…
The Reservation
Though not uncommon to late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century cities, red-light districts were regarded as areas of ill repute where madams and prostitutes worked outside the law. Yet in 1889,…
The Junior League of Waco
According to founding Junior League member Margaret Barclay Megarity, mid-twentieth-century service opportunities for young women in Waco were limited to society luncheons and church-sponsored…
Pauline Pipkin Garrett
Pauline Pipkin Garrett studied music at Baylor in the 1920s, but then the family business came a-calling. Under her leadership, W. P. Pipkin Drugs became one of the Southwest’s largest independently…
Waco Female College
Waco Female College served as an influential institution of higher learning for women in the nineteenth century. The consolidation of two other female educational institutions, Waco Female Seminary…
Rebecca Sparks Co-operative Home
Rebecca Pines Shelton Sparks, often referred to as Mother Sparks, was a laywoman from Missouri who moved to Texas with her family before the Civil War. Sparks married a Confederate veteran of the…
Jeffie Conner
Jeffie Obrea Allen Conner was born in 1895 on her family’s farm in Harrison Switch, Texas. She was the oldest of three children born to Meddie Lilian and Jeff D. Allen. Harrison Switch, later known as…
Eddie Bernice Johnson
Eddie Bernice Johnson is a champion of minority and women’s rights representing Texas in the United States House of Representatives. Not only that, she fights to support the sciences and women in STEM…
Ann Richards
On a hot Atlanta evening in July 1988, Ann Richards emerged from deep in the heart of Texas to address the Democratic National Convention as the keynote speaker. The Texas treasurer’s rousing and…Tour curated by: The Waco History Team