Waco Texas: Encyclopedia II - Waco Texas - History

Waco Texas - History

Prior to white settlement, a Wichita Native American group known as the "Waco" or "Hueco" lived on the land of contemporary downtown Waco west of the Brazos River. In 1824, on an expedition to the Waco village, Thomas M. Duke reported the following to Stephen F. Austin: "[T]his town is situated on the West Bank of the River about half a mile from the River[. T]hey have a spring almost as cold as Ice itself[. A]ll we want is some Brandy and Sugar to have Ice Toddy[. T]hey have about four hundred acres planted in corn beans pumpkins and melons and that tended in good order [sic.] I think they cannot raise more than One Hundred Warriors." After Austin aborted the first attempt to destroy their village in 1825, he made a treaty with them. The Wacos were soon forced to abandon their village and moved upstream to what is now Palo Pinto County (due west of Dallas).

Neil McLennan settled in an area near the South Bosque River in 1838. Jacob De Cordova bought McLennan's property and hired a former Texas Ranger and surveyor named George B. Erath to inspect the area. In 1849, Erath designed the first block of the city. Property owners wanted to name the city "Lamarine", but Erath convinced them to name the area Waco Village, in honor of the Native Americans who had lived there.

In 1845, Baylor University was founded in Independence, Texas, making it the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of Texas. It moved to Waco in 1886 and merged with Waco University, becoming an integral part of the city. The university's Strecker Museum was also the oldest continuously operating museum in the state until it closed in 2003, and the collections were moved to the new Sue & Frank Mayborn Museum Complex.

In 1866, the city embarked on an ambitious project to build the first bridge to span the wide Brazos River. They contacted an architectural firm owned by John Augustus Roebling in Trenton, New Jersey to build the 475-foot brick Waco Suspension Bridge, the longest span of any bridge west of the Mississippi River at the time of its completion in 1870. Because it was one of the first suspension bridges built in the United States, it also was a pioneering engineering feat of the era. The bridge was used as a working prototype for Roebling's later famous work, the Brooklyn Bridge. The economic effects of the bridge were immediate and large, attracting cattle runs from the nearby Chisholm Trail and increasing the population of the city, as immigrants now had a safe passage for their horse drawn carriages to cross the river. The bridge is now open only to pedestrian traffic.

In the late 1800s a red light district called the "Reservation" grew up in Waco. Prostitution was regulated by the city. The Reservation was abolished in the early 1900s.

In 1885, the soft drink Dr Pepper was invented in Waco's Old Corner Drug Store.

In the 1890s, William Cowper Brann published the highly successful Iconoclast newspaper in Waco. One of his targets was Baylor University. Brann revealed that Baylor officials had been importing South American children recruited by missionaries and making house-servants out of them. Brann was shot in the back by Tom Davis, a Baylor supporter. Brann wheeled, drew his pistol, and killed Davis. Brann was helped home by his friends, and died there of his wounds.

In 1894, the first Cotton Palace fair and exhibition center was built to reflect the dominant contribution of the agricultural cotton industry in the region. Since the end of the Civil War, cotton had been cultivated in the Brazos and Bosque valleys, and Waco became known nationwide as a top producer. Over the next 23 years, the annual exposition would welcome over eight million attendees. The opulent building which housed the month-long exhibition was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1910. In 1931, the exposition fell prey to the Great Depression, and the building was torn down. However, the annual Cotton Palace Pagent continues to the present day, hosted in late April in conjunction with the Brazos River Festival.

During World War I, Waco was the site of two major Army bases, Camp McArthur and Rich Field.

On May 11, 1953, a tornado hit downtown Waco killing 114. As of 2004, it remains the tenth deadliest tornado in U.S. history and the deadliest in Texas state history.

In 1964 the Texas Department of Public Safety designated Waco as the site for the State-designated official museum of the legendary Texas Rangers law enforcement agency founded in 1823. In 1976 it was further designated the official Hall of Fame for the Rangers and renamed the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum.

In 1978, locals discovered bones emerging from the mud at the confluence of the Brazos River and the Bosque River. Subsequent excavations revealed that the bones were 28,000 years old and belonged to a species of mammoth. Eventually, the remains of at least 28 mammoths were found at the site, making it one of the largest - and most intriguing - findings of its kind in the world. Scholars have puzzled over why such a large herd had been killed all at once.

On April 19, 1993 a standoff between federal agents and Branch Davidians ended in a fire that destroyed their compound located in a rural area two miles outside of the city's limits. Seventy-six people died in the assault.

Since the 2000 presidential election, Waco has been home to the various news bureaus covering the Western White House in Crawford, home of US President George W. Bush, which is located approximately 14 miles west of Waco. Crawford actually is a suburb of Waco, and within the Waco MSMA.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki