Historic McLennan County

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Commissioned by the McLennan County Historical Commission
Historical Publishing Network
A division of Lammert Incorporated
San Antonio, Texas

First Edition
Copyright © 2010 Historical Publishing Network
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing
from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Historical Publishing Network, 11535 Galm Road, Suite 101, San Antonio, Texas, 78254. Phone (800) 749-9790.
ISBN: 9781935377221
Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 2010932567
Historic McLennan County: An Illustrated History
editor: Sharon Bracken
contributing writers: Nell Buice Barton
Louise Champagne
Mary Ann Dunning Dameron
Nancy Roberts Detlefsen
Foy DuBois
Mary Sue Hatter Duty
Sharon Griffith
J. Douglas Guthrie, Jr.
Mimi Montgomery Irwin
Van D. Massirer
Lelia McDugal
Jeannette Hatter McGinnes
Lauren D. Mickens
D’or Nelson
Mary Alice O’Dowd
Charles Olson
Hal Pledger
Carroll Prewett
Anita Ward Rolf
Sandra Horne Roming
Cullen Smith
Michael L. Toon
Greta Watson
cover design: Stephanie MacVeigh
contributing writers for sharing the heritage: Eric Dabney
Marie Beth Jones
Historical Publishing Network
president: Ron Lammert
project manager: Wynn Buck
administration: Donna M. Mata
Melissa G. Quinn
book sales: Dee Steidle
production: Colin Hart
Glenda Tarazon Krouse
Craig Mitchell
Charles Newton III
Evelyn Hart
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES
2 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

4 FOREWORD
5 INTRODUCTION
CONTENTS
51 CHAPTER 25 Moody
54 CHAPTER 26 Ocee
7 CHAPTER 1 Waco
16 CHAPTER 2 Magic Suspension Bridge
17 CHAPTER 3 Bellmead
19 CHAPTER 4 Beverly Hills, Bosqueville
20 CHAPTER 5 Julius Bledsoe
21 CHAPTER 6 Bruceville
22 CHAPTER 7 China Spring
25 CHAPTER 8 Civil War Era in Waco
26 CHAPTER 9 Crawford
29 CHAPTER 10 Doris Miller, The First Hero
30 CHAPTER 11 Eddy
31 CHAPTER 12 Elm Mott
32 CHAPTER 13 Gholson
33 CHAPTER 14 Golinda
34 CHAPTER 15 Harrison
36 CHAPTER 16 Hewitt
39 CHAPTER 17 Hillside
40 CHAPTER 18 Lacy Lakeview
41 CHAPTER 19 Leroy
42 CHAPTER 20 Levi
43 CHAPTER 21 Liberty Hill
44 CHAPTER 22 Lorena
47 CHAPTER 23 Mart
49 CHAPTER 24 McGregor
55 CHAPTER 27 Patton
56 CHAPTER 28 Prairie Chapel
58 CHAPTER 29 Richie
59 CHAPTER 30 Riesel
60 CHAPTER 31 Robinson
64 CHAPTER 32 Rosenthal
65 CHAPTER 33 Ross
66 CHAPTER 34 Sandtown, South Bosque
68 CHAPTER 35 Speegleville
69 CHAPTER 36 Spring Valley
70 CHAPTER 37 The Crossing
71 CHAPTER 38 Waldo
72 CHAPTER 39 West
77 CHAPTER 40 The Crash at Crush
80 CHAPTER 41 Willow Grove
82 CHAPTER 42 Woodway
83 CHAPTER 43 Governors With Ties to
McLennan County
85 SMALL TOWNS OF MCLENNAN COUNTY,
PAST AND PRESENT
88 BIBLIOGRAPHY
91 SHARING THE HERITAGE
143 SPONSORS
Contents ✦ 3

FOREWORD
HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY was undertaken as a special project of the McLennan County Historical Commission.
Originally spearheaded by our long-time Chair, Foy Dubois, the project was mounted as a history of cities, towns and communities of
McLennan County told by their residents. Mr. Dubois encouraged reluctant commission members to take on this project, and it is to
him that this book is lovingly dedicated.
Members of the McLennan County Historical Commission, who have a rich heritage from years past and present, have provided many
of their cherished photos and most of the narratives for this book. We wish to thank all of the contributors for the time and effort that
went into its production. We would also like to thank our Editor, Sharon Bracken, for her assistance and guidance in this project.
This book is not intended to be a chronological or even a complete history of McLennan County, but rather a sampling of histories
written by members of the commission about the communities to which they are linked. We hope that readers will appreciate our
perspective and enjoy it for what it is.
Dr. Michelle Toon
McLennan County Historical Commission
McLennan County Historical Commission
Dr. Michelle Toon
Chairperson
Sharon Bracken
Editor
Editorial Assistants
Melissa Perry, Lauren D. Mickens
Members of McLennan County Historical Commission
Dannie Archie
Dorothy Bates
James Berryhill
Scotty Bradsby
Tom Charlton
George Coffey
Foy DuBois
Dianne Friend
Robert Gamboa
Rick Gauer
Jim Griffith
Sharon Griffith
J. Douglas Guthrie, Jr.
Joe Johnson
Joe Mashek
Van D. Massirer
Lelia McDugal
David Miller
Coke Mills
Frances Olson
Hal Pledger
Anita Rolf
Don Rose
Dorothy Smith
Elizabeth Taylor
Kyle Guthrie Thomas
Michelle Toon
Michael L. Toon
Bill Wardlaw
Greta Watson
Alex Williams
4 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Introduction ✦ 5

Welcome to Waco sign on Interstate Highway 35, 2009.
PHOTO BY ALESSIA BROWN.
6 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

The archaeological record indicates
that man has inhabited the Waco area for
over 10,000 years. Investigations have
revealed artifacts, campsites and rock
shelters from the Paleo-Indian, Archaic,
and Late Prehistoric periods.
The first mention of the area during
the historic period came from an
expedition led by Athanase de Mézières,
a Frenchman working as an Indian
agent for the Spanish. During a trek up
the Brazos River in 1772, he noted
two large villages, stretching from the
site of present day Waco for several
miles northward.
In 1824, Stephen F. Austin received a
report that the Waco village consisted of
about 100 inhabitants with more than 400
acres of corn, beans, pumpkins, and melons
under cultivation and a peach orchard.
The village stretched from the Brazos River
to present day Eighth Street and south past
Barron’s Branch.
In 1828 a large group of Cherokee
Indians left their homes in East Texas intent
on raiding the Waco village to recover
horses that had been stolen earlier that
year. They attacked the Wacos who took
refuge in riverbank breastworks. The
Cherokees burned the village after killing
55 of the residents. Some time after this
incident, the Wacos abandoned the village.
After the Texas Revolution a ranger
outpost was established in February 1837
near the abandoned Waco Indian village.
This was in response to the Comanche raid
on Fort Parker and the abduction of
Cynthia Ann Parker and others from the
fort. The rangers were withdrawn to the
Falls of the Brazos when it was realized
that they were too far in advance of
the frontier settlements to offer much
protection. The rangers were commanded
by Captain Thomas Hudson Barron who
named the outpost Fort Fisher in honor of
William S. Fisher, Secretary of War for the
WACO
B Y M ICHAEL L. TOON
Republic of Texas. One of the rangers,
George B. Erath, a San Jacinto veteran and
surveyor, thought that the village would be
an excellent site for a town.
George Barnard opened the Torrey
Brothers Trading Post No. 2 on Tehuacana
Creek in 1844. It was called the Brazos
Post and consisted of several log buildings
which served as warehouses and living
quarters. Barnard bought the trading post
from the Torrey brothers and moved it to
Hood County in 1849.
In 1845 Neil McLennan moved his
family to a claim on the Bosque River. He
had first viewed the country in 1839 while
on a surveying trip with Erath. Both men
had been impressed with the beauty
and natural resources of the area. The
McLennan family had first arrived in Texas
in 1835. McLennan had received a league
of land in Robertson’s Colony, but traded it
for the site on the Bosque.
Captain Barron, who had commanded
the Ranger detachment that had
established the Fort Fisher outpost in
1837, homesteaded a 320-acre claim on
the banks of the Brazos. His home would
be the first to appear in what would
become Waco. Barron would serve as clerk
for McLennan County’s first district court,
Judge Robert E. B. Baylor, presiding. From
the late 1850s through the 1860s, Barron
operated a steam mill on Barron’s Branch
that ground corn and wheat, and
eventually carded cotton and wool.
General Thomas J. Chambers had
received a land grant from the Mexican
government in 1832 that included much
of what would become McLennan County.
Chambers was a naturalized Mexican
citizen who had been named Surveyor
General for Texas in 1829 by the Mexican
government. He was involved in largescale
land speculation before and after the
Texas Revolution. In 1848, Chambers sold
his land grant, which included the Waco
village site, to John S. Sydnor of Galveston.
Sydnor had been mayor of Galveston and
was a prosperous merchant and slave
trader. Sydnor hired land agent Jacob De
Cordova to survey the land and offer it for
sale at one dollar per acre. Later in 1848,
Sydnor sold the land to Nathaniel A. Ware
and Jonas Butler who joined with De
Cordova as partners.
De Cordova hired Erath as one of the
surveyors for the project. Erath, who was
familiar with the country, urged De
Cordova to use the old Indian village as
the new town site. By March 1, 1849, the
first block had been surveyed and divided
into lots that sold for $5. Although the
three partners had chosen the name of
Lamartine for the new town, Erath
persuaded them to call it Waco Village.
The Texas Legislature established
McLennan County on January 22, 1850,
in honor of Neil McLennan. De Cordova
secured the county seat for Waco Village
by donating lots for public buildings,
schools and churches. The county
government was organized in August
1850, and the first courthouse was built
later that year. The population of the
entire county numbered fewer than 300.
Shapley P. Ross had come to Texas in
1839 and served in Captain Jack Hays’
Rangers in 1842, and was a member of
the poorly conceived Snively Expedition
in 1843. After commanding ranger
companies in 1846-47, Ross moved to
Waco in 1849 and operated the ferry
across the Brazos River. He also built the
first hotel in Waco and in 1850 was
appointed postmaster.
Settlement of the area increased rapidly
after the frontier was pushed farther west
and the possibility of Indian attacks
subsided. The majority of McLennan
County’s settlers before the Civil War
were from the southern United States,
or other regions of Texas. They brought
Chapter 1 ✦ 7

Neil McLennan.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
their culture, community and “peculiar
institution” of slavery with them. Many
were well to do, well educated planters
who established a cotton-based plantation
culture along the rich bottomlands of the
Brazos River. They also brought civilization
in the form of schools, churches and small
businesses. By 1851 these first immigrants
had brought Waco’s population to 152.
Schools were first organized in 1854
with the county divided into districts.
The school was generally located near the
most central community of the district
and named for that community. Teachers
were hired and paid by charging each
student tuition.
Major Robert Lambdin printed Waco’s
first newspaper, the Waco Era, in 1854.
Others papers followed during Waco’s
early years, including the Waco Weekly
Southwestern, published by William H.
Parsons, a fire-eating secessionist who
advocated states’ rights and the reopening
of the African slave trade.
The 1860 census of Waco recorded 800
residents. McLennan County’s population
consisted of 3,811 free citizens. About 270
of these free citizens owned 2,395 African-
American slaves. The 379 farms in the
county produced 39,000 bushels of wheat,
188,000 bushels of corn and 2,300 bales
of cotton for the year.
Richard Coke, one of the county’s
largest slaveholders, was chosen as a
delegate to the Secession Convention held
in Austin in 1861. He voted for secession
from the Union. The voters of McLennan
County, where most property valuation
was in cotton and slaves, agreed with Coke
and later that year ratified the secession
ordinance by a 586-191 vote.
Waco and McLennan County gave their
heart, soul and most of the area’s men to the
Southern Confederacy. Between 1,500 and
2,000 males turned out to serve in the state
and Confederate ranks. The first company
raised in Waco was the Lone Star Guards. It
marched out of Waco on July 22, 1861, 103
men strong, under the command of Captain
Edward D. Ryan, (they picked up two more
recruits in Marlin) and would be McLennan
County’s only contribution to Robert E. Lee’s
Army of Northern Virginia. They were mustered
into Confederate service as Company
E., 4th Texas Infantry Regiment. During the
war, the company would add 17 more men,
half from McLennan County, and the other
from transplanted Texans in Virginia, for a
total of 122 officers and men. They would
serve the entire war from Lee’s assaults during
the Seven Days, accompany Longstreet’s
Corps to the Western Theater for bloody
Chickamauga, and return to Virginia for the
final campaigns, as part of Hood’s famed
Texas Brigade. Company E would suffer 76
battle casualties; 28 killed in action, 43
Camp MacArthur Influenza Casualties, Austin Avenue (1918).
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
wounded, and five taken prisoner.
Fourteen men died of disease and 38
were honorably discharged during the
war. In April 1865, when Lee surrendered
at Appomattox, only 17 men remained of
the company.
Waco contributed six Confederate
generals to the Confederacy, and almost a
seventh. James Edward Harrison served in
Texas’ Secession Convention and helped
raise the 15th Texas Infantry. He served as
colonel of the 15th Texas in the Trans
Mississippi under General Tom Green. He
was promoted to Brigadier General in
December of 1864.
Thomas Harrison, brother of James
Edward Harrison, arrived in Waco in 1855.
He entered local politics and lost a close
race for district judge in 1857 to R. E. B.
Baylor. Harrison was elected captain of a
local militia group at the beginning of the
war, but transferred to the 8th Texas Cavalry
(Terry’s Texas Rangers). He became colonel
of the regiment after Benjamin Terry was
killed in action. He served under General
Joseph Wheeler in the Army of Tennessee
and was wounded in March of 1865. He
was very unpopular with his troops for his
penchant for corporal punishment to
enforce discipline. He returned to Waco
after the war and died July 14, 1891.
8 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Felix Huston Robertson did not appear
in Waco until after the war. He was a
fourth year cadet at West Point when war
became inevitable and he resigned in
January 1861 to offer his sword to the
Confederacy. He was commissioned as a
2nd lieutenant of artillery in March of
that year. He assisted in the reduction of
Fort Sumter and its surrender. By the
battle of Chickamauga he was a major
commanding an artillery battalion. In
1864 he was promoted to lieutenant
colonel in command of artillery for
General Joseph Wheeler’s Cavalry Corps.
Robertson was promoted to Brigadier
General in July 1864, and served for a
time as Wheeler’s chief of staff. He later
led a brigade, and then a division of
cavalry until severely wounded in
November 1864. After the war he moved
to Waco and studied law. He was the
last surviving general officer of the
Confederacy when he died in April 1928.
Jerome Bonaparte Robertson, the father
of Felix H. Robertson, had settled in
Independence in 1856 and served in both
houses of the Texas Legislature. Robertson
began his Confederate service as a captain
in the 5th Texas Infantry. He was promoted
to lieutenant colonel in November 1861,
colonel in June 1862, and Brigadier General
in November 1862. He led the Texas
Brigade in 1862 and 1863 until wounded
at Gettysburg. After service in the west at
Chickamauga, he was transferred to
command the Texas reserve corps. After the
war he continued the practice of medicine
and moved to Waco in 1879. He died there
in 1891.
Allison Nelson settled in Bosque
County, Texas in 1856, after serving as
mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, and as a
member of the Georgia legislature in
the 1840s. He was elected to the Texas
legislature in 1859 as a pro-secessionist.
After helping to raise the 10th Texas
Infantry, he was elected its colonel. He
was promoted to Brigadier General in
September 1862. He fell ill with a fever on
September 28, 1862, and died on October
7. He is buried in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Lawrence “Sul” Ross and Hiram B.
Granbury were residents of Waco when the
war started. They became legends in their
service to the South. Ross was already
something of a legend in Texas before the
war. His parents had come to Waco when he
was an infant. He was a graduate of
Wesleyan College in Florence, Alabama, but
had spent his vacations in Texas as the
captain of a ranger company in service
against the Comanches. In 1859 he had led
the rescue of Texas’s most celebrated Indian
captive, Cynthia Ann Parker. He entered
Confederate service as a private. By May of
1862 he was the colonel of his regiment,
the 6th Texas Cavalry. He was promoted
to Brigadier General in December 1863.
Every officer he fought under universally
commended him. He participated in 135
engagements and had five horses shot from
under him. He returned to Waco after the
war penniless and in poor health from
continuous campaigning. He farmed until
the early 1870s and restored his health and
some of his fortune. In 1873 he was elected
sheriff of McLennan County. He was a
member of the constitutional convention in
1875 and elected state senator in 1881. He
was elected governor in 1887 and re-elected
in 1889. He became president of Texas
A&M College in 1891 and served there
until his death in 1898.
Paul Quinn College art class, c. the 1920s.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
Amicable Building under construction (1910).
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
Granbury came to Texas in the 1850s
and settled in Waco. He was admitted to
the Bar and served as chief justice for
McLennan County from 1856 to 1858.
He recruited the Waco Guards who were
mustered into service with the 7th Texas
Infantry. He and his regiment were captured
at Fort Donelson in February 1862,
but he was quickly paroled in an officer
exchange. He was promoted to colonel
Chapter 1 ✦ 9

Above: Ad from 1878 City Directory.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
Below: From 1878-79 Waco City Directory.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
and he commanded the 7th Texas at
Chickamauga where he was wounded. He
commanded a brigade during the long
retreat out of Tennessee. He was commissioned
Brigadier General in February 1864,
and his brigade became a part of General
Pat Cleburne’s crack division in Joseph
Johnston’s Army of Tennessee during the
Atlanta campaign. He was personally commended
by Cleburne after the battle of New
Hope Church. Granbury and his brigade
were part of John B. Hood’s disastrous invasion
of Tennessee. Under Hood, the brigade
was part of the frontal assault during the
battle of Franklin, Tennessee, in November
of 1864. The brigade was decimated;
Granbury, Cleburne and four other
Confederate generals were killed. Although
Granbury commanded the brigade for only
one year, it forged a reputation for fighting
ability unsurpassed by any other unit in
the Army of Tennessee. Granbury’s remains
were returned to Texas in 1893 and reinterred
in Granbury, Texas, which had
been named after him.
William H. Parsons, Waco’s fiery prosecession
newspaper publisher, could have
been the city’s seventh Confederate general.
When the war began, Parsons closed his
newspaper and received a commission as
a colonel from Governor Clark. He was
also authorized to raise a regiment for
Confederate service. It was mustered into
Confederate service in 1861 as the 12th
Texas Cavalry. Parsons commanded much or
all of the Brigade at various times in the war.
He was recommended for promotion to
Brigadier General several times during the
war, but it was never confirmed due to disputes
with several other men who had commanded
the brigade at times when Parsons
was on detached service. During the Civil
War, Parsons’ Brigade earned a reputation as
one of the finest cavalry units in the Trans-
Mississippi department. In 1871 President
Grant appointed Parsons to be a United
States Centennial Commissioner. Parsons
moved to New York. He held other positions
with the government that he had once
sought to destroy until his death in 1907.
The returning veterans who had suffered
defeat at the hands of the federal
government found an economy in decline
in Waco and the surrounding area. From
the middle of the war until 1866,
McLennan County’s property tax receipts
plunged 73 percent. Some 38 percent of the
decline was due to the loss of slaves. Many
Freedmen remained with their former
masters under other arrangements, some
moved to the city to find work, and several
Freedmen communities like Harrison
Switch and Downsville were established.
Recovery was slow at first due to a lack of
transportation and an economy overly
dependent on agriculture.
By 1867 black voters were the majority
in McLennan County, and they elected
Shepard Mullins, an ex-slave, to the Texas
Legislature. Mullins also served on the
McLennan County commissioner’s court
with Stephen Cobb, pastor of the New Hope
Baptist Church. Freedmen served as city
aldermen, district school supervisors, and
were seated on juries. John Mason, an
African-American state policeman, proved to
be a special irritant to the ex-Confederates.
Waco was occupied by federal troops
briefly in 1868. There was much ill
feeling between the residents of the
defeated city and their blue-clad
conquerors. Racial relations worsened
after Freedmen received citizenship and
the vote during Reconstruction. The
Freedmen’s Bureau recorded 42 acts of
mob violence in McLennan County
between 1866 and 1868.
Richard Coke’s election as governor in
1873 signaled the end for Reconstruction
in Texas. Ex-Confederate Democrats
regained state political power and
African- Americans saw a steady decrease
in their rights until Jim Crow laws would
completely disenfranchise them soon
after the turn of the century.
Due to its location and the farsightedness
of its citizens, the Waco economy
improved faster than many Southern cities
after the Civil War. By the late 1860s Waco
had become an important junction on a
spur of the Chisholm Trail. The trail drive
era of Texas saw over 700,000 longhorn
cattle cross the Brazos at fords near Waco.
The growing city became a favorite stop
for trail bosses resupplying their outfits
for the long trail to the Kansas railheads.
Cowboys seeking relief from the trail
dust frequented the city’s many saloons,
gambling establishments, and bawdy
10 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

houses. It was this period when the
Wild West atmosphere earned Waco the
nickname of “Six-Shooter Junction.”
As the economy slowly recovered, new
elements unknown or impossible before
the war began to have a stimulating
effect on the area. Improvements in
the transportation system such as the
suspension bridge and the railroad gave
thousands of land-hungry immigrants
access to cheap land, while capitalists in
the northern states found more and more
opportunities to invest in the area.
Before the Civil War most cotton was
grown in rich river bottoms plantation style.
After the war, many plantations were
broken up and leased in small parcels to
tenant farmers. As other large land holdings
were sold for taxes, many new immigrants
to the area were able to take up farming in
other areas of the county. In 1870 the
census showed just 937 farms in the county.
By 1880 the total reached 3,256 farms. To
the surprise of many older residents, these
new farmers planted cotton in the black
waxy soil away from the river bottoms. By
1880 new methods of agriculture had
produced over 499,000 acres under
cultivation. This constituted a 300 percent
increase from pre-war totals. These acres
produced nearly 200,000 bushels of wheat,
over 500,000 bushels of corn, and an
amazing 13,000 bales of cotton.
By the early 1880s Waco had become the
center of a transportation network linking
the area’s agricultural products to outside
markets. The Waco Suspension Bridge had
Texas Cotton Palace.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
been completed in 1870 and had made
Waco a major commercial center for
both sides of the Brazos. The first rail
connection came in 1872 when the Waco
and Northwestern Railroad connected
Bremond and Ross, giving the city and
county rail service to Houston markets via
the Houston and Texas Central line. The
first passenger train reached Waco on
September 18, 1872. In 1884 the city’s
population reached 12,000 and 50,000
bales of cotton were shipped from Waco.
The growth of agriculture in the area
also brought Robert Lloyd Smith, an
African-American politician and businessman
to Waco in 1885. Born in Charleston,
South Carolina in 1861, Smith moved to
Texas and established the Farmers’ Home
Improvement Society. The purpose of the
organization was to help farmers establish
a less oppressive form of sharecropping.
Eradicating the old system and implementing
more efficient techniques gave
farmers the ability to gain wealth through
savings. By 1909 active membership
rose to 21,000. In 1911, due to increased
membership in the society, Smith founded
the Farmers’ Improvement Bank in Waco,
the first bank founded by an African-
American in Waco and possibly even in
the state of Texas.
Other railroads came to the area in
response to the highly lucrative agricultural
bonanza. By 1889, Waco was connected
by rail service to almost every city of
importance in Texas. This became more
important after March 10, 1889, when hot
artesian water
was discovered
beneath the city.
Waco, promoted
as “Geyser City,”
became the
destination of
choice for those
convinced of the
curative powers
of the water from
the wells drilled
into the strata
below the city.
In an effort to regulate the large number
of bawdy houses that had persisted since
the trail drive days, Waco became the first
city in Texas and only the second in the
United States to provide an area for
legalized prostitution. Houses of ill repute
were licensed to operate under city
regulations in the area bordered by the
Brazos River, Barron’s Branch, Washington
Street and Second Street. Working girls
were subject to monthly physical exams by
the city physician and were subject to stern
laws if caught outside “The Reservation.”
By 1890, Waco was one of the most
important cotton markets in the South.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars were
invested in cotton gins, cotton mills, and
cottonseed presses. In 1890 McLennan
county farmers cultivated 73,000 acres of
cotton, a quarter of the improved acreage,
30,000 bales of cotton were produced. In
1910 half of the county’s available land,
or 240,000 acres, produced 69,000 bales
of cotton.
Waco also became one of the nation’s
most important manufacturing centers by
the 1890s. By the turn of the century,
Waco boasted over 150 factories and a half
dozen banks. The city’s Kirksey Woolen
Mills was the largest in Texas and there was
at least one cotton factory producing yarn
for a host of markets.
In 1894 plans were made for a fair and
exposition in honor of Waco’s recognition
as one of the largest inland cotton
markets in the United States. It would be
known as the Texas Cotton Palace and a
large building was erected at Padgitt Park
for the inaugural event in November
1894. In early 1895 a fire destroyed the
building and the Texas Cotton Palace
was not resumed until 1910. It would
continue for the next 21 years as one of
the most successful expositions in the
nation, counting over eight million
fairgoers during that period.
The original Texas Cotton Palace drew
newspaper reporters from cities across the
state. One of these was William Cowper
Brann who had been offered a job as an
editorial writer by the Daily News in Waco.
Chapter 1 ✦ 11

Methodist Home.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
He kept the job only a short time
and began publishing his own newspaper,
The Iconoclast, in February 1895. From that
date until April 1, 1898, Brann would
conduct a holy war with the Baptists of
Baylor University and anyone else who
crossed his path. These years would see his
abduction and near-lynching by Baylor
students, his horsewhipping in the street by
a Baylor Trustee, and gunfights which would
kill a real estate agent, severely wound the
County judge, and lead to the death of two
other newspapermen and himself.
On May 27, 1910, the family of
William Cameron made an initial
donation of over 100 acres along the
Brazos River for a municipal park for the
city of Waco. Additional gifts by the family
and purchase by the city brought a total of
over 400 acres. This gave Waco the largest
natural municipal park in Texas.
In just thirty years since
Reconstruction, the former Indian village
on the Brazos had become a full-fledged
city nearing a population of 25,000. In
addition to its success commercially, the
city had attracted institutions of faith,
learning, and community.
Waco’s first church in 1850 was
Methodist. The Baptists in 1851, and the
Presbyterians in 1855 followed. An
Episcopal church was organized in 1868,
the first Catholic church was built 1870,
and by 1871, Waco saw the establishment
of its first synagogue. New Hope Baptist,
the first African-American church was
founded in 1866.
Commercial success also attracted
institutions of higher education. The Waco
Classical School was formed in 1860 and
became Waco University a year later. In
1887 Baylor University moved from
Independence in Washington County and
merged with Waco University in Waco.
Waco Female College began in 1856, but
was forced to close by 1893. Paul Quinn
College, operated by the African Methodist
Episcopal church, came to Waco from
Austin in 1872. In 1895, Add-Ran College
opened in Waco and by 1902 had changed
its name to Texas Christian University.
Although Waco and Texas had closely
followed Europe’s march to war in 1914,
most Texans had maintained a neutrality
about entering the war until March 1, 1917,
when the Zimmerman Telegram hit the
front pages of the nation’s newspapers. In a
message decoded by British intelligence,
Germany’s foreign minister, Arthur
Zimmerman, offered Mexico substantial
portions of the American Southwest
(including Texas) to join the Central Powers
against the Allies. On April 6, the United
States declared war on Germany. Most
Texans would support the war.
In July 1917, construction began on
Camp MacArthur, a 10,000-acre tract
northwest of the city. The camp would serve
as an infantry training camp and
replacement depot, an officers’ training
school, and after the war, a demobilization
center. Eventually, it would cost over $5
million and consist of nearly 1300
buildings. Although the camp had a
capacity of nearly 50,000 soldiers, the
average monthly population of the camp
during the war years ranged between
25,000 to 30,000.
To help build the camp and guard it
during construction, the Army transferred
a detachment of the 24th Infantry, Buffalo
Soldiers from New Mexico, to Waco. The
Army was initially hesitant to send black
troops to Waco after the lynching of Jesse
Washington in 1916. The Waco Chamber
of Commerce and other city leaders
assured them that the troops would be
received patriotically and shown every
consideration. The troop train arrived at
midnight on July 28, 1917. They were not
allowed to leave the train until 6 a.m. the
next morning after being told by their
commander and city officials of Waco’s
strict segregation laws. By the end of
that evening Waco had a riot on its
hands as battle-hardened veterans of the
Indian Wars and the Spanish American
conflict encountered some of the strictest
segregation laws in the South. After
confrontations with armed whites, a dozen
men of the Twenty-Fourth returned to
camp and armed themselves. An exchange
of gunfire followed and although no one
was hurt, the 12 soldiers were arrested.
The Army reacted by restricting the time
that any of the black soldiers could visit
the city. Waco cooperated by arresting
white troublemakers capable of inciting
more racial friction. The twelve soldiers
were court martialed, dishonorably
discharged, with six receiving prison
sentences. Although Waco’s black
community remained publically silent on
the riot, they extended support to the
Buffalo Soldiers working to build Camp
MacArthur. Home-cooked meals, church
socials and tickets to see Waco Navigators
games of the Negro Baseball League helped
the men to feel more at home during
their short stay. On August 24, 1917, the
battalion returned to New Mexico.
12 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

War boards of the federal government
had grown alarmed that racial violence in
Waco and other parts of the South was
upsetting African American support for
the war. Reports that hundreds of black
workers were deserting Texas cotton fields
for northern factories set off alarms now
that cotton had become an important part
of the war effort. Many were replaced by
Mexican migrant workers who had been
pushed out of Mexico by its revolution.
The Council for National Defense sought
to solve the problem by urging state and
local councils to give blacks a stake in the
war by involving them in patriotic affairs.
The Texas Council for Defense never
followed the recommendations and merely
urged local councils to convince black
leaders that African American support for
the war was crucial. Lip service was given to
promises of social improvement and many
blacks saw that by working to keep the
world safe for democracy, they could fight to
be a part of democracy at home.
A second military training center
was established in August 1917, when
construction began on Rich Field. The pilot
training field was constructed at the cost
of nearly $3 million and was located about
3 miles west of the city. The city furnished
water, electricity, and a railroad spur to the
80 buildings and 16 hangars that comprised
the base. During the two years that the field
was operated, 339 pilots were trained with
only eight fatalities during the period.
The city’s population was doubled by the
influx of the military during the years 1917-
1919. Many of the recruits in training had
families visit Waco and the economy
boomed. One business that did not fare well
during these times was “The Reservation.”
Waco’s famed legalized prostitution district
was forced to close by the military.
The Spanish influenza epidemic that
started in the fall of 1918 reached Camp
MacArthur in September 1918. The disease
spread rapidly, overwhelming the base
hospital. Doctors and nurses became sick
and replacements were brought in from as
far away as Iowa and Indiana. As the general
hospital filled with the seriously ill, 250-man
mess halls were converted to field hospitals
to hold the less-seriously afflicted. Transfer
to the hospital was generally considered a
death sentence. The first death was reported
on October 3, 1918, as the severe cases
developed into pneumonia. During the
epidemic, soldiers were forced to take a
spoon of castor oil as they stood in
formation before meals. All of the men in
formation would use the same spoon. All
schools, churches and public events were
closed down during the epidemic. Funeral
home records indicate 193 deaths from early
October 1918, through January 1919.
The June 1919 issue of the Texas
Medical Journal may have been on to
something when it published the results
of testing by the United States Medical
Corps. Tests were made on samples of
dishwater at ten different restaurants in
an undisclosed city. The investigations
showed an average bacteriological count
of four million per cubic centimeter. This
was a far higher bacteria count than found
in samples of sewage at the same time.
The armistice was announced on
November 11, 1918, and soldiers of Camp
MacArthur celebrated by performing
military drills for thousands of Waco’s
citizens on the old Cotton Palace grounds
on Webster Street. The war to make the
world safe for democracy was over and
Waco returned to a peacetime economy.
Between the turn of the century and
1930, the racial makeup of Waco changed
as rural blacks left the countryside for
the city in search of a better life. Waco’s
population doubled again and support
services grew to meet the demands of
more city dwellers.
Many African Americans who had
participated in wartime activities in Waco
had seen this as a way to prove to the
white citizens that they deserved greater
freedom. The wartime need for racial
cooperation ended with the end of the
war as whites sought to reestablish the
pre-war social control that had existed
since the end of Reconstruction.
A more militant and less accommodating
sense of their civil rights carried over among
The flightline at Blackland Army Airfield, 1943.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
black citizens in the post war years. This
fueled a rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan as
whites sought a return of race relations
that had existed before the war. In July
1923 more than 2,000 Klansmen paraded
through the streets of Waco to demonstrate
the power of the reborn Klan.
Social turmoil would dominate the
1920s as veterans returned home disillusioned
with the “war to end all wars,” to
find that women had been given the vote,
and alcohol consumption had finally been
prohibited by religious fundamentalists.
The latter produced speakeasies that
sparked a demand for alcohol produced by
An air traffic controller at Blackland Army Airfield, 1943.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
Chapter 1 ✦ 13

After the tornado in 1953.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
the many illegal stills operating in the area.
Many of these social ills would not be
remedied until the economic turmoil of
the Great Depression and the demands of a
second World War once again changed the
face of the city on the Brazos.
The 1930 census revealed that Waco’s
population had exceeded 53,000 as the city
had continued to grow and prosper.
However, the Great Depression battered the
city’s economy and slowed growth for the
next decade. A severe drought from 1928
until the early 1930s affected much of the
agricultural area that the city depended
upon and added to the misery of the times.
During the same years the price of cotton
fell from 20 cents a pound to 5 cents a
pound. As cotton prices fell, farmers
reduced the number of acres under
cultivation and had fewer dollars to spend
with Waco merchants. As businesses failed
and unemployment rose, The Cotton
Palace, a symbol of the city’s prosperity,
closed in 1930.
During the Depression, Waco used its
transportation network as a distribution
center for the government’s surplus commodities.
A National Youth Administration
program was begun at Baylor University,
and the Works Progress Administration
constructed University High School. The
population of the city slowed during the
1930s, and by 1940 it had reached 55,982.
We grew a lot of cotton hereabouts,
and when the Depression hit in the thirties,
nobody, nowhere had any money to
buy cotton or anything else. Mostly, we
planted vegetables where some of the cotton
usually was, just so we could have
something to eat. Walter M. Granger
Waco, Texas October 1998.
The Stars Were Big and Bright
Thomas E. Alexander, 2000
The onset of World War II and the United
States’ entry would stimulate and
reinvigorate Waco’s economy. Many new
manufacturing companies moved to Waco
to join in the war effort as the demand for
cotton and cotton products skyrocketed.
In August 1941 city and McLennan
County officials learned that the War
Department would consider Waco for a large
airfield, if the land was available and could
be leased by the government for one dollar
per year. Construction began soon after and,
by May 5, 1942, the airfield was ready to
conduct basic flight classes. The installation
was originally named Waco Army Flying
School, but was later re-named Waco Army
Air Field. Thousands of pilots serving in all
theaters of the war would receive their basic
pilot training in Waco until the base was
deactivated in 1945. Cold War defense
requirements saw its reactivation as a basic
pilot-training school in 1948. In June 1949
the name was changed to James Connally Air
Force Base and by 1951 all pilot training had
ceased. Later the base would offer instrument
flying, radar operation, navigation and
bombardier training. The program was
discontinued in 1962 and the Air Force
established headquarters for the 12th Air
Force at the base in 1966. The former base is
now shared by Texas State Technical College
and L-3 Communications.
A second installation was activated June
1942 and initially named China Spring
Army Air Field and also called Waco
Army Air Field No. 2. It was later re-named
Blackland Army Air Field. It began life as a
glider pilot training school, but was
redesigned as an advanced two-engine pilot
training facility. The base was deactivated in
1945, and by 1950 was operating as the
Waco Municipal Airport.
The Waco economy experienced a
resurgence during the 1940s and early
1950s. Near the end of the war the city had
been chosen for the site of the first major tire
factory in the southwest, and the General
Tire and Rubber factory provided many jobs
during the postwar years. The city retained
its position as the sixth largest industrial
center in the state. More than 250 factories
produced glass, furniture, tires, sports
equipment and many other consumer
goods. This industrialization diversified the
area’s economy and caused changes in the
agricultural sector as many rural residents
gave up the farm in exchange for the steady
pay of urban jobs. Many small farms
disappeared as emphasis shifted to larger
commercial agribusinesses. Cotton, once
King, gave way to more diversified crops.
Waco Tornado Path.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
14 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

The city and the area suffered a physical
blow in May 1953, when a monstrous tornado
struck the downtown area. The twister
touched down first in the Bell’s Hill area,
rolled through the old Cotton Palace Park,
and tore into downtown, crossed the Brazos
almost at the suspension bridge, ravaged East
Waco residential neighborhoods, and exited
the city. Entire city blocks in the downtown
area were completely devastated. The tornado
killed 144 people and more than 1,000 were
injured. In town, 196 business buildings were
destroyed and more than 300 more were so
damaged that they had to be razed. Property
damage totaled more than $50 million. The
storm had torn the heart out of the city.
Following the tornado many businesses
rebuilt in suburban areas abandoning
the downtown business district. Racial
integration of public schools during the
1960s prompted “white flight” to other
suburban areas. Waco’s downtown area
suffered from the blight that affected many
American cities during the 1950s and 1960s.
The Lake Waco dam project began in June of
1958 and was completed in early 1965. The
Roosevelt Hotel closed in 1961 but reopened
as the Regis Home for the Elderly in 1963. In
late 1965 McLennan Community College
was created and in early 1966 classes were
first offered at Texas State Technical Institute
at the old Connally Air Force Base. In a
1966 effort to begin the revitalization of
downtown, Waco voters approved a $17
million capital improvements program. This
program plus a $2.9 million grant and a $1.2
million city sales tax went into effect in an
effort to reduce the blight and tornado
damage to the historic inner city. The money
was spent for beautification of Austin Avenue
from 9th Street to the Brazos River, trash
control, improvements in traffic flow, and the
creation of a modern, progressive image for
the city. The Interstate 35 section through
Waco was completed in 1966. This year also
marked the election of the first African-
American, Dr. Gary Radford, to serve on the
Waco City Council.
The city would continue its drive to
create a forward, progressive image for
the remainder of the 20th century. It would
enter the new century with a new face as
older heavy industry was replaced with new
technology and use of its history to promote
tourism. The Brazos Urban Renewal Project
cleared all buildings between 3rd Street and
the Brazos River except for City Hall in the
Central Business District in 1968. Waco was
selected as one of the first cities in the
nation to receive federal funds for a Model
Cities action year.
The 1970 census saw Waco’s population
reach 95,000. In 1971 the suspension
bridge was closed to vehicular traffic and, in
early 1972, the Waco Convention Center
opened. In 1974 Waco welcomed its first
African-American mayor, Oscar De Conge.
The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum
was dedicated in 1976.
Despite the fact that Waco’s economy
underwent a turndown during the 1980s
and early ’90s, the population passed
100,000 in 1980 and the new Hilton Hotel
opened in 1981. The Waco City Council
established a Tax Abatement District in
1982 and many firms took advantage by
renovating downtown buildings. The Waco
Suspension Bridge, as part of the Texas
Sesquicentennial, was selected by the Texas
Society of Professional Engineers as one
of the five outstanding achievements in
Texas. That same year the renovated Waco
Hippodrome reopened as a performing arts
center. In 1991 the city lured the Texas
Sports Hall of Fame from Grand Prairie to
Waco. A new, modern Cameron Park Zoo
replaced the old Central Texas Zoo in 1993.
The new zoo featured beautiful landscapes
and displays of hundreds of animals.
The 21st century would see the city continue
an aggressive policy of beautification
and renovation with an increased sense
of historical preservation. An outstanding
example of community spirit resulted in the
retention of the Waco Veterans Affairs
Medical Center. Baylor’s pursuit of top tier
status has given the city a world-class museum
to accompany the designation of the
Waco Mammoth Site as part of the national
park system. A multi-million dollar expansion
by the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and
Museum, as well as continued expansion of
Churches promotional ad.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
the Texas Sports Hall of Fame have kept two
of Waco’s top tourist attractions up to date.
The Lake Waco Riverwalk will figure highly
in their plans. Downtown Waco has continued
to change from a square full of cotton
bales to a modern business district featuring
a new “green” Greater Waco Chamber of
Commerce building, as well as upscale lofts
in the Austin Avenue Flats complex. Both
the Convention Center and the Dr Pepper
Museum are receiving extensive renovations,
and $7 million was provided to
“protect, preserve and improve Cameron
Park by the time of its centennial in 2010.”
Waco appears headed in the direction of
a modern Southern city, reaping rewards
from its history, and broadcasting a message
that this is not your father’s Waco.
Chapter 1 ✦ 15

THE MAGIC BRIDGE
T HE W ACO S USPENSION B RIDGE
The following is a revised version of Mary Alice O’Dowd’s The Magic Bridge.
In the beginning “magic” was the
word used by travelers to describe the
historic span across the Brazos River
known then and now simply as the
Suspension Bridge.
Prior to the Suspension Bridge, the
only safe place to cross the treacherous
Brazos River was a ford down below
Marlin at the falls of the river.
Construction on the Suspension
Bridge in Waco began in 1866, and the
475-foot span was officially opened to
the public with great celebration on
January 7, 1870. It was the first bridge
across the Brazos, and was at that time the
longest single span suspension bridge in
the world.
The New York firm of John A. Roebling
Co., the originators of the suspensiontype
bridge, were given the contract to
build the bridge, the same company that
built the famed Brooklyn Bridge ten years
prior. The company sent Thomas M.
Griffith to Waco as chief engineer.
Griffith completed his drawings and
mailed them to foundries in the East
where the pieces were tooled, then
returned by boat to Galveston. From
there they were transported part of the
way by rail, but the last 145 miles was
covered by ox teams, which was a long
haul across the dusty Texas plains.
The shifting, sandy banks of the river
made the setting of the piers and anchor
houses extremely difficult. J. W. Mann of
Waco supplied 2,700,000 bricks for the
project, and Waco’s Trice and Company
did the brick work. The total cost of
construction was $130,000.
The Suspension Bridge was operated
as a toll bridge for nearly twenty years.
Pioneers recall that tolls were collected
by means of a basket lowered on the end
of a rope to discourage robbery. A high
board fence surrounded the bridge
keeper’s house on the west bank. One
Wacoan remembers that her father paid a
dollar to take his 10 children, wagon and
oxen across the bridge.
In 1889 McLennan County, by a bond
issue of $80,000, purchased the historic
span from the local bridge company and
conveyed it to the city of Waco for the
sum of one dollar and the consideration
that it would be maintained and operated
as a free public highway.
The bridge was an awe-inspiring sight,
with people detouring many miles to see
it. It was regarded by many as one of the
wonders of the world.
On May 5, 1917, the Henry Downs
Chapter, Daughters of the American
Revolution, erected a granite monument
to the first crossing and to Waco
Springs. The spring was a magnate that
drew the Waco Indians to establish their
village there.
The Magic Bridge.
On December 6, 1959, tribute was
paid again to the “Old Suspension Bridge”
when the Heritage Society of Waco
unveiled a bronze plaque placed in one
of the arched windows of the west
anchor housing facing Bridge Street
(University Parks Drive). The marker
lists the main facts about the historic
structure and serves as a memorial for
an early-day Waco lawyer, the late
Judge William Sleeper, who as a 9-yearold
boy sat on the riverbanks and
watched the bridge’s construction.
Although those who were there
for the construction have long passed,
the important role the bridge played
in this area continues to be remembered,
and it still plays a role today
as a beautiful focal point for the city
of Waco. The bridge is now closed to
vehicle traffic but is still used as a
scenic pedestrian crossing for residents
and visitors.
16 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

M-K-T Locomotive House in Bellmead.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
BELLMEAD
C OMPILED BY C HARLES O LSON
The roots of Bellmead, Texas, grew out
of the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railway
(M-K-T). In June of 1910, the M-K-T purchased
90 percent of the Texas Central
Railway that ran 268 miles from Waco to
Rotan with a 40 mile branch to DeLeon,
Texas. Because of its central location, the
M-K-T built a massive locomotive complex
(called a roundhouse) in a rural area
near Waco. In 1911, the M-K-T President
Charles Schaff, on an inspection tour of the
new facility, noted to a Katy railroad attorney
that the area around the roundhouse
reminded him of the farm where he grew
up in Belle Meade, Tennessee. Belle Meade
is French for “beautiful meadows” and the
area around the roundhouse soon became
known as Bellmead.
In 1913, “Bellmead Court” was laid out
in lots and blocks. There were few buyers
as the land was prone to flooding.
Eventually, the Ashleman Farm (which lay
adjacent to the M-K-T property) was
divided into lots that sold for $35 each to
families working for the railroad and to
those wishing to provide goods and
services to those families. Over time, more
people moved to the beautiful area and
more businesses followed.
The 1928-29 Polk City Directory was the
first to list Bellmead streets. The first
merchant was Jess Golding, who operated a
small store at the corner of Carla and Katy
Lane. The 1928 directory showed the
Golding store, a two-story rooming house, a
garage, barber shop, gas station, grocery
store and the Bellmead Baptist Church. State
Highway 84 was constructed by the State
Highway Department in 1932, bringing a
vital transportation link to the area.
Schools in the area were consolidated
in 1927 to form the LaVega Independent
School District. A post office was established
in 1937 with A. L. Gilliam as the
first postmaster.
Water was initially brought to Bellmead
by a water line from Waco. During
the Depression, the Work Progress
Administration built water and sewer lines to
serve the Bellmead area. Those water lines
were connected to four artesian wells in the
early 1940s About that same time, a volunteer
fire department was established and the fire
station became the center of civic activity.
WWII CREATES OPPORTUNITY
Before World War II, the economy for
the Bellmead area was dependent on the
M-K-T railroad shops. The war created new
Chapter 3 ✦ 17

and different economic activity. A General
Tire Plant came to produce military truck
tires. Waco Army Airfield, later called James
Connally Air Force Base, was established,
and the M-K-T Railway was given a boost as
it was one of the chief transporters of crude
oil from Texas to the rest of the country.
All the activity centered around the
war effort caused a rapid increase in
the population. In the early 1940s the
population was approximately 25, but by
1949 it had increased to 800.
In 1951, a Bellmead citizen, Chuck
Lovelace, learned from a Waco city councilman
that Waco was planning to annex
the Bellmead area in 1952. After talking
with other prominent Bellmead citizens,
Lovelace convinced the county commissioners
to hold an incorporation election so
that the citizens of the area could determine
whether they wanted to be a separate city.
Those for and against the election
organized and the election was held on
December 19, 1952. The election was very
close, but the incorporation was approved.
The initial charter was drafted by a local
group of residents including George Baer,
O. B. Lusk, J. H. West, Mrs. J. C. Oakes and
Chuck Lovelace. The first City Council
meeting was held on November 12, 1953.
The initial city manager was B. K. West and
the first city attorney was Lyndon Olson
who served 51 years.
In 1960 Bellmead had 85 businesses and
5,127 residents. In 1965 James Connally
Air Force Base was closed, but Texas A&M
took the base and established the James
Connally Technical Institute, known today
as Texas State Technical Institute.
Through hard work and good planning,
the population and economy of Bellmead
has grown significantly. The population of
the city in 2008 was 9,500. By that same
year, the value of real property improvements
had grown to $337 million. Bellmead
completed construction of a new city hall in
2007 and constructed a new headquarters
for its police department. The city is now a
hub of economic activity along Interstate
Highway 35 and Loop 340 in McLennan
County with a population in 2000 of 9,214.
M-K-T officials in Bellmead.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
Candidates for Bellmead’s first municipal election. Left to right, front row: Nick Bontello, R. K. Carter, J. H. West,
O. B. Lusk; second row: James E. Scott, John A. Hyden, Charles Gee, J. Matt Smith; third row: J. W. Bounds,
H. E. Rodick, Jasper Pyburn and Leon Willis. Not shown are A. H. Hartsfield and I. E. Skinner.
PHOTO BY BILL MILLER. THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
18 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

BEVERLY HILLS
C OMPILED BY S HARON B RACKEN
Beverly Hills is located approximately
4 miles from downtown Waco. Residents
decided to incorporate the city just prior
to 1950. Eventually the city of Waco
surrounded Beverly Hills and left no
room for the city to expand.
Mayors that have served the city
include H. W. Wright, Scott A. Poage,
E. R. Long, Sam Johnson and R. A. Bryant.
In the early 1940s the population was
approximately 237. After Beverly Hills
incorporated, it grew rapidly from
approximately 703 in 1950 to 2,289 in the
1970s. In 2000 the population was 2,113.
Beverly Hills has no school system.
Student living in Beverly Hills attend
schools that are part of the Waco
Independent School District even though
some are located in Beverly Hills. The city
also connects to the Waco water and
sewer system.
South Valley Mills Drive, a busy stretch
of road that runs through Beverly Hills
and Waco also connects to Interstate
Highway 35. The majority of businesses
in the Beverly Hills city limits are located
on South Valley Mills Drive.
Left: Dedication plaque of City Hall in Beverly Hills. Right: Beverly Hills City Hall on Memorial Drive, 2010.
PHOTOS BY LAUREN D. MICKENS.
BOSQUEVILLE
C OMPILED BY N ANCY R OBERTS D ETLEFSEN
Bosqueville, located 7 miles northwest
of Waco, was one of only three communities
in existence when McLennan
County was established in 1850, and
was considered for the county seat.
Pioneers settled in the area because
of the rich alluvial soil, and cotton
production was the primary agricultural
crop. Early families included the
Worthams, Scotts, Cobbs, McNamaras
and Stewarts.
In 1860, the population of Bosqueville
was recorded as 531 persons. The public
school district, created in 1854, still
exists today.
In 1856 John Collier established
the largest school in the county, the
Bosqueville Academy for Boys and
Seminary for Young Ladies, which
closed at the beginning of the Civil
War. Reorganized in 1862 as the
Bosqueville Male and Female College, it
was the first coeducational institution in
the county.
The first Masonic Lodge in McLennan
County, Bosque Lodge #171, was charted
in 1855 in Bosqueville. By the late 1880s
the community had four stores, a post
office (1858-1910), gins, barber shop
and blacksmith shops. Descendants of
the founding families still reside in the
community today. The population, as of
2000, was approximately 1,900.
Chapter 4 ✦ 19

JULIUS BLEDSOE
C OMPILED BY L AUREN D. MICKENS
Jules Bledsoe.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
After graduating from Bishop College
in 1918, Bledsoe continued his education
attending Columbia University to study
medicine. After his mother’s death,
Bledsoe realized that his true calling was
musical performance.
One of Bledsoe’s coaches while at
Columbia was Lazar Samoiloff. On April
20, 1924, at Aeolian Hall in New York,
Bledsoe performed his professional
debut under the guidance of Samoiloff.
In 1926, Bledsoe made his stage debut
as Tizan in the opera, “Deep River.”
This production helped to shape future
roles. Bledsoe was later cast in the stage
production of “Show Boat.”
“Show Boat” opened on December 27,
1927, at Ziegfled Theater in New York.
A new standard of excellence was
established after the musical ran for 572
performances. This lead to his film debut
in the 1929 film version of “Show Boat.”
Bledsoe continued to make history as
the first African-American artist to be
continuously employed by a Broadway
theater and the first African-American to
sing in the Metropolitan Opera House.
Bledsoe stared in many other
productions but is most remembered for
“Show Boat.” On December 2, 1935, he
returned to New Hope Baptist Church
where 500 townspeople gathered to
hear him sing classics, spirituals and
his original work. On July 14, 1943,
Bledsoe died from a cerebral hemorrhage.
His body was brought from Hollywood,
California, to Waco, Texas. Bledsoe’s
funeral was held at New Hope Baptist
Church and he was laid to rest at
Greenwood Cemetery.
Waco native, Julius Bledsoe, a talented
baritone singer and composer, became
famous when he was cast as Joe in
the movie “Show Boat” and sang the
song “Ol’ Man River.” The part of Joe
was specifically created for Bledsoe
and he helped make the song an
American classic.
Bledsoe was born in Waco, Texas, on
December 29, 1899, to Henry L. and
Jessie Cobb Bledsoe. His aunt taught
him how to sing and play the piano. At
a young age Bledsoe began singing
at New Hope Baptist Church where his
grandfather, Stephen Cobb, was the first
African-American licensed preacher and
founder of the church.
Bledsoe attended preparatory school,
Central Texas Academy, where he
graduated valedictorian. He received his
undergraduate degree at Bishop College
in Marshall, Texas, where he studied
liberal arts and music.
Jules Bledsoe, standing in front of the theater where “Show Boat” was performed.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
20 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

BRUCEVILLE
C OMPILED BY M ARY A NN D UNNING D AMERON
Bruceville is between Lorena (Aerl)
and Eddy (Marvin) in the southwestern
corner of McLennan County. It is located
1 to 2 miles south of where it was when
it was named Mastersville or Masterville.
Prior to that it was called Cow Bayou.
It is likely that the original village of
Mastersville was in the vicinity of the
Cox Family Cemetery, also known as the
Cedar Bridge Cemetery, just west of
Interstate Highway 35 near Exit 319. It
was located on the land that belonged to
E. Thomas Cox (1829-1917) prior to the
Civil War. The Cedar Bridge was on Cox’s
land. Friends of Cox crossed the South Cow
Bayou for free, but all others paid tolls.
The bridge and a church were in the
proximity of Mastersville, where Cox built
the first gin in this part of the county in 1867
or 1868. The Mastersville post office was
also established in 1868. It was one of four
in the county in 1870. Mollie Rutherford
was the postmaster. The Mastersville Post
Office was the successor to the second
post office in the county, the Cow Bayou
Post Office that opened in 1865.
DR. BRUCE
BRINGS COMMERCE,
MEDICAL CARE TO AREA
Bruceville’s name came from Dr. Lucian
Bruce. In 1867, Bruce came from North
Carolina/Tennessee to (old) Mastersville
with his wife, Dorinda and their four
children. He was the only physician in the
area for many years and his practice
covered approximately a 20-mile area.
Between 1870 and 1880, Bruce built a
flourmill for $20,000 and laid out town
lots to bring people closer to the train.
This convinced the Missouri, Kansas, and
Texas Railway (M-K-T) that it would be
profitable to bring the Waco/Temple
extension across Bruce’s 1,000 acres.
Most of the first village of Mastersville
moved to the west of the proposed depot
site designated Bruceville by M-K-T.
The United States Postal Service
would officially recognize the town as
Bruceville on March 15, 1887. George W.
Kincher, the last Mastersville postmaster,
became the first Bruceville postmaster.
CHURCHES
By 1881 the new Mastersville
(population 250) was located 2 miles
north of Marvin, and 5 miles south of
Aerl (Bruceville). The Mastersville
churches, the Methodist (organized by
members from Cedar Bridge Church,
1863), and the Baptist (Church at Salem,
1871) held services on alternate Sundays
in a shared building on the “Church
Block” that was donated by Bruce.
In 1874, David Return Kincannon, his
wife J. Katherine, and nine children
settled on 1,000 acres they purchased for
21 bales of cotton. The acreage was
located near old Mastersville. Many of
their children stayed in the area including
five of their sons and their wives.
Other early residents included
Charlotte and Charles Dunning who came
from New York City to make their home
2 miles west of Eddy (Marvin) in 1874.
Dr. G. B. Harris (1856-1917), son of Mary
Cox and stepson of E. Tom Cox, returned
home from Vanderbilt Medical School to
become the town’s second doctor.
A 1911 “History of Central and
Western Texas” notes that in 1890,
Bruceville (population 236) was one of
seven principal towns in the county and
places it among the population centers
(population 289) in 1900.
EDUCATION
During this same period of time the
old Davenport home on the north side
of Bruce Street had served as the
schoolhouse for some years. But in 1912,
a new two-story red brick schoolhouse
was built.
In 1928 the high schools of Bruceville
and Eddy moved one mile to the present
school complex that was purchased
from Nora M. and Henry M. Appleby.
Bruceville-Eddy became the first rural
consolidated high school in the county.
COMMERCE
AND THE HIGHWAY
Businesses such as Kincannon Bros.
Lumber and Hardware, Edwards’
Mercantile, a barbershop and the
Bruceville State Bank all flourished in
Bruceville in the early 1900s.
In 1928 the new Waco-Temple Highway
followed the route of First Street through
downtown Bruceville. The construction
of U.S. Highway 81 in Oct. 1932 put
Bruceville halfway between Waco and
Temple. The Bruceville overpass, built in
1932, was the only viaduct on this two
lane, 20-feet wide stretch of highway.
Commerce followed the new highway
with Firquin Grocery and Gas relocating
a few hundred yards north of Bruce
Street with added bungalows for a
“motor hotel.”
In the 1930s Bruceville had a
population of 430, but its downtown
district was a shadow of its former self.
In 1957, Interstate Highway 35 was
constructed beside U.S. Highway 81,
with some sections of 81 becoming east
and some west frontage roads.
The communities of Bruceville and Eddy
were incorporated as the city of Bruceville-
Eddy in April 1974. Later, both city halls
moved to the new Municipal Building and
Fire Station across from the school. Total
population of the combined communities
in the 2000 census was 1,568.
Chapter 6 ✦ 21

China Spring High School, 1924.
COURTESY OF FRANCES OLSON.
CHINA SPRING
C OMPILED BY H AL P LEDGER
One day’s walk from the Huaco Indian
Village, under a grove of chinaberry trees,
was a large, dependable spring. Native
Americans would rest at this spring located
on the Comanche Trail. As the trail riders and
settlers arrived in the area, the spring
continued to be a popular campground. The
Village of China Spring took its name from
this watering place. Some maps showed the
town name as China Springs, and five road
signs in the 1960s also used the town name
of China Springs, but there was only one
spring, and the correct name is China Spring.
China Spring is part of the Miguel Rabajo
11 league (48,711.3 acres) Mexican land
grant. Rabajo was given the land in 1834,
but never claimed it, so subgrants were
carved in 1835 and given to Isaac Crouch,
Hardin Nevill, John S. McCoy, William Neill
and John Hannor. After the Civil War,
permanent settlers arrived, and by 1870 a
community known as China Spring existed.
In the summer of 1870, Norman H.
Conger, along with 18 family members and
employees left Knox County, Illinois, and
after 43 days of travel, crossed the new
suspension bridge in Waco on Oct. 10,
1870. He and his two brothers, Edward D.
and Harvey E. Conger, bought the rest of
the Miguel Rabajo Mexican land grant
(28,000 acres) in the spring of 1873. They
brought high quality livestock from Illinois,
including the seventh registered bull in
Texas. The property was called the Conger
Free Grass. But in 1874, Norman Conger
enclosed a pasture with barbed wire,
probably the first time the wire was used in
McLennan County.
Another early family was the Cicero
Talbert family. Talbert had come from
Alabama in the 1870s, and married Alberta
Garrett. Together they had 13 children. With
each child, Talbert expanded the house. It
was used as the only hotel in China Spring.
This was also the first house in the area with
a Delco electric light system.
On May 26, 1873, the post office was
established, with Charles S. Eichelberger the
first postmaster. He and two brothers settled
at what became known as Eichelberger’s
Crossing on the North Bosque River in
about 1858. Eichelberger Island became a
popular camping ground.
EARLY COMMERCE
Notely M. Roberts owned the first store
in China Spring. It was a mercantile store
he moved from Wortham Bend in 1880.
He also owned a ranch where he raised
horses and cattle. Other early businesses
included Callaway and Nail’s Meat Market
and Grocery, where on a Saturday, a small
bowl of chili could be purchased for a
nickel or a large bowl for a dime, with
crackers and ketchup for free.
22 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Two general stores, one owned by Sam
Walker, the other by Will Davis, were also
early establishments. The Davis store had a
candy and dry goods section in the front,
with a hardware and saddle section in the
back. Other early businesses included:
Carpenter’s Grocery and Mercantile, Hick’s
Drug Store, Barnard’s Drug Store and Ice
Cream Parlor, Ben Roberts Barber Shop,
Johnny Rogers Shoe Shop, Elgie and Richard
Null’s Blacksmith Shop, Henry Ledenham’s
Blacksmith Shop and Lawrence Pierce
Garage and Service Station.
On May 1, 1903, Lavantia Conger,
widow of Harvey E. Conger, sold a tract of
land to M. M. Roberts and G. P. Harris,
trustees for the China Spring Tabernacle, for
$16. The plain frame Tabernacle was built
with a stage on the first floor, and outside
stairs leading to the second floor that were
used by the Order of Woodmen of the
World, camp 707. “For generations this
historic building has faithfully served its
community as a convenient and pleasant
civic center, involving such varied uses as
church revivals, school assemblies, amateur
theatricals, traveling shows and lectures as
well as innumerable old-time displays of
political oratory,” Roger N. Conger, a China
Spring native, said. It is the oldest building
in continual use in China Spring.
Tabernacle, China Springs[sic], Texas 1908.
COURTESY OF FRANCES OLSON.
DOWNTOWN DISTRICT BURNS
The town suffered a major structural
loss one hot Sunday in late August 1922,
when two boys smoking behind their
house started a fire that burned all of
the nine businesses in the two block
downtown district. Some of the buildings
were eventually rebuilt with brick or
concrete structures, but the area was never
again considered the center of commerce.
CHURCHES
In 1884 the Methodist church was started
on the hundredth anniversary of Methodism
in America when circuit rider G. W. Harris
organized a congregation of 40 members.
The Baptist church formed in 1886. There
China Spring Baptist Church, 1908.
COURTESY OF FRANCES OLSON.
was also a Christian congregation organized,
and the three churches held joint services in
a one-room building. The Methodist held
services one Sunday a month, the Baptist
two Sundays, and the Christian one Sunday.
If there was a fifth Sunday in the month, a
non-denominational service was held. In
1890 the Methodists raised $734.40 and
built a 30 by 40 foot sanctuary. The Baptist
completed their building in 1904. By 1910,
the Christian church had disbanded.
EDUCATION
In 1884 the China Spring School
District formed, with the first trustees
being Ben Kennedy, Eli Ditto and William
Smith. In the 1890s Adams Academy, an
institute of higher learning, was operated
by the Disciples of Christ. Some of the
boys who attended were Robert G.
Granger, Will McLennan, Les Talbert and
Dee Conger.
Chapter 7 ✦ 23

EARLY SETTLER INCLUDING
“ THE MAN WHO WALKED
EVERYWHERE”
M. E. Church, China Springs[sic], Texas 1908.
COURTESY OF FRANCES OLSON.
China Spring, Texas, Main Street, with Dr. Beverly Caldwell’s buggy in front of Mac Crawford’s house, 1909.
COURTESY OF FRANCES OLSON.
TOWN PHYSICIANS
Ralph Edward Conger, son of Norman
Hurd and Mary A. (Wheeler) Conger, after
attending Baylor University, graduating from
Tulane Medical School and interning at St.
Mary’s Infirmary in Galveston, opened a
practice in the China Spring-Valley Mills-
Wortham Bend area. He practiced from
about 1901 or 1902 until his death in 1922.
Dr. Conger successfully diagnosed and
treated the laboring and poor families around
China Spring for pellagra, a dietary
deficiency disease treated with supplements.
Another early China Spring doctor was
Beverly Caldwell. He graduated from
Louisville Medical Center and practiced one
year in west Texas, then two years in Waco.
He moved to China Spring where he
practiced for 42 years, retiring in 1926.
In 1902, N. M. Roberts, R. R. Cox and
George Harris bought five acres of land to
start the China Spring Cemetery. The
Eichelberger family had a family graveyard
near Eichelberger’s Island. It was moved
when Lake Waco was expanded.
Notable citizens include Isaac Brock
who was born in North Carolina on
March 1, 1787, and died in China Spring
September 3, 1909, at age 122. He
walked to Texas in 1820 after working
in the coal mines of North Carolina.
At age 64 he married for the second time
18-year-old Sarah Sparks. They had 12
children. He was known as “the man
who walked everywhere,” and thought
nothing of a 35 mile stroll from China
Spring to Waco and back. He would let
his sons load up his wagon with cotton in
China Spring, telling them to come on to
Waco when they got ready. When they
arrived with the wagon, there he would
be, having made arrangements for the
sale. He loved horses and said he did not
want to ride in order to save them.
Other early families included: Amos;
Sam Bakers; Burts; Callaways; Cannens;
Carpenters; Jasper Chaffins; Clemmons;
Mac Crawfords; Crowsons; Curtons;
Culpeppers; Cunninghams; Lee R. Davis;
Andy Garretts; Hallmarks; George and Callie
Harris; John Harris; Hawkins; Ben Jacksons;
Jays; Kellys; Keplers; Kilpatricks; William
B. E. McLennans; Mabrys; Nails; Paynes;
P. D. and Kirby Smiths; and John Talberts.
China Spring is probably the largest
town in the county that has continued
to thrive without a railroad. The original
economy was built on cattle with good
grassland and water available. Cotton
and wheat farming were prevalent in
the late 1800s. In 1880 China Spring
reported five cotton gins, a gristmill, a
church and several businesses with a
population of 200. The 1910 census
reported a population of 300. Dairying
replaced cotton as the chief business after
the Depression.
Compiled with assistance from: Sally Jo
McLennan Truhlar; Ben H. (Buddy) Roberts,
Jr.; Ann Payne Moore; Rev. Allen Grant; Ethel
Smith; Wheeler Smith; Lynn and Robert
Powers; Rose McLaughlin and Frances Olson.
24 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

CIVIL WAR ERA IN WACO
C OMPILED BY J. DOUGLAS G UTHRIE, JR .
Sam Houston, while traveling Texas
speaking against secession and Texas leaving
the Union, spoke on the McLennan County
courthouse steps and at the First Methodist
Church. Houston closed each speech with,
“And grass will grow on the streets of Waco.”
When Texas did secede from the Union
the first military unit to leave Waco was
Company E, 4th Texas Infantry Regiment of
Hood’s Texas Brigade. Upon leaving, Sgt.
Oscar Downs wrote, “With 100 of my
Fellowmen I now shoulder my musket and
go to defend our Southern soil from the
base impositions of Northern Fanatics.”
It has been estimated that some 17 military
units, cavalry and infantry, were raised
in Waco alone. The county commissioners
authorized $10,000 in taxes to arm these
units and a special “Uniform Committee”
was appointed to clothe the troops.
At the time the McLennan County
population was less than 2,500 but it
supplied some 900 men to the Confederate
Army and another 400 men served in the
state militia. The militia guarded the frontier
against marauding Comanches.
Commerce in Waco slowed
considerably during the war. Businesses
closed due to owners leaving to serve in the
Confederate military or due to the
economy. Business owners leaving to serve
not only left a hole in commerce, it also left
a hole in the families’ purses in that the
breadwinner in almost half of the families
in McLennan County was serving in the
military. This placed a tremendous strain
on the community to provide for the
affected families. The McLennan County
Commissioners and the community, as a
whole, responded by aiding these families.
There was widespread counterfeiting of
Confederate currency and the Confederate
dollar was quite unstable. As such, barter
was a preferred way to do business, but
was not practical in all instances. The
Commissioners found it necessary to issue
script as legal tender. This script was
backed only by the Commissioners Court
and was not readily accepted outside of
McLennan County.
In March 1862 the County Commissioners,
for the purpose of aiding soldiers’ families,
levied a tax of 5 cents on property valuation
per $100. In May this tax was increased to
10 cents per $100 valuation. This produced
funds enough to provide $500 to needy families.
In October 1862 another $300 was given
to each family. Additionally the McLennan
County court “ordered the sum of $15 or so
much as be necessary” be appropriated to
pay the expenses for the burial of soldiers.
In addition to providing financial
support to soldier’s families the leaking roof
of the courthouse was a regular problem
facing the Commissioners Court. It had
been “successfully repaired,” any number
of times since its construction in 1859, but
still leaked. The Commissioners appointed
a justice of the peace “to superintend
the repairing.” He apparently could not
effectively get the repairs done and Sheriff
A. E. Twaddle was assigned to see that the
roof was fixed. Twaddle failed as well.
In January 1863 another $5,000 in
warrants was issued for the relief of destitute
service families.
Summer, fall, and winter of 1863 were
particularly depressing due to the loss at
Gettysburg and the fall of Fortress Vicksburg.
These disasters cast a pall all over the South,
particularly in Waco and McLennan County.
The courthouse roof troubles gave locals
some fodder for conversations rather than
the depressive news from the war front. The
Commissioners again funded materials for
the roof repair to see the job through.
The concern for the soldiers’ families
stayed on the Commissioners Court agenda.
Again, in October and November, $4,900
was set aside for distribution to these families.
A tax of 35 cents per $100 valuation
was assessed for paying expenses of the
county and another 10 cents was earmarked
for soldiers’ families.
As of October 1864, McLennan County
was supporting the families of 245
soldiers—a total of 919 people. It was
estimated that for 1865, the effort would
require 2,600 bushels of wheat, 4,000
bushels of corn, 20,000 pounds of bacon,
5,000 pounds of wool, and 10,000 pounds
of cotton. In an effort to defray this
expense it was decided to tax large planters
and farmers 4,000 bushels of corn.
In that inflation had made Confederate
money virtually worthless, the Commissioners
Court in January 1865 recommended that all
taxes due for support of soldiers’ families be
paid in kind rather than in worthless money.
In order to establish an equitable charge
and tax credit for produce, the following price
list was established: corn, $5 per bushel;
wheat, $10 per bushel; flour, $25 per 100
lbs.; bacon, $80 per 100 lbs.; beef, $60 per
head; salt, $30 per 100 lbs.; cotton, $60 per
100 lbs.; and wool, $1 per lbs. unwashed,
$1.33 washed.
The Committee for Safety was responsible
for the proper distribution of the produce to
soldiers’ families.
During the January 1865 session of the
Commissioners Court among income items
to the county for 1864 was $4,405.20 from
the sale of cloth woven by families of soldiers.
In the waning months of the war and
after the Confederate surrender, the citizens
of the county did what they could to aid
soldiers passing through McLennan County
by providing food and lodging.
It should be noted that in the first meeting
of the Reconstruction Commissioners
Court, the main item on the agenda was
“The leak in the roof of the court house.”
Despite the leak and the effects of the war,
McLennan County did survive and prosper.
And according to Edward Rotan, who came
to Waco shortly after the war, “grass grew on
the streets around the court house.”
Chapter 8 ✦ 25

CRAWFORD
C OMPILED BY V AN D.MASSIRER
The Tonkawa Indians appear to have
been the first human inhabitants of the
Crawford area. This nomadic group roamed
the area between the Trinity and Colorado
Rivers, clashing with the Waco Indians and
angering the Spanish with their refusal to
stay in Spanish missions. Artifacts reveal
that the area along Tonk Creek, now known
as Tonkawa Park, was an Indian campground
and at times also a burial ground.
Petroglyphs carved into the creek bed
testify to both the Tonkawa presence and
also the probable influence of the Spanish.
While early explorer Zebulon Pike described
the Tonkawa as a “tall, handsome people”
who exhibited a “peculiar clucking” in conversation
and who owned large numbers of
horses, other observers noted that the
Indians had an unsavory tendency to partake
of their enemies’ flesh in a victorious ritual
following a battle.
After the Tonk Indians’ removal to the
Brazos Indian Reservation in 1855, only
legends remained. Decimated by a smallpox
epidemic, the remaining 97 Tonkawa
were moved again in 1884, and only a
handful of the tribe exists today in the
town of Tonkawa, Oklahoma.
WHITE SETTLERS
Although the first white settlers were
granted land in the Crawford area in the
1830s, it was not until 1867, in the aftermath
of the Civil War, that the true signs
of a town appeared with an influx of settlers
from the Deep South.
Initially called Tonk Crossing and situated
on the site of an abandoned Indian camp
about a mile north of present-day Crawford,
the village was located at the intersection of
roads from Waco to Gatesville and Belton to
Fort Worth. The village provided a stop
and remount station and an inn on the
Brownwood Stage Line. A branch of the
Chisholm Trail also made its way through
the area, and old timers remember their elders
talking about large herds of cattle bedded
down for the night immediately south
of the village.
A ONE- ROOM SCHOOL, AN
INN, AND A TRADING POST
The first justice court was held in 1870
under a live oak tree, with Judge W. E.
Costley presiding. By 1871 the little village
had a post office, with John Heamlin as the
first postmaster, a one-room school with
John H. Gouldy as the lone teacher, an inn,
a trading post and several other businesses.
In 1872 came a new name for Tonk
Crossing—Crawford. While the identity of the
town’s original namesake is still disputed, the
list of possible honorees includes the grader of
the old creek crossing, a railroad director, a
ranger stationed at the inn, and an early
pioneer, all with the name of Crawford.
Other surnames associated with the founding
and early development of Tonk Crossing
include Billman, Cranfill, Crosse, Davis, Ford,
Hedrick, Hornsby and Uriah Tadlock, a business
owner who donated the land for the town
cemetery, the Methodist Church, and a school.
TOWN RELOCATES
TO MEET THE RAIL
Cotton bales being loaded on railcar, Crawford, Texas, 1906.
By 1881 the Santa Fe railroad was extending
its tracks northward, and the citizens of
Crawford decided to move their town to a
site near the tracks and elected Amos
Fremont Damon as the first mayor. Now
with a greatly improved method of transporting
goods and passengers both to and from
the town, it began to flourish. Within a few
years, the town grew to include a cotton gin,
an inn, a hotel, flour and grist mills, several
general stores, a drugstore, and a new tworoom
school with two faculty members.
Farming, especially the production of cotton,
provided continued economic growth. Oats,
wheat, barley and corn were also grown by
local farmers and shipped from an elevator
built next to the railroad tracks, and cattle
were shipped from pens built especially for
loading the animals directly onto rail cars.
26 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN
IMMIGRANTS SETTLE,
SCHOOLS ESTABLISHED
Many European immigrants, predominantly
German and Austrian farmers, settled
in the Crawford area, mainly west of
town, during the late 1880s and 1890s.
In 1886, Crawford College, a private
school, consolidated with the public school
and, with a faculty of three, offered instruction
through the seventh grade. By the early
1900s, Crawford’s population had grown to
over 600, and a new four-room rock school
was built in 1903, with instruction offered
through the ninth grade. An auditorium
was added in 1912, and instruction was
increased through the eleventh grade.
Benjamin Brown, Crawford’s first resident.
Uriah B. Tadlock and grandson, Jolly F. Herring, c. 1913.
POPULATION GROWTH
SPURS COMMERCE
The town was home to approximately 35
businesses, multiple cotton gins (one source
says five gins, another says six, with one gin
that could produce either a circular or a rectangular
bale), and Methodist, Baptist and
Presbyterian churches. Saturdays brought
the farm folks to town to trade eggs, cream
and other produce for groceries at Bennett’s
Store and in later years at Luedeker’s Store.
They could also find more groceries
plus clothing, shoes, hardware, and other
necessities at the Patton Brothers Store or
at Amsler’s Store, where Clyde Roberts
and later, Frank Hodel, and finally,
Franklin Hodel, were the managers.
Amsler’s also maintained a large lumberyard
and offered funeral services.
Anyone in the market for farm equipment
could find International Harvester
products at Patton’s and John Deere at
Amsler’s. Livestock feeds were available at
the Abbe Feed and Poultry Store, which had
as its successive owners Charlie Richardson,
Bobby Heath, Eldon Schmalriede, and finally
Kenneth Dieterich.
Farmers and town folks alike who had
surplus funds could buy a fresh cut of
meat at Jordan’s Meat Market or the Red
Bull Meat Market and have it prepared to
their liking, or they could imbibe a bit at
one of several saloons in town. Traveling
circuses and medicine shows came
through town and provided entertainment.
Those not in a buying mood could
deposit their extra funds at the First
National Bank of Crawford, which had
originally been organized in 1901 as the
Bank of Crawford. In 1917, Civil War
General Felix H. Robertson and other
local investors established a second bank,
the Farmers State Bank.
The Depression, which began for farmers
shortly after World War I ended, hit
Crawford hard, and the town’s population
and number of businesses declined significantly.
As in many other small towns, the
banks failed, closed and never opened
again. However, an exception to this decline
was the Tonk Quarry, which opened in the
1930s and has continued operations (with
several name changes) to the present time.
Although the Presbyterian congregation
disbanded, the town again got a third church
in 1947, when Peace Lutheran moved from a
rural setting to its present location and
changed its name to St. Paul Lutheran.
The decline proved to be temporary and
was followed by a period of several decades
when both population and commerce held
steady. Claude Richardson’s Chevrolet dealership
opened for business in the 1930s,
and was taken over by Charles Travis in
1946. It ceased operation as a dealership in
1958. In the late 1960s and early 1970s,
Crawford and the surrounding area participated
in the statewide rural community
improvement program and won first place
in 1968 and again in 1969. The Crawford
Civic Club, with James E. Damon and later,
Van D. Massirer, as president, sponsored
participation in the program locally.
Although the number of businesses later
dwindled somewhat, population and school
enrollment and facilities began growing
once again. One of the most important factors
influencing this growth was the favorable
reputation that the school system
earned under the able leadership of
Superintendents C. K. Burns, William
Farney and Kenneth Judy. During their
tenure, the repeated honors that both the
academic and athletic programs garnered
attracted new residents not only to the city
itself but also to the surrounding area.
Many other men and women, mainly
teachers, business owners and civic leaders,
have played important roles in both the early
and continued development of Crawford.
Surnames not already mentioned include,
but are not limited to, the following:
Alexander, Anderson, Berry, Bond, Booker,
Bost, Bottlinger, Brown, Compton, Crouch,
Golson, Harris, Holmes, Humphrey,
Chapter 9 ✦ 27

Lammert, Love, Mappe, Marks, McCage,
Medford, Miller, Nail, Nichols, Noland,
Nunley, Plemons, Sadler, Schandler, Scott,
Shofner, Spencer, Steinkamp, and Walker.
IN THE NEWS
Crawford has had a succession of weekly
newspapers since 1885, when W. W.
Warrock founded the Crawford Yoeman. In
1896, The Advocate, owned by J. M. B.
Gresham and E. W. Billings, appeared, and
then a second newspaper, the Crawford Grit,
was introduced in 1901 by S. T. Compton.
In 1908, the Grit was sold to Earl Day, and
several years later to J. W. Gay, who changed
the name to the Crawford Advance. A Mr.
Crews was the next owner of the paper, and
he continued the publication until 1925.
Then for a time, the paper was printed in
McGregor by the owners of the McGregor
Mirror, until S. B. Compton (son of the earlier
S. T. Compton) began the Crawford Sun
in 1928. In 1957, Compton sold the Sun to
the Sellman Publishing Company. The Sun
was later discontinued as a separate newspaper
and consolidated in 1969 with the
McGregor Mirror, where it has continued as a
section of that paper. In addition, The Lone
Star Iconoclast was introduced by W. Leon
Smith late in 2000.
TONK
PARK
For many years, Crawford has been
unique among area cities of comparable
size in that it has had a relatively large city
park. In the early years, the park was located
on Tonk Creek on the northwest side of
town. In 1933 the state established Tonk
Park at the waterfall on Tonk Creek on the
east side of town. The park was later deeded
to the city, and Roosevelt-era government
funding was used to build rock
entrances, a clubhouse and caretaker’s
house, and to make other improvements.
The park also had a rodeo arena that
served double duty as the high school football
field. After rodeo activities ceased, the
pens were demolished, and over a period
of several years, the school district made
Crawford Old Rock School Building, 1909.
numerous improvements to the field and
the facilities. In recent years, a community
center was built in the park as well as a
new riding facility, and in the 1980s, Earl
and Kathryn Frady Blanton operated a
seafood restaurant in the clubhouse and
the caretaker’s house.
THE WESTERN WHITE HOUSE
In 1999 the unlikely happened, and
Crawford took on a new role and responsibilities
when Texas Governor and presidential-hopeful
George W. Bush bought a ranch
a short distance northwest of town in the
Prairie Chapel Community. When Bush
won the presidency and set up the Western
White House on the ranch, Crawford was
Tonkawa Falls.
transformed almost overnight from a quiet
little Texas neighborhood to a place of international
fame. A new bank was organized,
several shops selling Bush souvenirs opened,
and a new restaurant opened quickly and
catered to tourists flocking to the area and
hoping to catch a glimpse of the president.
The international press set up shop in
one of the school’s gyms when Bush was
at the ranch and made sure that the world
knew about Crawford. Now that Bush has
left the presidency, the town will most
likely return to being just a quiet neighborhood,
but with new stories and memories
to share with future generations.
Compiled with assistance from Raydean
Brown Damon, Kathryn Frady Place and
Gary Walker.
28 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

DORIS MILLER, THE FIRST HERO
B Y M ICHAEL L. TOON
More than 300 men from McLennan
County made the ultimate sacrifice
during World War II. One of these, Doris
Miller, became one of the first heroes of
the conflict on America’s first day in the
war. Miller was born near Waco. The
midwife who assisted his mother during
his delivery named Miller, she was sure
he would be a girl.
Miller enlisted in the U.S. Navy in
1939 and was serving as a mess attendant
aboard the battleship West Virginia on
December 7, 1941. The Japanese surprise
attack caught the Pacific Fleet at anchor
and left it in smoldering ruins. After
carrying his mortally wounded captain
to safety, Miller manned a .50 caliber
machine gun, which he had never been
trained to use, and commenced firing
at the attacking Japanese planes.
Although the West Virginia claimed
none of the downed Japanese planes
that day, Miller was awarded the Navy
Cross for “valor beyond his training
and assignment.”
After Pearl Harbor, Miller was
assigned to the heavy cruiser Indianapolis.
The Indianapolis formed part of the
aircraft carrier Lexington’s screen and
delivered some of the earliest counter
attacks by the United States in the
Pacific. These raids brought a limited
tactical victory for the American Navy
but strategically slowed Japanese plans in
the South Pacific.
The Lexington group returned to Pearl
Harbor in March after 54 days at sea. The
Indianapolis received an overhaul at Mare
Island Navy Yard and proceeded back to
Pearl Harbor where Miller was presented
the Navy Cross by fellow Texan, Admiral
Chester Nimitz, on May 27, 1942. On
June 1 Miller was promoted to Mess
Attendant 1st Class, a petty officer rank.
The Indianapolis then became part of
Admiral Theobald’s fleet sent to the
Aleutian Islands to counter Japan’s attack
during the Midway campaign. Miller
was transferred from the Indianapolis
in November 1942 and assigned to a
receiving ship at Pearl Harbor. He
returned home to Waco in December
1942 while on a U. S. War Bond tour.
In May 1943, Miller was assigned to
the Naval Receiving Station, Puget Sound
Naval Yard and promoted to Cook Third
Class. Miller was assigned as part of the
commissioning crew for the Liscome Bay,
a Casablanca class escort carrier. The
Liscome Bay departed Pearl Harbor on
November 10, 1943, as part of the
American invasion of the Gilbert Islands.
The Japanese Navy sent nine submarines
to contest the invasion. On November
Doris Miller speaking at N.T.S. Great Lakes, Illinois.
24, only minutes after going to battle
stations, a torpedo from Japanese
submarine I-75 hit the carrier’s aft
magazine. The ship exploded and sank in
just 23 minutes, taking 645 members of
its crew, including Cook Third Class
Doris Miller, to the bottom of the Pacific.
Doris Miller became the first, and
possibly, the only African-American to
receive national attention during World
War II. He remains a potent symbol
of America’s fighting men, who have
always found a way to strike back at our
nation’s enemies, whether trained for that
specific purpose or not. In Waco and
McLennan County, he has become as
much an icon as the suspension bridge or
the courthouse.
Chapter 10 ✦ 29

EDDY
C OMPILED BY S ANDRA H ORNE R OMING AND F OY D U B OIS
Eddy, in southern McLennan County,
near the Falls County Line, was known as
Marvin prior to 1881 when the Missouri,
Kansas and Texas Railroad established
a station there. The community was
renamed Eddy for Colonel Everett B.
Eddy, a Katy division superintendent,
formerly of the Confederate Army, when
he offered to purchase the railroad
right-of-way through Marvin and
southern McLennan County. The land
on which Eddy was built belonged to
F. P. Kincannon and H. Riley.
EARLY COMMERCE AND
THE MEDIA
Frank E. Richardson, a storekeeper,
became the first Postmaster in July 1882.
By 1885 the town had two churches, a
private school, a cotton gin, a grist mill
Eddy Bank.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION; BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
and a population of 150. In 1893 it was
the fifth largest town in McLennan
County with a population of 300.
In 1900 the population had risen to
472. The Eddy bank, established in 1901
by Dr. J. R. Knight, was incorporated
as the Eddy State Bank in 1906. In 1907
the Farmers and Merchants State Bank
opened. The two banks consolidated in
1908 and became the First National Bank
in 1915. It closed in 1942.
By the early 1890s Eddy had two
hotels and a weekly newspaper, The News
and Messenger. Eddy also had two other
papers, The Eddy Eldorado, printed in
1895 and The Eddy Journal, printed in
1912. Joe F. Coffee was publisher, owner
and editor of the paper which was printed
with hand set type—subscription rate $1
per year. Other businesses have included
grocery merchants, lumber yards,
garages, general mercantile stores, barber
shops, drug stores, cafés, auto supplies, a
movie theater that later became home to
the KCEN-TV Broadcasting Station.
EDUCATION
Before there was a public school Eddy
had a private school that opened in 1884
by James Madison Bedichek. The school’s
name was the Eddy Literary and Scientific
Institute, but is was more popularly
known as the Bedichek Academy. It was
owned and operated by James Madison
Bedichek and opened in 1884. Bedichek’s
wife and daughter assisted him in running
the school. On September 1, 1890,
Bedichek was appointed Superintendent
of Schools in Falls County.
The Eddy school district was incorporated
in March 1906 with Clarence M.
Elwell as superintendent. In
1928 the schools of Eddy
and nearby Bruceville were
joined to form the county’s
first consolidated rural high
school district.
In 1890 there were three
churches—Methodist,
Baptist, and Christian.
Later came the Pentecostal.
Only the Methodist and the
Baptist, first known as
Sage Chapel, remain. Eddy
Women’s Club was quite
active with community
projects. In 1921 there
were 35 members.
In 1974 Eddy and its sister
city, Bruceville, formed a
joint government. In 1970
Bruceville has a population
of 600. Bruceville has continued
to grow slowly with
a reported population of
1,075 in the 2000 Census.
30 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

The earliest recorded land grants in the
area of Elm Mott were to Samuel Burton
on January 17, 1849, signed by Governor
George T. Wood. Another land grant followed
on July 10, 1850, when Texas Governor P. H.
Bell and Commissioner of the General Land
Board granted Edward Holmes 1,280 acres.
Seth Miller also acquired 150 acres in 1861.
Miller sold his land to Edward M. Long
on January 7, 1869, and on March 4, 1892,
Long placed on record at McLennan County
a plat of the town of Geneva that was called
Long’s Addition to the town of Geneva.
On October 27, 1870, Louis Bishop
Christian purchased 150 acres, part of the
1,280 acres granted to E. H. Holmes. He later
added to this land until he owned 388 acres.
Long and Christian were the two earliest
settlers in what they described as near
wilderness or “an earthly Eden,” as they said.
Christian arrived in Waco Village in 1867 after
serving in the Civil War. Like Christian,
Long also came to Elm Mott after serving in
the Civil War. Long was born in Columbia,
Maury County, Tennessee, to a wealthy family.
The first post office was established on
November 8, 1872, and the town’s name
changed from Geneva to Elm Mott
because another Texas town already existed
with that name. The name Elm Mott
was chosen because of a nearby elm grove.
William C. Griffin was the first
postmaster. The post office ceased
operation on November 11, 1873, but was
reestablished May 12, 1876, with W. A.
Miller as postmaster. Through the years
the post office was housed in businesses
around the area including a store owned
by Frank Rust (later purchased by a
man with the surname of Miller who
continued to operate the post office), a
store owned by Joe Beheler, a store owned
by Cain Christian and a bank.
In 1876, Long gave land for a building
to be built and used by the Methodist
Episcopal Church South, The Cumberland
Presbyterian Church, Missionary Baptist
Church and the State of Texas for a public
ELM MOTT
school. Completed in 1876, the building was
called Union Grove and located near the railroad
in Geneva. The Methodists and White
Rock Baptist Church held services there.
In February 1878 the Union Grove
building burned, but was immediately
rebuilt. School was held there and the
Methodists continued to hold services,
but the Baptists moved to the Williams
School House near Aquilla. In 1886 two
acres were donated to the deacons of the
Baptist church by Mary E. Thomas. The
church is still on this land.
In 1890 Long and his second wife,
Elizabeth, gave land for a larger Methodist
church. Six buildings have been built over
the years on this land and the current
Methodist church is on this land.
Beginning in 1953 the Church of Christ
also had a presence in Elm Mott, starting
with a small house on a corner of the school
property. A house for worship was moved to
the church’s current location in 1955.
Prior to using the Union Grove building
as a schoolhouse, Elm Mott had a oneroom
log cabin in Lewis Christian’s pasture.
One teacher taught all grades. Some
of those known to have taught in the area
included men with the surnames Wales,
Faulkner, Smelzer, Garrett, Head, Brown,
Erwin and Bob Thompson, Charlie Cook
and J. B. Cook.
In 1920 Dr. O. C. Elliott was president of
the school board when J. D. Long gave land
for a new school. A two-story building was
erected at the site. In 1938, under the leadership
of Superintendent Sligh, the second
story of the building was removed and
turned into a gym and auditorium.
In 1940 Chalk Bluff School was consolidated
into Elm Mott Independent School
District. During the 1946-47 school year
the district had 10 grades and six teachers.
The Elm Mott Independent School
District and the Lakeview Independent
School District were combined in 1951
to form the Connally Consolidated
Independent School District.
The Missouri, Kansas, and Texas railroad
(M-K-T) laid tracks from Hillsboro to
Taylor in 1881, passing through Elm Mott.
Members of the McFerrin family were agents
at the depot and the family had a house that
faced the east side of the depot that was used
as a boarding house. This house was also the
first hotel in Elm Mott. Joe Beheler purchased
this hotel sometime prior to 1903.
The depot area was the center of commerce.
Besides the boarding house, Cain
Christian’s store was on the west side of
the depot with a loading pen for cattle
beside the store, and Stroman Barber Shop
was on the east side of the railroad track.
By the mid 1880s the area had approximately
40 residents and by the early
1890s it had a hotel, a gristmill and gin,
two general stores, two churches and 150
residents. The population grew to 247 by
1900 and to 300 by 1914. In 1921 a private
bank opened in Elm Mott, but was
closed by state examiners in 1926 after a
drought the previous year kept area farmers
from being able to repay their loans.
Another rail line passed through Elm
Mott after Mary E. Thomas deeded land
to the Northern and Texas Central
Railroad Co. on October 28, 1879.
The track was laid on the west side of
what is now the Old Dallas Road. The
track was laid to Ross, Texas, and
renamed the Waco & Northwestern Co.
M-K-T attempted to purchase the line,
but failed and built their own line. On
April 11, 1929, the line of Waco &
Northwestern was abandoned.
In 1913 an interurban line from Dallas
was completed. It passed through Elm Mott
on its way to Waco. The line was parallel to
the M-K-T line on the west side of Elm Mott.
It ceased operation on December 31, 1948.
The Community Water Works was
chartered on May 13, 1947, and dissolved
on March 12, 1964. Elm Mott Water is
the present day water company that
services 530 businesses and residences.
Elm Mott’s population in 2000 was 190.
Chapter 12 ✦ 31

GHOLSON
C OMPILED BY L ELIA M C D UGAL
Gholson is part of the 11-league
Joaquin Moreno Land Grant. On April 25,
1835, the state of Coahuila and Texas conveyed
to Samuel Gholson one league of
the 11 in accordance with the colonization
law of the Republic of Mexico. It was
known as head right number 181 and is
along the east side of the Brazos River
about 12 miles north of Waco and west of
the Aquilla Creek. The area was first called
Sardis but was later renamed Gholson.
The first school in Sardis was built in
1854 and the first post office was established
in 1858 with John S. Bell as the first
postmaster. In addition to Samuel Gholson,
his brother Benjamin was also one of the
first settlers. A new post office was established
in 1887 with the Gholson name and
Thomas Rhodes was the postmaster. In
1905 the post office ceased operation and
was replaced by rural delivery from Ross.
Samuel Gholson was a distinguished
colonel in the War of 1812. He was a surveyor
by profession and involved in the
Lelia McDugal at Gholson Cemetery Marker dedication, May 3, 1981.
Santa Fe Trade. His vision was to become
a cattle baron, but he soon realized the
area he acquired was not suited for cattle
and he moved elsewhere.
Early settlers in the area included Mary
Elizabeth Davis Ware (1820-1886), a
widow who received one league and labor
of land from the Republic of Texas. She
married Thomas Williams and in 1847
they settled at Sardis. During the Civil
War, Mary Ware Williams sold 900 acres
of her land to R. B. Talley and H. Peters for
$12 to pay the confederate war tax of $4.
Green Berry Hardwick and his wife,
Sarah McCary Hardwick bought 1,550 acres
from Thomas and Mary Ware Williams, and
operated a general store and ferry at Eagle
Crossing on the Brazos River. Hardwick was
elected Justice of the Peace of Sardis in 1858.
The 1860 census reported the population
of Sardis as 156 with 77 males and
79 females. No free African-Americans
were recorded and slaves were considered
chattel property and were not recorded.
Aaron and
Elizabeth Estes and
children moved
from Missouri in
1840 and settled on
640 acres in Sardis.
In 1848, Aaron Estes
helped organize the
first public school in
McLennan County.
In 1854 he was
elected Trustee of
District Four in the
first school election.
Other schools in
the area included
the Kellum School
named after Thomas
Smith Kellum, Sr.,
who came to the area
in 1855; the Walker
School, named after
James LaFayette Walker who built the
school in 1888; the Fairview School; the
Caddenhead School and the Gholson
School. The Gholson School, which goes
through the eighth grade, is the only
school still operating. The other schools
were eventually consolidated into the
Gholson School.
A two-acre fenced area was legally set aside
for Gholson Cemetery by William Umberson
in 1885. A Texas Historical Marker was
placed in the cemetery in May 1981.
Umberson was the first deacon in the Baptist
Church and a member of the Woodmen of
the World fraternal organization.
In April 1891, a building was erected on
land donated by Frank and Lucy Sparks for
Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church.
A Texas Historical Marker was placed at the
site in 1989. In 2008 Wesley Chapel celebrated
130 years.
In 1966, 120 families in and around
Gholson formed the Gholson Water
Supply Corp. that is still in operation
today and serves 994 customers.
The City of Gholson was incorporated
in 1973 in order to keep the City of Waco
from taking it into its extraterritorial
jurisdiction. By 1974, the city of Gholson
lost two lawsuits and Waco claimed jurisdiction,
taking in the Gholson Store, the
Baptist Church, the Gholson Cemetery,
the Brazos River and land.
In 1975, Gholson voted to incorporate
again less than one square mile with a 200-
person township. H. T. Sexton was elected
mayor and in 1989, Mayor Sexton
petitioned the City of Waco to release the
land acquired in 1974. Waco released its
jurisdiction and once again Gholson was
able to claim it original boundaries.
From the early 1930s to the early 1970s
the population in Gholson was approximately
35, but in 1975 after the city incorporated
population estimates were around
650. As of 2000, the population was 922.
32 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

How do you spell Golinda? In the
1932 map of McLennan County, as well
as the W. R. Poage book McLennan County
before 1980, it is spelled “Galindo.” In
the book by Dayton Kelley, Handbook
of Waco and McLennan County Texas, published
in 1972, it is spelled “Golindo.”
More than likely the original spelling
was probably Golindo after Ignacio
Golindo who was granted 8 to 11
leagues. Poage’s book says 8 leagues
while people in the area say 11 leagues.
GOLINDA
C OMPILED BY H AL P LEDGER
Golinda is on the Ignacio Golindo
land, at the border of McLennan County
and Falls County. Bullhide Creek is just
north of the community.
Golinda was established in about
1870. By 1880, Sallie Hatch was
appointed postmistress on the Falls
County side of the community. In
1885, Robert B. Duty became the
postmaster, and the post office was
moved to the McLennan County side of
the town.
For many years Bradford Hunt
ran a general mercantile store on
the McLennan County side of the
community. In 1890 there were three
businesses in Golinda and 50 residents.
In 1900 the Lorena post office took
over rural delivery. By the 1940s
there were 100 residents and four
businesses reported.
Golinda was the first community in
Texas to establish a rural water system
under the Poage-Akin Bill.
Clockwise, starting from top left: Golinda sign, Golinda Baptist Church, Golinda City Hall, 2010.
PHOTOS BY LAUREN D. MICKENS.
Chapter 14 ✦ 33

HARRISON(’S) (SWITCH/STATION)
C OMPILED BY L OUISE C HAMPAGNE
Founded in 1873 as an 80-acre “depot
tract” along Waco’s first railroad, the community
was first known as “Harrison’s
Switch” or “Harrison’s Station,” but later
became the town of Harrison after it was
granted a post office in 1879.
Located about 8 miles southeast of
Waco on State Highway 6, Harrison
Switch was noted for having the highest
percentage of African-American residents
of any community in McLennan County.
For many decades, there were only a few
white residents living, or working, in or
close to the town site.
Founded not long after the end of the
Civil War, Harrison Switch was also distinguished
by the fact that its African-
American residents were not sharecroppers,
but landowners and farmers noted
for their independence and progressive
farming practices.
FOUNDER JAMES E. HARRISON
James E. Harrison, who came to Texas
in 1857, founded the town. Harrison
played a prominent role in the social,
political and commercial development of
McLennan County and the state until his
death at age 59 in 1875.
Along with the slaves who traveled
with him from Monroe County,
Mississippi, Harrison established a large
cotton plantation on 1,500 acres mostly
in the Manchaca grant along Tehuacana
Creek and Shaw’s Creek. The slaves felled
trees, plowed the prairie and planted cotton.
They built log houses, as well as the
first cotton gin, sawmill, gristmill, and
together with slaves from the Dunklin
plantation, built the first “bush arbor”
church (primitive outdoor church) in that
part of the county.
Although Harrison had joined the First
Baptist Church in Waco, in the summer
of 1859, he and his neighbor, Dunklin,
organized the construction of a bush
arbor church on Dunklin’s land. With
“benches enough to seat 300” for regular
Baptist services and revivals, this outdoor
church was almost certainly built to
accommodate not only the few white families
in the Brazos Bottoms, but also their
many slaves. Harrison was later a founding
deacon of New Hope Baptist Church,
built on the site of this bush arbor.
Five years after his slaves had been
emancipated, Harrison helped organize
another Baptist church. According to his
wife’s diary, on June 19, 1870, a “Negro
church” was organized in a bush arbor on
the Harrison homestead. Five members of
the new church were baptized in the
Tehuacana Creek with the help of a white
preacher connected with the Harrison
family. A church building was constructed,
and in 1874, Harrison deeded three
acres around this church to the African-
American deacons of Pilgrim Rest Baptist
Church (some of whom were former
Harrison family slaves) for “church,
school and burial purposes.” Although
many years later the church was moved to
State Highway 6, the church cemetery
remains on these three acres on FM 1860.
HARRISON &
THE RAILROAD
Harrison played a prominent role in
bringing the first railroad to Waco. He was
a stockholder in the Waco Tap Railroad
Company, authorized by the state legislature
in 1866. This railroad provided cotton
planters and others in McLennan
County with rail access for passengers and
shipping of crops to coastal ports and
markets. Tracks were laid from Bremond
to East Waco, passing through Harrison’s
extensive land holdings.
Harrison gave the railroad a right-ofway
through his property, with the condition
that a switch be built for loading cotton
from the large farms on the east side
of the Brazos. The enterprising cotton
planter sold an 80-acre “depot tract” on
the northeast corner of his property to the
trustees of the Waco and Northwestern
Railroad Company, reserving for himself
“one business lot...to be taken near the
depot house...the size of other business
lots in the place of such town as the
Company may lay off.”
FIRST SETTLERS’
DESCENDANTS STILL
IN RESIDENCE
Though the town that developed was
never more than a village, trains have
been running along this route since the
line was completed to East Waco on Sept.
18, 1872. Even more remarkable is the
fact that much of the acreage in and
around the original town site is still
owned by the African-American descendants
of the earliest residents and citizens
of “Harrison’s Switch,” who purchased
tracts of land there in the 1870s, just a
few years after the end of the war and the
abolition of slavery.
A few of the African-Americans who
purchased land in and around the depot
tract were former Harrison family slaves
or servants. But most who bought land at
“Harrison’s Switch” came from other
states, or other parts of Texas. The Olivers
came from nearby Groesbeck; the
Estelles, Holders, Huddlestons, Hardins
and Snowdens all came from Tennessee.
According to one deed, in 1876 Sidney
Green Estell (a “free man of color”) paid
$1,875 in gold for 375 acres, which
included frontage along the new railroad.
In its heyday, the village of Harrison,
Texas, had a cotton gin with a large
tank, a general store, blacksmith shop,
Masonic hall, a school, three churches,
34 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Goshen Cumberland Presbyterian, Harrison
(Switch), Texas.
and (between 1879 and 1905) a post
office. Though cotton and corn were the
primary cash crops, the family farms
around Harrison also produced fresh milk,
butter and eggs for the Waco market.
Among the prominent early residents
of Harrison, Sidney Green Estelle was
noted for organizing Goshen Cumberland
Presbyterian Church, and Gabriel Holder
for founding Holder’s Chapel African
Methodist Episcopal Church on land
acquired in 1887 from Immanuel
Snowden. Albert O. Estelle is
credited with establishing the first
Masonic Lodge in Harrison.
For many years, Henry
Ashburne owned and operated the
general store; he was one of the few
white residents of Harrison (other
than the families who owned the
Harrison/Neale/Driskell farm). In
later years, Albert Wydermyre, a
descendant of one of the first black
families in Harrison, owned a general
store and barbecue in town.
During “the great migration”
after the turn of the century, many
Harrison residents left farming for
jobs in Waco and other cities. The
post office was closed in 1905,
and with industrial opportunities
elsewhere, the population begin
to decline.
Harrison’s widow and children
had moved into Waco. His
youngest daughter, Earle, and her
husband, Waco attorney D. C. (Dewitt
Clinton) Bolinger, were the last in the
family to own part of the old plantation.
They eventually moved to San Antonio,
selling the Harrison farm and homestead
to Will Driskell in 1910. In 1921, Driskell
sold to W. J. Neale. After the Harrisons
and Bolingers were gone, many Harrison
community residents continued to find
work at “Will Driskell’s place,” “the Neale
Farm” and “Neale’s Dairy.”
In 1932 the state highway department
re-routed State Highway 6 from Old
Marlin road to the north side of the
railroad. The new route was constructed
through the middle of the town, right
over the old gin tank, and a number of
buildings, including Goshen Church, had
to be relocated. Still, there was a public
school at Harrison Switch until 1954, and
residents organized the Harrison volunteer
fire department about 1960.
In 1947 the northernmost tract of
James E. Harrison’s land (some 300 acres
in the de la Vega Grant) was sold to the
Glassie family, who operated a dairy farm
Harrison Church in Harrison Switch.
there for approximately 30 years. Corn is
now the primary crop on the Robinson
farm, grown on hundreds of acres south
of Old Marlin Road. To the north,
pastures where the Glassie dairy cows
grazed are now under cultivation by
Tehuacana Creek Vineyards.
EDUCATION
For many years, African-American
children in Harrison Switch attended
school in the Pilgrim Rest Church
building. By 1902 the school had
been moved to Holder’s Chapel. Later,
residents organized the Harrison School
Club and purchased land for a school
building constructed by the county. In
1954 the Harrison school was closed,
and students from Harrison Switch were
bussed to the African-American school
in Riesel.
Three cemeteries are known to exist in
the Harrison area: Pilgrim Rest Cemetery,
Goshen (Harrison) Cemetery and Santa
Cruz Cemetery.
Chapter 15 ✦ 35

Hewitt is part of the O’Campo Mexican
Land Grant. On November 13, 1830, Don
Carlos O’Campo petitioned the state of
Coahuila and Texas for five leagues for his
service in the Mexican Army. In 1851,
Leonard W. Groce, Carlos O’Campo’s
attorney, sold the land that was to become
Hewitt, to C. A Hooper. There ensued a
series of land flips, and on April 8, 1857.
J. B. Earle bought 640 acres from Sheriff
John McLennan at the Bank House Door
for $60 (Vol. G, page 394, McLennan
County Records).
After the Civil War, Isham Harrison
Earle, his wife Addie Graves Earle, and
their twin daughters Mary and Eliza,
moved to the Earle Ranch. They built a log
cabin, and Major Earle, who had attained
that rank serving in the regiment Allison
HEWITT
C OMPILED BY H AL P LEDGER
Nelson organized in McLennan County,
raised horses and farmed cotton on the
ranch. He became the McLennan County
Agriculture Agent on October 30, 1876,
and sent monthly reports to the United
States Department of Agriculture. He also
logged the first weather reports in the state.
On May 6, 1868, John H. Bower bought
land from John B. Earle, Major Isham
Earle’s brother. Bower was a shipping
magnate, cotton merchant and at one time
served as Consul for the Republic of Texas
in New York.
CHURCHES
White Hall Baptist was the first church
in the area. “On the First Sabbath in
August 1871 the following persons
organized a Sabbath School at White
Hall in McLennan County (Rev. R. B.
Burleson presiding) and elected B. J.
Kendrick superintendent and I. H. Earle
assistant superintendent,” according to
the Graves-Earle family papers in the
Texas Collection. Some of the other
people listed as organizers include Lucy
Erath, Lucy Kendrick, Mollie Pogue, May
Erath, Nannie Pogue, I. H. Earle, B. J.
Kendrick, and William Pogue. On Oct.
20, 1894, the White Hall Baptist Church
voted to organize a church at Hewitt.
In 1875 Martha and Thomas Richey
donated land for Stanford Chapel. Martha
was a daughter of Thomas Stanford, who,
with Edward Rosmon (E. R.) Barcus,
founded Stanford Chapel. People would
come to hear Rev. Stanford preach and
Rev. Barcus sing. Stanford Chapel was the
Mother Church of Methodism in the
area. A school was also located on
the grounds, and the Stanford Chapel
Cemetery is now a perpetual care cemetery.
The Hewitt Methodist Church was
formed at the session of the Northwest
Texas Conference in 1900. On December
16, 1900, the Hewitt Methodist
Church South was organized by Rev.
Stephen W. Turner.
The Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, an
African-American church, was organized
in Valley Hall and moved to Hewitt in
1890. Mozelle Irvin was the pastor.
AFRICAN- AMERICAN
COMMUNITY
E. C. Kellogg’s home in Hewitt on First Street, three lots from the railroad.
Hewitt’s thriving African-American
community included the Woods family
who worked on the Earle Ranch. Jim
Richardson headed another pioneer
African-American family. He moved to
Hewitt in 1910 with a brother and began
working in the cotton fields there. He
worked into his 90s.
36 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

EARLY SETTLERS
Daniel Lee Chapman, born in Ohio,
traveled from Iowa by rail in 1875 to
Waco. He had his own railway car, half
filled with furniture, the other half filled
with his animals. He moved his family to
Hewitt in 1900. Mason Robert Chapman,
his brother, also born in Ohio, moved from
Iowa and arrived in Hewitt about 1876.
Mason was in Sherman’s March to the Sea
and the Seige of Richmond. Even though
he probably had some interesting stories
to tell, he never talked about his war
experiences, and had no guns in his home.
Other early settlers included John
Allison Warren, who came to the
community in the fall of 1877 from
Illinois, and John Perry Blanton who
married Sarah Jociehene Johnson before
1877 in what was to become Hewitt. In
1885, John Whaley came from Alabama.
THE RAILROAD
CHOOSES A NAMESAKE
It was the coming of the railroad that
put Hewitt on the map. The Missouri,
Kansas and Texas Railway Company
(M-K-T), was the first railroad to enter
Texas from the north. The M-K-T Railway
wanted a track from Waco to Taylor to the
south, and needed a switch 6 miles south of
Waco. The property selected for the switch
belonged to the estate of John H. Brower.
Attorneys John B. Blydenburgh and
Thomas Browning Hewitt (1842-1921)
were the trustees for Brower’s estate. Hewitt
was born and raised in Stonington,
Connecticut, educated at Yale University,
and was a successful corporate attorney in
New York. He was also married to Brower’s
daughter, Amanda E. Brower. It was Hewitt
the M-K-T chose as the namesake for the
switch when it opened the line in 1882.
THE POST OFFICE
In 1884 there were enough people in
the area to open a post office. Thomas J.
McMurry was the first postmaster, with Ervin
A. Warren, eldest son of John Allison
Warren, taking over in 1885. Also in 1885,
Aaron Clay Barnes bought a 300-acre farm at
the head waters of Bullhide Creek for $100.
In 1886, Virgil M. Wolf became
postmaster. He and his wife, Sarah Jane
Brown, and daughter Jessie came to Texas in
about 1885, where their son Fred was born.
Around 1890 the area was reported to have
approximately 60 residents.
HEWITT BECOMES A TOWN
In 1888, John Allison Warren, who had
started a lumberyard in the area in 1885,
became the postmaster, but he did much
more than sort mail. On January 10, 1893,
Warren bought 40 acres from the estate of
John H. Brower for $4,911.54, with Hewitt
Switch in the center of the property. On
August 30, he filed a plat with the county
with the property divided into lots. The
streets were Warren, Johnson (his deceased
wife’s maiden name), and Graham (probably
the name of the attorney who handled the
transaction). The cross streets were First
through Sixth Streets, with the town square
mapped out around the Hewitt switch. There
was talk of renaming the town Warren,
but there were already too many Warren
townships on the map, so the name the
railroad gave the switch was kept.
Warren used a marketing tool of giving
away a lot of land if the owner would buy
lumber from his lumber yard. Early families
who bought or were given lots from Warren
were: J. H. Reynolds; P. Phillips; M. R.
Chapman; U. S. Warren, his son and
McLennan County Chairman of the
Democratic Party for years; R. B. Cooksey; C.
K. Warren, another son; C. N. Smith; and B.
F. Sneed (for a store). Records show other
land holders or homeowners in early Hewitt
were: Dan Hugh Attaway, C.L. Cousins;
George W. Bolger; George Blanton; John F.
Chapman; John W. Harrison, a former
senator from Mississippi; John Whaley; John
Lewis; Jim Hardings; George Rodan Trice;
Tom Trice; Tom Lindsey; Ira Moore; J.
Bradbury; Fred Wolf; Nick Johnson; the J. O.
Rheas. John Attaway; Frank Attaway; M. A.
Hewitt Methodist Church and members.
COURTESY OF ANNE BARNES WARREN.
Vaughan; Alton Broadway; Homer Attaway;
John Bolger; Fred Hyman; C. O. Lloyd, the
barber and father of Brown Lloyd; Joe
Bozarth; the Ben Smiths; and the J. L. Byrds.
One of those men, who received land
from Warren was Dan Attaway. In 1898 he
left Mississippi and followed the hay crop
from East Texas to Itasca to the Hay Place at
what are now Bagby Drive and Loop 340. At
the Waco Scales, he saw the daughter of Dan
Chapman, owner of the operation. She was
helping her father by weighing the bales of
hay. As their daughter Ila Ree Attaway tells it,
“Once Daddy met my mother, he stopped
following the crops, and settled in Hewitt.”
EARLY COMMERCE
Waco Times Herald, January 16, 1898
noted many of the businesses and
establishments in Hewitt at the time:
“Hewitt boasts of one store [B. F. Sneed],
one black smith shop [Otis Rhea worked in
it], one lumber yard [J. A. Warren], one gin
[Ervin Warren], one doctors office, occupied
by two doctors [B. A. Phillips & probably
Dr. Graves], one school building where
exists two teachers in charge [Professor B. F.
Quicksall & Miss Azalete Piedcocke] with
about 75 pupils in attendance; one church
(Baptist) though at this church several
different denominations worship. This is
also the place where a most successful
Sunday School is held every Sunday evening
at 3 o’clock.”
Chapter 16 ✦ 37

A WELL- KNOWN NAME
SETTLES IN HEWITT
The E. C. Kellogg family, part of the
Kellogg cereal family, came to Hewitt and
settled in a large two-story house on First
Street, about a block from the railroad track.
E. C. Kellogg had been a POW during the
Civil War, spending six months in
confinement, four of those in Andersonville.
Eleanor Kellogg, one of the five daughters
of E. C. and Sarah Kellogg, married
DeWitt Barnes, oldest child of Aaron and
Sarah Barnes, on Tuesday, April 17, 1894,
in Hewitt, with John Jill Luther, D. D.,
from Baylor, performing the ceremony.
Unfortunately, due to an accident, the
marriage did not last long. In 1898, four
years after they were wed, they were traveling
through downtown Waco, during Carnival.
Southerners were not allowed to have
cannons after the Civil War, so gunpowder
was put under anvils, lit, and the metal was
shot into the air for celebrations. As the
Barnes’ buggy passed by a blacksmith shop,
the gunpowder under an anvil was lit, it flew
up, and a piece of metal broke off, hitting
DeWitt in the back of the head. In horror,
Eleanor took the reins, and raced to the
Conger home on Fifth Street, their intended
destination, where Dewitt died four hours
later. That same year, Aaron Clay Barnes
and John Allison Warren also died.
The next year, on February 11, 1899,
in the midst of a heavy snowstorm, E. C.
Kellogg died. The ground was too frozen to
bury him, so his body was stored on the back
porch until a proper burial was given. Many
Hewitt people used this event as a reference
date in time.
HEWITT RESIDENTS
BORN AND RAISED
The next generation of Hewitt residents
included Harriet (Hallie) Earle, the
youngest daughter of Major I. H. and Ada
Graves Earle. Born in 1880 Hallie became
the first female doctor in McLennan
County, and made the highest grades at
Baylor and Baylor Medical School. Her
John Allison Warren.
papers are buried in the cornerstone of the
Carroll Science Building.
In 1895, after farming in Vernon, Texas,
C. K. Warren moved his family back to
Hewitt, buying back 193 and 3/4 acres from
his father. He and Anne Barnes Warren had
one child when they moved back, 2-yearold
Cleon Barnes Warren. Helen, Annebel,
Homer and Mae Beth (Peggy), were all born
on the farm in Hewitt.
The principle crop was cotton, but the
Warrens also owned 7 or 8 Jersey cows that
were milked, and butter sold on the square
at the J. A. Early grocery in Waco. The dairy
grew, and by World War II, Homer and
Cleon were milking 50 Jersey cows. Warren
Brothers Meadowbrook Jersey Farms raised
the feed crops, milked the cows, bottled and
delivered milk to all of Waco, including the
public schools and Baylor. During the
Depression, ice cream was made and sold
from the production plant.
The First State Bank of Hewitt was
organized on October 23, 1912, with W. D.
Chapman elected president. Directors were
C. K. Warren, F. M. Sego, M. C. Chapman and
J. M. Attaway. Due to competition from Waco
banks, and the automobile making banking
in town accessible, the bank closed February
4, 1916, paying off all depositors, and giving
stockholders 85 cents on the dollar.
Around 1910 a man opened a pool hall
in Hewitt. The town fathers, headed by W.
D. Chapman, decided this was not good
for the youth of the town, and bought the
man out, then proceeded to pull the pool
tables into the street and set them on fire
as an example to the young people.
HEWITT’ S INVENTOR
IN RESIDENCE
Pascal Barcus, grandson of E. R. Barcus,
was born on the family farm near Stanford
Chapel in 1890. He was called “Bailing Wire
Barcus,” because if he couldn’t fix it with
bailing wire, it couldn’t be fixed, said the
locals. Barcus built the oldest, continually
running feed mill using natural gas. He
originally used the motor from W. D.
Chapman’s old Nash Rambler.
“Pat Barcus was really smart,” Clayton
Thompson recalled. “He invented this fly
catcher. He had a box about 2 feet by 1 foot
and 10 inches high made out of carpenter’s
cloth,” Thompson said. “Inside the metal
mesh box he put an electric coil and when
he plugged it in, it electrified the box. Flies
would light on it and be electrocuted. He
invented the bug zapper and if he had
patented it, he would have made a fortune.”
In 1938, as World War II was on the
horizon, Kendrick Wall was the first man
from Hewitt to join the military. Others who
served were Vaughan Hyman, Jack Wall, B. F.
Broadway, J. W. Maddox, Willis Chapman,
Henry McDonald, Leslie Earl Taylor, Roy
Byrd, Tommy Blanton, and Billy Blanton.
Those who made the ultimate sacrifice were
Robert (Bob) Southern, who was killed in
training, and Alfred Chapman who was killed
by a sniper bullet in the taking back of Tarawa
Island, Philippines, on April 14, 1945.
HEWITT
TODAY
The city of Hewitt was incorporated on
June 25, 1960. It begin to see a boom in
population in the 1970s.
In the 2000 United States Census,
Hewitt had a population of 11,085 and
covered 6.89 square miles. According to the
cities official Web site in 2009, the city is
home to approximately 13,000 residents. In
2007, Hewitt was ranked 44th in the nation
by Money Magazine’s top places to live in the
United States.
38 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

HILLSIDE
C OMPILED BY H AL P LEDGER
“The Norman H. Conger family, which left
Oneida, Illinois, on September 1, 1870, consisted
of Norman and his wife Mary; their
daughter, Clara, who was 17 years old at the
time; their younger sons, Newt and Ralph,
who were aged 9 and 7 respectively; and
the eldest son, Charles, who was 19 years of
age, accompanied by his wife, Abbie Grant,”
according to Roger Conger who tells of the
Conger families migration to Texas in
“Immigration of the N H Conger Family from
Oneida, IL, to Waco, TX, in 1870,” reprinted
from The Southwestern History Quarterly, Vol
LXIV, July 1960, #1. When asked why the family
settled in Waco, Charles Conger said that
the land was very similar to Knox County, Ill.
“Sons Charles, Newt and Ralph engaged
in large scale breeding and farming,” Roger
Conger wrote. “Charles built an attractive
home on his ranch a few miles south of
Waco, near present Robinsonville, and
named it Hillside Farm. Here he and his
two brothers operated a mercantile store in
addition to their agricultural activities.”
A post office was established at
Hillside in 1891, with Newton A. Conger
William Porter Rhea family about 1888 at Hilltop on Bullhide Creek.
as postmaster. The office was closed in
1903. In 1892 the community had a general
store, a hotel, and 100 residents. By
the mid 1890s, there were two general
stores, a flour mill and a gin.
Hillside was located between two stage
line routes. According to a clipping in the
Texas Collection at Baylor University vertical
file titled “Stagecoach Lines,” a railway took
passengers from Houston to Hempstead,
then the stage line ran to Waco via
“Anderson, Piedmont Springs, Boonville,
Wheelock, Owenville, Alto Springs &
Marlin.” The route was east of State Highway
77, on what is now FM 434. Another line
ran from Austin to Waco, stopping at what is
now The Stagecoach Inn in Salado.
A. J. Barlow came to McLennan County in
1876. He had been born in Kentucky in
1822, moved to Mississippi at age 18, and
worked as an overseer for 2 years, then on to
Louisiana, where he was a successful overseer.
During the Civil War, he was employed
by the Confederate Government as superintendent
of the salt mines at Avery’s Island in
Louisiana. In 1847, Barlow married Euphinie
Carintin of French heritage from Louisiana.
The family were members of the Missionary
Baptist Church of Hillside, with the exception
of Mrs. Barlow who was educated in
Catholic schools and remained a Catholic.
Barlow bought 640 acres with his sonin-law,
Robert Lawson, in the Hillside
area, where they engaged in the livestock
business. At one time they owned 500 cattle
and 100 horses. According to Memorial
and Geographic History of Bell, McLennan,
Falls and Coryell Counties, published in
1893, “Mr. Barlow now has a beautiful
farm, well improved with handsome residence,
other buildings, etc. and has 250
acres under cultivation. This place is well
supplied with fine living water.”
The William Porter Rhea family came
from Arkansas in 1887 and lived on
Bullhide Creek at what is now Cooksey
Lane. There were 12 children in the family,
the youngest, Tessa, being about 4 at the
time of the move. Edith Rhea, eighth child
of W. P. and Mary Ann Rhea, married Will
Lawson. Their first child is buried in the
Lawson-Barlow family cemetery on Bullhide
Creek, just south of Rosenthal Parkway.
William Porter Rhea was a 1st Lieutenant
in Co. F, 63 Tenn. Inf., Conf. St. Army. He was
born March 7, 1830, married Mary Ann Byrne
December 6, 1857, and died September 9,
1892. He and Mary Ann are both buried in
Fletcher Cemetery, south of Robinson. Other
Hillside pioneer families included the Frosch
family and the Wuebker family.
With no railway or major road going
through Hillside, and the automobile making
transportation to larger markets easier,
Hillside dried up. The school and church
were closed, the children were sent to
Rosenthal schools, and the last member of
the church died. The buildings were dismantled,
and the wood was used for a home on
Levi Parkway. The land was used for a community
garden for several years, but Hillside
no longer shows up on new road maps.
Chapter 17 ✦ 39

LACY-LAKEVIEW
C OMPILED BY S HARON B RACKEN
Lacy-Lakeview is located approximately
5 miles north of Waco on
Interstate Highway 35 in McLennan
County. Lacy Lakeview was actually part
of the league and labor of land granted to
Sarah Ann Vauchere Walker in 1843 for
her husband Jacob Walker’s service at the
Alamo. Walker died on March 6, 1836,
and is considered to be the last man to
fall at the Alamo.
The land grant awarded to Walker’s
widow was east of the Brazos River, north
of the mouth of the Bosque River and
extended past White Rock Creek. The
property also extended east beyond
Tehuacana Creek.
Sarah was living in Nacogdoches when
her husband was killed. Not long after
his death she married again—a common
custom at the time. She married her
husband’s cousin, Jim Bob Walker.
Interurban train running through Lacy.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION; BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
Sarah, her husband and seven children
did not immediately relocate to the land
grant because she was pregnant with her
eighth child. Not long after this birth she
became pregnant again. The baby was
actually delivered during the move on the
Sabine Trail.
Before the family could get established
on the land, Sarah’s second husband died,
and the 1850 Census listed her as “family
head, occupation farmer.”
Sarah somehow managed to get a log
cabin built on the Brazos River. She sold
off parcels of her land grant to support
her family and leased other parts of it.
She eventually built a two-story Greek
Revival house and for years her house was
the only one north of the Waco Indian
Village on the Military Road.
In the 1850s two communities were
established in the vicinity. Lacy was
named for William David Lacy, who
sold farm lots for development in the
early 1880s. Walter G. Lacy, Sr., of Waco
financed the construction of roads and
water services for the community in 1910.
In 1912 Lacy became a station on the
Texas Electric Railway, an interurban line
that connected Dallas and Waco. By the
1930s the area had two businesses and
forty residents. In the 1950s its population
rose to fifty.
Lakeview was named for some
small spring-fed lakes in the area.
Lakeview also became a station on the
interurban railroad.
The Frost School was the first school
in the community. It was named after
Josiah Frost who donated land for the log
cabin school to be built. The school was
eventually moved to a site across from
the Dallas Highway. The building later
burned but was replaced.
The Lakeview School replaced
the Frost school in nearby Lacy
in 1915 and became the focus of
an independent district in 1927.
It was a four-room, two story
red brick building built in the
Lakeview Addition. The school
burned on two occasions in
1939, but was rebuilt with help
from the WPA. A new school was
built again in 1964.
The Lacy and Lakeview communities
established a common
city government in 1953 and
elected Frank Mosley mayor.
Lacy-Lakeview became a suburban
community to the city of
Waco. The population estimates
were approximately 2,200 in
the early 1960s and rose to
2,558 by the early 1970s. By
1990 a population of 3,617 was
reported. In 2000 the population
had reached 5,764.
40 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

LEROY
C OMPILED BY H AL P LEDGER
Thomas J. Casey received a land patent
in 1840 for land near what was to become
Leroy in northeast McLennan County. He
probably did not move to the area until
the late 1860s or early 1870s. Other early
settlers included Thomas A. Kirkland, Sr.,
E. A. Kirkland, John Harrison, John Allen
and John Silas Edens.
The Kirkland ranch, owned by E. A.
(Pick) Kirkland and his brother Tom, grew
to 14,000 acres. Parts of this ranch are in
Hill, McLennan and Limestone Counties.
Republic of Texas President Lamar, in
a speech given to the Texas Congress on
December 20, 1838, urged the Congress to
establish a system of education. On January
26, 1839, 50 leagues (about 220,000 acres)
were set aside to endow a university. In
1872, 41,000 acres of the university lands
between Leroy and West and to the county
line were put up for sale. At $1 an acre,
the land attracted the attention of German
and Czech immigrants. On November 11,
1872, a group from Illinois arrived in the
area, and named their settlement St.
Martinsville since November 11 is the day
of the feast of St. Martin. The settlers
changed the name to Tours (the birthplace
of St. Martin was Tours, France) since there
was already a St. Martinsville, Texas.
Other early landowners in the area
included the heirs of H. T. Houston, who
were granted about 1,920 acres of land
by the Republic of Texas in what was to
become northeastern McLennan County.
Houston died serving in the army of the
Republic of Texas. In 1885, Captain C. H.
Higginson and W. H. Janes bought the
land, and William Henry Harrison Janes
built a home there in 1902. W. H. Janes
had come from Kentucky to Texas at age
19, and fought in the Civil War in Hood’s
Texas Brigade. After the war, he founded
a successful freight-hauling business
between Bremond and Waco, bought and
sold land in the Leroy area, and helped
found a private bank in Leroy, the first in
McLennan County.
The International and Great Northern
Railway (also known as the I. & G. N.; it was
rumored to have used bribes to get their
charter through the Texas legislature) began
work on a line in 1898. The track was laid
through the area in 1902. Smith Land and
Improvement Company bought the town
site and filed a plat August 7, 1902. Leroy
Trice was head of both companies, the I. &
G. N. and the Smith Land and Improvement
Company. The town is named for him.
Also, around this same time in 1900 the
post office was established in the community,
with Joe S. Lumbley as postmaster.
The first minister in Leroy is believed to
have been Reverend Cornelius, a county
Baptist missionary. He was holding meetings
successfully, until one night no one
showed up. He packed up and went home,
never realizing that everyone had gone to a
wedding dance at Chada Hall. Religion in
Leroy, however, didn’t end there—the deed
to the Baptist Church was signed in 1909
by Leroy Trice, with S. M. Briley, N. B.
(Poley) Edens and J. R. Frazier trustees. In
1923, with membership down, the Baptist
congregation merged with the Methodist,
with a joint Sunday school, and each
denomination furnishing the pastor on
alternating Sundays. An early African-
American church was located in the main
business block, but it did not last. Later,
the James Chapel Baptist Church, another
African-American church, was located on
land donated by Lula Bell.
The first business in town was Ed Duke’s
Dry Goods Store. The I. & G. N. Saloon,
named after the railroad, was the largest
building in town. It was owned by John
Holzer and had a meat market, whiskey
warehouse and pool hall housed in the
building as well. Other early businesses in
the business block were an icehouse,
Etchenberg Blacksmith Shop, Dr. Legg’s
office, the Casey Saloon, John Beheler’s brick
grocery store, Beheler Mercantile store, and a
drug store operated by Lee Clements who
was an avid domino player. Customers had
to wait on his game. “I’ll wait on you in a
minute” was a frequent greeting.
A lumber yard was founded by D. T.
Janes in 1902. There was also a cotton
gin, and for a brief period, there was a
weekly newspaper, The Leroy World, that
folded when the editor-publisher angered
some of the town folk with his writing.
Other businesses were a barbershop, the
Keller store, with the Woodman Lodge on
the second floor, and Dr. Boethel’s office
and drugstore. Across the road was Louis
Rose’s blacksmith shop. In 1910, Rose built
a car that ended up looking like a buggy
with an engine attached. It had 3 horsepower,
but as Louis Rose told D. T. Janes,
“By shucks, it doesn’t pull like 3 horses.”
A meat market, once operated by Will
Schroeder, a grocery and mercantile store,
the Fricke Saloon and Ice House, and
another blacksmith shop comprised the
early downtown business district.
Around 1911, Aunt Rosie came to
town. She was born in Ardmore,
Oklahoma, on or about August 16, 1847.
She was of Creek and Choctaw Indian
parentage. She was a midwife and took
care of the Leroy community using her
knowledge of native plants. She lived to
the age of 111.
With well patronized drinking establishments,
Saturday fights were a regular fare in
Leroy, so a wooden jail was built to house
the lawbreakers. It was a small one-room
structure with no windows that worked
well for the community until an occupant
burned it down, with no harm to himself.
After that, prisoners were chained to a tree.
In 1925 all but the two brick buildings,
the Leroy Bank and the Beheler
store, were destroyed by fire in the downtown
business block.
Chapter 19 ✦ 41

In July 1897, John Young was appointed
postmaster of a small community in
southeastern McLennan County, near the
Falls County line. Young was a New
Englander, who had established a store in
the farming area, and named it for his son,
Levi Young. As the store was called Levi’s,
the post office was also named Levi.
Levi is located in Precinct 1, on the
banks of the Bull Hide Creek on the
Galindo 11 League Grant. It was a farming
community, with much of the land
rented by large tenant farmers who pay
the landowner either one third or one
fourth of the crop (depending on what
was planted) as rent for use of the land.
Grain storage in Levi on Bullhide Creek.
PHOTO BY LAUREN D. MICKENS.
LEVI
C OMPILED BY H AL P LEDGER
The great-grandparents of Julius
Oswald Purczinsky, Jr., and Furn
Purczinsky Smith came to Texas from
Prussia through Galveston Island in 1874.
They lived in Round Top, where Otto
Henry Purczinsky was born. In the
1880s, they came to the Levi area and
bought land from the Lankford family.
The Purczinsky family is now the major
landowner in the Levi community.
The area had a cotton gin, a school and
a general store. The post office was discontinued
in September 1902, and mail
was delivered from Lorena. In 1910,
George W. Lankford ran the general store,
which was located on what is now Levi
Parkway and Bull Hide Creek. It was
closed in the 1930s and used for storage.
The Levi schoolhouse was two stories,
with the second story used by the fraternal
lodge, the Woodmen. The school went
through the eighth grade. This school lasted
until sometime between 1920 and
1921, with the last teacher being Doris
Hobbs. In the 1930s children were taken
to the Rosenthal School in a cattle truck
until a school bus was obtained.
The original cotton gin was on the corner
of Levi Road and Bull Hide Creek
Road. By the 1930s it was abandoned with
only the foundation visible. The schoolhouse
was also gone, and there was a new
general store-gas station and shop owned
by Myrtle and Ben Schwank. A new gin
was built with a pool (for dumping bales)
and at times was used for baptisms.
The road to Levi was originally a dirt
road with deep ditches. Gravel was added
later, and it presently is a paved farm-tomarket
road (FM). The telephone was a
party line with short and long rings.
Until electricity came to the area in 1935,
households used coal oil lamps for light
and wood stoves for heat.
Herman Perczinsky was in World War
I and died of pneumonia in the northeast
during the war. Julius O. Purczinsky, Jr.,
served in World War II and received the
bronze star and Purple Heart.
Furn Purczinsky Smith said her
great-grandmother, Susanna Lebkowsky
died at age 99 in 1917, and the funeral
home in Lorena handled the arrangements.
“The hearse was black with
glass sides and each black horse had a
plume on his head,” Smith’s grandmother
told her.
In the 1930s and 1940s, a few scattered
houses marked the community
on county maps. The population was
estimated at 48. The population was
almost the same in 2000 at 50.
42 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

LIBERTY HILL
C OMPILED BY M ARY S UE H ATTER D UTY
The Liberty Hill community is located
east of Moody and was home to many
prominent families that made important
contributions to the Moody area.
The Liberty Hill Baptist Church was
organized in 1910 and met in the Mills
Hill School. It was located in an area
where the present church is today. The
families who began the church were
Mr. and Mrs. T. A. Coulter, Mr. and Mrs.
Wash Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Watts,
and Mr. and Mrs. John Briscoe.
In 1914 the one room church was
built. This project was done by the men
of the community who would take their
teams of mules and wagons to the Leon
River woods to cut logs for lumber. They
worked many long hours to get the
church built, often spending the night at
the cutting ground. In the fall of 1914 the
church was completed. Services were
held every other Sunday with preaching
in the morning and evening and Sunday
school in the afternoon.
The Tabernacle, which was located
between the school and the church,
housed many revivals and community
affairs. They were often called “Big
Meetings” instead of revivals. These
were held every summer and sometimes
lasted two weeks. Baptisms were held in
the Leon River near Moody, often at
Halbert’s crossing.
The first pastor was W. J. Cook who
served from 1914 to 1926. Miss Agnes
Akins (Mrs. Tone Patrick) was organist.
Early deacons were Gordon Watts,
Thomas A. Coulter, Wash Johnson, John
Briscoe, Pat Bostick, Earl Coulter, Pete
Cagle, Oscar Porter, Walter Raby, Carl
Day, Jimmie Marrs, Lee O. Bench, Jackie
Watkins, Bob Barker and Irvin R. Johnson.
Other pastors were the following: John
Paul Jones (1926-1932), James Roy Clark
(1932), H. C. Funderburk, Pastor Wagner,
Henry Kincaid, Roy Smith, George
Blaylock (1934), A. J. Martin (1932-36),
Pastor Marshall (1939-40), Harvey Wolf
(1941-42), Pastor Higginbotham (1943-
44), Pastor Seal (1945), Don Miller
(1946), Ray Latimer (1947), Clyde
Rhinehart (1948-49), Bob Walker (1950-3
months), Sis Manderson (1950-51), Bill
Davenport (1952-55), Johnny Trafton
(1956-57), Jack Smith (1957-59), Charles
Goodson (1960), Dick Rosenthal (1961-
62), Bernard Beeman (1963), Maurice Hill
(1963-65), Parma Newman (1965-67),
Keith Rosenbaum (1967-68), Fred Raney
(1968-69), David Cearley (1969), Fred
Raney (1969-70), David Cearley (1971-
73), James Scarborough (1973-75),
Joe Taylor (1975-76), R. B. McCurdy
(1976-77), Wallace Pelton (1977), Homer
Coffman (1977-79), Keith McKensie
(1980), W. A. Irvin (1981-84).
The Liberty Hill School was also a big
part of the community. The first school
consisted of two rooms. Students as well
as teachers walked to school, carrying
their lunches in syrup buckets. A teacher
was hired at $90 per month for a school
year lasting six months. The school year
began the first Monday of October and
ended in the spring with a big picnic. The
average attendance was 15 to 17 children
in first through seventh grade. Early
teachers were Cora Mae Buckner, Mr.
Goodman, Otis Henderson, Illa Alford,
Ethel Veach, Will Veach, Mr. McMeeken,
Joe Coffee, Nannie Goode, Ensor Miller,
Grace Griffen, Boss Briffin, Mildred
Pruitt, Inez Fegette, and Lela Hartman. It
was common practice for teachers to
board in the community.
Two favorite teachers of the early years
were Eugenia Land and her sister-in-law
Willie Mae Land. They stayed with Pat
and Bernice Bostick during the school
week. Will Land would come to Liberty
Hill on Fridays to pick up Eugenia, Willie
Mae, and her daughter Margaret and
bring them back Sunday evenings.
Chapter 21 ✦ 43

LORENA
C OMPILED BY H AL P LEDGER
“On July 18, 1849, Governor George
T. Wood, granted to Jacob De Cordova,
two labors of land in the Milam District
on the waters of the Cow Bayou about
14 miles southwest from the Waco
Village. On March 15, 1856, G. B.Erath,
attorney in fact, for Jacob De Cordova,
conveyed 357 acres of this land to
Daniel Aerl,” according to Ella Aerl Griffis
in “A History of the Lorena, Texas Area,
1854-1981,” compiled by the Lorena
Historical Committee of the Lorena
Cemetery Association.
EARLY SETTLERS
Daniel Aerl was born October 6, 1807,
in Adams County, Ohio. His wife, Sarah
Mariah House Aerl was born October 18,
1829, in New York. Three of their eight
children, Robert D., Aron G. and Mary
accompanied the family to Texas.
Henry Clay Williams, born in
Lynchburg, Virginia, on April 2, 1832,
moved his family to the area in the fall of
1859 and bought the ranch “Ten Oaks.”
He had married Sarah Jane Jones of
Lynchburg in 1857. Ten Oaks became the
permanent home of H. C. and Sarah and
their seven children. Sarah’s widowed
sister and son came to settle near her, as
did Henry’s widowed sister Mary Jane
Williams Fields. Mary Jane’s daughter,
Cora, was courted in Lynchburg by
Herbert James Hudson, an immigrant
from Cambridge, England. He followed
Cora to Lorena in 1877, and they were
married May 20, 1880.
Henry Williams “was addicted to
horses and really gave the name to the
principal creek, which was ‘Caballo.’ The
Yankee map makers translated this to
“Cow Bayou” in later years and so it is
known today,” according to Elizabeth
Williams Estes, granddaughter of H. C.
and Sarah, in A History of the Lorena Area.
Charles Alexander Westbrook and
his wife, Virginia Whitsitt and young
daughter, Lorena, came to the area in the
mid 1800s. They built a four-room house
on a rock bluff overlooking Cow Bayou
Creek, fronting on the old Waco-Temple
road. Then, in 1874, they began building
a permanent home across the creek
from the original home and about onefourth
of a mile south. The three-story
house made of rock took about a year
to complete and accommodated the 11
children in the family. The house was also
used as a stage stop.
RAILROADS, CHURCHES &
SCHOOLS
Realizing that the railroad was
important to the development of the area,
Daniel Aerl gave land to the Missouri,
Kansas and Texas Railway (M-K-T) in
1881 to induce the company to build a
track through this part of the state. Aerl
Westbrook house in Lorena.
Switch was the name given the railway
stop. C. M. Dodge, a M-K-T agent, came
to Aerl Switch to partition the 40 acres
left over into lots and auction it.
The J. B. Strother private school was
located on the Westbrook property and
was attended by the Westbrook and
Williams’ families. Another private
school, the Cedar Bridge School and
Church, was located on Cow Bayou
where a cedar bridge crossed the creek.
On March 19, 1883, Daniel Aerl gave
land for a public school.
“The C. A. Westbrook family wanted
the town called Lorena for their daughter.
Daniel Aerl did not object but said, ‘Just
so we have the railroad and town, the
name does not matter,’ ” according to Ella
Aerl Griffin in A History of the Lorena,
Texas Area 1854-1981.
Reverend Thomas Stanford (1813-
1892) and his wife Lemereles K. W. Harris
Stanford (1815-1900) were born in
Tennessee. Their families migrated to
44 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Arkansas where they met and married in
1832 and where he was ordained as a
Methodist minister. In the midst of the
Civil War, Reverend Stanford moved his
family to Texas, and in 1875 bought a
farm 8 miles west of Waco at Richie
Station on the St. Louis, Arkansas and
Texas railway. The Stanford family was
large, and many of the children settled in
the Lorena area.
Reverend Stanford and Reverend E. R.
Barcus founded Stanford Chapel, the first
Methodist church west of Waco. People
came to hear Reverend Stanford preach
and Reverend Barcus sing.
The Lorena Methodist Church was
established after the Cedar Bridge
Church and School burned. In A
History of the Lorena, Texas Area, E.
Hudson Long gives an accounting of
his grandfather: “Formerly of the
Church of England, of which his
brother, Ernest, was Rector at Hayes,
Middlesex, Hudson became a
Methodist. He served as Sunday
School Superintendent, donated land
for the parsonage, and arranged for
the church to be constructed according to
plans he secured from England.”
In September of 1882, the Lorena
Baptist Church was established. The
organizer and first pastor was Elder John
S. Allen. There were 22 charter members.
EARLY COMMERCE
According to The Handbook of Texas
Online, “In 1884 the community had a
general store, two grocery stores, and 150
residents; area farmers shipped cotton,
corn and livestock. By 1890 Lorena had
grown to include a hotel, a school, a
steam cotton gin and gristmill, two
churches, three general stores and
250 residents. Population estimates
rose to 375 in 1892 and to 500 in 1896,
and a wide assortment of businesses
prospered there.”
H. J. Hudson engaged in the
mercantile business when he first arrived
in Lorena. He then opened a
private bank, the Bank of Lorena, in
1894. It was reorganized in 1909 as the
Lorena State Bank and consolidated with
the First National Bank of Lorena in
1922. The bank closed in 1928. Efforts to
reorganize ended in 1931 with the
liquidation of the assets. Hudson died
February 1, 1935.
Elijah Hooper moved with his
family to the Lorena area in the early
1890s. His son, Horace Sherman
Hooper, married Jessie Murphy on
November 15, 1896. The Murphy family
had moved from Eufala, Alabama, in
1880, while the Hooper family came to
Matagorda, Texas, from Tennessee.
Horace was born in Matagorda September
9, 1867. Jessie Murphy Hooper was one
of the early teachers at the Lorena
two-room school and was active in the
Lorena Woman’s Club and the Lorena
Cemetery Association. The family was
also active in the Methodist Church.
Horace was ambitious and a hard worker,
and the family prospered. His business
interests included farming, cotton buying
and the emerging automobile industry.
He was an Odd Fellow, a 32nd degree
Mason and a Shriner.
The Horace Hooper family bought the
large home built by the Westbrook family,
started in 1907 and finished in 1909. The
beautiful home still stands today and is
reminiscent of one found on a southern
cotton plantation.
“In the fall of 1894, a young man
sporting a frocktail coat, bat wing
collar, and a red flower in his button
hole rode into Lorena, Texas. He was
William Franklin Shipp, doctor of
medicine…” writes Eileen Shipp Taylor.
Thomas Bowman describes him “like the
storybook family country doctor, and
he got plenty of practicing on a
whole community. His bitter pink
medicine cured everything from the
neurotic to the truly sick. He never lost
a pneumonia patient and could be
counted on for every emergency from an
infected insect bite or broken bone to
fatal diseases.”
Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church, 2008.
THE AFRICAN- AMERICAN
COMMUNIT Y
In May of 1920 the Mt. Rose
Missionary Baptist Church opened in the
African-American community along
Houston Street. There was also the Lorena
Methodist Church A.M.E. and an African-
American school on Houston Street.
About 10 or 12 families made up the
community, and they rotated the services
between the churches, one Sunday being
held in the Methodist Church, the next
in the Baptist. The pioneer families were
as follows: Williams, Lewis, Matthews,
Knox, Fields, Smith, Jackson, Page, Cox,
Hibbler, Darby, and Sneed.
KLAN CONFRONTATION
On October 1, 1921, the Ku Klux
Klan had a parade in Lorena, after
being told Waco would not allow the
march. The county sheriff, Bob Buchanan,
had announced that masked parades
were forbidden, but the Klan defied
his order. The KKK mounted horses,
and with white robes flapping, masks
in place, they marched down North
Borden at Castro Street. A local resident
called Sheriff Buchanan. As Mack Wood
tells it, “Buchanan brought 20 deputies
with him and all but two, Red Burton
and I, Mack Wood, returned to Waco
when they saw the crowd and the
determination of the Klansmen to carry
out their plans.”
Chapter 22 ✦ 45

Sheriff Buchanan was equally set in
his purpose to stop the parade. “It is
not right for them to pass through here
when no one knows who they are. It is
not the law. They can’t go through until
they get me,” he said. He spent more than
an hour trying to talk them out of
parading. Efforts of those trying to
dissuade the sheriff were futile. The
sheriff’s posse (three men) and about 100
marchers confronted each other at the
first cross street. The leading figure
carrying the American flag was stopped
by the sheriff. The sheriff attempted to
remove his mask and the melee began.
Pistol shots rang out and knives were
brought out.”
As Florence Lawson recalled, “A man
was determined to break up the march by
firing his gun wildly into a crowd that
contained women and children. My
father, a bystander, received a slash to the
throat trying to prevent the deputy sheriff
from stashing a knife.”
“I was 5 years old and remember
standing on one of the counters at the
Ford Agency,” Jessie Lee Wolfe Janes said.
“One could feel the excitement and the
fear that was present in the crowd. There
was a very large crowd and tempers were
high. The sheriff from Waco and other
officers were there to try to control the
crowd,” she said.
COMMERCE &
COMMUNITY
Otis Rhea moved back to Lorena
from Post, where he had a Ford
agency and garage, around 1921. He
brought some of his mechanics from
Post, and started the Ford agency in
Lorena. The Rhea family consisted of
Otis, his wife Jessie Wolf Rhea,
daughters Celest and Jessie Lee. They
were active in the Methodist Church,
Celest and Jessie sang in the choir
and Otis was on the Board of Stewards.
They were close friends with the Joel
Hooper family and together were called
“the four Jessies.”
As Jessie Lee recalled, “Mrs. Joel
Hooper played the piano. She had
long curls that she pulled up from the
back and had these “fat” curls on top
of her head. She was a beautiful
woman and made an impression on
me that has stayed all of my life. She
was always gracious and became
the organist after the church purchased
one. She continued this job for many
years.” Her husband was the mail carrier,
a lover of people, and a raiser of
Greyhounds. She tried to “live above
this hobby!” She was active in the
Women’s Missionary Society at both the
local and state level and was often a
delegate to the district meeting for Lorena
Methodist Church.
Florence Lawson writes about the
livery stable that housed a Sunday
morning card game every week, with
large sums of money involved. “The
thing I remember most about it is that
our Sunday School teacher would
mention this sinful event to our class, and
Lorena Methodist Church.
I would always turn pale because I knew
my father was one of the gentlemen
playing cards.”
On April 14, 1923, Lorena hosted a
“Great Community Trade Day.” The
following merchants were listed in the ads:
J. O. Rhea Auto Co., First National Bank,
Lorena Mercantile Co., Shipp’s Drugstore,
Lorena Lumber & Hardware Co., Will
Piper’s Market, Autrey & Honeycutt
Service, J. D. Maxey Groceries, O. O.
Ashenhurst Grocery, W. B. Maxey Barber
and Barber Supplies, American Tailor
Shop, Lawson Service Station, Mercantile
Co., Evans-Westbrook Mercantile Co.,
McAdams Grocery, Westbrook & Evans
Gin Co., G. W. Norwood Café, City Café,
Williams Gin Co. and McBride’s Pharmacy.
The entertainment for the Trade Day
included a mule race, rat killing contest,
a 16-dog stake race, musical programs
by the glee clubs and barber shop
quartet and band, airplane flying circus,
and the launching of a number of live
guinea hens from 1,000 feet with various
prizes tied to their feet. A parade with
floats and a solemn funeral procession
and burial of “Old Man Knocker” kicked
off the event.
Lorena begin experiencing a downturn
in the 1920s. The two banks in Lorena,
Lorena State Bank and First National
Bank were consolidated in 1922 and
continued to operate as the First National
Bank until closing in 1928. In the 1930s
the population was 342, but between
1933 and 1945 the number of businesses
decreased from 22 to seven. The
population declined as well to 242 in
the 1950s.
The economy got a boost in the late
1950s and 1960s, when Interstate
Highway 35 was built along U.S.
Highway 81. The community, which
incorporated in 1959, also began to grow
again when families started moving from
Waco in part to escape desegregation. In
the mid-1970s the population had grown
to 516. Growth has continued steadily
and in 2000 the population was 1,433
with 150 businesses.
46 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Downtown Mart (date unknown).
MART
C OMPILED BY G RETA W ATSON
The land patent, which includes the
present city of Mart, was granted to
William Donahoo on November 9, 1859.
W. H. Criswell came in 1876, with
his wife, Clarette Wilder, whom he had
married on November 25, 1875. They
came from the Criswell settlement in
Falls County to the head of Big Creek in
the southeastern corner of McLennan
County. Criswell was considered the first
settler to live in the area that included the
corporate limits of Mart.
Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Cowan came to the
settlement in the winter of 1877-1878.
There were several families living on the
east side of Big Creek at the time
including W. H. Criswell, Albert Breeland,
Perry Douglas, Dr. J. R. Gilliam, W. B.
Stodghill, H. C. Cowan, Lewis Stephens,
W. C. Easter and Dr. W. B. Carpenter.
WILLOW SPRINGS
The community originally took the
name “Willow Springs” from the spring
and willow trees that were located near
the Criswell home, however, the name
didn’t last long.
William B. Stodghill submitted an application
for a post office for Willow Springs
on February 2, 1880. When it was learned
there was already a post office named
“Willow Spring,” a new name had to be
chosen. In about 1880, Willow Springs
became Mart. “Old” Mart was in the area
that was the old cemetery and what are
now Carpenter and Navarro streets.
CHURCHES
As the community prospered, other
families came, and with these
Chapter 23 ✦ 47

families came the need for a school
and churches.
On April 28, 1878, under a tree, the
Baptist church was organized with 18
members. The Methodist church was
organized in 1890 with seven charter
members, and the Presbyterian church
was also organized in 1890.
Across from the Baptist church a crude
one-room building for a school was
erected, to be replaced by a structure of
four rooms in 1885, where the present
school on Navarro Street is located.
COMMERCE
Cotton was the primary crop being
grown outside of Mart, and a cotton gin
was built by Bill Ingram. Before the gin
was built, cotton had to be taken to
Harrison Switch to be ginned.
After the cotton gin was built, an oil
mill was built and stores were located
near the cotton gin. Dr. Carpenter’s office
was in the same vicinity.
TOWN RELOCATES
FOR THE RAILROAD
The little village of Old Mart remained
in the original location where the
cemetery is located until the railroad
came to Mart. The town of “New Mart”
was built on Criswell’s farm.
A committee was formed called the
“Texas Land and Improvement Co.” The
committee had representatives from
the I. & G. N. railroad, a division of
the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and
members of the community of Mart. The
committee guaranteed 10 miles of right
of way to the railroad. With the coming
of the railroad in 1901, the town of Mart
flourished. A train station, a round house
and a machine shop were constructed
to accommodate the trains that came
through Mart on a regular schedule.
Both southbound and northbound trains
carried passengers and products
produced in and outside of the Mart
community. The streets are wide in Mart
because a civil engineer from the railroad
platted the town.
Mart grew quickly over a 10-year
period from a population of 300 in
1900 to 2,939 in 1910 and became
Mart also had a bottling plant that
bottled strawberry red, lemon and orange
soda pop. There was also an ice plant in
Mart that furnished ice to homes and
businesses initially delivered by mule
a thriving commercial community drawn wagons and later by trucks.
with stores owned by W. B. Stodghill,
Henry Ashburn, Ward Herwin and
Pine Shelton.
More doctors came to Mart as well,
and hotels were built. The town also had
drug stores, grocery stores, dry goods
stores, a millinery shop, a leather shop, a
blacksmith, a bakery, meat markets, feed
stores, leather shops, insurance agencies,
furniture stores, a funeral home, cafes,
pool halls, and saloons. At first a theater
was built showing only silent black
and white movies with a resident piano
player. A modern theater was built
in 1949.
The First National Bank of Mart
opened for business on August 12, 1901.
The First State Bank of Mart opened
shortly after but merged with the First
National Bank of Mart in the 1930s.
When the railroad came, a YMCA was
built close to the railroad tracks.
This establishment provided rooms for
rent, space for Boy Scout and Lions
Club meetings, recreational activities,
polling place for voters, and in the late
1950s the Head Start program was
housed there.
With the arrival of the train in Mart,
several fraternal organizations came
to the area including The Masons,
The Order of the Eastern Star, The
Rebeccas, The Woodmen of the World,
The Knights of Pythian, and numerous
Railroad Brotherhoods.
The last train left the Mart rail yard
on November 13, 1968, and thus ended
67 years of railroad history in Mart. The
population of Mart as of the 2000 United
States Census was 2,273.
The Farmers and
Merchants National
Bank of Mart was
organized on October
22, 1904, and opened
for business January
5, 1905. The bank
remained active under
the same name until
it was sold and then
became the Enterprise
Bank in Mart.
At one time Mart
had three active banks
and five cotton gins,
one being the world’s
largest round bale gin.
Cotton was “king”
but because of years
of planting cotton, the
land became depleted,
and with the disappearance
of the main
crop, the cotton gins
disappeared too.
Mart Drug c. early 1900s.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION; BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
48 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

McGregor Light & Power Plant currently used to house McGregor Waterworks.
COURTESY OF JIM AND SHARON GRIFFITH.
MCGREGOR
C OMPILED BY S HARON G RIFFITH
McGregor is an incorporated town
16 miles southwest of Waco on U.S.
Highway 84 in western McLennan
County. Originally known as McGregor
Springs, it was established in 1882 at
the intersection of the Gulf, Colorado
and Santa Fe and the Texas and St. Louis
railways. The new town was named
McGregor Springs in honor of Gregor
McGregor, a doctor who gave the railroad
right-of-way to cross his land.
Visitors to the prospective city came
on excursion trains in response to advertisements
that appeared in Texas newspapers,
and on September 7, 1882, a state
land commissioner sold lots at auction
from the back of a railroad flatcar.
COMMERCE
McGregor’s favorable location in Central
Texas drew much of its early population.
Several businesses from nearby small communities
like Banks and Comanche Springs
in McLennan County and Eagle Springs
in Coryell County moved to McGregor.
The post office at Banks was transferred
to McGregor in October 1882, keeping
Thomas H. Baker as postmaster.
By 1884 McGregor had a wide variety
of businesses, a weekly newspaper, a
school, and several hundred residents.
The town adopted a city charter in
November 1886. The next couple of
decades brought the addition of two
hotels, a national bank, a washingmachine
factory, a tannery, a cottonseed
oil mill and an artesian waterworks. The
census of 1890 gave the population of
McGregor as 774, but some estimates
were as high as 1,500.
WILLIAM DEYERLE
William Deyerle, a colorful farmer and
entrepreneur, came to McGregor in the late
1800s. He and his wife, Willie, were
prominent in the growth of McGregor. In
the Spring of 1904, Deyerle organized one
of McGregor’s strongest financial institutions,
The Farmers Bank. The same year,
he opened the bank, he bought out the
water and light plant and built a stone
building which stands to this day to house
the city’s waterworks. His light and power
plant furnished electric power to the entire
city of McGregor. The power was generated
by an 80-horse diesel engine Deyerle
secured from a manufacturer in Germany.
Deyerle also owned the Farmers Mill.
Their leading brand of flour, “Pure Gold,”
had a reputation that was almost
statewide. The grain elevator service of
this mill was considered excellent and the
equipment was modern.
Deyerle began construction of his twostory
home in 1889 with stones quarried
west of Mother Neff Park. Construction
was completed in 1892, making it one of
Chapter 24 ✦ 49

shipping point for much of western
McLennan County. The population was
listed as 1,864 in 1910 and 2,081 in 1920.
Although the number of residents and
businesses fell slightly during the Great
Depression, the community weathered
this period well.
GOVERNMENT PLANT
BOOSTS POPULATION
The Farmer’s Mill.
COURTESY OF JIM AND SHARON GRIFFITH.
the oldest standing residences in Central
Texas. Visitors to “The Mansion,” as it was
called, entered the front gate beneath a
stone archway. Six belts of “hand-picked”
rocks, the most costly of all the ornamental
stone used in the structure, run completely
around the house at different
intervals. Keystones are over each window.
The original Mansion consisted of
eight rooms, four up and four down, with
hallways. There are six fireplaces, 12-foot
ceilings, and two arched bay windows.
The original front door, accented with
stained glass panels, features an acidetched
glass panel with a flower basket.
Sharon and Jim Griffith purchased the
Deyerle-Fall Mansion in 1993. After an
extensive restoration, they received a Texas
State Historical Marker in 1998 from the
Texas State Historical Commission.
McGregor continued to prosper in the
early 1900s as the commercial center and
In 1942, the United States Army
announced plans to build the Bluebonnet
Ordnance Plant on 18,000 acres just southwest
of Town. As a result of this new industry,
the population of McGregor tripled in
three months to more than 6,000. After
World War II, it fell back to about 2,000,
and the ordnance plant was converted to a
variety of peacetime industries, including
stove and furniture manufacturing.
In the 1950s, part of the old Ordnance
Plant manufactured rocket engines, solid
propellants, and gas generators. Much of the
rest of the land was either sold to individuals
or given to Texas A&M University for
the development of an experimental farm
and research center. These job opportunities
attracted new residents to McGregor, bringing
its total population to 2,664 in 1952 and
4,642 in 1961. The population was 4,289 in
1978 and 4,683 in 1990. In 2000 the population
was listed as 6,563.
MCGREGOR TODAY
The Deyerle-Fall House.
COURTESY OF JIM AND SHARON GRIFFITH.
As of 2009, McGregor has industry,
commerce and various attractions that
continue to make it a thriving town.
There is an active industrial park that
occupies a large portion of the old
Ordnance Plant property. Amtrak’s
Chicago to Los Angeles Texas Eagle
makes a stop in McGregor at the train
depot. There is also a Founder’s Day celebration
held every September that attracts
hundreds of visitors to McGregor, and
with the election of George W. Bush as
President of the United States, McGregor
found itself in close proximity to the
Western White House.
50 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

MOODY
C OMPILED BY J EANETTE H ATTER M C G INNES
Moody is a small town located on
State Highway 317 and FM 107 in the
southwest corner of McLennan County,
near the headwaters of Stampede Creek,
Elm Creek and Cow Bayou.
To review the history of Moody, Texas,
one must realize that only sturdy and
adventurous people could have come to
the prairie of Central Texas, build a town
and then move the entire village three
miles south to reestablish the same town
next to the railroad.
EARLY SETTLERS
The town, originally called Perry, was
founded in the spring of 1852. A wagon
train from Perry, Illinois, led by William
Handcock, camped on the land overnight
with the intention of going on to East
Texas to find a place to settle. The
morning, however, revealed the beauty of
the area with bluebonnets and Indian
blankets covering the prairie hills.
The fertile blacklands seemed a perfect
place to settle. Another Illinois wagon
train soon joined the first settlers followed
shortly by settlers from Kentucky, Georgia
and a few other locations. All agreed to
name their village Perry.
Some of the early settlers in Perry
included Jack and John McClain, J. F.
Wood, Neph Horne, the Jones family,
John and Steven Naler, Dixon and Tom
Connally and Tuttle Stubblefield. Other
surnames of settlers included: Sims,
Welborne, Witte, Welch, Neeley, Naylor,
Cox, Land, Dutton, Miller, Alexander,
Thomas, Blair, Newman, McCauley,
Larkin, McNeil, Bostick and Rice.
A TOWN ON THE MOVE
The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe
Railroad started laying tracks through the
area in 1881. However, the railroad did
not go through the community of Perry, so
residents moved the town to the railroad.
They named the town Moody for the
Galveston railroad executive and banker
Lt. Colonel William Louise Moody, Sr.,
who served in the 7th Texas Infantry
during the Civil War.
William and Martha Jane Naler
conveyed 120 acres of land in 1881 for
railway purposes and for the use of the city
to be named Moody. James Clements from
Walker County, Georgia, also conveyed
part of his land to the city of Moody.
First to move to the new location was
Daniel McClain and family followed by
M. L. Cormany. All of Perry moved during
the year leaving nothing except the
cemetery, which is still at its original site.
Joseph Naylor built the first home in
Moody. Later, the home was sold to his
nephew William Naler (Naylor and Naler
are the same family name). Moody was
incorporated in 1901.
CHURCHES
The Moody Cotton Festival sign.
Moody has had many churches
through the years. The First Baptist
Church started in the home of Daniel
McClain in 1855. Because of the Civil
War it was inactive from 1861 to 1870.
The church moved when the town moved
from Perry to Moody in 1881. Pastors at
the church included R. L. Crooms, L. L.
Sams, Ray Mayfield, Jr., and J. A. McIver
served as pastor during WWII and helped
residents through the great flu epidemic.
The Church of Christ began meeting in
Stampede Valley in 1917 but moved to
Moody in 1920. The congregation met in
the old Presbyterian Church near Naler
Chapter 25 ✦ 51

TOWN PHYSICIANS
Many doctors have served the area
through the years including Dr. C. C. Clay
1881-1906, Dr. C. J. Crow 1885-?, Dr.
C. K. Haggard 1891-1928, Dr. Moran
Kuykendall 1880-1913, Dr. Riley Marshall
1905-1933, Dr. Garnet Miller 1902-1964,
and Dr. Whigham 1913-1918.
EDUCATION
The Jones-Vandiver Gin.
Cemetery but later constructed a building
on State Highway 317 in 1956.
The United Methodist Church began in
Moody in 1883, but the first full time
preacher, Reverend George Owen, did not
come until 1886. In 1901 Reverend J. T.
Griswold was pastor and directed the
building of a new church that was
completed in 1903. He also wrote a book
From Dug-Out to Steeple. For 53 years the
red brick building stood serving members
until the new house of worship was built
with a parsonage and educational facilities.
Another well-known Methodist Church
is the Moody-Leon Methodist Church,
located south of Moody in the Buckhorn
community. It began in the home of C.A.
Winkler in 1877. In the fall of 1905 several
families moved to the community and a
church was dedicated in 1908. The
historical marker was dedicated in 1977.
The church has flourished since its
beginning, changing from its early German
language services in the morning and
English services at night to all English
services in 1939.
The Presbyterian Church was
organized in 1882 and located near
the Naler Cemetery. The records were
destroyed but some early members were
the Naler, Payne, Kuykendall, McSpadden
and Anderson families. The church was
torn down by Horace Payne in 1934.
Another community church is the
First Assembly of God Church. It began
in an old tabernacle that was built in
1917. In December 1942 the church
was called Assembly of God and a
parsonage was built. Later a rock
building was constructed and the
parsonage moved to Avenue A and
Second Street. By 1963 the old church
was replaced by a new brick building
with work done by the members. A
parsonage was completed in 1966 and,
in recent years, a new church was built
on State Highway 317 about a mile south
of Moody.
In June 1941 Mr. and Mrs. Cecil
Teague and the Methodist Church of
Moody formed a Sunday school for
Hispanics who lived in the area. As a
result, El Buen Pastor Church was
organized with a permanent building
on State Highway 107. Mrs. Teague and
Mrs. McKay Rice, Sr., gave English
lessons at the church. The name of the
church is now El Buen Pastor Iglesia
Metodista Unida.
Peaceful Rest Baptist Church was
established by the African-American
community in Moody.
Other churches currently in Moody
include The Well, established by Jason
Dean, Lady of San Juan Catholic and
God’s House Ministry.
Moody’s first school began in Perry in
1854 and moved when the town moved.
Jefferson Academy, a college preparatory
school, was also established in Moody in
1895 with 30 students. It was dissolved
in 1906.
The Moody Public School was formed
in 1881 with each student paying
tuition for a six-month term. In 1905
a new school was built and in 1920
another building replaced the 1905
structure. Fire destroyed that building
and all its records. In the fall of 1927 a
new red brick school was built and in
1940 another building was added for the
high school.
Around 1920 several schools in the
area consolidated into Moody including
Jones Hill, Ignorant Hollow, Gent, Liberty
Hill, Round Top, Fields, Haunted Hill,
Whitson, Willow Grove, Tilley, Buckhorn,
Stampede and White Hall.
COMMERCE
Prior to a bank being established in
Moody, a dentist, Dr. J. B. Young, kept
community cash in his safe. After 1853
this was no longer necessary as The First
National Bank was established. The
Downs brothers of Temple also opened
the private Citizens Bank. In 1901 with
the stock in the bank being $25,000 and
deposits over $100,000, the bank became
a national bank.
In 1921 there were 28 members of the
Moody Booster’s Club. The members were
businessmen of Moody who promoted
the town. In 1946 the Moody Chamber of
52 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Commerce was established to promote
Moody. Today the chamber sponsors the
Cotton Festival each fall.
A number of businesses still thrive in
Moody today, including Harvey Pittman’s
Hardware, David’s Grocery, Lucy’s Café,
Neuman’s Texaco, Aycock’s Conoco,
Ruby’s Flower and Gift Shop and a new
restaurant, The French Quarter. Moody
also has a newly formed industrial park
for business development on State
Highway 2113. There is also new home
development in the Stampede Valley area
and the Willow Grove area.
The Moody community has had a
number of civic and social organizations
through the years. The Masonic Lodge
was founded in 1898 with Captain Fuller
as the first Worshipful Master followed by
Dr. P. M. Kuykendall. The lodge is known
as A.M. and F.M. 568. The town also had
a literary club and a book of the month
club. Still serving the community is the
Lions Club and the Masonic Lodge.
The Kykendall-Acres Home.
NEWSPAPERS
The Monitor, the first newspaper in
Moody, was established sometime prior to
1890. Josh Billings, the publisher of
the paper, sold it to S. Hudley in 1890.
Hudley renamed it The Courier. The Foxes
also owned the paper for many years.
Their daughter, Florine Fox sold it to
J. W. Gay. The paper has been renamed
The Suburban Courier and is owned by
Bill Foster.
CEMETERIES
Moody has three cemeteries, the oldest
one being the Naler Cemetery beginning
in 1863 on land given by Joseph Nalor.
Outside Moody is the Old Perry
Cemetery, established when the town was
in that area and settlers gave land in 1852
for that purpose. The Moody Cemetery
on State Highway 317 dates back to
1887, when a committee of four men,
Parker Naler, C. L. Clay, John Mote and
J. G. Miller, started it.
Payne Drug Store.
Chapter 25 ✦ 53

Ocee is a rural church community
located approximately 5 miles east of
Crawford where FM 185 crosses Hog
Creek. The village of Ocee was named
for a baby boy, O. C. (Ocee) Witte Ewing,
born in 1893 to Flem Ewing, who became
the first postmaster in 1895.
An early settler in the area was Thomas
Farr, who brought his family from
Arkansas about the time of the Civil War.
The Bunyan Brown Family came after
the war ended. Other early settlers
included the Christians, Clarks, Ewings,
Hunts, Olivers, Schroders and
Smallwoods. Moving into the area later
were the Compton, Foss, McCollum,
Nelson, Owen, Pack, Plemons and
Roberts families.
In 1885, Torkel Foss, a Norwegian
immigrant and his family, settled in
the Ocee area. In 1899, Neal Nelson, a
Swedish immigrant, and his wife, Ottillie
Nehring, a German immigrant, moved
their family from Bosque County to
the Ocee Community. They lived on
OCEE
C OMPILED BY V AN D. MASSIRER
what became known as
Nelson Hill and raised
a large family. Several
descendants still live in
the area.
The cornerstone of
the community, Shiloh
Baptist Church, was
founded in 1884 and is
located on the west bank
of Hog Creek a short
distance northwest of
Ocee. It has a full-time
pastor and still holds
regular services.
For many years, there
was a cotton gin at Ocee,
originally owned by a man with the surname
Regelworth and later by Arlie
Ewing. It ceased operation in 1957. In
addition, there were two general stores
operating in the early years. One was
owned by Jim Ewing and the other by
Wayne McCollum, and John Arrowood
owned and operated a blacksmith shop.
The first store in Ocee, c. the late 1800s. The store was located on about the same spot as Russell Plemons’ Home.
Johnny Nelson, c. the 1930s.
There was a school west of the creek
and immediately north of the presentday
FM 185 that later consolidated with
the Highland School. Highland was located
about three miles south of Ocee and, in
1950, did a split consolidation with
Crawford and Midway. The Bellview
School, located about three miles northwest
of Ocee, consolidated with Crawford
in 1927.
In 1930 the recorded population was
39. During this time M. Dick ran a gas
station and grocery store, and across the
road stood Arlie Ewing’s large general
store. Johnny Nelson had a Gulf gas station
across the road from Ewing’s store
and on the opposite corner from M. Dick.
Some years later, Mack Plemons had a
small gas station and grocery store
that Mildred Compton operated until the
mid-1960s.
Today’s lone remaining commercial
building is the one that housed the cotton
gin. Stripped of its ginning machinery, it
is now owned by Michael Plemons and
used in his farming operation.
Compiled with assistance from Jene Nelson,
Sharon Sparks Nelson, Doris Mize, and Bobbi
Smith Owen.
54 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Patton Baptist Church.
PATTON
C OMPILED BY V AN D. MASSIRER
Patton is a farming and ranching community
located about 6 miles north of
Crawford where Highway 317 and the
Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad
cross Hog Creek. Early settlers, anticipating
the arrival of the railroad, founded the
town of Patton in 1879, two years before
the railroad actually arrived.
It is believed that the town received its
name from one of those early settlers,
Joseph Patton, who owned ranch land in
the area. Others living in the area then
and later were the Alexander, Bonds, Elder,
Cooper, Hill, Jaynes, Levan, McCracken,
McMahon, Ponder, Simpson, Smith,
Sockwell, and Zander families.
As is the case with many other communities
in central Texas, Patton began as a
small town with the coming of the railroad
and reached its zenith in the late 1800s
and early 1900s, when it had three stores,
a blacksmith shop, a cotton gin, a school,
a church, and a population of 150. The
first post office was established in 1879,
when the town was founded, with John W.
Saunders as the postmaster. It was discontinued
and reestablished several times
before it was permanently discontinued in
1904, and the mail was delivered from
Valley Mills. The school, which was located
near the present-day church, fared somewhat
better, but it also closed in the 1930s
and consolidated with Valley Mills.
One of the stores was operated by J. J.
“Sach” Alexander, who had a family of 17
children, six of whom died in infancy. The
store stood on the east side of Hog Creek,
near where the Pitts family operated a dairy
in later years. Don Simpson, a current resident
of Patton, recalls that the store sold regular
and white gas, groceries, canned goods,
candy and soda water. The big front porch
had several tables where men gathered, especially
on weekends, and played dominoes.
A second store was owned by Sam Elder
and was located a short distance northwest
of Alexander’s store. Elder sold groceries
and also had a baby chick hatchery.
One of the early settlers in the area was
Richard Simpson, who came from Missouri
in 1853 in a wagon pulled by two horses. He
came with his wife, Elizabeth, and his mother,
who was also named Elizabeth. They
arrived with a mere $200 in their collective
pockets, but the family accumulated some
4,000 acres of land in subsequent years.
In the late 1850s, when there was still
an occasional threat from Indians, Richard
built a large two-story rock house a short
distance south of what later became the
town of Patton. The house had a partial
basement with a water well inside and
shoulder-height windows designed for
shooters to use. Only parts of the foundation
and the basement remain intact today.
The first and only church congregation
in the Patton area was organized in 1872 as
the Walnut Grove Baptist Church of Christ.
Worship services consisted of two to
three-day meetings held once each month.
Located a short distance south of what
would later become the town of Patton, the
church building was moved to its present
location when the Simpson family donated
land for a church and a public school in
1878. In 1889, the congregation changed
its name to Patton Baptist Church, and in
1896, J. M. B. Grisham became the first
full-time pastor. For the past 35 years, Pat
Cummings has been the pastor.
In 2009 the church building and its
adjoining tabernacle, built in 1907 on land
donated by J. J. Alexander, and the water
well that served the school are the only visible
reminders of the former town of Patton.
Compiled with assistance from Don and
Pat Simpson.
Chapter 27 ✦ 55

PRAIRIE CHAPEL
C OMPILED BY V AN D. MASSIRER
The Prairie Chapel community is
located 8 to 10 miles northwest of
Crawford. The old Prairie Chapel School,
located on Prairie Chapel Road, and the
Canaan Baptist Church, located at the
corner of Canaan Church Road and
Coryell City Road, are the hubs of this
farming and ranching community. Unlike
many other present-day communities,
there was never a town or post office at
Prairie Chapel.
SCOTCH- IRISH, GERMAN &
AUSTRIAN SETTLERS
Originally settled in the mid-1800s by
Scotch-Irish people from the Deep South,
the Prairie Chapel community began to
take on a decidedly Teutonic flavor in the
late 1800s when numerous Austrian and
German immigrants moved into the area.
These German-speaking people differed
from their Lutheran and Catholic counterparts
in most other German communities
in that they were predominantly Baptist.
Meeting in the home of Heinrich
Engelbrecht, a German immigrant who
had first settled in Washington County and
later moved to McLennan County, a group
of Prairie Chapel residents organized
the Canaan Baptist congregation on October
25, 1891. Surnames of the forty-seven
charter members were: Althof, Charowecs,
Engelbrecht, Fischer, Gerber, Goerz,
Goettmann, Groth, Held, Hodel, Klass,
Mack, Massier, Porth, Rabbe, Rueckrich,
Schanz and Selzer. Other names added to
the rolls later include Apel, Bekkelund,
Bieber, Bietendorf, Blum, Bohne, Buck,
Buth, Dreyer, Freyer, Gauer, Heichert,
Hintze, Hoeffner, Hoehn, Hoppe, Jaeckle,
Kimbrough, Koch, Kratzel, Krempin, Kuber,
Lander, Landes, Landfried, Lengefeld,
Lorenz, Luning, Massirer, Mattlage,
Norgang, Rost, Sadowe, Schandler, Schaub,
Schleichert, Shoesmith, Spross, Treder,
Weber, Wendeborn, Weschke, Wehmeyer
and Westerfeld.
The congregation met in homes and in a
school house until a church building was
constructed and a plot for a cemetery was
set aside in 1894 on land donated by the
Engelbrecht family. The building has since
been enlarged and modernized several
times. Until a baptistry was installed, baptismal
services were conducted in Rainey’s
Creek on the Charlie Mattlage farm or in
Bluff Creek on the Phillip Massirer farm.
Worship services were conducted in
German until a gradual transition began
to English in the early 1930s. In 1971, the
cemetery was placed in perpetual care,
and in 1992, a Texas historical marker was
erected at the church.
In addition to the German Baptists, several
German Lutheran families also settled
in the community and attended the St. John
Lutheran Church near Coryell City or the
St. Paul Lutheran Church in Crawford.
Surnames of these early families and others
who came in recent years include Braswell,
Ditto, Gohlke, Hinson, Kellum, Kevill,
Landfried, Mattlage, Miller, Neuman,
Nors, Pieper, Rohloff, Samuelson, Sanders,
Schultz, Thiele and Weiss.
ONE- ROOM SCHOOL HOUSE
Canaan Baptist Church.
Education was also high on the immigrants’
list of priorities. Records indicate
that there was a school in the area at least as
early as 1879, probably located on the site
of the present-day cemetery. The Prairie
Chapel School was originally located a short
distance south of its present location, but in
1908, a new one-room school was built on
the present site. The floor was constructed
with narrow spaces between the boards in
order to allow dirt to fall through the cracks.
In 1913, a second room was added, and in
1926 a third. At its peak, the school had
approximately 70 students in grades one
56 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Canaan Baptist Church baptisms in Rainey’s Creek.
through nine. Students either walked or
rode a horse to school until 1929, when the
first bus appeared.
With the coming of all-weather roads and
bridges across the creeks in the late 1920s,
some students, especially those who wanted
to continue beyond the ninth grade, transferred
to Crawford. So began a gradual
decline in enrollment, and in 1936, the
Prairie Chapel School consolidated with
Crawford. However, grades one through six
continued at Prairie Chapel until 1939,
when the school was closed. In 1944 the
east wing of the school was dismantled and
the lumber used in the construction of a new
cafeteria at the Crawford School, a move that
upset some of the local folks who preferred
to keep the old Prairie Chapel School
intact. Following the filing of a lawsuit, the
Crawford school board agreed to give the
building to the county with the stipulation
that it could be used by the local citizens.
One of the main ways that the citizens
used the building was as a voting box and
meeting place for the local chapter of
Germania Insurance. In the 1990s a group
of local citizens did some repair work on
the building and applied for and got a
Texas historical marker. Annual Christmas
parties began in 1993 and continue today.
In 2001 the Prairie Chapel School
Association was organized and in subsequent
years has sponsored numerous
activities to raise funds for restoration of
the school. The Association’s ultimate
goal is to transform the school into a
museum displaying school memorabilia
and personal items. Until restoration is
completed, the school is open by appointment
only.
The Morgan School was a second school
that served the southern and eastern portions
of the Prairie Chapel community.
Located about six miles northwest of
Crawford on the present-day Prairie Chapel
Road, the school offered classes through
the seventh grade. It closed and consolidated
with Crawford in the 1920s.
During the 1930s and until about 1950,
Otto Sanders, Sr., and his sons operated a
beef club. Each member of the club provided
one calf for slaughter during the summer
months, so that all members had fresh beef
on a regular basis. With the arrival of electricity
and home refrigeration after WWII,
the beef club disbanded.
BUSH RANCH IN
PRAIRIE CHAPEL
The Prairie Chapel Baseball Team, 1934.
In 2000 the Prairie Chapel community
was suddenly thrust into the international
spotlight when then-Texas Governor and
presidential hopeful George Bush bought a
ranch in the area. After Bush was elected
president, the ranch became the Western
White House and hosted several world
leaders. Almost overnight Prairie Chapel
went from being a relatively unknown
place to being seen on television screens
around the world.
Compiled with assistance from Evelyn
Miihlhause Bohne and Jerry and Sandra Gauer.
Chapter 28 ✦ 57

The area that Richie, Texas, occupied
was located near the junction of present
day Chapel Road and Ritchey Road, about
1 ½ miles west of Hewitt Drive and about 1
mile south of State Highway 84, adjacent to
the Stanford Chapel Cemetery on the west.
The cemetery was established in 1875
by two Methodist preachers and their
wives, Thomas and Lamerle Stanford
and Edward R. and Mary Barcus. There
was also a church and a school, both of
which were the first ones west of Waco in
McLennan County. Land was donated by
Thomas C. Richie and his wife Martha,
a daughter of the Stanford family.
Thomas Richie was a son of Robert T. and
Eveline Richie. They, and another son,
B. F. Richie, all came to McLennan
County from Giles County, Tennessee,
between 1850 and 1860.
RICHIE
A farming community grew and
prospered around the school, church and
cemetery. A cotton gin and a general
store sprang up during the late 1800s. In
1881 the Texas and St. Louis railroad
completed track from Texarkana to Waco
and the following year added 46 miles to
Gatesville. The railroad passed through
the Richie community, about 8 miles west
of Waco, and the stop became known
as Richie Switch. In 1896 a post office
began operations with Isaac Stanford,
postmaster (Reverend Thomas and
Lamerle Stanford’s son).
The post office closed in 1905 and
in 1912 the church disbanded; however,
annual homecomings were held at the
church or on the grounds until 1968.
They were attended by people from all
over the United States. Among some of
the most notable were Governor and
Mrs. Pat Neff of Austin.
The only vestige left today of this
pioneer community is the old cemetery,
which still serves the area. Lettering
above the gate reads “Stanford Chapel
1875” and an official Texas State Historical
Marker stands nearby commemorating
the founders and its history.
Richie St. Chapel, entry to Stanford Chapel Cemetery.
58 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

RIESEL
C OMPILED BY J. DOUGLAS G UTHRIE, JR .
Riesel is in southeastern McLennan
County at the intersection of FM 1860 and
State Highway 6 on the Missouri Pacific
Railroad 14 miles southeast of Waco.
The Houston and Texas Central Railway
built a section house called Roddy on the
site about 1880. A number of German
families settled in the community, and in
1890 W. H. Riesel built a gin there. A post
office called Prospect was opened in the
community in 1890. The following year
the name of the post office and community
was changed to Riesel, after the man
who owned the gin.
In 1895 Riesel Independent School
District was established, and by 1896 the
community had grown to include a hotel,
two general stores, one dry goods store, two
groceries and two lumberyards. The town
newspaper, The Riesel Breeze, was founded in
1896 and later renamed The Riesel Rustler.
The town’s population in 1900 was
268. A bank was opened in the community
in 1906 and a second in 1910. By 1914
Riesel had Lutheran, Methodist, Christian
and Baptist churches. In 1930 it had 420
residents and 20 businesses. The Texas
Department of Agriculture established an
experimental station just east of the community
in 1940. That year Riesel had 433
inhabitants, a school, two churches and
22 businesses. The population slowly
grew over the years from 403 in 1950,
691 in 1980 and 839 in 1990.
In the mid 1950s Texas Power and
Light Company established and operated
a large hydro-electric generating plant at
Lake Creek, just west of Riesel. This plant
is still in operation. As of 2000 the city
had two police officers, a chief of police
and volunteer fire department and the
population was 973.
First Baptist Church in Riesel.
PHOTO BY ALESSIA BROWN.
Friedens Evangelical and Reformed United Church of Christ (left) was founded in 1904 by eight German families. A Texas Historical Marker in front of Friedens Evangelical and
Reformed United Church of Christ (right).
PHOTOS BY ALESSIA BROWN.
Chapter 30 ✦ 59

The Robinson Academy building.
ROBINSON
C OMPILED BY H AL P LEDGER
According to archeologists, the land
that was to become Robinson was
inhabited more than eleven thousand
years ago by hunter/gatherers who
were ancestors of the Tonkawa
Indians. Witchita tribes moved in from
Oklahoma about 1700 and by the
time Europeans began arriving, some
Caddo and Delaware Indians were also in
the area.
JOHN ROBINSON FAMILY
In 1852 John Robinson came to the
area 6 miles south of Waco on Flat
Creek, bringing his wife Sophia, four
sons and five slaves. They came from
Demopolis, Alabama, and were of
Scotch-Irish descent.
Robinson amassed approximately
2,000 acres, some through certificates
of relocation and some through
purchase at $1 to $5 an acre. He had
500 acres in cultivation and 1,600 acres
in pasture with cattle. The land was
part of the O’Campo Mexican Land
Grant and is now known as the
J. W. Mann farm. He built a cedar log
cabin, a log church for Presbyterian
services, and an 18-by-18-foot oneroom
log school with a fireplace in
the center.
Robinson’s brother, Levi Robinson, his
wife Eliza and son Austin followed John to
Central Texas in 1854, building a house
nearby. A young teacher by the last name
of Moore was hired to teach in the log
schoolhouse. He lived with the Robinson
families and was paid $20 per month.
In 1860 John Robinson built a
larger school building, and a man with
the surname of Goodrich was hired as
the first teacher, followed by Professor
F. H. Rogan, who also served as
the Presbyterian minister. About one
hundred students attended the school,
with some coming from other areas and
boarding with the Robinson families.
60 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

FORMING THE TOWNSHIP &
EARLY COMMERCE
Reverend John Strauss.
AFRICAN- AMERICAN
COMMUNITY
In 1865, when John Robinson freed his
slaves, he deeded 4.8 acres for a school and a
church for the African-American community.
The school erected was called Post Oak
Academy, and a man by the surname of
Dorsey was one of the first teachers.
In 1866, St. Paul’s Missionary Baptist
Church was formed and built next to the
school. It is the oldest continuously
running church in Robinson. It was
relocated in 1881 and remodeled in 1933.
Some of the early African-American
residents included: Levi (January 31,
1888–March 28, 1974) and Savannah
Jackson (1895-1967); M. J. (Mugg)
Johnson, (May 16, 1865–January 23,
1959); Walter Jackson; Abe James; Tom
Bonner; Mary Willie Bonner; Elisha Bonner
(April 11, 1859-December 30, 1919);
Fannie Bonner Price, who was born in
slavery and died June 2, 1957; Arthur
Jackson; John Jackson, who was born
August 19, 1893, and was a private in
World War I, died February 25, 1968; Ed
McDaniel; John Bilton; Henry Harkey;
Carley Doarsey; the Williams family
(Lizzie, 1868-1956; Robert, May 15, 1898-
April 3, 1970; Arvella, June 20, 1898-June
14, 1974).
In 1866, Ed Robinson, John Robinson’s
son, built a cedar log building and opened
a general merchandise store.
John Robinson deeded his sons,
Henry, Joseph L., Edward, James Reed
and Richard Arthur his land in 1867.
They divided 171 acres into four-acre
homesteads, and filed a plat with
McLennan County in 1873. This was a
six block by seven block grid, with 42
four-acre blocks and a row of lots
along Flat Creek. At this time, the
Robinson brothers also named the
streets. The township was six blocks
deep, bordered by Shamrock on the
north and Ward Street on the south.
It was seven blocks wide, bordered by
Old Robinson Road on the west with
the eastern border over seven blocks.
In a two-block area, bordered by Stegall
Drive and Tate Street, on Old Robinson
Road, was the business district. A
blacksmith shop, a doctor’s office, a
meat market, two stores and a shortlived
saloon were all part of this
district.The last blocks were never cut,
and the town ends at the road to
Robinson Cemetery. Block 35 was set
aside for the original cemetery, one block
was set aside for the Presbyterian
Church, and block 42 was set aside for
the African-American community.
CEMETERIES
The first burial in the Robinson
Cemetery was in 1851. The Fletcher
Cemetery is located on the south side of
Robinson on State Highway 77. The first
burial was in 1868, when early settler
Sample Carrigan was interred in an
unmarked grave. The graveyard was
mostly a family cemetery for the Carrigan,
Needham and Harris families, until
Catherine Carrigan Fletcher donated
three acres for a public cemetery in 1873.
Seventeen veterans of the Civil War are
buried there.
Reverend Krueger.
EUROPEAN SETTLERS
A list of pioneer families of European
heritage include Captain William F. Hague,
D. R. and L. B. Estes, William G. Evans, J.
F. and D. F. Abernathy, W. E. Stovall, M. E.
Stegall, F. H. Rogan, W. G. Daniels, Nelson
and E. F. Thomasson, A. B Daughtrey, N. R.
Harris, Thomas J. Andrews, J. H. McKee,
T. L. Hobbs, B. F. Gassaway, J. H. Tinsely,
William Cornforth, D. G. Abernathy, A. J.
McMurry, L. B. Foster, H. L. Quinius, John
Strauss, A. B. Denison, and John P. Majors.
Dr. Mabry T. Cox, Dr. J. A. Metcalf, Dr.
J. C. Woods, and Dr. T. J. Everett were all
early physicians in Robinsonville.
On December 4, 1874, the Reverend
Samuel King and 21 former members
of the First Presbyterian Church of Waco
organized Robinsonville Presbyterian
Church. Within five days, 25 members
joined, and by 1877 there were
71 members.
Henry and Herman Staas came from
Germany about 1882, and were so pleased
with the land and opportunities that they
wrote back to their friends, who began
arriving. The German influx was due
partly to the good reports from the Staas
family, and part to unrest in Germany.
Families did not like their sons
conscripted into the army at age fourteen.
Chapter 31 ✦ 61

Families were sponsored by German
settlers who came before them. When a
family came from Germany, after docking in
Galveston, they would make their way to
Robinsonville. The immigrants had already
been in contact with their sponsoring
family, who helped with the selection and
purchase of land as well as first year
expenses. From 1879 to 1884, seven
families and two single men had moved to
Robinsonville from the area of Hunteburg,
Hanover, Germany. Fred Williams and
Henry Schaeper, Fred and Henry Frese,
William Kettler and Herman Rueter were
some of the early German settlers.
In 1884, Reverend Christian E. Schaer,
pastor of Zion Church in Waco, helped
in the formation of an Evangelical
congregation, which was part of the
German Evangelical Synod in North
America. The worship services were held
in the homes of the members until the
Presbyterian Church offered the use of
their church. In 1890 the first place of
worship was built. The services were held
in German. In 1900 the first resident
pastor, Reverend John Strauss was called,
and he served the congregation until 1940.
EDUCATION
Robinson School.
In the spring of 1888 some trouble in
the public school caused the principal to
resign. John Strauss, who had previously
The first basketball team in Robinson.
62 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

taught at the first public schools in both
Hewitt and Lorena, was hired to fill out the
unexpired term. The schoolhouse was the
Grange Building. On the night of May 8, a
tornado completely destroyed the building.
There was no storm in Robinson that night,
and the path of the twister was 100 feet
wide, and touched down only one half
mile. There was no material left to use on a
new building. The remainder of the school
term was held in a nearby rent house.
In the fall of 1888 some citizens formed a
stock company and chartered the Robinson
Graded School with “Professor” John Strauss
the head. In 1891 the private and public
schools separated. In 1898, “Professor”
Strauss bought out the other stockholders,
and the private school became the Robinson
Academy. He expanded both the curriculum
and the building (allowing room for
boarders). It was considered a finishing
school, the equivalent of a junior college
today. In 1922, “Professor” Strauss sold the
Academy and 11 acres of land to the
Evangelical Synod of North America to
ensure the continuation of the school. It
burned in 1928, and was never rebuilt.
THE RAILROAD
The San Antonio and Aransas Pass
Railroad passed by the present day eastern
Herman and Martha (Frosch) Kettler.
border of Robinson. The railroad was
built from Yoakum (in south Texas near
Victoria) to Waco some time between
1887 and 1891. Originally chartered in
1884, it eventually had 849 miles of track.
MURDER LEADS TO LYNCHING
A very dark chapter of Robinson’s history
began around sundown on May 8, 1916.
Lucy Fryer, wife of a well-respected cotton
farmer, was found bludgeoned to death at
the doorway of the farm’s seed house. Jesse
Washington, a retarded, illiterate seventeenyear-old
African-American, who lived in
one of the tenant houses on the farm,
confessed to the rape and murder. The
confession he signed included language
of an educated person, not of a
“feebleminded” person who couldn’t read.
After four minutes of deliberation, a jury
found him guilty. Soon after, a lynch mob
of approximately two thousand dragged
him from the jail, a chain was placed
around his neck and he was dragged to a
tree where he was hauled up by the chain.
When he tried to hold the chain, his fingers
were cut off. He was then burned, and his
remains put in a gunny sack, taken to
Robinson and hung in front of a shop.
A young woman, Elizabeth Freeman,
was sent by W. E. B. Du Bois of the NAACP
magazine The Crisis, to investigate the event.
Her reports, complete with photos kicked
off the young organization’s anti- lynching
campaign and helped the rise of the NAACP.
In 1934 the African-American school
burned and was never rebuilt. Because of
segregation, the African-American students
then went to either the African-American
school in Rosenthal or Waco.
POSTAL SERVICE
The first church in Robinson, St. Paul’s Missionary Baptist Church.
The first post office in the area was
named Hague, but was changed to
Robinson on January 14, 1879. The post
office continued until 1906, when the
mail service was transferred to Waco.
Robinson was called Robinsonville for
about the first hundred years of its
existence. The town was incorporated in
1955 under the name of Robinson.
In 1930, State Highway 77 was built,
splitting Robinsonville in half. Martha
Frosch Kettler remembers mules pulling
the slip graders used in the construction.
They were brought to the deep water well
in her back yard to drink. The well has
never gone dry.
Compiled with assistance from Martha
Frosch Kettler.
Chapter 31 ✦ 63

ROSENTHAL
C OMPILED BY C ARROLL P REWETT
Rosenthal was on State Highway 77
about four miles south of Robinson in
southern McLennan County near the
Falls County line. The area was settled in
the 1870s, and a school community
called Oak Grove was established on
Castleman Creek. By 1880 the main
focus of settlement had shifted slightly to
the south.
The new community is said to have
been named in 1880, when a dry goods
merchant named M. N. Rosenthal, a
native of Poland, offered a family a free
barrel of apples if they would name their
town after him. A post office, called
Rosenthal, was established in April 1888,
with Alonzo W. Starrs as postmaster.
By 1890 the community had two
churches, a steam gristmill, a cotton gin,
a general store and 75 residents. By 1896
the population had increased to 125.
County school records from 1896 indicate
that the Rosenthal district had 81
students and two teachers. The post office
was discontinued in 1907, and the mail
for the community was sent to Lorena. By
the 1930s the population of Rosenthal
had fallen to 55. A church, two businesses
and several residences marked the
community on highway maps in the
1940s. The Rosenthal school district was
consolidated with the Lorena I.S.D. in
1956. It reverted to its common school
district status in 1965 and was consolidated
with the Robinson I.S.D. in 1968.
The building remained in use until it was
closed in 2001.
The Rosenthal area was incorporated
into Robinson by the mid-1980s, and
today all that remains to mark where
the busy town of Rosenthal once thrived
is the abandoned school building, a
cemetery, a large storage building, a
small store, a tractor repair shop and
a residential area with approximately
200 houses.
The first car in Rosenthal.
Rosenthal School, 1916.
64 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

ROSS
C OMPILED BY J. DOUGLAS G UTHRIE, JR .
Ross is located on FM 3149 about 11
miles north of Waco. The community
began to form in the early 1870s when
the Texas Central Railway extended
its tracks from Waco through Ross. The
community got its name from the post
office that was established in the area in
1880 and named in honor of Lawrence
Sullivan Ross. The first postmaster was
Charles E. Kingsbury.
Children riding school bus in Ross.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION; BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
The community continued to grow
and by 1884 had a steam gristmill, cotton
gin, a general store, two churches, a
school and 50 residents. Ross also
established a school district in 1897, and
in 1914 Woodland and Bluff Springs
schools were consolidated into Ross.
The railroad continued to lay tracks
in and around Ross. In 1882 the Texas
Central Railway extended tracks from
Ross to Albany. The Missouri, Kansas and
Texas Railroad laid tracks from Hillsboro
to Taylor that passed a mile or so to the
east of Ross.
The Texas Central Railroad was
organized strictly for the transport of
Central Texas cattle, and Ross was
a gathering point for cattle being
shipped north. Despite the fact that
Ross had two railways running in and
near it, it never grew into a large
commercial area. In the 1920s the
population was 25.
In 1929 the Houston and Texas
Central Railway abandoned part of its
track between Ross and Waco, and in
1967 abandoned the remaining tracks.
In the 1960s the population did rise to
100 after State Highway 81 was turned
into Interstate Highway 35 bringing
more business to the community.
Residents voted in 1980 to
incorporate with a reported population
of 231. The population in 2000 was 228.
In 1976 the Ross school district was
consolidated with West Independent
School District.
Chapter 33 ✦ 65

SANDTOWN
C OMPILED BY R OBERT G AMBOA
Sandtown was a Hispanic community
in South Waco dating back to the early
1900s. The community was mostly
inside the west bank of the Brazos River
up through Mary Avenue and Jackson
Avenue to South Second Street and
across Jones Avenue (a few blocks from
Interstate Highway 35).
No one knows for sure how the area
came to be known as Sandtown. One theory
is the name is based on the location
near the Brazos River. The river contained
loose dirt and sand that would blow
through the air whenever there was a
strong wind.
Sandtown’s population was mostly
Mexican-American immigrants. Businesses
in the area included grocery stores, auto
garages, a cemetery, barbershop, taverns,
an Assembly of God mission and a night
club called “The Blue Moon,” which was
also known as a gambling Hall.
Even though Sandtown was not a
location for many large businesses, it
did include the Sunbright Paper Co.,
three meat-packing plants and one major
slaughterhouse, Rutland’s Meat Packing.
Sandtown existed through the mid
1970s when it was wiped out by the
federal Urban Renewal Project that
began around 1958 and terminated in the
mid 1970s.
Families with names of Gonzales,
Martinez, Bravo, Gamboa, Serrano and
Perez to mention a few came together in
2004 to explore the history of Sandtown
through an effort by the Waco History
Project. The ongoing historical documentation
has developed a strong sense of
pride of what was the original beginning
of the Hispanic community in Waco.
Outreach efforts on behalf of the Texas
Collection at Baylor University have also
stirred interest for official recognition as
an important area of Waco’s past.
SOUTH BOSQUE
Neil McLennan left the Isle of Skye
just off the coast of Scotland for the New
World in 1801. McLennan,* 24, along
with his “old mother,” two brothers, a
sister and their families settled first in
North Carolina. They later migrated to
Spanish Florida, joining and settling with
a colony of families. From Florida the
colony of settlers, sailed by schooner, to
Mexican Texas, landing near the mouth
of the Brazos River.
In the fall of 1835 the group of
settlers made their way by land up the
river corridor. Eventually, the colony
settled south of what would later
become McLennan County. These were
troublesome times because this was
Indian territory, and Indians actively
destroyed unprotected settlers, especially
during each full moon.
In 1839, Neil McLennan joined with
the surveying parties of George B. Erath.
More time was required fighting Indians
than work related to surveying. The
C OMPILED BY A NITA W ARD R OLF
66 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

surveying party moved northward
through Waco Village and the Bosque
River valley. McLennan liked what he saw
of the beautiful Bosque valley, thought it
had potential and made his home there.
MCLENNAN MAKES HOME
IN INDIAN TERRITORY
Six years later, in l845 McLennan was
again surveying in the area and got Erath
to survey 320 acres of land, in part along
the South Bosque River, to which he
eventually obtained title. McLennan built
a double log cabin with a “dog-run” on
the South Bosque River. His was not the
first home of a white settler in the area,
but most certainly the first built west of
the Brazos River in what was considered
at that time to be Indian territory.
McLennan continued to acquire land
holdings and it was most probably on
some of his land holdings, or certainly in
the close vicinity, that South Bosque,
Texas, became a community during the
1850s. The town was located on the
South Bosque River just south of present
day State Highway 84.
This was a fertile agricultural
community. Cotton farming and cattle
ranching became the principal
livelihood. Free range cattle, sheep,
horses, deer and buffalo were part of the
settler’s way of life. Fences were built to
keep animals out, not in. McLennan
owned the first recorded brand in the
county, being an “M.”
COMMERCE
In the 1870s, G. H. Hammond built a
store, a gristmill and a cotton gin. About
the same time the Grimm Academy
opened. The academy emphasized music
and a band was formed with Grimm’s
son as band director. Musical programs
were provided for the community.
The academy, however, never gained
much prominence.
The South Bosque post office was
established on October 25, l872.
Solomon M. Johnson was appointed
postmaster. That same month on October
7, land was deeded from S. Aquilla and
Dilly Jones for the establishment of a
church, schoolhouse and cemetery. The
deed states that the property be used by
the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians
and Christians and “for no other
purposes.” As recently as the early 1950s
the Methodists and the Baptists were still
having services on alternating Sundays
following Sunday School classes taught
by the same teachers each Sunday.
THE RAILROAD
In 1882 the Texas and Saint Louis
Railway (also known as the Cotton Belt
Railroad) laid track connecting Waco
with Gatesville and passing through
South Bosque. A railroad stop station
was established. During World War I,
the train carrying soldiers stopped on
occasion and soldiers in uniform would
get off and walk around to the delight
of the children and the community.
The town was located in a rather
deep and narrow valley along the river.
Business thrived along the South Bosque
River. By 1890 there was a general
store, a steam cotton gin, a gristmill, a
brickyard, several houses and more
than one saloon.There were 20 residents.
Most of the improvements were subject
to flooding and unfortunately, in 1890,
a bad flood came. The community,
however, did recover.
In 1895 the South Bosque School
District was one of nine districts
established out of the very large Coke
School District. There were 48 students
and one teacher at South Bosque School
in 1896.
Around the turn of the century, just
north of the community, Colonel William
Prather, while boring for water, hit oil at
a depth of about 250 feet. Though the
field was never very productive, it was a
small economic boost for the local
economy. Within a decade there were
two or three general stores, a cotton gin,
a brickyard, gristmill, blacksmith shop,
three doctors and a baseball team,
school, railroad station and post office.
People from the surrounding countryside
came to town to trade with businesses
and for the social activities.
Floods came to the area again in 1913
and 1917. During this time the town
moved eastward from the river a short
distance to a higher elevation and rebuilt.
In 1918, the post office was discontinued
and mail delivery then came from Waco.
EARLY SETTLERS
Early settlers included the families of
J. H. Haley, Neil McLennan, J. H. Hanns,
Squire Acquilla Jones, G. H. Hammond,
J. N. Crain, James Black, Sandefur, and a
little further west Henry J. Caufield, and
J. T. Cavitt.
In 1947 the South Bosque
Independent School District consolidated
with the Hewitt Independent School
District and became Midway Independent
School District. There were 203 students
and 11 teachers that year. The first school
building was located about halfway
between the two towns. Through the
years, with good leadership, strong
academic emphasis, parental and community
support and good student participation,
the district has gained a reputation
for excellence.
With the consolidation of the two
school districts in the late 1940s, and the
planned enlargement of Lake Waco in the
1950s and1960s when many homes and
businesses had to be relocated, the
community dwindled. The South Bosque
town today no longer exists. There is a
bronze marker on the site of the old
South Bosque School. The marker was
placed there in 2007 by former students.
When the school was torn down, the
bricks were cleaned and then used to
build a brick home on the exact site at
756 Church Road.
Today the community is a suburb
of Waco.
* For whom McLennan County is named.
Chapter 34 ✦ 67

SPEEGLEVILLE
C OMPILED BY N ELL B UICE B ARTON
Two years after Texas became a republic
in 1836, Israel Washington Speigle
formed a wagon train in Tennessee with
several of his brothers and his wife’s family
members to move to Texas. In 1845 Texas
was admitted to the union and McLennan
County became very inviting.
In 1849 Israel Washington (called
Wash) Speigle was the fifth settler west
of the Brazos River in McLennan County.
He purchased 320 acres from Lee R. Davis
for $1 per acre. The land was located near
the Davis Creek, originally called Duck
Creek. The Davis Creek flows near the
Willow Grove Cemetery, behind the
village of Speegleville. It converges with
Speegleville Creek, which flows behind
the L. E. Buice cotton gin, in front of Dr.
Armstrong’s residence, and between the
Baptist and Methodist churches. The
Davis Creek had a flowing spring located
just below the Speigle log cabin.
Speigle held church services in his
home made of logs. In 1850 Speigle
donated land for the construction of a
church building, a small log structure
that was also used as a school. There was
also a cemetery plot in which the first
person buried was an African-American
slave who belonged to Speigle.
When the mail routes were established,
Speigle was appointed the first postmaster
for the Speegleville community on
May 27, 1879.
The log cabin used for church and school
was replaced by a two-room frame structure
in 1860. Louannah Speigle, Wash’s wife
and their son sold an acre of land to the
Baptist congregation for $100 and a new
church building was constructed in 1891.
The Mt. Zion Methodist Episcopal
Church South and the Greenwood
Methodist Episcopal Church South
organized into the Speegleville Methodist
Church in 1918. The first trustees were
A. W. Short, J. W. Clark, Nathan Lawson
and S. H. Thomas.
The first building was a tabernacle
constructed by the men of the church
near the east bank of Speegleville Branch.
Construction of a frame building was
completed around 1920.
The construction of Lake Waco in
1930 caused the church to be relocated. A
new building was built. A two-story
school was constructed in 1912 that was
replaced in 1948. In 1938 Speegleville
was a village of about 39 homes, three
grocery stores, a cotton gin, a blacksmith
Children and teachers at Speegleville school 1899.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION; BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
shop, a Methodist church and a Baptist
church. Dr. A. L. Armstrong was a physician
serving the community.
In 1962 Lake Waco was enlarged
requiring the village to move. The
original village now lies beneath its
waters. The Methodist church was
moved to its present location. The
Baptist church was replaced, and the
Speegleville cemetery is now located on
Interstate Highway 35 south of Waco.
Speegleville school was replaced with a
new brick structure with a gymnasium.
The village closeness and intimacy
seemed to be lost in the move. But in
the years following, Speegleville has
again grown in community unity. There
are approximately 1,500 to 2,000 homes
in Speegleville.
68 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Kendrick Home in Spring Valley in 2008.
SPRING VALLEY
C OMPILED BY H AL P LEDGER
Spring Valley is at the intersection of
FM 2416 and FM 2113, 14 miles southwest
of Waco, and 5 miles up the north
fork of the Cow Bayou from Lorena.
R. W. Lusk owned a large tract of land
called the Bell and Lusk farm, therefore
the post office that opened in May 1891,
with Tillman H. Knight as postmaster,
was called Lusk. The post office closed in
January 1892. The community then took
the name of the school that opened in
1878, Leroy. When the town of Leroy
was established in 1903 in northwestern
McLennan County, the school district
changed its name to Spring Valley. At that
time there were two stores, one owned by
a man with the surname of White, the
other by Ira Lumley. There were also
two churches—a Baptist and Methodist; a
blacksmith shop; and a gin known as
Padgitt’s gin located on the Knight farm.
The gin began in the 1880s and was run
by steam. A sixty-foot, hand-dug well
supplied the water. This gin closed, probably
due to competition from the White
gin that was located near the two stores.
In about 1903 the Hunter family
moved from South Bosque and bought
Lumley’s store. The Hunter family operated
the store for 66 years.
In 1933 Tillman H. Knight moved his
gin from Moody to Spring Valley, moving
it next to the Hunter Store. Knight died
suddenly in 1940 and his daughter ran
the gin until 1946 when it was sold to
H. B. (Buster) Warren.
In 1905 Meredith Kendrick and his wife,
Eddie Connally Kendrick (sister of Texas
Senator Tom Connally) built a Victorian
home on their cotton farm. They had eight
children, and the six-bedroom home had a
floored attic with windows on all sides
where dances were held. The family loved to
entertain, and called the home “The Do
Drop In,” and people did, and enjoyed the
gracious hospitality. Kendrick inspected
each bit of material that went into the house,
and it is still a solid, beautiful home.
Chapter 36 ✦ 69

THE CROSSING
C OMPILED BY C ULLEN S MITH
Texas won Independence from Mexico
in 1836 and President Mirabeau B. Lamar
called for an Expedition that would eventually
cross the North Bosque River near
China Spring on July 6, 1841.
The Texan Santa Fe Expedition was to
go to the Santa Fe (New Mexico) area in
order to expand Texas’ influence and
trade. No one on the expedition knew the
way or distance from Austin through central
and west Texas to their destination.
This was no small undertaking across
mostly uncharted land.
The expedition left Brushy Creek,
north of Austin, on June 21, 1841. There
were 320 people on the expedition
including a military force of 270 men, one
cannon, merchants with their goods,
other officials and observers, around 24
wagons drawn by teams of six to eight
pair of oxen, cattle for meat along the way
and additional oxen.
The expedition reached what is now the
southern boundary of McLennan County and
east of present day Moody around July 2. The
previous day, coming over a hill the men saw
buffalo as far as the eye could see. “Thousands
of these noble animals blackened the prairie.”
(Falconer). During their march across the
county the men also encountered wild mustangs,
bear, deer, Mexican hogs and antelope,
not to mention rattlesnakes and tarantulas.
The expedition proceeded generally
northeast to the North Bosque River after
fording the smaller South Bosque, Middle
Bosque and Hog Creek. They reached the
North Bosque on July 5. On July 6 they
wrote “the labour of crossing the river was
incredible.” The ascent was nearly perpendicular
and some 40 feet high. It took
20 yoke of oxen and about 50 or 60 men
to pull one wagon up the bank.
After this difficult day, the expedition
camped at a spring a few miles away. The
next day they headed for the Brazos River
at Childress Creek.
Fairly soon after the expedition made
their crossing, the area began to develop
and the crossing location was used
for years as a place to ford the river.
The crossing is known today as the
Eichelberger Crossing and has a modern
concrete bridge. A few feet away is the
abandoned steel bridge built around 1925
that is now a favorite fishing spot.
In 1991 the Texas Historical
Commission approved the crossing as an
official historic site.
Things didn’t go so well for the expedition
after the crossing in McLennan
County. Indian attacks, starvation and losing
their way resulted in their capture in
New Mexico and a bitter forced walk to
Mexico City. Although the expedition
passed through McLennan County, it, sadly,
never made it to the final destination.
The place where the Santa Fe Expedition crossed is known today as Eichelberger Crossing.
70 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

WALDO
C OMPILED BY V AN D. MASSIRER
Waldo is a small rural community
located approximately 8 to 9 miles
northwest of McGregor in western
McLennan County. In the late 1800s and
early 1900s, Waldo had a barber shop,
owned by Tom Davis, a post office, a
doctor’s office run by a Dr. Hall, and at
least one general store where sundry
items could be bought including wagon
parts and harnesses.
The first post office was established
May 9, 1892, with Samuel T. Caldwell as
postmaster. The post office was closed on
October 31, 1907 when mail delivery
began from McGregor.
Waldo was also a voting box. During the
1930s and 1940s, voting was done at the
Henry Schulte home, with Schulte as election
judge and John Bennett as assistant.
Although Waldo was officially a part of
the Tonk Creek School District, some of the
children, especially those who lived in the
western part of the community, attended
Coryell Church Grammar School. The Tonk
Creek School was located near Tonk Creek
and present-day FM 185 highway. The
school closed in the mid-1920s and consolidated
with Crawford.
From the beginning, people who lived
in Waldo were primarily farmers producing
cotton, corn and small grains. Surnames
associated with the community over the
years include Bennett, Burton, Buth, Davis,
Freyer, Hall, Hoehn, Holt, Kelton, Knight,
Lammert, Mansker, Nunley, Schmalriede,
Schulte, Steinke, Westerfeld and Wiethorn.
Compiled with assistance from Donna
Steinke Lammert, Ray and Helene Schulte
Westerfeld, and Mary Sue Davis Bass.
Chapter 38 ✦ 71

Street scene in West, 1890.
WEST
C OMPILED BY M IMI M ONTGOMERY I RWIN
The city of West traces its origins to
the formation of McLennan County on
January 28, 1850, by an act of the State of
Texas. It was one of four small settlements
located within this region (the others
being Waco Village, Erath and White
Rock) and was originally known as
Bould Springs.
Among the early settlers that followed
Neil McLennan up from the Nashville
colony and the first to the West area was
Isaac B. Cauble. For his service in the war
with Mexico in 1846, Cauble received a
grant of land. He chose a site near one of
several small flowing springs some 16
miles north of the Waco Village.
Cauble built a cabin about two hundred
yards south of the spring, located on property
now called Lake Park. This had been
the site of one of the many Indian camps
that dotted the fringe of the oak woods and
the valley of the Brazos River. As the buffalo
disappeared in the early 1850s, the
Indians also departed the region. Having
access to all the range for miles around,
Cauble, or Dock Cauble as he was known,
and his sons began raising horses and
cattle here.
BOULD SPRINGS
The Caubles were soon followed by other
pioneers into northeastern McLennan
County. The family of J. T. Wills settled about
a mile north of the Cauble’s cabin. Carey
Boulds built a small cabin near another
spring two miles east of the Cauble cabin and
adjacent to the present southern limits of
West. Very little is known about the Boulds
family. Within a few years they sold their land
and moved elsewhere, but by 1850 the
spring and the immediate area were referred
to as Bould Springs or Bold Springs.
In the early 1850s, the settlers of Bould
Springs were attracted by the availability of
both woodlands and blackland prairie. A
sufficient number of people lived in the
vicinity of the springs to justify the establishment
of a post office on October 4, 1850.
The postmaster was William D. Eastland.
The location of the post office was moved
several times during the first 15 years of
operation. When postmaster Richard D.
McCrary (June 23, 1852) and John F. Dunn
were employed, the post office was located
at the home of Jenny Lewis, about two miles
south of the present community of West.
The stage that ran from Waco to the Dallas-
Fort Worth communities stopped there to
change horses. In 1855 the post office was
moved to the small White Oak Community
with Alberto Vaughn as postmaster. During
the Civil War, it was located at the home of
the postmaster, Frederick MaKaig.
UNIVERSITY LAND
In 1856 the Texas Legislature designated
a large section of northeastern McLennan
County as University Lands. The proceeds
from the sale of these lands were used to set
up endowments to support public schools,
the University of Texas and institutions for
the blind, deaf, insane and orphaned. This
land sold for a $1 to $2.50 per acre.
The pioneers were drawn to this land
because of its excellent agricultural potential
and reasonable price. Among the earliest
families were: James T. Russell (1854);
Cornelius S. Ingraham (1854); Patrick
Martin (1855); Thomas W. McGhee (1855);
Matthew Bates (1855); Walter Wade Bennett
(1856); William C. Hurlock (1857); William
W. Glasgow (1858); Jacob Clausner (1859);
and William W. Westmoreland (1860).
72 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Alberto Vaughn, pioneer farmer and
postmaster, was instrumental in organizing
Bold Springs Missionary Baptist
Church, the only church in northeastern
McLennan County in 1858. It is not
known for certain who the first pastor
was, but Dr. J. J. Riddle, both a physician
and a preacher, held the post in 1860.
Bold Springs became the first gathering
place for the area. In addition to religious
services, the principal community
activities, according to James L. Cauble,
son of the first settlers, were horse racing
and dancing.
As the Civil War began, many of the
male residents left their homes to join the
ranks of the Confederate Army, and further
immigration was suspended. The 1860
census of McLennan County listed Bold
Springs as the second largest community
in the county with a population of 311.
THOMAS M. WEST
Between 1860 and 1882 the community
gradually coalesced around the area that was
to become the town of West. In the late
1860s Confederate veteran Thomas M. West
established a stagecoach stop, a dry goods
store and he became the postmaster. In 1872
he purchased 260 acres of land that later
became a significant part of the town layout
for a business community and stop on the
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway (M-K-T). By
1882 the southern line of the M-K-T ran
through the town site. On the official plat
map filed in the McLennan County Clerks
Office in Waco on January 4, 1882, the area
was designated West and appeared as such
on all official deed records.
THE RAILROAD
The M-K-T Railway created considerable
interest in the West community. It
afforded new job opportunities for local
residents hired to assist in the construction.
The land adjacent to the railroad was
subdivided into lots and sold to land speculators
and local people for development.
Businesses along the railroad flourished.
The Gerik Family Orchestra, c. the 1920s.
The railroad also created an influx of professional
people to serve the needs of the
area. In 1882 Drs. A. L. Wylie and S. E.
Snodgrass provided medical care to the
community. In the same year the post office
and the Missionary Baptist Church were
relocated to West from Bold Springs. In
1883 T. M. West opened a general store on
his property adjacent to the M-K-T Railway.
While the Anglo-Protestant community
of West continued to develop, a new
wave of European immigrants flocked to
American shores. These new settlers had a
profound effect on the sociological and
economic character of West.
CZECHS & GERMANS
CALL WEST HOME
Most of the immigrants who made their
way to West were Czechs and Germans.
The Czechs came to the United States
from Bohemia and Moravia in the Austro-
Hungarian Empire of the Hapsburgs, and
the Germans came from the kingdoms of
Hanover, Prussia and Bavaria.
Both Czechs and Germans first established
themselves in communities near
West with the principal settlements being
in Tours (St. Martinsville) and Gerald.
The first known Czech settlers to the area
were Martin Cvikel, his wife and two children.
They homesteaded five miles east
of West in 1867. They were followed
between 1872 and 1874 by the families
of Leopold Skrehot, Frank Urbanovsky,
John Fojt, Frank Soukup, Vaclav Masek,
and John Stanislav.
In 1872 Detrich Blume was the first of
the German pioneers to arrive. The following
summer, wagon trains came from
Illinois with the families of Edward and
John Deiterman, Clemens Uptmor, and
Frank Debendner as well as two single men,
George Busher and George Hirshfeld. They
were soon joined by August Groppe,
George Kramer, J. A. Komel, A. C. Wendorf,
and Ernest Willenborg.
By the time the railroad entered the area
in 1882, all of the University Lands had been
taken, but the flood of German and Czech
immigrants continued. Without funds to
purchase land, many of them became tenants
or sharecroppers on the large farms and
ranches of the earlier Anglo-Protestant settlers.
After years of hard work and frugal living,
they fulfilled their desire to own land by
purchasing from their landlords, who began
to see bigger profits in real estate operations
and in cotton farming than in stock raising.
In 1889 flourishing farming conditions,
commerce related to the railroad, and the
Chapter 39 ✦ 73

Old Corner Drug Store.
influx of the immigrant population created
a boomtown mentality. In that year, Fred
and Abe Whipkey founded the first newspaper,
The West Weekly Times. It was affectionately
known as the “Voice of West.’’
By 1890, the first block of brick buildings
were completed by T. M. West. Before
this, all of the business houses were in
wooden frame structures. In the following
years, West founded the town’s first bank
and the West Lumber Company.
By 1892 the railroad-centered community
of West had become the dominant economic
and political unit in northeastern
McLennan County. An election to incorporate
West was held on June 11, 1892. The
first officers of the new city government were
elected on June 30, with Walter W. Morgan
serving as mayor. This incorporation resulted
in the establishment of vital municipal and
public utilities including: West Volunteer Fire
Department (1894); West Water Company
(1894); an electric company (1900), and
telephone services (1902).
At the turn of the 20th century, West
was a bustling town nearing 1,000 citizens.
Over 70 business houses with wooden
sidewalks lined the graded streets.
Numerous saloons encouraged a lively
town on weekends. Entertainment could
be found at the West Auditorium and the
Charles Jares Opera House. Side shows at
the common market grounds helped
encourage business on the trade days.
THE INTERURBAN
In 1912 a transportation milestone linked
West to the rest of the state. Newly elected
Mayor Barton B. Ingrahm led a group to
petition the Southern Traction Company
(operator of an electric railway from Dallas
to Waxahachie) to route an Interurban
through Hillsboro to Waco. The routes were
approved, construction began, and in
October 1913 Tommy Tucker turned on the
generators. A line running down Reagan
Street in West connected Waco with Dallas.
In 1915 West benefited by being on
the thoroughfare between Dallas-Ft. Worth
and Austin and San Antonio that was then
referred to as The Million Dollar Road. It
followed what is now Main Street in West.
By 1916 commercial development included
three banks, two newspapers, several
cotton gins, an oil mill, cotton mill and a
bottling plant. In 1917 the Liberty Theater
also opened. City fathers also appropriated
$13,000 for the construction of the current
West City Hall. In the next decade the
town gained a broom and mop factory, a
packing plant and a sausage works.
CHURCHES & SCHOOLS
During this growth period the religious
congregations also prospered. Baptists
(1858), the Evangelical and Reformed
German Protestants (1882), and the
Presbyterians (1883) were joined by congregations
of Methodists (1884), Church of
Christ (1886), Catholics (1892), and Czech
Moravian Brethern (1892). All built new
houses of worship. This ecclesiastical fervor
led to a corresponding concern with the educational
well-being of the young community.
In 1890 Professor William O. Allen
established a private institution called
Allen’s Academy. It included both elementary
and high school levels and a boarding
facility. After the city’s incorporation, Allen
led a successful drive for the establishment
of the West Public School System, and West
Elementary was constructed on Harrison
Street. It was expanded in 1905 and 1909
with the addition of grades 11 and 12.
The First Presbyterian Church.
Parochial schools were formed by the
Catholic communities in West—St. Mary’s
in 1892 and St. Martin’s in Tours in 1890.
Numerous community schools such as
Cottonwood, Leroy, Rodgers Hill and
Marak served the rural areas as one-room
facilities. Instruction at the parochial
schools was predominantly in Czech at
St. Mary’s and in German at St. Martin’s.
CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS
Civic-boosterism paralleled the development
of religious and educational institutions.
By 1910 a park, band pavilion and
fountain graced the downtown area of West.
Lodge organizations such as the Masons and
Woodman of the World were a focus of the
Anglo-Protestant culture. Germans attended
74 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

meetings of the Germania Club. Czechs
founded the S. P. J. S. T. (fraternal), Sokol
(athletic), and Slavie (literary) societies.
Gradually, the Czech and German population
achieved acceptance in community
life. J. R. Peter’s Staple and Fancy Grocery
and Saloon (1888) was soon followed by a
variety of small groceries, mercantile stores,
and blacksmith shops as well as the now
famous Nemecek Brothers Meat Market
(1896). By 1902 John Stanislav and Detrick
Blume were board members of the Brazos
Valley Cotton Mill. Of the business establishments
found in West in 1911, over onethird
were owned by Czechs and Germans.
Gathering outside a church in West. Date and church unknown.
Construction of St. Mary's Catholic Church of the
Assumption in 1903.
The immigrants’ success in commerce
was followed by entry into politics. The
first immigrant to hold public office was
Method Pazdral, city attorney from 1905-
1915, followed in 1919 by Mayor Protem
R. J. Marak.
West was unique in its celebration of the
Fourth of July. For a half-century the largest
picnic in the county was held on the
grounds of the S. P. J. S. T. Hall. Local and
state candidates addressed the crowds and
passed out campaign cards in both English
and Czech. Usage of the Czech language
was further encouraged with a Czech
(1909) supplement to the West News called
Westke Noviny. In 1920 August Morris and
Frank Muska formed the Czechoslovak
Publishing Company. It printed a magazine,
an almanac, and organizational literature in
the Czech language, in addition to a small
weekly newspaper in both Czech and
English called the Czechoslovak. Joe Holasek
joined the papers management in 1924 and
in later years merged the Publishing
Company to create today’s West News.
WEST FACES CHALLENGES
Several outside influences and internal
struggles contributed to a stagnation in
the city’s efforts toward continued expansion.
Turmoil caused by cotton price fluctuation
and speculation in 1912-1914 was
followed by America’s entry into World
War I and the subsequent rise in suspicion
of foreign-born immigrants. And the 1918
statewide prohibition laws followed by the
adoption of the 18th Amendment dealt a
blow to West’s liquor and saloon business.
By the mid-1920s several groups formed
uniting both Anglo-American and Czech-
German elements of the community in an
effort to halt the town’s reversal of fortune
and re-energize the population. Farmers’
organizations promoted fairs and trade days;
the Chamber of Commerce was organized in
1926 to focus merchants’ efforts; and the
West Home Demonstration Club involved
women in community efforts. As a result,
Borden’s Milk built a cooling plant; the West
Flour Mill expanded to support a growing
poultry industry; automotive dealerships
sprang-up; and a small airport was located
two miles west of town. Bond elections
funded street and municipal improvements
(natural gas and a sewer system). School district
taxation resulted in a freestanding high
school and a separate school (Dunbar) for
the African-American population was established.
In 1927 West schools were rated as
17th highest in the state.
This brief period of optimism turned to
uncertainty again as the Great Depression
hit the country in 1929. Business activity
slowed, one bank was forced into insolvency,
but no store or industry closed its doors.
The remaining banks worked with farmers
to extend loan payments. Businesses chose
to lower wages and reduce working hours
to stay in operation.
Chapter 39 ✦ 75

WEST DURING WWII
World War II interrupted the slow
recovery of the community. Hundreds of
young men answered the call to arms,
many serving in the famed 36th Division.
A heavy bomber named The City of West
was dedicated to the citizens of the community
for their support of war efforts.
Mayor George Kacir encouraged post-war
development including the expansion of the
West Flour Mill, building of the West Twine
Mill, attracting a garment plant and the
extension of the phone system to rural areas.
Two of West’s most enduring institutions
of family-fun appeared at the end of
the 1940s. First was the Dulock family’s
Playdium entertainment complex with a
spring fed-pool, snack bar and a dancing and
roller skating center. This was followed in
1947 when the newly established West Fair
and Rodeo Association sponsored a sporting
competition and parade that is still a tradition
on the second weekend in August.
RESIDENTS LEAVE FOR
BETTER OPPORTUNITIES
These positive developments were not
enough to deter the movement of a large number
of people away from the community.
Returning veterans migrated to larger cities in
search of better jobs and educational opportunities.
Young people were compelled to seek
jobs elsewhere after finishing high school.
Increased operating costs and decreasing
incomes on small farms forced many farmers
to sell to bigger operations. Fortunately,
improved transportation systems, an expressway,
and paved farm-to-market roads helped
to enable those who remained in West to commute
to jobs in the Waco and Hillsboro areas.
As employment patterns changed, the
school system in West and the surrounding
areas addressed the demographic shift
through consolidation of rural schools and
the implementation of busing to a central
campus. By the end of the 1960s, integration
had occurred and under the leadership
of Superintendent M. F. Kruse the district
enrollment surpassed 1,000 students.
Population shifts that had affected education
and employment also dealt a blow to
the town’s family-run business district.
Accessibility to a broader market (Hillsboro,
Waco, Dallas and Ft. Worth) forever
changed consumer behavior and the town.
CAPITALIZING ON
“ CZECHNESS”
West could have become another sleepy
exit off of I-35, but its “Czechness” coupled
with an entrepreneurial plan kept this
from occurring. The designation as the
Czech Point of Texas was the result of a
renewed appreciation of a unique heritage
and the promotion of a food product specific
to the town’s culture—the kolache.
The kolache craze started in 1952 when
W. O. and Georgia Montgomery opened
Texas’ first All-Czech Bakery on Oak Street
in downtown West. The venture proved successful
and encouraged others to open shops
in West, and other Czech communities.
A group of citizens expanded this kolache
success story into the idea of a total Czech
experience. In 1976, under the leadership of a
seven-member board of directors (Sue Pescaia,
president) and the support of the City Council
(Adolph Muska, mayor), Westfest was born.
Over 30 years later, it has grown into an annual
Labor Day weekend event. Approximately
35,000 people converge upon the town to
enjoy a unique blend of culture, dance and
food. In tribute to the town that started it all,
West was designated “The Kolache Capital of
Texas” by the State Legislature.
The marketing of West as the Czech-
Point of Texas has had an effect in terms
of revenue, community recognition and
economic development. Thousands of
people travel daily through West on the
I-35 corridor. Businesses frequented along
that corridor include the internationally
recognized Czech Stop and Czech Inn.
West was recently designated a Texas
Main Street City. Businesses along Main and
Oak Street include The Czech-American
Restaurant, Sulak’s Cafe, The Old Corner
Drug, Nemecek’s Meat Market, Snokhous
Blacksmith Shop and the Groppe Building.
The population in West as of the 2000
census was 2,692. The town currently has
a community center, library, a new V. F. W.
Post 1819 and the Westfest and West Fair
and Rodeo Association Grounds.
Prominent men of West, first row, left to right: S. B. Jones, J. M. Moore, S. L. Makaig, W. R. Thompson. Second row:
C. C. Clayton, B. B. Ingraham, W. C. Hurlock, T. M. West (for whom the town was named). Third row: W. W. Glasgow,
Jake Denton, Josh King, W. M. Mauk, John Carpenter and Tom Bennett, February 13, 1909.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF BY J. F. HURTIK.
76 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Trains "shaking hands" before backing up.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO TEXAS.
THE CRASH AT CRUSH
C OMPILED BY M ICHAEL L. TOON
In the late summer of 1896, McLennan
County, Texas, possessed the largest city
in the state. It existed only one day, but
produced a wealth of history, legend, and
lore that survives in Texas to the present.
During the last decade of the nineteenth
century, railroads were the growth industry
of Texas and the Southwest. In an era of
fierce competition, the promise of rail service
was great. Trains moved mail, freight
and people at amazing speeds when compared
to other conveyances of the period.
Rail companies entering these new markets
actively sought the support of communities
in order to secure financial backing. All
companies used various promotions to
secure their goals, but in the late summer of
1896, one company would hold the entire
nation’s attention as it sought to publicize
itself in a spectacle never before seen.
The company was the Missouri, Kansas
and Texas Railway (M-K-T), a relatively new
player in the opening of the Southwest to rail
service. The railway planned a public relations
stunt that would see two obsolete M-K-T
locomotives smash head-on into each other at
a combined speed of over 80 miles per hour.
In the summer of 1896, Frank Rouse,
president of the M-K-T, somewhat reluctantly,
gave William George Crush, general
passenger agent for the Katy Line, permission
to carry out one of the most stunning
publicity stunts of the nineteenth
century. Mr. Rouse gave Crush the goahead
to run two surplus Katy locomotives
into each other at full speed.
PREPARATIONS
Crush selected a long straight valley,
which ran due north and south, about 16
miles north of Waco for the site of his
“Monster Crash.” Both ends of the track
sloped upward and would give added
impetus to both engines. Gently rolling
hills rose from either side of the tracks to
form a natural amphitheatre. The event
would be held on September 15, 1896,
near the Czech community of West, Texas,
in McLennan County. Crush set 500 men
to work constructing a 2,000-foot-long
wooden platform next to the tracks to disembark
visitors expected to arrive by special
train. The site was named Crush,
Texas, in honor of its creator.
Crush tried to provide all the comforts
a crowd would need during the day of the
event. Concession rights were awarded to
Leo Wollson of Dallas, who built dozens of
lemonade stands. A circus tent was borrowed
from Ringling Brothers Circus and
used as a restaurant. A dozen special waiters
were brought in from St. Louis to service
the huge tent. Smaller tents housed a
fiddle band, a medicine show, as well as a
carnival midway. A small grandstand for
visiting dignitaries was erected opposite
the point of impact. A photographers’
stand was built even closer to the expected
point of impact. On the morning of the
15th, eight tank cars filled with artesian
water would arrive from Waco. Lines with
spigots and attached cups would lead from
each tank car across the grounds. Although
no alcoholic beverages would be served at
the event, there was no prohibition against
consuming them. A temporary wooden jail
was built to hold pickpockets and drunks.
Sheriff John W. Baker and 200 temporary
constables were hired to keep the peace
and maintain safety.
Deane Photography of Waco contracted
for the exclusive photographic rights
to the event. The Deane brothers, Martin
and Jervis, planned on multiple camera
exposures to show the actual sequence
of the engines’ approach, collision, and
Chapter 40 ✦ 77

assured him that the locomotives’ boilers
would not burst upon impact.
Before the event, the trains arrived and
rehearsed for three days. They made practice
runs to determine the length of track
to be covered, the speed to be reached, and
the exact time and place for the engineers
to jump. A timber was driven into the
ground to mark the exact spot where the
collision would take place. Engine No. 999
was faster so it would travel a quarter mile
further to reach the point of impact. Each
of the trains to be crashed weighed over 35
tons and would have close to two miles to
reach top speed.
SEPTEMBER 15TH
Crush Special Excursion Ticket.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
aftermath. In addition to the still photographers,
Thomas Edison’s lab sent a man
with their new “Kinetescope” to perform
the first newsreel photography in Texas.
ADVERTISING
Bright red posters of trains colliding
were printed and posted along the Katy
Line on fences, barns and in store windows.
Mr. Crush visited the Katy repair
shops in Denison to choose the engines.
He selected two old, but well-maintained,
1869 Baldwin locomotives, No. 999 and
No. 1001, both with the old fashioned
diamond-shaped smoke stacks. No. 1001
was painted red with green trim, while
No. 999 was painted green with red trim.
Each engine received four boxcars. The
first two would serve as traveling billboards
for the event. The last two were
sold to advertise the Ringling Brothers
Circus and the Oriental Hotel of Dallas.
Several weeks before the event, the two
locomotives, with attached boxcars filled
with railway ties, steamed up and down
the Katy Line to give onlookers in various
towns a preview of the coming event.
Mr. Crush also consulted with railroad
engineers and mechanics to determine
what would happen when the collision
occurred. All, except one engineer,
The day dawned bright and sunny with
many spectators arriving before first light.
A total of 33 excursion trains, including all
available coaches owned by the Katy Line,
were routed to the site, some from as far
away as Kansas City and Chicago. The passenger
cars from Dallas were so crowded
that many had to ride on the roofs. The
cost to ride the excursion trains was $2 per
person. Northbound trains deposited their
fares at the site and then proceeded to
Hillsboro, where they parked for the day.
Southbound trains parked in Waco after
adding their charges to the growing crowd.
A reporter noted that the arriving trains
contained “a mix of people representing
every class and grade of society.”
By 10 a.m. there were over 10,000 spectators
present. It had been decided that there
would be no admission charge, since the
idea was to attract as many people as possible
to the spectacle. As the afternoon drew
on, families from the surrounding towns and
countryside arrived in wagons, buggies, and
on horseback to swell the crowd to an estimated
40,000 to 50,000 by 4 p.m.
The two locomotives slowly steamed
toward each other until they nearly
touched at the post marking the point of
impact. The crowd surged around engines,
photographs were taken, and speeches
given. The trains then slowly backed to
their starting positions as the constables
78 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

cleared the crowd back to the safety zones.
Rails were removed from behind each train
to prevent a runaway, in case one of the
engines jumped the track. Mr. Crush strode
to the point of impact and raised both
arms. He then shouted for the telegrapher
to flash the starting signal.
The crowd roared as the engineers
opened their throttles to start the suicidal
run of their iron horses. After tying down
the throttles, the crews waited for 16
exhausts from the smokestack, or four turns
of the drive wheels, then jumped to safety.
Small explosive torpedoes had been set
on the tracks after the trains had returned
to their positions. After the crews had
jumped from the engines, the crowd erupted
at the sight and sound of steam whistles
screaming, bells clanging, and torpedoes
exploding as the combatants headed for
their self-destruction. Some spectators
couldn’t stand the tension and turned away.
In less than two minutes the engines
reached the point of collision, only five or
ten feet from the timber driven into the
track, and collided with an earth shaking
roar. The locomotives appeared to rear up
on their hind wheels as their cars smashed
into each other with a loud splintering.
Seconds later, both boilers exploded and
filled the air with deadly shrapnel. A cloud
of steam and dust hung over the collision
as pieces of hot metal showered the area.
Pieces of iron weighing 200 pounds were
propelled hundreds of feet into the air.
Part of one of the smokestacks landed over
a quarter of a mile away. The destruction
was almost complete. Of the two engines
and 12 cars, only the badly battered end
cars from each train bore any resemblance
to railroad rolling stock.
The thousands of steel and iron fragments
from the explosion of the boilers
began returning to earth and casualties
began to mount. Screaming people began
to scatter to avoid the large pieces that
appeared to be heading in their direction.
The debris field would extend for hundreds
of yards in all directions. Earnest Darnell, a
teenager from Bremond, standing on the
limb of a mesquite tree, was struck in the
head by a length of brake chain, crushing
his skull. He never regained consciousness.
Roy Kendrick had an iron bolt pass
through his leg before it knocked a Mrs.
Overstreet unconscious. Dewitt Barnes of
Hewitt was reported to have been killed by
a piece of flying metal while standing
between his wife and another woman.
Jervis Deane, stationed very near the point
of impact, had a four-inch bolt driven into
the socket of his right eye. He required
immediate medical attention, as did a score
of other spectators. A number of doctors in
the crowd furnished first aid. Dozens of
others had minor injuries from the flying
debris. John Morrison of Ferris, Texas,
became the last fatality, when he fell under
the wheels of his excursion train as it left
the depot in West.
Before the wreckage finished falling,
the rubble was swarmed over by thousands
of souvenir hunters fighting over
the pieces of hot, razor sharp metal and
splintered wood. Everything that could
be carried off disappeared before the
cleanup crews could get started.
AFTERMATH
It was the largest crowd to gather in
Texas up to that time. William Crush was
fired that night by M-K-T officials, but
was rehired the next day after worldwide
attention focused on the event.
The stunt accomplished almost all that
the M-K-T had hoped for, though not
exactly in the way they had hoped.
William George Crush handled the many
claims against the M-K-T in what was
described as a “fair and quick manner.”
Jervis Deane reportedly received $10,000
and a lifetime railway pass for the loss of
his right eye. In less than 20 years, Crush
was the General Passenger Agent for the
entire Katy system. In 1925 he was
instrumental in bringing a Katy station to
his hometown of Highland Park. He
retired in 1940, but continued to meet
the passenger trains daily until his death.
POSTSCRIPT
Jervis Deane placed this ad in a Waco newspaper after recovering from his injuries.
THE TEXAS COLLECTION, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS.
A final note on the fatalities shows,
contrary to numerous published accounts,
there was only one fatality at the crash
scene. Earest Darnell, the young man from
Bremond, was killed while standing in a
mesquite tree. Dewitt Clinton Barnes of
Hewitt, mentioned in almost all newspaper
accounts as having been struck and
killed instantly while standing between
his wife and another woman may not even
have been at the event. He was actually
killed almost two years later in Waco.
While sitting in a buggy between his wife
and niece, he was struck in the head by
iron fragments from the firing of an anvil
during a carnival parade.
Chapter 40 ✦ 79

The Willow Grove community bordering
Speegleville, Texas, approximately
10 miles northwest of Waco, was founded
in 1871 by William “Buck” Manning,
son of a plantation owner, and A. W.
Crawford. Manning grew up to become
an overseer on the plantation that his
father owned.
Manning, Crawford and their families
journeyed to Texas as chattel with
their European owners from Shubuta,
Mississippi. Manning married Lucy
Ann, who was a house cook, and they
had nine children. Crawford was a
mulatto born in Mississippi. He married
Manning’s daughter, Harriett Manning.
They also had nine children.
Sometime after their migration to
McLennan County, Manning and his
family, or at least part of his family,
were in servitude at the Neil
McLennan plantation.
Pease Ross, the last male child
survivor of the Pease River Massacre,
was intrigued with a beautiful Negro
woman who was the daughter of an
ex-slave from the McLennan farm.
This was Texana Manning, daughter of
Buck Manning.
Pease Ross was a Comanche Indian
that was captured by Sul Ross at the
Pease River during the recapture of
Cynthia Ann Parker on December 17,
1860. Pease was raised on the Sul Ross
farm as part of the Ross family. He
accompanied Sul Ross in the Civil War to
take care of his horses. In 1879 Texana
and Pease celebrated the birth of their
son, Samuel D. Ross.
LAND OWNERSHIP
After the emancipation proclamation
was recognized in Texas June 19, 1865,
the Manning and Crawford families made
Valley Mills, Texas, their home.
WILLOW GROVE
C OMPILED BY D’OR N ELSON
Six years of prosperity and family
growth necessitated a move. They settled
in a place they named Willow Grove. The
area was filled with beautiful weeping
willow trees providing an atmosphere of
peace and solace.
Buck had the means to purchase this
land, but met tremendous opposition.
This opposition was solely based on his
skin color (African heritage) and not mitigated
by who his father was, or his one
time position as overseer.
Blacks and land ownership was not a
congruence suffered any longer after the
Texas Reconstruction era ended two
years earlier. In 1873 the new reforms
put in place by African-American and
white Republicans during reconstruction
were reversed. The old Black Codes were
reinstated—relegating African-American
employment to servant or field hand;
being arrested for verbal opposition
with whites; spending their own money
without permission; and unlawful assembly
(more than two blacks talking to
each other).
It was also known that in some places
there were ordinances that African-
Americans could not be land owners.
These families would not be defeated,
and their determination was demonstrated
by their ability to find ways around
the brutal hatred of the day.
Buck and A. W. agreed that the best
approach was to have A. W. purchase the
land since he had the appearance of a
caucasian. On October 17, 1874, A. W.
stood in for Buck and signed an “X” as his
signature for 320 acres from John A.
Cobb of the Sam M. Hornbeck survey.
On May 1, 1879, A. W. bought 100 of
the original 320 acres. They continued to
subdivide and sell or pass on parts of the
land by bequeathing acreage to other exslaves
and family members. The original
families that settled in the Willow Grove
area were R. G. Chavers, H. F. Eaves, Lee
Hamilton, Green McLennan and Hence
Roberson. The community spanned from
Speegleville Road to Crawford Highway
(FM 185) totaling approximately four
miles and over 500 acres of land
owned by people of African descent until
the 1900s.
During this time African-Americans
could not attend white churches nor
be laid to rest in white cemeteries. A. W.
and Buck understood the importance
of community, education, and selfsufficiency
not only for themselves
and family but ex-slaves in general.
In an effort to build community they
donated an acre each stipulating that
it would be for the church and
cemetery. This provided dignity, pride,
and a strong sense of extended family
membership to all ex-slaves in the
surrounding area.
Willow Grove Cemetery.
THE CEMETERY
The 1.91 acre cemetery is in the
Sam Hornbeck survey adjacent to the
Willow Grove community school and
church at 1639 Willow Grove Road. The
community still maintains an additional
one acre for the school and five acres
for the Willow Grove Baptist Church.
There is another acre described in the
G. W. Parr survey as “Willow Grove
80 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Colored Cemetery.” According to the
collective memory of the community
members this land has not been used for
burials or anything else. Future use of
this acre is unplanned at this time.
There are 1,209 recorded graves in the
Willow Grove Cemetery. It is the resting
place for many veterans of World War I,
World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam
War. Their ranks range from Private to
Sergeant First Class across all branches
of service.
The first burial in the Willow Grove
Cemetery was Dallas Gardner in 1880.
A. W. Buck, and the majority of the
first settlers are buried there as well.
It is also the burial site for Samuel D.
Ross, son of Pease Ross. Three of
Samuel’s daughters are still Willow
Grove residents and church members.
There are a number of unnamed
graves, many due to markers, rocks,
or posts that over time were lost
to weathering.
Willow Grove residents recognized a
need to put something in place to
help organize their burial plots and
to keep the area clean since the
community was increasing in population.
Therefore, on August 23, 1935, E. G.
McLennan planned the first meeting
and became the first president of
the group. Other officers were elected
and the mission was defined for the
Willow Grove Homecoming Club—later
renamed the Willow Grove Homecoming.
That mission was to maintain the burial
grounds and define guidelines for
interment of family and community
members. It was also decided that
each year the family members of
the community would assemble and
work in the cemetery to groom the plots.
The first homecoming gathering was
October 5-6, 1935.
The importance the community
placed on the Club further demonstrates
their commitment to Indian and African
heritages. The organization currently has
148 members and receives donations
annually. All proceeds are for the
Willow Grove Community Cemetery Historic Marker.
perpetual care of the cemetery and
additional land acquisitions necessary to
accommodate more plots.
What is not known about Willow
Grove descendants is which part of Africa
their forefathers came from, however,
they have shown that education,
independence, and American culture
assimilation were their driving forces
in 1871.
Chapter 41 ✦ 81

Woodway, once known as Woodway
Village, is adjacent to the southwestern
city limits of Waco between U.S.
Highway 84 and State Highway 6, in
west central McLennan County.
Woodway began as a small community
on U.S. Highway 84 in the late 1940s
and early 1950s. In 1947 the Hewitt and
South Bosque School Districts combined
to form the Midway School District. The
new district began as Class B in the Texas
Interscholastic League, but in a short time
grew to 4A. Midway maintained its small
school atmosphere and was soon considered
one of the premier school districts, thus
promoting the rapid growth of Woodway.
The community grew so rapidly that in
1955 residents voted to incorporate the
communities of White Hall, South Bosque
and Richie Switch as Woodway Village in
order to keep up with the demand for street
building and other public improvements. A
volunteer fire department was organized
the following year. The community became
the city of Woodway in 1973.
WOODWAY
C OMPILED BY J. DOUGLAS G UTHRIE, JR .
City of Woodway City Hall, 2010.
PHOTO BY LAUREN D. MICKENS.
A few businesses were located in
Woodway, but there were no industries;
most of the work force commuted to
nearby Waco. In 1960 the population
was 1,244. It grew to 4,819 in 1970 and
to 5,660 in 1980. In 1990 it was 8,695
and in 2000 it was 8,733.
Carleen Bright Arboretom, 2009.
PHOTO BY ALESSIA BROWN.
82 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

GOVERNORS WITH TIES TO MCLENNAN COUNTY
To date, McLennan County has dispatched four of its residents
to Austin to serve as governor.
Richard Coke
(March 13, 1829-May 14, 1897)
Fourteenth governor of Texas
Served from January 15, 1874, to December 1, 1876
Born in Williamsburg, Virginia, Coke moved to Waco and
began practicing law in 1850. He married Mary Horne of Waco
in 1852 and she bore him four children. He was a member of
the commission that removed the Brazos Reservation Indians
to the Indian Territory in 1859. Coke served in the Secession
Convention of 1861. He also served in the Confederate Army, rising
from private to captain. In 1866 he was elected Supreme
Court Justice. He was removed, however, in 1867 as an “impediment
to reconstruction,” according to Gen. Philip Sheridan.
Coke won the governor’s chair, but prior to taking office in
January 1874, his opponent in the election, E. J. Davis refused to
surrender his office and turned the capitol into an armed camp.
President Grant did not support Davis’ request for troops, therefore
he conceded and Coke took office.
Coke spent the bulk of his term restoring order after
Reconstruction. The optimism of the Coke era can be seen in his
Inaugural Address, where he said, “Let the hearts of the people
throb with joy, for the old landmarks of constitutional representative
government, so long lost, are this day restored and the
ancient liberties of the people of Texas re-established.”
Lawrence Sullivan Ross
(September 27, 1838-January 3, 1898)
Eighteenth governor of Texas
Served from January 18, 1887, to January 20, 1891
Richard Coke, 14th Governor of Texas.
Ross moved to Waco in 1849 where his father was a U.S.
Indian Agent on the Brazos Reservation. He attended Baylor
University in Independence, Texas, and graduated from
Wesleyan University in Alabama. He and his wife, the former
Lizzie Tinsley, had eight children.
Ross commanded the ranger company that recaptured
Cynthia Ann Parker in 1860.
Ross farmed in the Waco area until he was elected sheriff
of McLennan County in 1873. Prior to becoming governor,
Ross was a delegate to the
Constitutional Convention in
1875 and a state senator in
1881 to 1882. After the war,
he helped author the document
that governs Texas today,
the Constitution of 1876. He
won the governor’s chair in
1886 and was re-elected for a
second term. His priorities in
office were public education,
efficient handling of public
lands, tax reduction and railroad
regulation. In 1891 he
became the first president of Lawrence Sullivan Ross, 18th Governor
Texas A&M College.
of Texas.
Chapter 43 ✦ 83

Pat Morris Neff
(November 26, 1871-January 19, 1952)
Twenty-seventh governor of Texas
Served from January 18, 1921, to January 20, 1925
Pat Neff was born near McGregor. He worked on his father’s
farm and ranch growing up. He attended McGregor High School
and graduated from Baylor University in 1894. He also received
a degree from the University of Texas Law School in 1897 and
began practicing law in Waco that same year. From 1899 to 1905
he was the McLennan County representative and speaker of the
house for the 28th Legislature. During his tenure in the Texas
Legislature, he married Wacoan Myrtle Maines and together they
had two children. Neff was the McLennan County prosecuting
attorney from 1906 to 1912.
Neff continued to practice law in Waco until he won the
governor’s chair and took office in 1921. He was re-elected for a
second term. Highlights of his administration were development
of Texas’ state parks system, abolition of the Board of Pardons,
development of educational institutions and industries, and
planning for the 1936 Texas Centennial.
After leaving the governor’s office, Neff was appointed by the
president to the United States Board of Mediation and served from
1927 to 1929. Gov. Dan Moody asked Neff to be chairman of the
Texas Railroad Commission. He served as chairman from 1929
until 1931. He remained a member of the Railroad Commission
until 1932, when he became president of Baylor University.
He served as president of Baylor University from 1932 to 1947.
Pat Morris Neff, 27th Governor of Texas.
Ann Richards
(September 1, 1933-September 13, 2006)
Forty-fifth governor of Texas
Served from January 15, 1991, to January 17, 1995
Ann Richards (Dorothy
Ann Willis), daughter of Cecil
and Ona Willis was born in
McLennan County in Lacy-
Lakeview. She entered Waco
High School in 1946 and was
a member of the debate
team and was he state debate
champion as a senior. She
graduated from high school
in 1950 and entered Baylor
University where she received
a B.A. in 1954. In 1953, while Dorothy Ann Willis Richards,
attending Baylor, she married 45th Governor of Texas.
David Richards. She moved to
Austin with her husband where he attended law school and she
taught government at Fulmore Junior High School.
After her husband’s graduation from law school, they spent a
year in Washington, D.C., before moving to Dallas, where her
husband practiced law and she became involved in Democratic
politics. She and David had four children.
In 1969 the family returned to Austin and Ann became
involved in politics again, successfully managing the campaigns
of Sarah Weddington and Wilhelmina Delco. She also served as
Weddington’s administrative assistant in the Texas House of
Representatives. She continued in politics running for Travis
County Commissioner and serving for two terms. In 1982 she
ran for and was elected state treasurer, the first woman to serve
in that office. During this time Ann and David divorced.
Ann received national attention when she gave the keynote
speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta,
when she said of the wealthy, then vice president of the United
States, George H. W. Bush: “Poor George, he can’t help it. He was
born with a silver foot in his mouth.” In 1999 Ann ran for and won
a three-way race for governor, beating out Attorney General Jim
Mattox and former Gov. Mark White.
While governor, she led reform of the Texas prison system,
establishing a substance abuse program for inmates, reducing the
number of violent offenders released, and increasing prison pace
to deal with a growing prison population (from less than 60,000
in 1992 to more than 80,000 in 1994). Richards also instituted
the State Lottery, the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), and the Texas Financial Responsibility Law, which
requires, among other things, proof of liability insurance when
inspecting, registering and licensing motor vehicles. Until her
death she served as a consultant and on several corporate boards.
84 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

SMALL TOWNS OF MCLENNAN COUNTY,
PAST AND PRESENT
Acomb
Location: West, 5 miles north of Crawford
Post Office Operations: Aug. 1870–Dec. 1871, July 1879–Feb. 1880
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Victoria Corbett, Robert T. Dennis
Population: 300
Other: Country Store
Amondo or Amanda
Post Office Operations: Sept. 1857–Nov. 1859,
C.S.A. Post Office in Civil War
First Postmaster/Postmistress: William R. Shead
Aquilla
Location: Northeast
Post Office Operations: March 1862, C.S.A.
First Postmaster/Postmistress: C. Terrell
Other: Rural school district, 1867
Artesia
Location: Central, 6 miles southwest of Waco
Post Office Operations: May 1900-March 1901
First Postmaster/Postmistress: James F. Gray
Blue Bluff
Post Office Operations: May 1854–Nov. 1856
First Postmaster/Postmistress: John H. Bowen
Bowling Green
Location: Waco to Meridian route
Post Office Operations: Nov. 1856–May 1857
First Postmaster/Postmistress: B. Smith
Chase
Location: Central, 8 miles northeast of Waco
Post Office Operations: Feb. 1875–Jan. 1880
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Edward P. Rino
John Holley
Commanche Springs, (Coke) June 1874
Location: West, 1 mile west of McGregor
Post Office Operations: May 1872
First Postmaster/Postmistress: John T. Elmore
Population: 50 in 1870s
Other: Sept. 1882, Comanche Springs and Banks formed town
of McGregor
Asa
Location: Junction of FM 2643 and FM 434
Population: 46
Other: Formerly named “Norwood”
Atco
Location: Central, near Woodway
Axtell
Location: East, 8 miles northeast of Bellmead
Post Office Operations: 1882
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Edward P. Rino
Population: 300
Other: Axtell State Bank opened in 1912
Baggatte
Location: West, 4 miles south of McGregor
Post Office Operations: Aug. 1896-Oct. 1896, Sep. 1897-Dec. 1898
First Postmaster/Postmistress: William J. Jenkins
Banana Junction
Location: Intersection of Bosqueville Road and China Spring Road
Other: Called “Banana Junction” because its principle business was a
fruit stand
Banks
Location: Southwest, 6 miles northwest of Moody
Post Office Operations: April 1882
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Thomas H. Baker
Population: Approx. 200
Battle
Location: East, between State Hwy 164 and FM 2957
Post Office Operations: 1886
First Postmaster/Postmistress: James Riggs
Population: 100
Other: Settled in 1880 by Nicholas William Battle
Blackland Village
Location: Blackland Air Field
Post Office Operations: Until 1950s
Other: Barracks converted to Veteran housing
Concord
Location: Northeast of Waco on Old Corsicana Road
Other: 1866, Tehuacana Baptist Church of Christ
1872, church moved to Concord Cemetery
1950, church moved to Bellmead
Cordova
Location: 11 miles northwest of Waco
Post Office Operations: Sept. 1871–Jan. 1874
First Postmaster/Postmistress: David C. Kinnard, James M. Napier
Cottonwood
Location: North, northeast of West
Population: 50
Other: Settled in early 1880s by German immigrants
Downsville
Location: Southeast, 8 miles southeast of Waco
Post Office Operations: April 1890
First Postmaster/Postmistress: William S. Sparks
Williams Woods Downs gave each (slave family) house and land
Elk
Location: East, between U.S. Hwy 84 and FM 2957
Post Office Operations: July 1894-1906
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Martie Emma McKinley
Population: 150
Other: Settled in 1880s by Czech and German immigrants
Farr
Location: West, 6 miles northeast of Crawford
Post Office Operations: July 1892–Dec. 1902
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Sarah J. Walker
Other: Rural School District in 1901
Friedens
Location: East, near Riesel
Other: Rural Community
Friendship
Location: North
Other: Rural Community
Bishop
Location: Southwest, 6 miles northwest of Moody
Post Office Operations: Dec. 1897–Oct. 1902
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Joseph W. Franks
Population: Approx. 200
Small Towns of McLennan County, Past and Present ✦ 85

Fryar
Location: East
Post Office Operations: October 1891, June 1893–March 1894
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Frank Dunklin, Mary A. Fisher
Other: General Store served as distribution center for area.
Disappeared from maps by 1930s.
Gerald
Location: Northeast
Post Office Operations: March 1888
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Joseph D. Morgan
Other: Church and cemetery mark location of
former town.
Gilbert
Post Office Operations: Jan. 1855–March 1860
First Postmaster/Postmistress: William Jackson
Gilpin
Post Office Operations: Nov. 1856–May 1857
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Warren H. Clark
Hague
Location: Central, 6 miles south of Waco
Post Office Operations: April 1878–Jan 1879
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Leonidas B. Foster
Hallsburg
Location: East, FM 3222
Post Office Operations: May 1902-1905
Population: 518
Other: Incorporated in the 1970s
Hermoson
Location: Central, 3 miles east of Waco
Post Office Operations: April 1894–July 1905
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Charles J. Keesee
Other: March 1903 renamed North Waco
Highland
Location:West, central, 2 miles south of Ocee
Other: 1962
Hoen
Location: Northeast, FM 308
Post Office Operations: April 1912
First Postmaster/Postmistress: William Pate
Other: Railroad misspelled name of founding family—Hoehn
Hurstsland
Location: Northeast, 3 miles north of Axtell
Post Office Operations: Dec. 1896–July 1997
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Anderson Hurst
Jackson
Post Office Operations: July 1858–Nov. 1860
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Peter S. Deckard
Population: 38 in 1860
Jaynes (Janes)
Location: East
Post Office Operations: July 1898–Feb. 1904
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Edward P. Kirkland
Other: Rural school district created March 1901
Jewell
Location: Central
Other: Near present Woodway
Leland
Location: Southwest
Post Office Operations: Dec. 1880 –Jan. 1883
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Lewis W. Haley Lemaine
Location: Southern, on Bullhide Creek
Other: One of 5 neigborhoods surrounding Lorena. One room school
served as community center.
Lime Creek
Location: Central, 12 miles northwest of Bosqueville
Post Office Operations: Aug. 1871–Nov. 1872
First Postmaster/Postmistress: David M. Barrett
Other: Post office served about 70 families
Lone Oak
Location: Southeast
Other: Rural school district created Jan. 1884, later consolidated
with Hallsburg
Lusk
Post Office Operations: May 1891–Jan. 1892
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Tilmon H. Knight
Manhattan
Location: West, north of Crawford
Other: Railroad siding on the Santa Fe Line
Mastersville
Location: Southwest, 17 miles southwest of Waco
Post Office Operations: Feb. 1868–1887
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Mollie Rutherfort
Population: 250 in 1880
Other: Flour and grist mill, 2 cotton gins, a school, general store,
2 groceries. 1882, MKT Railroad bypassed town and residents
moved to Bruceville
Meier Settlement
Location: East
Other: Rural church community and rural school district consolidated
with Riesel in 1921
Middle Bosque
Post Office Operations: June 1858–Aug. 1860
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Adam Bible
Population: 250 in 1860
Montero
Location: Southeast, 3-1/2 miles southeast of Riesel
Post Office Operations: Dec. 1900–Dec. 1903
First Postmaster/Postmistress: William R. Burton
Mount Moriah
Location: East
Other: Rural community 1n 1960s
Mount Olivet
Location: West central, 12 miles west of Waco
Post Office Operations: May 1872–May 1888
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Joseph H. Scales
Other: First relay station out of Waco on Waco/Gatesville stage route.
Now community of Windsor
Mount Pleasant
Location: Southeast, northwest of Downsville
Other: Rural church and cemetery in 1962
Nalley
Location: Central, 2 miles west of Waco
Post Office Operations: Nov. 1898–June 1904
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Joseph R. Nalley
Population: 400 in 1898
Other: Independent school district until 1901
Neale
Location: Southeast, 7 miles southeast of Waco, west of FR 1860
Other: Station on SP RR, Farm commuity named for W. D. Neale
on land of the James E. Harrison homestead
Nicholsville
Location: Northeast, 5 miles west of West
Post Office Operations: Feb. 1889, March 1880
First Postmaster/Postmistress: J. W. Bradley, William V. Hurlock
86 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Northcrest
Location: North, on Interstate Hwy 35
Population: 1,725 in 1990
Other: Incorporated in 1958. Schools part of Connally ISD.
Oak Lake
Location: East, FM 2491
Population: 60
Ocaw
Location: Central, northeast of Bellmead
Other: Rural Community
Olive Branch
Location: Northeast, south of Leroy
Other: Community and rural school district. 1901, school district
divided, June, 1934, district consolidated with Axtell
Patrick
Location: North, 11 miles northwest of downtown Waco
Post Office Operations: Aug. 1858-1866, July 1882-1909
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Issac H. Roberts, Patrick Gallagher
Other: Population declined rapidly after 1890s.
Pavelka
Location: East
Other: Cemetary donated by Joseph Pavelka to Slovonic Benevolent
Order of the State of Texas Lodge at Elk
Pleasant Grove
Location: Northeast
Other: Rural commnity with general store
Prospect
Location: East
Post Office Operations: March 1890
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Eugene Kauffman
Other: Renamed Riesel
Perry
Location: Southwest, 2 miles north of Moody
Post Office Operations: 1855–1881
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Edwin McClair
Other: Settled early 1850s by settlers from Illinois
and Missouri. Horsepowered gin, several stores and community
buildings for church and school. Bypassed by Gulf, Colorado and
Santa Fe Railroad early 1880s. Most residents moved to new town
of Moody.
Ryan
Location: West, on Hog Creek, 14 miles west of Waco
Post Office Operations: May 1890–Nov. 1902
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Harley O. Mason
Population: 21 in mid-1890s
Other: By mid-1890s Baptist and Methodist churches, general store, 2
flour mills and a cotton gin
Santa Cruz
Location: East
Other: Rural community and cotton gin
Searsville
Location: West
Post Office Operations: July 1859–Nov. 1866
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Josiah L. Sears
Population: 117 in 1860
Shield
Post Office Operations: July 1891, Oct. 1891–June 1893
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Arzvo Modrall, Manson H. Shead
Shiloh
Location: West central, northwest of Ocee
Other: Rural church community. Church celebrated centennial in 1960
Springhill
Location: East
Other: Rural community with churches and cemetery
Stringtown
Location: Southwest, near McGregor
Other: Rural community. Took its name from long row of tenant houses
Teka
Location: 15 miles northeast of Waco on the Cotton Belt Railroad
Other: Named for cattle brand of Tom Kinkaid. Early 1900s, general
store, post office, cotton gin, school and church. Switch on Cotton
Belt RR. Nothing left but cemetery
Tokio
Location: North, FM 1858 and FM 3149
Other: During WWII community name changed to Wiggins.
Valley View
Location: Southwest, northeast of Moody
Other: Rural community
Vernal
Location: East
Post Office Operations: Dec. 1895–March 1904
First Postmaster/Postmistress: Andrew M. Lawson
Other: Rural school district consolidated with Mart in 1927
Wardlaw
Location: East, State Hwy 6
Wayside
Location: East, 3.5 miles east of Elk
Post Office Operations: July 1895–Oct. 1895
First Postmaster/Postmistress: James B. Cates
Wesley
Location: Northern, north of Gholson
Other: Rural community
White Hall
Location: Central, between Waco and South Bosque
Other: First Grange in county. Organized Oct. 1873. Rural
school district
White Rock
Location: Northeast
Other: Rural school district. Created in Jan. 1884. Now only
a cemetery.
Windsor
Location: West Central, 1 mile north of the Middle Bosque River
Population: 10 in 1930, 30 in 1940, none by 1970
Small Towns of McLennan County, Past and Present ✦ 87

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The United States Census Bureau was used for most of the
population information.
*Kelly, D. (Ed.). The Handbook of Waco and McLennan County,
Texas. Waco, Texas: Texian Press, 1972. The following towns
used this publication as a source: Bellmead, China Spring,
Golinda, Lacy-Lakeview, Leroy, Levi, Robinson, Ross, South
Bosque, Spring Valley.
**Poage, W. R. McLennan County, before 1980. Waco, Texas:
Texian Press, 1981. The following towns used this publication
as a source: Bellmead, China Spring, Eddy, Golinda, Hillside,
Lacy-Lakeview, Leroy, Levi, Riesel, Robinson, South Bosque,
Spring Valley, West, Woodway.
Axtell
Handbook of Texas Online, Austin, Texas: Texas State Historical
Association.
Beverly Hills * **
Handbook of Texas Online, Austin, Texas: Texas State Historical
Association.
Jules Bledsoe
Geary, Lynnette G. The Original “Ol’ Man River.” The Black
Perspective in Music, Vol. 17, No. 1/2, pp. 27-54, 1989.
www.jstor.org/stable/1214742.
Mendoza, Patrick M. “Extraordinary People in Extraordinary Times:
Heroes, Sheroes, and Villains.” Englewood, Colorado. Libraries
Unlimited, pps. 44-45, 1999. www.netlibrary.com/Reader/.
China Spring * **
Conger, Roger. “Immigration of the N. H. Conger Family from
Oneida, Illinois, to Waco, Texas, in 1870,” reprinted from The
Southwestern History Quarterly, Vol. LXIV, # 1, July, 1960.
Holder, Karen. A Social History of China Spring & Environs. The
Texas Collection, Baylor University, the China Spring vertical
file, 1980.
Allen, Aaron. Research on China Spring, 2001.
Ragsdale, David. Papers, November 30, 1972.
Duvall, Nancy. Papers, December 2, 1974.
Interview with Roger N. Conger, Texas Sesquicentenial 1836-1986,
China Spring, Texas. Karen Holder chair.
West, Tom. “Old Soldier Spanned Three Centuries.” Waco Tribune
Herald, January 9, 1971.
Crash at Crush
Connally, E. L. C. The Crash at Crush: Famous Duel of the Iron
Monsters, Waco, Texas, U.S.A. Waco, Texas, September 15, 1986:
Waco, Texas: Texian Press. 1960.
Jones, L. W. Humor Along the Katy Lines. Dallas: Southwest
Railroad Historical Society, 1970.
Masterson, V. V. The Katy Railroad and the Last Frontier. Norman,
Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1952.
Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway Company, The Opening of the
Great Southwest; a Brief History of the Origin and Development of
the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, better known as the Katy,
1870-1970. St. Louis, Missouri: Missouri, Kansas and Texas
Railway Company, 1970.
Schmidt, F. A. Train Wrecks for Fun and Profit. Ontario, Canada:
The Boston Mills Press, 1982.
Wood, S. R. Locomotives of the Katy: Missouri-Kansas-Texas Lines.
Boston: The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, Inc., 1944.
Eddy * **
Hinkle, C. L. A History and Analysis of Rural Banking in McLennan
County. Baylor University, Waco, Texas, 1959.
Nabors, E. “A Short Written History of Eddy.” Unpublished
vertical file, Texas Collection, Baylor University, 1925.
Webb, W. P., Branda, E. S., Carroll, H. B., Friend, L., Carroll, M.
J., Nolen, L., et al. The Handbook of Texas. Austin, Texas: Texas
State Historical Association, 1952.
Elm Mott
Handbook of Texas Online. Austin, Texas: Texas State Historical
Association.
Connally Independent School District.
Golinda * **
1932 and 2008 maps of McLennan County
The Memoirs of Major George B. Erath 1803-1891. The Heritage
Society of Waco, 1956.
Interviews: Julius Oswald Purczinsky, Jr., and Furn Purczinsky Smith.
Hewitt
Abstract of property next to Hewitt Square, owned by Shirlene Lands.
Chapman, Faye. “History of Hewitt Methodist Church.”
“Earle-Graves Family Papers.” The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Historical Marker Stanford Chapel Cemetery.
Janes, Jessie L. (Ed.). “A Woman for All Ages.”
McCartney McSwain, Beth A. (Ed.). “The Bench and Bar of Waco
& McLennan County, 1849-1976.” 1986.
88 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

McKethan McBride, Ala (Ed.). “Our Land and Our People,
History of Woodway, Texas.”
McLennan County Property Records.
Brower, John H. “Mystic Seaport Papers”. www.mysticseaport.org/
library/manuscript/coll/coll(041/coll).
Poage, W. R. “How We Lived.” Baylor University, 1983.
Rhea Family Papers.
Standford, Thomas. Sermons and Other Writings of Various
Subjects. Publishing House of the M. E. Church South,
Nashville, Tennessee, 1892.
Swope, Bob. “Kellogg Family Papers.”
Warren, Homer. “How We Lived 1905-1920 on a McLennan
County Farm.”
Interviews: Ila Ree Attaway; Edith Barcus; Billy Blanton; Barker
Chapman; Dr. John Chapman; Shirlene Lands; Agnes Ree
Parish McKenzie; Richardson Family; Clayton Thompson;
Warren Family.
Hillside **
Conger, Roger. “Immigration of the N. H. Conger Family from
Oneida, Illinois, to Waco, Texas, in 1870.” Baylor University,
The Texas Collection, vertical file on stagecoaches. Reprinted
from The Southwestern History Quarterly, Vol. LXIV, #1, July 1960.
Interviews: Furn Purczinsky Smith and Julius O. Purczinsky, Jr.,
Bill Wuebker, Martha Kettler, Rhea Family.
Leroy * **
Janes, W. H. “A Personal History of Leroy.” 1986.
Loh, Jules. “111-Year-Old Woman Knew All ‘Healing’ Weeds Dies
in Birome,” Waco Tribune Herald.
Historical Markers of McLennan County, The Texas Collection,
Baylor University, Waco, Texas.
Levi * **
Interviews: Furn Purczinsky Smith and Julius O. Purczinsky, Jr.
Lorena
Bowman, Thomas. Looking Back, Memories from My Growing Up
Years, 1998.
A History of the Lorena, Texas Area 1854-1981, Lorena Historical
Committee, Texian Press.
Wolfe Janes, Jessie Lee. Writings.
Interviews: Agnes Warren Barnes; Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Bowman;
Dorthea Jones; Kimberly Martin; and the Homer Warren Family.
Moody
Rice, Estelle. The Moody Area.
Hatter, McGinnes, Jeannette, & Alexander Potter, Hazel. They Found
the Blacklands.
Riesel **
The New Handbook of Texas, 1996.
Wikipedia, 2008.
Robinson
City of Robinson, Texas, www.robinsontexas.org.
Handbook of Texas Online, Austin, Texas: Texas State Historical
Association.
Kettler, Martha. “A Nutshell Sketch of Robinson.”
“Waco Recalls a 90-Year-Old ‘Horror.’” All Things Considered,
NPR Website, May 13, 2006.
St. John United Church of Christ, www.stjohnrobinson.org.
Randolph, Steve. “Robinson Schools.”
Robinson Academy Catalog for 1926-1927.
Robinson Chamber of Commerce 1987 City Directory.
Texas Historical Markers: St. John United Church of Christ,
Fletcher Cemetery, Youngblood Memorial Presbyterian Church.
Turner, Jerry. “A Nasty Skeleton in Waco’s Closet.” The Mexia Daily
News, February 28, 2005.
Strauss, John. History of erstwhile Robinson Academy. Located in the
village of Robinson about seven miles south of Waco, Texas.
“Vapor Trails.” Robinson High School, December 19, 1980.
Interviews: Bill Johnson; P. J. Kay; Martha Kettler; Jim Smith;
Susan Smith; and Bill Wuebker.
Ross **
The Handbook of Waco and McLennan County, Texas.
Historical Marker Albany, Texas.
The New Handbook of Texas.
Sandtown
Ryan, Terri Jo. “Are You from Sandtown? Rediscovering a Vanished
Piece of the City.” Waco Tribune Herald, January 20, 2004.
Ryan, Terri Jo. “Digging for Oral Histories.” Waco Tribune-Herald,
March 5, 2006.
South Bosque * **
The New Handbook of Texas, 1996.
Vertical files, South Bosque, Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Monroe, Renee Term Paper. Texas Collection, Baylor University,
1977.
Hometown News. Jones Media Enterprises, Inc., Waco, Texas,
May 27, 2004.
Interviews: Roger Jones, Publisher: Hometown News, Waco; Watson
Caufield Arnold, Fort Worth; Dorothy Tims O’Malley, Waco;
Gertrude Dunn Oliver, Waco; Helen McKey Ping, Waco; Deedie
Caufield Herring, Waco; Kathryn Hoy, McGregor; Oneta Buice
Leutwyler, Waco.
Bibliography ✦ 89

Spring Valley * **
A History of the Lorena, Texas Area 1854-1981, Lorena Historical
Committee, Texian Press.
Interviews: Mr. and Mrs. (Margaret Warren Vaughn) Billy Blanton
and Russell Judd.
West
Apperson, Henry M. A History of West, 1836-1920. Waco, Texas:
Texian Press, 1969.
Edwards, Betty. “The Community of West.” Unpublished manuscript,
Texas Collection, Baylor University, 1949.
Karlik, Joseph A. “A History of the West Community.”
Unpublished M.A. thesis, Sam Houston State University, 1972.
Knapek, Larry J. “City of West.” Unpublished Manuscript, West
Public Library, 1993.
Pogue, W. R. After the Pioneers. Waco, Texas: Texian Press, 1969.
With assistance from: Suzy Price, Larry J. Knapek, Gustavo Chavez,
Mr. and Mrs. Jake Tucker, Commissioner Joe Masek, Urbanovsky
Studio and the West Main Street Committee.
Waco * **
“Spreading influenza.” Texas Medical Journal, XXXIV(12), 1919.
“Wings over America” [Blackland Army Air Field, Waco, Texas,
Army Air Forces Training Command]. Baton Rouge, Louisiana:
Army and Navy Publishing Company of Louisiana, 1943.
McLennan County Deed Records, Vol. 1078, 1970.
Conger, R. N., & Neff-Wilcox Collection. “Highlights of Waco
History.” Waco, Texas: Hill Printing & Stationery Company, 1945.
Erath, G. B., & Erath, L. A. “The memoirs of Major George B. Erath,
1813-1891.” Waco, Texas: The Heritage Society of Waco, 1956.
Gildersleeve Project Advisory “Committee. Commemorative
Collections: Fred Gildersleeve...through his lens.” Waco,
Texas: Neighborhood Housing Services of Waco, Inc., 2003.
Headquarters 3rd Battalion, 143rd Infantry, 36th Division, Texas
National Guard. Waco disaster operation, Texas National Guard,
May 11-20, 1953.
Johnson, F. W., & French, B. History of McLennan County, Texas.
Historical sketch of Kaufman County. Fifty-one year’s reminiscences
of Texas. S.l.: s.n.
Kibler, K. W., & Ringstaff, C. W. “Archaeological Survey of 71
Acres of the John Tucker Survey,” McLennan County, Texas.
Austin, Texas, 2002.
Menchu, C. “162 Years of Waco, 1824-1986: Focus upon
Downtown Waco, Texas.” Texas Tech University, Lubbock,
Texas, 1986.
Menn, A. E. “Waco through the Years.” Waco, Texas. The Texas
Collection, Baylor University, 1988.
Moore, W. B., & Leming, J. “Governors of Texas.” Dallas Morning
News, 1963.
Pope, S. H. “Geyser City Record.” A Texas journal devoted to agriculture,
mechanical and realty development, Waco, Texas: Press
of the News Printing Company, May 25, 1890.
Public Relations Office and Photo Section, Waco Army Air Field,
1943. The Bee-tee cadet class of Waco Army Air Field basic
flying training. Waco, Texas: Waco Army Air Field.
Taylor, Senator Bob, & Moore, J. T. Waco, Texas. Taylor-Trotwood
Magazine, 339-343, June 1907.
Tyler, R. C., Barnett, D. E., Barkley, R. R., & Texas State Historical
Association. The New Handbook of Texas. Austin, Texas: Texas
State Historical Association, 1996.
University of Texas at Austin. General Libraries, & Texas
State Historical Association. The Handbook of Texas, 1997.
www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/.
Waco, Texas. “Municipal Handbook of the City of Waco.” Mayor’s
message and reports on all departments of the city. Waco,
Texas: City of Waco, 1912-1914.
War Department World War II honor list of dead and missing:
State of Texas: War Department,1946.
Watt, F. H. Tilte. In & Central Texas Archaeologist: no. 9: Vol. 9.
Central Texas Archeologist (pp. 196–244). Waco: Reprinted
for Texana for the Central Texas Archeological Society, 1969.
Weems, J. E. “The Tornado.” (Reprint ed.). Garden City, New
York: Doubleday, 1991.
Woodway **
The New Handbook of Texas, 1996.
Wikipedia 2008.
Woodway Hometown News, April 30, 1997.
Woodway Today, City of Woodway, September-October 2007.
90 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

SHARING THE HERITAGE
Historic profiles of businesses, organizations,
and families that have contributed to the development
and economic base of McLennan County
Providence Healthcare Network........................................................92
American-Amicable Group...............................................................96
Central Texas Iron Works................................................................98
Baylor University ........................................................................100
Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home ............................................102
Trautschold Millwork Ltd. .............................................................104
Hillcrest Health System ................................................................106
Extraco Banks .............................................................................108
Harvey-Daco, Inc.........................................................................110
Texas State Technical College Waco ................................................112
Family Health Center ...................................................................114
Johnson Roofing ...........................................................................116
Walker Partners ..........................................................................118
Capstone Mechanical ....................................................................119
American Income Life Insurance Company .......................................120
Dunnam & Dunnam, L.L.P., Attorneys at Law...................................121
Midway Independent School District ...............................................122
Reed’s Flowers.............................................................................123
Imperial Woodworks, Inc...............................................................124
Super 8 Motel Waco Mall ..............................................................125
Naman, Howell, Smith & Lee .........................................................126
Texas Life Insurance Company .......................................................127
Comfort Suites ® ...........................................................................128
Spenco Medical Corporation ..........................................................129
Planned Parenthood of Central Texas, Inc. .......................................130
West Auction, Inc.........................................................................131
CWA Construction, Inc. ................................................................132
Kirkpatrick and Witt Furniture ......................................................133
Davis Iron Works, Ltd. .................................................................134
First Baptist Church.....................................................................135
Ridgecrest Retirement and Health Care............................................136
Country Inn & Suites by Carlson-Waco ...........................................137
The Village Bakery.......................................................................138
Tom Padgitt Company...................................................................139
Sheehy, Lovelace & Mayfield, P.C. ..................................................140
Watson Feed Store........................................................................141
Brazos Higher Education Authority, Inc. ..........................................141
Tejas Logistics System ..................................................................142
SPECIAL
THANKS TO
McLennan County
Historical Commission
Robert W. Cox
Jewelers, Inc.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 91

PROVIDENCE
HEALTHCARE
NETWORK
Above: The Waco Business Men's
Club, forerunner of today's Greater
Waco Chamber of Commerce, gather
before the official dedication of
Providence Sanitarium on January
11, 1905, to lay planks of wood from
the trolley line to the doors
of Providence.
Below: By the time this picture was
taken, the landscape was finally in
place for the original building. It was
in this building that the Daughters of
Charity joined with the medical
community of Central Texas to begin
a strong ministry of healing with a
true heart for the marginalized.
Founded in 1905 at the request of local
businessmen who saw the need for a hospital
in Waco, Providence Healthcare Network,
consisting of Providence Health Center,
Providence Home Care, De Paul Center,
Providence Park, Providence Clinics, Providence
Foundation, and Providence Health Alliance,
provides a full range of care that includes
outpatient care, inpatient care, emergency
services, long-term care, mental healthcare,
chemical dependency treatment, senior adult
care services and more.
Providence is a member of (and sponsored
by) Ascension Health, a national system
cosponsored by the Daughters of Charity of
St. Vincent de Paul, the Sisters of St. Joseph of
Nazareth, Michigan, and the Sisters of St. Joseph
of Carondolet.
The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de
Paul, who originally founded Providence, have
a long and praiseworthy history of service to
society. St. Vincent and St. Louise de Marillac
founded the order of religious women in
Paris, France, in the year 1633. The American
Community of Daughters was founded in 1809
by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and was united with
St. Vincent’s community in 1850.
At the turn of the twentieth century,
McLennan County and the city of Waco were
booming with growth. Few of the people living
in the area had ever been inside a hospital, and
it was a relatively common conviction that
seeking hospital care was unmanly and only
reasonable for the poor. Up until this time, the
only care for the sick could be found inside
institutions called “pest houses” and only the
city’s poorest went to the city’s hospital for
medical care. Even doctors were not interested
in such institutions, because few had any
experience with them.
In 1901, Dr. James Wyatte Hale, one of the
most widely respected doctors in Central Texas,
had a patient who needed more expert care
than was obtainable in this area. Dr. Hale took
his patient all the way to the Touro Infirmary
in New Orleans, accompanied by Charles L.
Johnson, a civic-minded citizen. Both men
were impressed with the benefits of the Touro
Infirmary and became determined that a
hospital should be established in Waco.
Johnson took the first step by convincing the
Business Men’s Club, the forerunner of today’s
Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce, of the
need for this project. The Club rallied behind
him after he explained the significant benefits
that could be derived from the advanced
medical care that only a hospital could offer.
The next question that arose was one of
money and management. Some years before,
another order of Sisters told Dr. Hale that if the
town would donate a suitable place of ground
and arrange for a contract to care for the City
patients, the Order would finance a hospital
building and supply their own trained personnel
to operate it. A committee went to Galveston to
discuss the possibility with officials of the Order,
but found that unforeseen circumstances made
the offer no longer a valid option.
This setback led Dr. Hale, Mr. H. B. Mistrot
and Mrs. G. H. Luedde to Dallas where the three
asked members of the Daughters of Charity
of St. Vincent de Paul to consider the task. At
the close of their initial meeting, the Mother
Superior told the Waco delegation, that when
92 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

considering the request, the Order of the
Daughters of Charity would simply have to
“trust in providence.”
The Business Men’s Club formed committees
to raise money for the proposed building site,
now located at 1725 Colcord Avenue. Within
weeks, the club had raised the money and
purchased the original land from Judge M.
Surratt for $2,500. In April of 1903, a local
Priest, Father P. J. Clancy, received
the original blueprints for the
Providence Sanitarium. While the
citizens of Waco donated the
land for the site, the Daughters
of Charity furnished funds for
the construction on the original
building. On April 30, 1903,
groundbreaking ceremonies were
held and, on Sunday, October 11,
1903, the Cornerstone Mass
was celebrated.
The original facility was
designed by R. M. Mulligan of St.
Louis with Wacoan T. B. Pearson as
supervising architect. Constructed
of Denton brick, the building
included copper metal work and a
tile roof. The building had four
stories and a basement, where the
dormitories for nurses and other employees were
located, as well as classrooms for lectures and
experiments, four bathrooms and the elevator
machine room.
On December 19, 1904, the Waco Daughters
of Charity answered their first call for help.
A local boy, suffering from malnutrition,
was admitted for their care. The first mass was
held on Christmas Day 1904 and the formal
Left: Dr. James Wyatte Hale, one of
the most widely respected doctors in
Central Texas, had the first vision of a
hospital in Waco. Dr. Hale worked
diligently with businessman Charles
L. Johnson to convince the Daughters
of Charity to make their dream come
true in Waco, Texas.
Below: First graduating class of the
Providence School of Nursing:
Madeleine Sullivan, Ellen Ashley,
Nellie Chumley, Theresa Fuchs, and
Rose Morris.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 93

Right: History was made in Waco,
Texas, when Dr. M. Wayne Falcone
joined Dr. Charles A. Shoultz, Jr., to
perform the very first heart
catheterization on March 3, 1973.
Three days later, on March 6, 1973,
history was made again at Providence
when Dr. Robert T. Angel and Dr. R.
W. Chrosthwait performed the first
open-heart surgery in Waco. In this
picture, the patient, Kathryn Louise
File-Smith, celebrates the twenty-fifth
anniversary of her surgery with long
time friend and Cardiovascular
surgeon, Dr. Angel.
Below: In 2008, Providence stands
poised as Waco’s first hospital…with
a mission of compassion and a vision
of excellence. This photo of Providence
Health Center includes the newest
addition, our 5-story F. M. & Gloria
Young Tower, home to Cardiology and
Intensive Care.
dedication was held on
January 11, 1905.
The original contract
agreed upon by the
Daughters of Charity
and the city of Waco
called for the care of
the indigent sick at a
cost of seventy-five
cents per day. This
low reimbursement for
care created a financial
challenge for the new
hospital that could
have been offset by
public use, but in
the early 1900s, most
people continued to
rely on physician care
in the privacy of their
own homes. Still, the
Waco Medical Association continued to call for
public support of Providence Sanitarium and
reported that, in its first year of operation, the
staff and physicians of Providence treated 231
patients and performed 102 surgical procedures.
In 1906 the School of Nursing opened and in
1908, the first Providence nurse graduated from
the school, which eventually closed in 1960.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the hospital
continued to expand its facility and offer a wide
range of medical care to the community with the
addition of x-ray and laboratory departments,
an Obstetrics Unit and a Pediatric Unit.
By 1938 the name of Waco’s first hospital had
been officially changed to Providence Hospital and
its faculty and staff continued to grow. The hospital
became the first in Waco to specialize in the
field of Cardiology and debuted the Waco Heart
Clinic at Providence in 1950, while a Psychiatric
Division (Miriam Hall) opened in 1952.
Though its School of Nursing was closed in
1960 after fifty-four years of instruction and
743 graduates, Providence continued to expand
its services and facilities across the community.
The City-County Out-Patient Clinic opened in
1965 and a Coronary Clinic was added in 1970.
At the same time, the Family Practice Residency
Program and the McLennan County Medical
Society were established in a progressive step
toward the future of the hospital.
In 1989, Providence Health Center relocated
to a new medical campus in West Waco.
Providence has grown since that time to include
a 214-bed acute care hospital; a 51-bed
emergency department; a surgery department
featuring 14 surgical suites plus a fifteenth
suite dedicated to cystoscopy; an MRI Center;
a Comprehensive Bariatric Center; and, a
professional office building for physicians. The
five-story F. M. & Gloria Young Tower is the most
recent addition—completed in 2007—featuring
a 30-bed intensive care unit, a 30-bed cardiology
unit; the R. W. Crosthwait, Sr., Cardio-Pulmonary
94 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Left: In September 2008, Providence
Health Center was accredited by the
Joint Commission as the first Primary
Stroke Center in Central Texas.
Pictured above is Inverventional
Neuro-radiologist, Dr. Adam
Borowski. The Interventional Lab is
one of many commitments Providence
has made to become the leader in
stroke care.
Rehab Center; the M. Brian Aynesworth, Jr.,
Research Center; and, the Cardiology Department
of Providence Health Center.
Today, Providence Health Care Network
continues over a century of valued care and
leadership in its historic effort to care for the sick
and offer hope to people across Central Texas.
The DePaul Center is a psychiatric and
substance abuse treatment division that includes
sixty-four beds and is located at 301
Londonderry Drive, adjacent to the Providence
medical campus. Providence Home Care is a
full-service home care provider licensed by the
state of Texas and Medicare certified. The
agency services a sixty mile radius of Waco and
includes a full staff of therapists to provide
rehab and a follow-up ET nurse. Providence
Park is Waco’s premier community for
independent living, assisted living, and long
term care. This state-of-the-art facility offers a
continuum of care based on a resident’s level of
need. The Village at Providence Park features
61 apartments for independent living, while
St. Elizabeth Place offers 40 apartments for
assisted living. St. Catherine Center serves as a
nursing and rehabilitation center, including 60
sub acute care beds, and 180 long term skilled
nursing care beds.
Providence Health Center is located near the
intersection of Highway 84 and Highway 6 in
Waco at 6901 Medical Parkway. For more
information about Providence Health Center,
call (254) 751-4000 or visit them online at
www.providence.net.
Below: Providence Healthcare
Network is grateful for the many
donors who provide funding for the
healthcare ministry in Waco. F. M. &
Gloria Young stepped forward with
seed money to invest in an expansion
project that was long over-due…and
together with others, helped provide
this new building named in
their honor.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 95

AMERICAN-
AMICABLE
GROUP
Amicable Life Insurance was
organized by Artemas R. Roberts on
February 2, 1909. The following year,
July 21, 1910, the building committee
of Amicable Life Insurance Company
awarded the contract for the
construction of the twenty-two story
Amicable Building to Westlake
Construction Company of St. Louis,
Missouri, for $530,000. Property on
which the building was constructed
was purchased for $72,000 from the
First National Bank on April 30, 1910.
In an era when office buildings of
more than three stories were the
exception rather than the rule, this
tallest building west of the Mississippi
merited recognition from Robert L.
Ripley in his famous Believe It or
Not syndication.
The building contract called for
construction to be completed in
twelve months. Excavation for the
building uncovered a natural spring which
poured 750,000 gallons of water every twentyfour
hours into the streets of Waco for three
months while construction men fought to
control it.
When completed in the summer of 1911, the
building was owned, free of all debt, by
Amicable Life Insurance Company. The natural
spring beneath the building provided water, and
the company-owned oil wells located in the
South Bosque Field, provided oil. The oil was
hauled by tank wagons and burned in the crude
state. The Amicable Building was the only selfsufficient,
twenty-two story office building in
the world at that time.
Even before the building was complete, the
new company began to grow. At the age of seven
months, Amicable Life had a million dollars
in assets and 4,000 stockholders, which was
more than any other five Texas life insurance
companies combined. On March 22, 1911, the
company made life insurance history by paying
a death claim within twelve hours.
The Amicable Building withstood the
devastating tornado that struck downtown Waco
in 1953. When the disaster was over the Amicable
Building still stood and all inside were safe.
In 1955, Amicable Life adopted as its official
trademark the picture of a faithful shepherd dog
watching over a sleeping, helpless child. This
picture, painted in oils and done exclusively for
Amicable Life by Fritz Gunther, a widely known
artist, exemplified the “Faithful Protection”
rendered by Amicable Life to its many satisfied
policyholders and their beneficiaries.
After fifty-five years of continuous operation
and steady growth Amicable Life Insurance
Company merged with American Life Insurance
96 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Company in March 1965 and became American-
Amicable Life Insurance Company. The building
became known as the ALICO Center. The
company was owned by Great America
Corporation headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
In May 1968, Gulf United Corporation, a
holding company headquartered in Jacksonville,
Florida, and with executive offices in Dallas,
Texas, acquired ownership of American-Amicable.
American General Corporation (AGC) located in
Houston, Texas, became the owner of American-
Amicable and all other Gulf United Corporation
insurance companies in January of 1984.
In 1985, AGC adopted a plan merger of its
four ordinary life insurance units (including the
original American-Amicable) into Houston and
decided to spin off the military and government
employee organization and leave it in Waco to
operate as a freestanding specialty group. The
legal aspects of this spin off were completed
with the bulk reinsurance of the military and
government employee life and OBA group
association blocks going from the original
American-Amicable Life into American-Amicable
Life Insurance Company of Texas (AATX) as
of December 31, 1986. AATX was originally
incorporated as U. S. Life Insurance Company
in 1981 and later its name was changed to
Brazos Life in 1985.
The name American-Amicable of Texas was
adopted in 1986 to form the cornerstone of the
Waco based companies. Thus AATX traces its
heritage back to the original Amicable Life
founded in 1909 in Waco and has been operating
in the same home office complex since its
founding. The companies were bought by Thoma
Cressey Equity Partners in February of 2000.
Located on the Internet at www.aatx.com,
you will find valuable information regarding the
services available to you.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 97

CENTRAL TEXAS
IRON WORKS
Among the finest structural steel fabricators
in the nation stands Central Texas Iron Works
(CTIW), a prime supplier of structural steel for
process plants, pulp and paper mills, power
plants, and other industrial projects, such as the
refining of the oil soaked sands in Canada, has
been in business in McLennan County for
almost a century.
First established as Stubbs Foundry along
Webster Street in Waco in 1910, the small
company soon found itself nearly broke.
When local bank officials urged fellow First
National Bank director F. A. Winchell to help
the suffering business, Winchell agreed and
established himself as a partner in the company
around 1912.
As the foundry prospered, Winchell
purchased Stubbs’ share in the business and
changed the name to Central Texas Iron Works.
By the mid-1920s, Winchell’s son, Oliver, had
been working with his father for several years
and was supervising the day-to-day operations
as the company grew into a thriving structural
and miscellaneous steel plant.
In an early biographical sketch of Oliver
Winchell and the Winchell family, author Joe
Hnatek writes, “It is often true that there is
something extraordinary in those who are
seemingly the most ordinary of men. One such
extraordinary man was Oliver Winchell.”
Born and raised in Waco, where he attended
Franklin Avenue and Sanger Elementary
Schools and graduated from Waco High School
in 1914, Oliver began working at the foundry in
1917. After his military service in World War I,
he returned to Waco in 1919 and would later
lead CTIW as its president until his retirement
in 1966. A man of honor and integrity, his
goodwill and outstanding business acumen
remains legendary even today.
Throughout the mid to late twentieth
century, CTIW opened four steel fabricating
sites and was involved in numerous endeavors
including steel fabrication such as structural
steel, steel joist, rebar fabrication, grandstands,
street sweepers, slurry seal machines, cotton
strippers, farm shredders, playground equipment,
barbeque pits, grill guards for pickups, and
warehouse steel sales.
In December of 1982, CTIW directors
announced the sale of the business to a familyowned
company, S. G. Herrick Corporation
of California. CTIW continued to prosper until
the economy and market conditions for steel
began to decrease and it was forced to close
operations in Abilene and Midland, Texas. In
the fall of 1986, market conditions were at an
all-time low and it was announced that CTIW
would close one of its two remaining plants the
following year.
1987 marked the start of an entirely new
beginning for CTIW. Key management staff and
approximately seventy shop personnel were
hand-selected from a workforce of over two
98 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

hundred. Starting over with low overhead and
a fabrication crew unmatched in the business
gave CTIW an opportunity to be very
competitive for the small amount of work
available. With outstanding efforts from its team
members, CTIW was again a recognized force in
structural steel fabrication and its workforce
began to increase again by 1988.
By 1989 market conditions had improved
and CTIW had a national reputation among the
best of structural fabricators. With a strong
vision for the future, the west Waco facility was
taken off the market and an exciting era of
expansion began.
By April of 1990, CTIW had completed its
move from the old Webster Street location to
the newly remodeled and expanded west
Waco location at 1100 Winchell Drive. This
move was no small step in CTIW’s history, but
was accomplished without a hitch. Realizing
that success is dependent on more than
just continuing to provide
product, CTIW continues to
look for methods to better
serve its customers with
new and fresh ideas and
is a leader in utilizing
modern technology to
fabricate quality structural
steel providing customers
with the finest service in
the business.
Today the company
consists of more than 225 employees and
207,000 square feet of shop space and has
the capability of producing up to 4,000 tons
per month. Its customer list reads like a
“Who’s Who” in construction, with most of the
top EPC companies in the world listing CTIW as
a prime supplier of structural steel for process
plants, pulp and paper mills, power plants
and other industrial projects. The Herrick
Corporation maintains ownership of CTIW
and continues to offer financial and corporate
management commitment.
In such a competitive market, Central
Texas Iron Works’ greatest asset remains
its outstanding employees. Oliver Winchell
believed this was the legacy of a great company
and once wrote, “It [CTIW] must be a place
that gives you opportunity…the Central Texas
Iron Works can never go any further or succeed
any better than do the people who make up
our company.”
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 99

BAYLOR
UNIVERSITY
Right: The Act of the Republic of
Texas Congress that chartered Baylor
University was signed on February 1,
1845. Depicted in this painting by
artist Erwin Hearne are Judge Baylor
standing at the far end of the table,
with Huckins seated to his left and
Tryon writing in the name of the
school. Anson Jones, president of the
Republic of Texas, is in the
foreground, with Kenneth Anderson,
president of the Texas Senate, waiting
to sign the charter, and John M.
Lewis, speaker of the Texas House.
PHOTO FROM THE TEXAS COLLECTION AT
BAYLOR UNIVERSITY.
Below: Carroll Science Hall (upper
left); Main Building (left with towers);
Burleson Hall (right with towers); and
Carroll Chapel and Library Building
(right) as the Baylor campus appeared
in winter 1917.
PHOTO FROM THE TEXAS COLLECTION AT
BAYLOR UNIVERSITY.
Baylor University, a private
Christian university and a nationally
ranked liberal arts institution,
offers 150 baccalaureate, 76 master,
and 26 doctoral and juris doctor
degree programs.
Chartered by the Republic of
Texas in 1845 through the efforts of
Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest
continuously operating university
in Texas. William M. Tryon, R. E. B.
Baylor and James Huckins are credited
as the university’s founders.
Tryon, a missionary appointee of
the American Baptist Home Mission
Society, came to Texas in 1841.
Baylor, who became a Christian in
1839 at age forty-six, received his
license to preach and emigrated to
Texas, was judge of the third
judicial district and a member of
the Texas Supreme Court. Huckins,
the first missionary to Texas
from the American Baptist Home
Mission Society, was considered the
mastermind of the Texas Baptist
Education Society.
In December 1844, Tryon and Baylor
prepared the petition for charter of a Baptist
university. Several names were proposed, but
eventually Baylor agreed to allow his name to be
used. Soon thereafter, it was approved by the
Texas Legislature, and the charter was signed
February 1, 1845, by Anson Jones, president of
the Republic.
Classes began in May 1846 in a small
wooden building on a hillside at Independence,
Washington County. The first president, the
Reverend Henry Lee Graves, was succeeded in
1851 by the Reverend Rufus C. Burleson.
During Burleson’s ten-year tenure, the university
operated male and female departments housed
on separate campuses a mile or so apart.
Burleson resigned in 1861 to become president
of the fledgling Waco Classical School, later
Waco University. In 1866, Baylor University’s
female department received a separate charter to
become the Baylor Female College, now known
as Mary Hardin-Baylor University in Belton.
As Texas’ Baptist denomination spread, other
Baptist colleges and academies were established,
competing with Baylor for students and
financial support. Population shifts, economic
and sociological changes made Baylor’s
100 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Left: Known today as Burleson
Quadrangle, the historic heart of
campus serves as home to Carroll
Library (home of The Texas
Collection), Burleson Hall, Old Main,
and Carroll Science Hall. A statue of
Rufus C. Burleson, who was president
of Baylor at Independence and Waco,
stands in the Sesquicentennial
Walkway between these buildings.
PHOTO FROM BAYLOR UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHY.
operation at Independence increasingly difficult.
Efforts to unite competing Baptist organizations
and establish one central university succeeded
in 1866, when the Baptist General Association
and the Baptist State Convention consolidated,
forming the Baptist General Convention of
Texas. Baylor and Waco Universities unified to
become Baylor University at Waco. Within a
few years the campus expanded to form a
quadrangle bounded by the F. L. Carroll Chapel
and Library Building, Georgia Burleson Hall,
Main Building, and the George W. Carroll
Science Hall.
In 1948 a massive building program began,
adding many classroom and dormitory facilities,
and in the 1980s more than $150 million in
facilities were added. Endowment grew from
approximately $80 million to over $325 million,
and net assets surpassed $600 million.
Baylor has continued to grow and thrive,
pursuing initiatives such as lower student-faculty
ratio, offering smaller class sizes, increasing
research opportunities for undergraduates, and
offering the best facilities for learning and living,
to fulfill the founders’ vision of a university to
meet the needs of all the ages to come. Faculty
development, new academic programs, and
exceptional extracurricular opportunities have
been created for the approximately 14,000
students, who come from all fifty states and
ninety countries around the world.
Baylor’s present academic system includes
the College of Arts and Sciences, Hankamer
School of Business, School of Education, School
of Engineering and Computer Science, Graduate
School, Honors College, Law School, School of
Music, Louise Herrington School of Nursing,
George W. Truett Theological Seminary, and
School of Social Work. The university also
conducts graduate programs with the U.S. Army
Academy of Health Sciences in San Antonio and
West Point.
Below: A twelve-foot bronze statue of
Judge R. E. B Baylor, the pioneer
statesman, judge and preacher for
whom the University is named, sits at
the east end of Founders Mall. At the
opposite end of the mall is another
recognized campus symbol: Pat Neff
Hall, named for a Baylor graduate
who was the 28th governor of
Texas and the eighth president of
Baylor University.
PHOTO FROM BAYLOR UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHY.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 101

WILKIRSON-HATCH-BAILEY FUNERAL HOME
President and Director in Charge
Hatch Bailey.
In 1925, Dillard J. Wilkirson, a businessman
from Eddy, together with his son, Jim, and sonin-law,
Roy Hatch, established Wilkirson and
Hatch Funeral Home in Waco at the corner of
Washington Avenue and Twelfth Street. And
now for over eighty-four years, the Wilkirson-
Hatch-Bailey family has served families, helping
them remember lives well lived and providing
various services that are just right for each
family’s circumstances.
From the beginning until his retirement in
January of 1972, Roy Hatch served as president
of the company. In 1972 his son in law, A. W.
(Bill) Bailey, Jr., became president and continues
as chairman today. For an extended time during
the 1960s and 1970s, Dillard W. Harwell, a
nephew of Mrs. Roy Hatch, served as vicepresident
and manager. From 1972 to 1983,
ownership was shared between the Baileys and
the Bowens (Marie Hatch Bowen and husband,
A. E. Bowen). For a number of years during that
time, Owen Kersh served as president and
manager. Hatch Bailey, a grandson of Roy Hatch,
began working part time at Wilkirson-Hatch-
Bailey in 1979. He began his full time career in
1982 after graduating from the Dallas Institute
of Mortuary Science. In 1987, Hatch Bailey,
representing the fourth generation of the family,
took over the management, and in December of
1990 was named president. He still holds the
position of president and director in charge.
Ownership of the family business has never
been outside the family, and is held by Roy
Hatch’s daughter, Roberta Hatch Bailey, her
husband, A. W. (Bill) Bailey, Jr., and their sons,
Hatch Mansell Bailey, Wesley (Wes) Wilkirson
Bailey, and Roy William Bailey.
In the company’s seventy-fifth year, a second
funeral home facility was built in Waco. It
opened June 11, 2000, at 6101 Bosque Boulevard
between Valley Mills Drive and Fish Pond Road.
The new location was following the growth
pattern of Waco, and was designed from the
ground up for the convenience and comfort of
families to be served. In November of 2003 the
original location on Washington Avenue became
Brazos Funeral Home.
From the beginning in 1925, ownership and
staff members have been very actively involved
in the civic activities of the Greater Waco area.
Hatch Bailey has gladly volunteered many hours
in such work in an effort to be a good citizen,
and as a graduate of Baylor University, Bailey
is proud of time spent attempting to have an
impact on children’s education having served
as president of two Christian-sponsored private
school boards. He served as president of the
Baylor/Waco Foundation and the Hillcrest
Baptist Medical Center Board of Visitors. He
presently serves on the McLennan Community
College Foundation Board. A great honor was
having been elected as a Community Advisor to
the Junior League of Waco. He also served as a
Board Member of the International Order of the
Golden Rule, an international association of
independently owned funeral homes. Bailey’s
102 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

favorite business organization is the Leaders
Network of which he was a charter member of
the group of forty funeral home owners from all
over the United States. He has served on many
additional boards in an effort to give back to his
profession and Greater Waco. He serves as a
deacon of the First Baptist Church of Waco and
is the church’s first third-generation deacon. His
four sons are the fifth generation of the family to
be members of this church.
Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey was selected as
“Business of the Year” by the Greater Waco
Chamber of Commerce in 1995. A member
by invitation for over fifty years of the
prestigious Selected Independent Funeral
Homes, the firm strives to maintain the highest
ethical and professional standards. Many
members of the staff have been with Wilkirson-
Hatch-Bailey for many years, and each staff
member is carefully trained to provide
conscientious and efficient service in the
manner and tradition established by Roy Hatch
in 1925. Truly, Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey remains
“A Family Serving Families.”
Above all, the guiding desire is to help people
in grief. This vision includes a program called
“Hand-in-Hand” created by Wilkirson-Hatch-
Bailey in which a qualified grief counselor offers
complimentary service to anyone experiencing
grief. Fostering a professionally trained approach
to helping people when a loved one dies, the
firm hires the most compassionate people to be
found who are genuinely interested in caring
for people in need of a compassionate hand in
times of need. Hatch Bailey then sees that they
are continually trained professionally, and that
they are fully equipped with materials needed to
be effective in serving families.
Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey celebrates lives well
lived and comforts families and their friends.
Their service is designed to exceed expectations.
Additional information on Wilkirson-Hatch-
Bailey Funeral Home is available on the Internet
at www.WilkirsonHatchBailey.com.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 103

TRAUTSCHOLD
MILLWORK LTD.
Above: Employees of Trautschold
gathered outside the facility for this
photograph in the early 1900s.
Below: Trautschold, at center, stands
with employees in the millwork shop.
Founded by C. M. Trautschold in 1893, the
historic Trautschold Millwork has created the
finest in custom millwork, windows, doors,
mouldings, church furniture, and included
a glass shop until the 1970s. The company
originally began as a planing mill on Fifth and
Franklin and moved to its present location in
1916. A new facility was built in 1998 to add to
the manufacturing capabilities.
Over a century after its formation, the
company continues to specialize in custom
architectural millwork, casework including
wood and plastic laminate, custom doors and
mouldings. The company also produces curved
and radiused woodwork, as well as solid surface
countertops primarily for commercial and high
end residential projects. The company is
currently using two CNC machines, an
edgebander, a beam saw, and other high tech
machinery. It has 50,000 square feet of
manufacturing space with plans to add an
additional 10,000 square feet.
Trautschold did work all over the state of
Texas in its early days, primarily for churches.
The company now does work for hospitals,
doctor’s offices, law firms, large residential
projects, banks, and does work for the federal
government completing projects at Fort Hood
and various VA hospitals. Trautschold takes
pride in the fact that they are Waco’s oldest
family-owned business and includes a workforce
of forty-five people today.
With over 300 years of experience among the
staff of Trautschold Millwork, there is a wealth
of knowledge from which to draw. Trautschold
Millwork is proud of its inspiring and dedicated
workforce. One employee has been with the
company for sixty years, with this being his
only job since he was seventeen years old.
Mike Sheedy has been the president/owner of
Trautschold Millwork Company and started to
work with his grandfather, Joseph Trautschold
104 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Clockwise from top:
The shop as it looked in the
early 1900s.
1920s at 15th and Franklin.
and uncle, Jerome Trautschold, in 1974.
In 2005 he purchased the business from
family. Sheedy also formed M. S. Woodworks
and served as a drafter, estimator, and cabinet
maker from 1985 to 2005. Today, he remains
involved in company sales, operations,
and drafting.
Chief Estimator, Bobby Dreyer, has been with
Trautschold Millwork Company since 1990.
He came to the company as the production
foreman and cabinet maker for Kent Mill &
Supply in Waco.
Lynne Bowerman has served as the
company’s project manager since 1993. Lynne
came to the position after thirteen years as the
Computer Systems Coordinator for KWTX
Broadcasting Company Purchasing.
Denise Castro, the bookkeeper, has worked
for Trautschold Millwork since 1996. She came
to work for the company after working for L. L.
Sam’s and Sons.
Purchasing agent, Davilynn Thomas has
served the company since 1999. She came
from another family owned business,
Renschler Communications.
For more information about Trautschold
Millwork Company, visit the company’s extensive
online gallery at www.trautscholdmillwork.com.
Trautschold Millwork Company,
present day.
Employees in the shop in the
early 1900s.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 105

HILLCREST
HEALTH SYSTEM
Providing quality, compassionate healthcare
in a Christian environment, Hillcrest Baptist
Medical Center opened its doors on May 25,
1920, in Waco, Texas. Today, the Hillcrest Health
System includes Hillcrest Baptist Medical
Center, a fully-accredited, 393-bed acute care
facility, which includes the only Level II Trauma
Center and Level III Neonatal ICU in the county,
Hillcrest Family Health Center, a network of
nine family medicine clinics, and many key
services that span the continuum of care.
As one of seven healthcare institutions
affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of
Texas, the concept for a Baptist hospital in Waco
originated in 1903 when James Britton Cranfill,
editor of the weekly newspaper for the Baptist
General Convention of Texas, wrote, “I want to see
erected in the next five years a Baptist Hospital
that will throw open its doors to our great
and growing people…there is not such an
institution yet in the state.” The beginnings of
Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center are traced back
to 1909 and the vision of Arthur James Barton,
pastor of Waco’s First Baptist Church. In 1912
the Waco Baptist Association appointed a
committee to study the idea and appointed
a board of directors, headed by James Martin
Dawson, in 1915. The hospital received its
charter in 1916.
Benefiting from generous money and land
donations from Central Texas citizens and area
churches, construction on the hospital began
July 10, 1917, on 3.2 acres of land at what is
now Thirtieth Street and Herring Avenue. At the
ribbon-cutting ceremony, John T. Harrington,
president of the McLennan County Medical
Society expressed hope that the new hospital
would benefit thousands of families, and
because of this the hospital may develop “the
best surgical skill in the South.”
Although the first registered surgical patient,
Mamie Long Lange Hatch from Lorena, arrived
two days prior to the opening on May 25, 1920,
Mable Battle Westbrook preceded Hatch in
surgery with an emergency appendectomy
performed by Dr. Connelly around 4:30 a.m.
The operations were successful and stories of
such personal care continue to make Hillcrest a
valuable community resource.
Nearly a century after its opening, Hillcrest
Health System has grown through many
outstanding events and exciting changes. Most
106 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

ecently, Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center broke
ground in November 2007 on its new seventy-four
acre campus located at the I-35 and Loop 340
Interchange. The site will host a comprehensive
acute care medical/surgical hospital and a
Women’s & Children’s Center. The Herring
Avenue campus will remain in operation and
maintain some medical services at that location.
In addition to the two medical campuses and
network of primary care clinics, Hillcrest Health
System evaluative and treatment services
support a range of medical needs including:
Clara and Harlon Fentress Cancer Center, which
provides radiation treatment; Hillcrest Hospice
and Home Care, which serves chronic and
terminally ill patients in the comfort of their
home; the Senior Health Center; Ted & Sue
Getterman Wellness Center; and Diagnostic
Imaging, most notably the Breast Screening
Center, which is the first fully digital Center in
McLennan County.
Hillcrest’s Baptist heritage is strongly present
in the hospital’s day-to-day operations through
its Pastoral Care program, which employs a
team of chaplains from various religious
backgrounds who meet with every hospital
patient to provide ministry and spiritual
support. As a nonprofit healthcare organization,
Hillcrest puts all profits back into the local
community with a strong focus on opportunities
to provide health education and screenings.
In May 2008, Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center
announced a joint operating partnership with
Scott & White Healthcare of Temple, Texas.
For more information about the Hillcrest
family of services, visit www.hillcrest.net.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 107

EXTRACO
BANKS
Right: Extraco has enjoyed three
generations of family management.
Senior Chairman of the Board,
S. Spencer N. Brown, Sr.
Below: Exporters and Traders
Compress and Warehouse Company
on Pleasant Street in Waco,
Texas, 1920.
Opposite, top: Extraco has grown to
become the largest and most
comprehensive independent financial
institution headquartered in Central
Texas. Extraco’s flagship financial
center located in Temple, Texas.
Opposite, bottom: Extraco’s executive
team (left to right): James Geeslin,
vice chairman and chief sales officer;
S. Boyce Brown, chairman, president
and chief executive officer; Ivan
Green, vice chairman and chief
administrative officer; and Michael W.
Thompson, vice chairman and chief
banking officer.
When Exporters and Traders
Compress and Warehouse Company
was founded in 1902, Waco was the
largest inland cotton market in the
world. Over one hundred years later,
the company is known as Extraco (an
acronym for Exporters and Traders
Compress), and it manages finances,
not cotton. But it is still family-owned
and firmly rooted in central Texas.
Since its founding, Extraco has
grown to become one of central
Texas’ premier companies and the
largest and most comprehensive
independent financial institution
headquartered in Central Texas. It
proudly employs over 400 people
across the area. “Extraco has always
been about people,” says S. Boyce
Brown, chairman of the board
and third generation of Brown
management. “Our mission is about
touching lives.” Brown credits his
grandfather, Stanton Brown, Sr., with
Extraco’s culture of putting family
and people first.
“My grandfather moved to Central
Texas because of family. His brother-in-law,
A. J. Dossett, died unexpectedly. When my
grandfather attempted to liquidate his sister’s
holdings, the shippers gave him the choice of
ten cents on the dollar or being run out of
business. Never to turn down a challenge, he
said ‘we’ll see.’ My grandfather led the company
for forty-four years. He was a great man who
cared a lot about others, and who deeply loved
his family.”
Under S. Spencer N. Brown, Sr.’s leadership,
the original cotton warehousing enterprise
entered the banking business in 1970. Congress
later required banks to sever from nonbank
companies, and the bank was spun out to
shareholders in 1980.
“My father led us through major industry
changes, economic uncertainties, and the
depression of the eighties. Yet under his
leadership Extraco has reported a profit every
year since inception. Our family commitment to
touch lives comes from foundations he has laid
and we are grateful,” says Brown.
Since joining the company in 1992, Brown
and his executive team have led Extraco through
significant internal and external realignments,
consolidating five bank charters and fourteen
brand identities into a single corporate strategy.
Simultaneously, Extraco experienced four major
108 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

acquisitions and six construction projects
that tripled the number of central Texas
bank locations. Despite these changes, $85
million was added to capital.
Extraco’s extensive financial services
include wealth management, secondary
mortgage products, insurance and even
technology solutions. This sense of
innovation runs deep in Extraco’s culture
and is part of its 107-year story. “I think
that’s what sets Extraco apart from its
competition,” says Brown. “Just as we
redefined our company in 1970, we
continue to innovate today.”
Today in 2009, Extraco’s assets exceed
$1 billion; it has over $100 million in
capital, a loan limit over $15 million,
over 135,000 customers, and over 400
employees. Extraco’s fifteen financial
centers are located in Georgetown, Killeen,
Harker Heights, Copperas Cove, Waco,
Temple, Belton, Troy, Lorena, Gatesville,
Hamilton and McGregor, Texas, and at
www.extracobanks.com.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 109

HARVEY-DACO,
INC.
Above: Corporate wearable and
promotional product ideas.
Below: Harvey-Daco home office,
Waco, Texas.
In June of 1949, Hardy C. Harvey
founded an advertising specialties and
promotional products company as a
proprietorship in his garage on Twenty-
Ninth and Austin in Waco. His wife,
Dorothy, was assisting him in the office
and his part-time salesman, Pokey
Farley, was also a motorcycle policeman
for the city of Waco. Later, Dick
Bachman was hired as a salesman in the
San Antonio region and Warren Tynes, a
recent Baylor graduate, was hired to
help in the local office.
Harvey Advertising continued to
grow and soon moved into a new home
at 112 South Thirty-Fifth Street in Waco
before settling in its current location
at 307 Lake Air Drive on Thanksgiving
Day in 1973. Today, Harvey-Daco
includes sites in the Dallas-Fort Worth
area, Houston, Austin and San Antonio.
On January 1, 1957, the business
became a partnership with Hardy C.
Harvey and son, George Harvey, Warren B.
Tynes, D. G. Melton and Dick Bachman. On July
9, 1963, the business was incorporated with
5,030 shares of outstanding stock owned by the
previous partners. Tynes became the president
of the company in 1964 and Hardy Harvey died
in 1967.
In 1985, Mrs. Tynes joined the firm to
computerize the business. Warren Mark Tynes
became president in 1988. In 1989 the business
acquired the Daco Company with home offices
in Fort Worth and the company name was then
changed to Harvey-Daco, Inc. R. W. “Bob”
Kreuzburg moved from the Dallas office, which
he had established, to become the sales manager
in 1991. Warren died in 1999. Pam Tynes
Kreuzburg joined the company in 2002 and
Laura Tynes became the president in 2005 and
Bob Kreuzburg became chief operational officer.
For many years the home office included only
five or six employees, two salesmen, Harvey and
Tynes. Today, there are approximately sixty
employees, including the account executives,
plus several contracted account executives.
Through the mid-1980s, the company
included only one female salesperson but in the
mid-1980s, three women account executives
were hired for the Dallas-Fort Worth office. This
welcomed a new trend as the company now
includes thirty-five account executives with
fifteen of them being women.
Long-time employee, Kishiko Busby, was
hired by Hardy Harvey in 1965 to take Tynes’
and Harvey’s letters from the Dictaphone. Busby
had difficulty with English and had some
trouble interpreting the men’s Texas brogue.
Her interpretations were unusual and very
entertaining. Soon, Busby was transferred to the
accounting department where she was better
suited. Tynes called her his “Japanese Computer.”
110 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

She is now the office manager and has been a part
of the company for forty-three years.
In the early years of the company, Harvey
Advertising hosted a grand sales meeting the
second week of December. Many of the out-ofstate
supplier representatives came to Waco
to take part in the festivities and to make
presentations. During one of these sales
meetings, a policeman stopped one of the
supplier reps on the outskirts of town for some
fictitious violation. The supplier gave him the
company president’s name and phone number
as a character reference, but the president
denied knowing the supplier and he remained
in custody for nearly an hour until a group of
salespeople went to the jail and had him
released. Needless to say, it was a rowdy bunch
back then.
When the company was founded, items
available to be imprinted and sold to businesses
for promotional campaigns were not plentiful.
In 1949 there were pens and pencils, yard
sticks, plastic glasses and pitchers, notebooks,
book matches, pocket combs, billfolds,
calendars of all kinds, and paper fans on a stick.
In the 1960s bank bags became a profitable
item, as well as cigarette lighters and caps of all
kinds. Later, “hot pots” and many gift items
became available and Christmas gift giving by
businesses was big. Today, wearables of all kinds
are a large part of the business, as well as award
recognition items.
Harvey-Daco, Inc., is also a proud supporter
of many civic and charitable organizations
including Art Center Waco, Girl Scouts,
HOT Fair and Rodeo, Hillcrest & Providence
Hospitals, as well as Relay for Life, and the
Cattlebarrons’ Ball.
Above: Harvey-Daco top ten
producers for 2007.
Below: Harvey Advertising first
annual sales meeting, 1954.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 111

TEXAS STATE
TECHNICAL
COLLEGE
WACO
On April 22, 1965, an educational institution
founded on the site of the former James
Connally Air Force Base officially began its
journey. From a vision of state and local leaders
to strengthen the state’s economic development
resources and training needs, to today’s premier
technical college, Texas State Technical College
is flourishing.
Texas State Technical College Waco is part
of the only state-assisted technical college
system in Texas, with other colleges located
in Harlingen, Marshall, and Breckenridge,
Brownwood and Sweetwater in West Texas.
TSTC Waco also offers classes at the Texas State
Marine Education Center in Palacios and the
Fort Bend Technical Center in Richmond.
TSTC Waco offers associate degrees,
certificate programs and workforce skills
mastery education and training. Through
hands-on instruction, and utilizing industrystandard
equipment, TSTC helps prepare
technicians in areas of: agriculture; information
technology and telecommunications; engineering
and manufacturing; health and science; business,
commerce and service; and transportation
and aviation.
112 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

TSTC continues to seek and develop new
and emerging technical programs of study. The
college’s innovation continually evolves with
the development of such programs as Fuel
Cell, Solar, Digital Forensics, Home Technology
Integration and Nanotechnology.
Through partnerships with business and
industries such as Caterpillar, CORD Inc.,
Toyota, John Deere, Zyvex Corporation, L-3
Communications and more, TSTC Waco stays
on the cutting edge of technology. The college’s
course curriculum is developed in conjunction
with more than 900 industry advisory
members, ensuring that TSTC graduates have
the technical education and skills needed for
today’s workplace.
The college provides dual credit
opportunities to area high school students
opting to begin taking college courses while
still enrolled in high school. TSTC also has
many educational partnerships with both fourand
two-year colleges including ones with
Baylor University, Tarleton State University,
Alvin Community College, Austin Community
College, McLennan Community College,
Odessa College, Temple College, and Wharton
County Community College.
In its forty-four year history, TSTC Waco has
produced more than 40,000 graduates and has
a success rate after graduation of over ninety
percent, with an average starting salary for
those with an associate degree of $32,000.
Additional information is available on the
Internet at www.tstc.edu.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 113

FAMILY HEALTH
CENTER
Founded in Waco, Texas, in 1969, Family
Health Center (FHC) stands among the truly
great beacons of hope and well-being in family
healthcare today. Its creation has been described
as a “phenomenal effort” put forth by the Waco
community to address the need for access
to outstanding, quality healthcare services by
the community’s poor and disenfranchised.
At about the same time that Family Practice
was becoming a medical specialty in America, a
group of dedicated physicians in Waco met with
area civic leaders to address the phenomenal
shortage of physicians in this community. Their
solution was to create the very first, and now
the oldest, community-based Family Practice
residency program west of the Mississippi River.
And thus FHC was born. The FHC model, as
established by those community visionaries, is
to simultaneously provide comprehensive, highquality,
and accessible healthcare services to
patients in the community, regardless of that
patient’s ability to pay, and equally high-quality
medical education programs specializing in
primary care (like Family Practice, now known
as Family Medicine). That FHC model has
flourished in this community for almost forty
years now, and has been widely duplicated to
the extent possible in other communities
around the nation.
The FHC now employs almost 400 people,
including 100 healthcare providers (physicians,
dentists, hygienists, midlevel providers,
counselors, etc.), and has twelve outpatient
service sites. In 2007 it provided over 190,000
healthcare encounters to almost 42,000
unduplicated patients, the overwhelming
114 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

majority of whom were residents of McLennan
County. And through 2008 FHC has graduated
309 Family Medicine physicians from its Family
Medicine residency program, of which well over
eighty percent are still practicing in Texas.
Indeed, over half of the practicing Family
Physicians in McLennan County are graduates
of FHC’s residency program.
FHC services include, but are not limited to, a
broad range of primary healthcare services in
family medicine, OB/GYN, general internal
medicine, dental care, family and children’s
counseling services, and pediatrics. Specialty
services include but are not limited to pulmonary
diseases/critical care, adult and adolescent
psychiatry, dermatology, neurology, cardiology,
rheumatology, complicated obstetrics and
gynecology, and orthodontia. Support services
include, but are not limited to, pharmacy,
laboratory, x-ray and ultrasound, social, dietary,
patient education, and special procedures.
The FHC’s main outpatient site, also called
the Family Health Center, houses the M. Brian
Aynesworth, Jr., M.D. Memorial Library, with
collections of textbooks, current periodicals, a
CD-ROM library and audiovisual materials
and equipment. Medline and other medical
information search capabilities are available. In
1997 a state-of-the-art electronic medical
records system (EpicCare) was implemented at
FHC. Access to EpicCare has been extended to
remote sites through the use of wireless network
technology and personally assigned notebook
computers for all providers.
In 1990 the FHC’s residency program
affiliated with the University of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. In 2007
the FHC affiliated with Baylor College of
Dentistry, which is a part of the Texas A&M
health education system. These academic
affiliations enhance educational programs for
FHC’s patients and providers, and further
illustrate a commitment to academic excellence.
The Family Health Center is also a site for the
required third-year family practice clerkship for
medical students from Dallas.
Today, FHC is supported by Hillcrest Health
System, Providence Healthcare Network, City
of Waco, McLennan County, Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board, U.S. Health
Resources and Services Administration, Bureau
of Primary Health Care, and a host of others.
Major local support has also been recently
received from Mr. & Mrs. Malcolm Duncan, Sr.,
Mr. & Mrs. Gary Heavin, Waco Foundation,
Cooper Foundation, and Rapoport Foundation.
The FHC was designated a Federally
Qualified Health Center in 1999, which
provides additional support and resources, and
thus has allowed FHC to dramatically increase
its scope of services over the past seven years
(since 2002).
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 115

JOHNSON ROOFING
Above: Waco Chamber of Commerce,
the first “green” chamber of commerce
in America.
Right: Dell Children’s Medical Center
in Austin, Texas, the first LEED
Platinum-certified hospital.
Below: Baylor University, Brooks
Village Chapel.
Johnson Roofing has been recognized as the
leader in quality roof systems since 1941. A sincere
commitment to serve the needs of our customers
started almost 70 years ago and continues
today. It began with patriarch Jack Johnson
and son Bill hauling shingles in horse trailers to
job sites across Central Texas while Margaret
Johnson ran the office.
Since then it has grown to be one of the
United States’ premier roofing companies, able
to install any type of roofing system with excellence.
Johnson Roofing has a world-class, fullservice,
custom Sheet Metal Department that
fabricates all types of metal systems. Yet, what
really distinguishes Johnson Roofing is its tireless
and creative employee team that unceasingly
strives for excellence.
Additionally, the company has actively and
energetically embraced the idea of going green,
incorporating environmentally friendly ideas
into its overall philosophy and services. The
Johnson Roofing legacy of excellence in topnotch
customer service and top-quality products
continues today with Bill and his daughters,
Sherri and Shawn, proudly leading the
company into the twenty-first century.
116 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Above: Hillcrest Health Systems, the
largest construction project in
McLennan County.
Left: Providence Health Center.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 117

WALKER
PARTNERS,
LLC
Founded in 2004, Walker Partners, LLC, is
a civil engineering and surveying firm that
provides professional services for hundreds
of clients throughout Central Texas. Walker
Partners has designed and managed more than
900 projects including streets; drainage; water
supply, treatment, and distribution; wastewater
collection, treatment, and permitting; airports;
parks and sports complexes; industrial projects;
schools; and residential neighborhoods. Walker
Partners makes Central Texas a better place to
live, work, and play.
Surveying services include boundary surveys,
topographic surveys, route and pipeline surveys,
landfills, highway, right-of-way and easement
surveys, airports, annexations, construction
staking, FEMA flood studies, aerial mapping,
geodetic surveys, subdivisions (residential and
commercial), mortgage surveys, American land
title surveys, mine mapping.
The company was born on Monday morning,
July 26, 2004, as Jed Walker set out to start
an engineering and surveying firm. By the end
of the first week, G. E. Walker & Associates,
L.L.C. had eight employees—two Professional
Engineers, one Registered Professional Land
Surveyor, an office manager, a civil CADD
technician, a survey CADD technician, and a
survey crew. No one even knew their salary until
the end of the first week of business when
paychecks were distributed!
When Jed advertised for an accountant during
the third week of business, Vickey Smith came in
for an interview—the look on her face was
priceless when she saw the employees lying on the
floor working on engineering plans since there was
still no furniture. She managed to step over the
plan sheets and walk around the bodies to get to
the conference room, where she and Jed began
the interview sitting in lawn chairs. Miraculously,
Vickey accepted the job and, by the end of the first
month, they had office space, furniture, an inhouse
accountant, and forty-nine active projects.
In October of 2004, Otto Wiederhold, P. E.,
joined Walker, opened a Killeen office and
Walker, Wiederhold, & Associates, L.L.C. was
born. By the time of the first Christmas party in
December, the firm had ten full-time employees
and a backlog of work.
In 2005, G. E. Walker & Associates, L.L.C.
acquired Carrigan & Associates. Jed and Dennis
Carrigan had been long-time friends and business
associates and the acquisition (merger) was a natural
progression for both firms. By the second
Christmas party, the firm included fifteen employees,
a great core of clients, and a bright future.
On its five-year anniversary (July 26, 2009),
the company changed its name to Walker
Partners in the belief that everyone in the
company is a partner—even its clients. Today, the
company remains headquartered in Waco with
branch offices in Killeen and Austin and
includes thirty-four employees
with a client base consisting of
municipalities, higher learning
institutions, school districts,
hospitals, land developers, architects,
contractors, and other engineering
firms throughout Texas.
In 2009, Walker Partners was
recognized by ZweigWhite as a
“HOTFIRM” of the top 200 fastest
growing engineering, architecture,
and environmental consulting
firms in the United States.
Much of Walker Partners’
success can be attributed to the
genuine relationships that have
been built with each client. Walker
has often boasted that they have
the “best clients in the State” and
they truly believe that.
118 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

To diligently serve our community and each
other—that has been Capstone Mechanical’s
mission since opening in May of 2005 with
their vision to become the preferred company
in their markets. As a professional engineering,
contracting, and service company Capstone
specializes in the fields of air conditioning,
heating, ventilating, refrigeration, plumbing,
and pipe fitting. Capstone serves residential,
commercial, industrial, and institutional
customers all over the Central Texas community.
Many of the construction projects and service
jobs are performed in the local Waco
community, but Capstone also serves the greater
Temple, Belton, Killeen, Georgetown, Hillsboro,
Hamilton, and East Texas communities. For the
residential air conditioning and heating business,
Capstone meets the rigorous requirements to be
a Carrier Factory Authorized Dealer.
Founding owners Rick Tullis and Stefan
LeRow place a high priority on the “people” side
of the business by hiring ethical, trustworthy
professionals to not only serve with their talents
but also to flourish and succeed as individuals.
Furthermore, Rick and Stefan hold fast that a
company built around a servant leadership
culture will attract the best employee talent
and deliver the best products and services to
its customers.
“Stefan and I are very thankful to be a part
of what is happening at Capstone,” states Rick.
“We are exceedingly appreciative of all the
customers that have given us an opportunity
to serve them. They have allowed us to be one
of the fastest growing HVAC companies in the
country.” By the end of 2008, Capstone
employed over 100 mechanical and engineering
professionals. Newly renovated in early 2008,
the Capstone offices and warehouse building
at 7100 Imperial Drive contains 8,000 square
feet of office space, and 10,000 square feet of
warehouse and sheet metal shop. There is
also ample room for future growth and expansion.
Tullis continues, “We foresee Capstone continuing
to grow. We operate in one of the fastest growing
areas in the country and air conditioning is no
longer considered a luxury.”
Tullis and LeRow believe the strong growth of
Capstone comes from a combination of factors
but the most important is relationships. LeRow
states, “A company that focuses on genuinely
serving others, both customers and employees,
will have a hard time not succeeding.” It appears
that the first four years of Capstone’s existence
has proven this to be true.
CAPSTONE
MECHANICAL
Founding owners Stefan LeRow and
Rick Tullis.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 119

AMERICAN
INCOME LIFE
INSURANCE
COMPANY
Above: Bernard Rapoport at the
confirmation hearing for his
appointment by Governor Ann
Richards to the University of Texas
System Board of Regents on
February 4, 1991.
Below: American Income Life
Insurance Company’s executive offices
at 1200 Wooded Acres,Waco, Texas.
Founded in 1951 with $25,000 in
borrowed capital, visionary leader and
humanitarian Bernard Rapoport created
American Income Life Insurance Company
(AIL) to improve the lives of working
families and to help bring economic
justice to the workplace and social justice
to the nation. Today, the company is
one of America’s largest providers of supplemental
life insurance and represents
over $100 million in annual insurance
product sales.
This long history and rich tradition of
partnering with working family communities
first began with the example that
Bernard found in his Russian immigrant
father, David Rapoport, who sold blankets
on the streets of San Antonio. The life
and words of his father “Fight these
injustices!” and “Share that wealth!”
would guide Bernard throughout the rest
of his life. He would never forget these early
lessons of giving back to his fellow man—
public responsibility to the community, being
generous, and sharing.
AIL’s executive offices have been located in
Waco, Texas, since 1959 and now include
agency offices in forty-nine states, the District
of Columbia, Canada, and New Zealand, with
over 2 million policyholders. With its New
York subsidiary, National Income Life Insurance
Company (NILICO), the company boasts
combined assets of over $1.8 billion with more
than $29.3 billion of life insurance in force.
President and CEO Roger Smith first joined
the company as a sales agent in 1976. Today, he
believes that AIL’s most historically significant
trait is its “basic philosophy of giving back. We
have evolved into a community-based agency
through labor, families, city-wide events, and
food banks. We give back because that is
what we do and that is our company’s culture.
Simply put…we really care.”
AIL’s unwavering support of charities
and organizations is legendary. At the local
level alone, the company contributes nearly
$100,000 each year to local charities that
support causes championed by its employees
and their families, with an emphasis on
children. Over half of local corporate giving
goes to United Way of McLennan County. As a
body, AIL employees are recognized annually
for their personal contributions to United Way.
The company has also created the AIL Food
Bank, sponsored by generous clients who give
food donations to be distributed to working
families who fall on hard times.
For more information about the products and
services available to families of Labor Unions,
Credit Unions, Associations, and other organizations,
visit American Income Life Insurance
Company at www.ailife.com.
120 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

W. V. Dunnam opened his law office in Waco
in 1925. When his son W. V. “Bill” Dunnam, Jr.,
joined his father, the firm became Dunnam &
Dunnam Law Firm. Dunnam’s youngest son,
Vance Dunnam, joined the firm in 1952. Vance’s
two sons, Vance, Jr., and Jim, are now partners
in the firm, which includes John Mabry, Jr., Bob
Angel, Thomas C. West, and Merrilee L. Harmon.
capable of assisting its clients with any legal
need that may arise, Dunnam & Dunnam has
the rare distinction of having two attorneys who
have multiple board certifications issued by the
Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
Dunnam & Dunnam was selected the best
law firm in Waco in 2007 by the readers of the
Wacoan, Waco’s city magazine.
DUNNAM &
DUNNAM,
L.L.P.,
ATTORNEYS
AT LAW
Dunnam & Dunnam has employed and
trained several lawyers over the years who
have gone on to achieve great success in the
judicial and legislative branches of government.
They include a Federal District Court Judge,
a Texas Supreme Court Judge, two Texas
State District Court Judges, and three Texas
State Representatives.
All seven partners in the firm are Board
Certified by the Texas Board of Legal
Specialization and have over 160 years of
combined legal experience. Two attorneys,
Vance Dunnam, Jr., and Jim Dunnam, have
multiple certifications, and Bill Dunnam held
four certifications when he passed away
in 2006. Dunnam & Dunnam handles
a wide array of cases and specializes in
family law, personal injury, trial law,
civil trial law, estate planning and
probate law, residential real estate, and
commercial real estate.
Dunnam & Dunnam credits its
success and longevity to good customer
service and positive results. It is one
of the oldest law firms in Texas and
one of the few with all board certified
partners. A full-service law firm
In addition, named in the 2009 Edition of
Martindale-Hubbell ® Bar Register of Preeminent
Lawyers , the firm is proud of the many
accomplishments of its talented attorneys and is
shown as preeminent lawyers in the following:
Civil Trial Practice, Criminal Trial Practice,
Family Law, General Practice, Personal Injury,
Real Estate Law, Trusts and Estates, and
Wills and Probate. For more information on
Martindale-Hubbell ® Bar Register of Preeminent
Lawyers please visit www.martindale.com.
For more information about Dunnam &
Dunnam, please visit the firm online at
www.dunnamlawfirm.com
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 121

MIDWAY
INDEPENDENT
SCHOOL
DISTRICT
A district at the forefront of educating
today’s youth and tomorrow’s leaders,
Midway Independent School District
began writing its historic legacy in
1947 when school boards from Hewitt
and South Bosque agreed to consolidate
the schools.
On July 10, 1947, the first official
Midway ISD School Board meeting
included such visionary leaders as H.W.
Warren, C. B. Warren, D. C. Chapman,
E. G. Maddux, J. A. McKey, Joe Crafton
and H. G. McKethan.
In that first historic school term, the
children of the first four grades went to
their home school in Hewitt or South
Bosque. Students enrolled in fifth to
eighth grades went to school at Hewitt
and all students in ninth to twelfth went
to the South Bosque school.
For the 1948-49 school year, the
board took a step that would forever
mark the Midway schools and hired M. T. Rice
as the high school principal. In February 1949,
he became superintendent and served in the
position until his retirement in 1974. He also
coached boys and girls sports for twenty-seven
years. During his administration, the school
grew from a small Class B school to a large AA
district. Under his leadership, Midway grew and
gained local and state respect.
Today, Midway ISD has transformed into a
suburban community with a large number of
semi-industrial plants and a diverse business
environment. The communities of Hewitt,
Woodway, Speegleville, as well as, parts of
Waco, Crawford, Robinson, and McGregor
make-up the Midway school district. Due to
Midway’s dedicated teachers and staff, cutting
edge curricula, and supportive community, the
district is one of the most sought after districts
in the Central Texas area.
Today, Midway ISD offers competitive
educational, athletic and fine arts programs at all
levels. Midway’s enrollment is over 6,400 students
at five elementary schools, an intermediate school,
a middle school and a high school. The district
includes over 900 dedicated employees who are
highly trained and uniquely qualified.
Midway’s relationship with the community is
one of mutual cooperation on behalf of the
students and teachers. Principals and staff at every
campus introduce and support volunteerism and
community service projects at their campuses.
The Midway ISD Education Foundation supports
educational programs for both the students
and the staff to facilitate student achievement,
to recognize staff excellence, and to expand
community involvement.
Midway Independent School District mailing
address is 1205 Foundation Drive, Waco, Texas,
and individual campus locations are on the web
at www.midwayisd.org.
122 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Reed’s Flowers is a full-service retail floral
business founded upon a strong heritage of
family history in McLennan County. Bert and
Blanche Reed opened and operated the first
flower shop in Cameron, Texas, in the mid-
1920s. It was a perfect match for the couple
and Bert operated his greenhouses and raised
plants and flowers for the store, while Blanche
managed the store.
After selling that business, the couple
purchased Derrick Nursery with Bert’s brother,
Bob, around 1929. Though the shop suffered
mightily under the strain of the Great
Depression, a new shop was opened by the Reed
family in downtown Waco at 1025 Austin
Avenue in 1930, and was later moved to its
current corner location at 1029 Austin Avenue.
As the area flourished, Reeds Flowers became
well-established in the community and was active
in state and national floral affairs. Its current
president and the Reed’s son, Harry, returned
to the family business after college at Baylor
University and service as an Air Force pilot. He
would go on to become the president of the
Texas State Floral Association in 1962 and has
remained active in the group for a half-century.
Harry remembers when Reed’s Flowers was
new and they received a call to decorate the
Cotton Palace’s famous Gala Ball. Thinking this
quite an honor, they still wondered why the
committee decided to change from the florist
who had done the decorating for years, but it
was not long before the true story was told.
Apparently, there were no funds available for
the decorating and the previous florist knew
this and declined, deciding instead to “let the
new people do it!”
Harry’s children, Annetta McLaughlin,
Debbie Reed, and Snapper Reed have all
worked in the shop alongside a staff of loyal
and dedicated employees. With an excess of
22,000 florists in the United States, Reed’s
Flowers is proud to have been rated among the
top 500 florists for the last several years.
Today, the fact that Reed’s Flowers was voted
“Best Florist” by the readers of The Wacoan
in 2008 is proof that its customers both near
and far have long agreed with the shop’s
motto: “When you think of Flowers, think of
Reed’s Flowers.”
For more information about Reed’s Flowers,
visit them at www.reedsflower.com.
REED’S
FLOWERS
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 123

IMPERIAL
WOODWORKS,
INC.
Founded by Jim Hilliard, Ernest Strange,
and Guy Ahern in Waco in 1960, Imperial
Woodworks, Inc., is among the most trusted
manufacturers of the finest hand-crafted church
furniture available.
The company began in a small metal building
located on Franklin Avenue and moved to Sixth
and Mary in 1962. The facility consisted of three
adjoined buildings with approximately 100,000
square feet. When it began, the entire operation
of offices and manufacturing was located in the
first building on the first floor adjacent to the
loading docks.
Jim, a graduate of Baylor University, was
joined in the venture by Ernest, director of sales,
and Guy, all of whom Jim had worked with at
L. L. Sams and Sons Church Furniture in Waco.
After Guy Ahern left the company, George Crow
became head of manufacturing.
In the beginning times were difficult and the
men took any work available to them. Once, they
received a government contract to manufacture
bunk beds for military installations and the
Hilliard children often worked weekends
counting and bagging hardware for each bunk
bed that was shipped out.
In 1979 the men were determined to see their
company’s success continue and welcomed Steve
Smith to the business in anticipation of its
continuation. Jim remained active in the
company until his death in 2003. The company
ownership ultimately passed to Kaye Smith, one
of Jim’s daughters, and the wife of Steve Smith.
The operations of Imperial were able to continue
as usual due to the presence of many long term
employees. Plans for continued operations
beyond the life of Steve and Kaye have already
been taken having brought into the business
Kevin Smith, son of Kaye and Steve, and Ryan
Back, son-in-law.
In 1998, Imperial built a new manufacturing
facility at 7201 Mars Drive in Waco. Two days
before they moved into the new facility, the
existing building was destroyed by fire. All of the
machinery and inventory had already been
moved to the new factory. Because of the
anticipated down time before production would
be flowing in the new location, they had
manufactured church furniture to be delivered
while they were gearing up the new facility. Every
item was destroyed in the fire.
In December 2003, Imperial purchased the
assets of another church furniture company in
Modesto, California. A satellite manufacturing
plant was operated at that location for
approximately two years, but was eventually
closed with all operations being conducted from
the location in Waco.
In 2004, Imperial added 20,000 square feet to
the factory to help facilitate the increased sales
volume that had come with the purchase of the
California church furniture manufacturer.
Today, Imperial manufactures every product at
its 120,000 square foot manufacturing facility
in the Waco Industrial Park, and delivers and
installs church furniture across the United States
and Canada. In addition, a small amount of its
products are also shipped overseas.
Imperial’s primary business remains in
manufacturing new furniture, specializing in
church pews, courtroom benches, standard
designs of pulpit furniture such as pulpits,
communion tables, podiums, and altars, along
with custom, one of a kind, furniture designs.
The company has also remained active in
the Waco community. The Hilliards were active
in Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco,
while Hilliard remained an active contributor to
Baylor University until his death. Kaye and Steve
remain active in Columbus Avenue Baptist
Church. Steve is an active alumnus of Texas Tech
University and has served on the Texas Tech
Rawls College of Business Advisory Council for
over five years, and is also a contributor of the
Waco Junior League.
For information about Imperial Woodworks,
please visit them online at www.imperialww.com
and www.imperialpews.com.
124 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Super 8 Motel Waco Mall is conveniently
located at 6624 Highway 84 West, one block
West of Richland Mall. Heart O’ Texas Coliseum
and Lake Waco are just minutes away. The
exterior corridor hotel offers a complimentary
SuperStart breakfast and outdoor pool while
room amenities include microwaves, refrigerators,
and coffee makers.
With the Business Center, free in-room
wireless Internet, and copy and fax services
available, the business traveler will feel right at
home. For the leisure traveler, hotel amenities
such as the available suites, twenty-five inch
television with HBO, ESPN, and CNN, alarm
clock radio, hair dryer, and iron and ironing
board will make the trip even more enjoyable.
Pets are welcome and truck, bus, and RV parking
are always available.
Super 8 Waco Mall was originally home to
another franchise when it was built in 1986 as
the first hotel in the West/Mall area by partners
from Brownwood, Texas—Jimmy Campbell and
Billy Steward. The current owner purchased the
Super 8 franchise in November of 2007 and
strives to provide affordable lodging for the
growing west side of Waco that is always clean
and always welcomes its guests as family.
Nearby attractions include the Richland
Mall, Heart O’ Texas Fairgrounds, Providence
Hospital, Hillcrest Hospital, Hollywood Theater,
Lake Waco, Cameron Park Zoo, Cottonwood
Creek Golf Course, Dr. Pepper Museum, Baylor
University, Waco Convention Center, Waco
Regional Airport, Red Men Museum & Library,
River Bend Ballfield, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame,
and the Masonic Grand Lodge.
Nearby restaurants include Casa Ole,
Cheddar’s, Fazoli’s, Logan’s Steakhouse, Luby’s
Cafeteria, McAlister’s Deli, Olive Garden, On the
Border, Outback Steakhouse, Red Lobster, Rib
Crib, Ryan’s Steakhouse, Souper Salad, Starbucks,
and TGI Fridays.
For more information and to make
reservations, please visit the hotel online at
www.super8.com.
SUPER 8 MOTEL
WACO MALL
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 125

NAMAN, HOWELL,
SMITH & LEE
Above: The partners of the firm
include L. Hayes Fuller III; Kerry L.
Haliburton; Roy L. Barrett; Enid A.
Wade; and Wesley J. Filer.
Below: The associates of the firm
include Trenton Hood; Jeffrey A.
Armstrong; Cara M. Chase; and
Wesley Lloyd.
The historic law firm of Naman, Howell,
Smith & Lee, a registered limited liability
partnership, with offices in Austin, Fort Worth,
Harker Heights, Temple, and Waco was originally
founded in 1917. The firm includes over fifty
attorneys and has been providing legal services to
communities across the state for nearly a century.
Naman, Howell, Smith & Lee offers a broad
regional and statewide civil practice in a variety
of areas including litigation, business, estate
planning, telecommunications, tax, real estate,
oil and gas, banking, tax-exempt financing,
intellectual property, utility and environmental
law, employee benefits, bankruptcy, and
administrative work.
The firm’s attorneys are graduates of Baylor
School of Law, the University of Texas School
of Law, Texas Tech School of Law, St. Mary’s
School of Law, Creighton University School of
Law, University of Tennessee College of Law,
University of Georgia School of Law, Mississippi
College School of Law, Louisiana State University
Law Center, and Duke University School of Law,
while many have held clerkship positions
with both state and federal judges. Former and
current lawyers of Naman Howell include two
presidents of the State Bar of Texas, one chair
of the Board of Directors of the State Bar of
Texas, three presidents of the Texas Young
Lawyers association, two presidents of the Texas
Association of Defense Counsel, and one chair
of the General Practice Section of the ABA, as
well as ten Texas Super Lawyers and Four Rising
Stars named by Texas Monthly.
The quality of life along the I-35 corridor in
Central Texas and the opportunity to work in a
mid-size firm where young lawyers can have
early client contact and also develop expertise
make it easy for Naman Howell to attract the very
best law graduates from prestigious schools as
well as lateral hires. But being hired by Naman
Howell is not so easy. The stringent criteria
include not only academic achievement but also
an aptitude for providing excellent client service
Naman, Howell, Smith & Lee is committed
to continuing legal education and every attorney
meets or exceeds the State Bar mandated
requirements for continuing legal education.
Firm attorneys attend legal seminars and
conferences throughout Texas and around the
United States. Members of the firm are frequent
speakers at seminars for both attorneys and
significant segments of the business community.
The firm regularly sponsors seminars for
businesses and clients of the firm. Several
members of the firm are adjunct professors of
law at Baylor School of Law.
Naman, Howell, Smith & Lee also includes
an outstanding staff of legal assistants,
administrative personnel, secretaries, and
bookkeeping personnel. The firm’s operations
are computerized, including bookkeeping, word
processing, docket control, case management,
legal forms and legal research. The firm is
networked such that research and documents
can be shared and easily retrieved for more
efficient rendering of services.
One of the named partners often said that
good lawyers take a client’s burden, carry that
stone on their backs, and work hard to help the
client. Naman Howell tries to live up to that goal.
For more information about the firm, visit
them at www.namanhowell.com.
126 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

TEXAS LIFE
INSURANCE
COMPANY
Founded in 1901 by the Mayfield family,
Texas Life Insurance Company is the oldest legal
reserve life insurance company domiciled in
Texas and holds Charter Number 1, issued by
the state banking commission before the state
insurance department even existed. With over a
century of historic service, Texas Life Insurance
throughout has delivered quality life insurance
products to its customers.
Until the 1980s, the company generally
looked to Texas and Oklahoma as its market to
sell its products. Today, Texas Life Insurance
Company has expanded across the country into
forty-nine states and the District of Columbia,
and is ranked second in the U.S. in voluntary
permanent life premium sold at the worksite.
With expansion has come growth and,
although its customer base has significantly
increased, the company has maintained its
desire to treat its customers well and affords
them the unique peace of mind that only life
insurance can provide.
Known and respected as one of the country’s
leading providers of voluntary permanent life
insurance to employees where they work,
Texas Life consistently ranks among the
country’s top three companies in terms of new
annualized premium.
Located at 900 Washington Avenue and on the
Internet at www.texlife.com, Texas Life Insurance
Company gives back to the community as the
lead sponsor for the area’s Susan G. Komen
Race for the Cure and sponsors several Little
League baseball teams. Employees are active as
volunteers on boards and as members of many
civic and community organizations.
Texas Life Insurance Company—“Voluntary
Permanent Life Insurance: It’s all we do, and
we’re good at it.”
Above: Texas Life’s original building
and some early employees.
Below, left: Sixth and Austin Avenue.
Below, right: Texas Life’s
current building.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 127

COMFORT
SUITES ®
Located just off of Interstate 35, the Comfort
Suites ® is convenient to just about anything
in or near Waco. The hotel overlooks the
revitalized, famous traffic circle and is less than
two miles from Baylor University and within
four miles of the Waco Convention Center,
Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and the Heart O’
Texas Fair Complex. A variety of restaurants,
which include legendary stand-bys like
Health Camp and the Elite Grille, where Elvis
Presley frequented, and newcomers like Texas
Roadhouse and Rudy’s Bar B-Q are within
walking distance of the hotel.
Opened in 2006, Comfort Suites Waco has
been home to all types of guests and events
including business travelers, conference
attendees, Baylor University functions, sporting
events, family reunions, weddings, local guests
needing a getaway, and even the crew of Air
Force One.
Our friendly, knowledgeable staff will help
you become familiar with the hotel and the
area. Every room is a non-smoking suite so you
can breathe easy and spread out. Enjoy in-room
conveniences like a microwave, refrigerator,
sofa-sleeper, and coffee. A hairdryer and iron
in the room will help you look sharp for the
occasion. Stay productive and keep in touch
with the office or with loved ones through
the hotel’s free high-speed Internet access in
the room or at the hotel’s business center.
Rejuvenate at the hotel’s outdoor pool, spa or
fitness center.
After a busy day, get a restful night’s sleep on
our Serta Sleeper ® beds topped with plenty of
fluffy pillows. Each morning, enjoy the Savory
Starts Breakfast buffet featuring meat and eggs
and fresh waffles as well as several kid-friendly
and health-conscious items. So whether you are
traveling with your family, in-town on business
or looking for great rates for long-term stays,
come enjoy the Suite Life at the Comfort Suites
of Waco.
To book now at Comfort Suites of Waco
at 2700 LaSalle Avenue in Waco, 76706, call
254-537-0413 or online at www.wacosuites.com.
128 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Spenco Medical Corporation has been proud
to call Waco home for over forty years. Started
in 1967 by Dr. Wayman Spence, a specialist in
physical medicine and rehabilitation, Spenco
remains an innovative healthcare company
whose mission is to help people everywhere
live healthy lives with greater comfort.
Over the years, Spenco’s innovations have
included the first gel cycling gloves and bicycle
seats (including a Spenco Gel Saddle Pad on
a bicycle ridden by Johnny Carson while an
egg was under Johnny’s seat!). Other products
included BIOSOFT Wrist and Ankle Weights
that were used by Jane Fonda in her videos
during the aerobics craze of the 1980s.
After several years as a division of Kimberly-
Clark, Inc, Spenco became a privately owned
company again in the spring of 1994 under the
direction of Steven B. Smith. Spenco continues
to operate with over 100 valued employees in
a 200,000 square foot distribution centre on
seven acres in Waco’s Industrial Park.
Today, Spenco’s core business remains
premium insole and footcare products. Along
with new styles and technologies, the familiar
Spenco Green Neoprene Insoles, Arch Cushions
and Heel Cushions have remained the top choice
of podiatrists for superior cushioning for the past
forty years. POLYSORB ® Replacement Insoles are
widely distributed in athletic and specialty stores
and remain the only insole brand sold in Foot
Locker Group stores around the world. The
company’s 2nd Skin ® Products provide unique
solutions to cool and soothe minor burns on
contact and to treat blisters. SILICORE ® Padding
Products help prevent bed sores in thousands of
long-term care facilities.
With every product we ship from Waco to
the world, our mission remains healthy comfort
for all.
Spenco Medical Corporation is located at 6301
Imperial Drive in Waco and at www.spenco.com.
SPENCO
MEDICAL
CORPORATION
Above: Dr. Wayman Spence.
Below: Spenco Medical Corporation.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 129

PLANNED
PARENTHOOD
OF CENTRAL
TEXAS, INC.
The mission of Planned Parenthood of
Central Texas, Inc. (PPCT), an affiliate of
Planned Parenthood Federation of America,
headquartered in New York City, is to assure
that quality, comprehensive reproductive
healthcare and education is available to all.
Since 1939 when thirty members pledged $1
per month and volunteered time at the clinic,
PPCT has grown to encompass forty employees,
nine of whom are licensed healthcare workers, and
a budget of $2.2 million, funded by federal and
state sources, patient fees, and private donations.
Services now extend far beyond contraception
and medical assistance to include colposcopy and
cryotherapy for diagnosis and treatment of
cervical dysplasia and treatment of lower urinary
tract infection, as well as HIV counseling and
testing, funding for mammograms for low
income women, adoption services, and first visit
pre-natal care.
Planned Parenthood offers counseling and
education, including “Nobody’s Fool: Dating,
Love, Sex, and AIDS,” an annual nationally
recognized conference for boys and girls, fifth
through ninth grades. Its Audre Rapoport
Library serves as the community’s leading
resource in all aspects of reproductive health
and sexuality, with books, videos and curricula
available for all ages.
In 2005 the agency separated into two
corporations, Planned Parenthood of Central
Texas, Inc. (PPCT) and Planned Parenthood
of Waco Family Planning and Surgical
Services (PPW), to comply with a Texas law
withholding public funding from agencies that
perform abortion.
With a service area covering ten counties, the
organization’s headquarters and other sites
include Mary Ruth Duncan Women’s Health
Center (PPCT), 1121 Ross Avenue, Waco;
Marlin Women’s Health Center (PPCT) in
Marlin, Mexia Women's Health Center (PPCT)
in Mexia, and Audre Rapoport Women’s Health
Center (PPW), 1927 Columbus Avenue, Waco.
Plans for the future include opening clinics in
the other counties within the organization’s
service area.
PPCT is active in many civic groups and
collaborates with most central Texas youth
and health organizations as it continues to meet
the community’s challenges, providing countless
women and men with healthier, happier lives.
This photograph was taken in Mrs.
Ernest (Helen) Day’s home honoring
her for community service in family
planning. A proclamation by Mayor
Malcolm Louden initiated the
celebration. Seated from left to right:
Helen Day, Mrs. A. M. Goldstein, and
Pauline Breustedt. Standing from left
to right: Luella Boynton, Lucy Turner
and Althea Dossett.
130 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

When Ted and Adele Uptmore purchased
the legendary auction market in West, Texas,
in the late 1980s, the business was failing
for the third time and nearly in bankruptcy.
The couple convinced Ted’s brother, Jim, to
join them in the venture and Adele agreed to
run the sale barn while Ted continued his
regular job at West Chemical and Fertilizer.
At first, determining the value of cattle and
learning how to market them was difficult, but
Adele was determined to learn every aspect of
the business.
Today, Adele and Ted are managing partners
of the auction market and West Auction, Inc.,
employs twenty-six workers for their weekly
auction. People come from all over Texas—
ticket writers, weigh masters, and starters.
The office staff works on Thursdays, sale day,
and is joined by an additional six or seven
high school and college students who fill in
and work the alley. A high note in the
Uptmore’s auction experience occurred on May
26, 2005, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the
business, when the business posted a record
$1.3 million closing.
In a typical week, over a thousand head of
cattle are run through West Auction, Inc., with
cowmen from a fifty to seventy-five mile radius
hauling their cattle in to be sold.
In July of 2002, The Cattlemen featured West
Auction, Inc., and Adele, noting that she is
“respected by rough working cowboys, savvy
cattle buyers, and the road weary truckers who
frequent the popular West Auction Cafe as a
lady and a manager who runs the place with
a velvet fist.” The Uptmore family’s visionary
leadership and sheer determination have
brought continued growth and success to the
company with help from her husband and four
sons and its Stockyard Cafe restaurant, located
at 20647 North IH 35. For nearly three decades
now, their priority remains to ensure that every
customer receives the best price possible for
their livestock. The company also works to
educate local cattleman on ways to improve
their herds and hosts a number of onsite
extension meetings to focus on improvement of
cattle and pricing across the industry. For
twenty-eight years, the Uptmore’s have hosted
twelve to fifteen registered sales every year.
WEST
AUCTION, INC.
Adele, Ted, Sr., John David, Ted, Jr.,
Tim and Brian Uptmore.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF CATTLEMAN’S
MAGAZINE, 1993.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 131

CWA
CONSTRUCTION,
INC.
Above: The Region XII Education
Service Center addition, a
construction manager at-risk project.
Below: The Waco Regional Tennis &
Fitness Center, a design/build project.
CWA Construction, Inc., provides professional
general construction, construction management,
and design-build services. The company delivers
a wide range of industrial, manufacturing, office,
and retail, educational, church, recreational,
healthcare, and commercial projects in the
Central Texas area.
CWA was organized in 1996 by Herb Cross
and Jim Winton to fill a need expressed
by several of Herb Cross’ engineering clients
who requested a more accountable and
integrated construction process. The company
began with three employees and an annual
construction volume of less than $1 million.
Located at 8801 Woodway Drive, Suite D,
today CWA Construction includes a licensed
and LEED accredited engineer, an office
manager, an administrative assistant, an
estimator, and an executive project manager and
a variety of clients including the Waco
Independent School District, City of Waco,
Allen Samuels Realty, American Vault, Cameron
Park Zoo, and Waco Tennis and Fitness Center.
In 2008, CWA’s annual construction volume
topped $12 million.
CWA Construction, Inc., is focused on
providing construction and design-build
services at fair market competitive prices to its
clients. To ensure the longevity and profitability
of the company, CWA is also committed to
establishing lasting relationships with its
clients by exceeding their expectations and
gaining their trust through integrity and
quality workmanship.
CWA Construction, Inc., is active in the
community and supports the Greater Waco
Area Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club of
Waco, and The Advocacy Center for Crime
Victims and Children.
For more information, please visit CWA
Construction, Inc. at www.cwaconstruction.com.
132 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

KIRKPATRICK
AND WITT
FURNITURE
Waco’s historic Kirkpatrick and Witt
Furniture has been serving and selling quality
made furniture, appliances, and electronics at
affordable prices for over a century.
The store’s original founders were Sam
Kirkpatrick, who opened the city’s first furniture
store in 1900, and G. C. Witt, who joined
Connie Jones in starting Witt and Jones, Waco’s
second furniture store. Dedicated to selling
quality furniture at low prices, the stores
survived the Great Depression, two world wars,
and the area’s legendary tornado in 1953,
which destroyed both buildings and all the
merchandise. The owners eventually recovered
their losses and rebuilt in the old Waco Square,
though both stores were demolished in 1969
during a vast urban renewal movement.
Under the outstanding and dedicated
leadership of Robert A. Witt, then owner
of G. C. Witt and Sons Furniture, Sam
Kirkpatrick’s store was purchased and Witt
combined the two names to consolidate each
group’s huge customer base. To complete the
merger, Witt mortgaged his home to buy the
store’s current location in downtown Waco and
soon began converting the site—a two-story
parking lot and tire center—into Kirkpatrick
and Witt Furniture Store with front door
parking and loading docks.
In the early 1970s, Connie Whited became
one of Waco’s most recognizable faces and
voices of TV and radio as the sales force
behind Kirpatrick & Witt Furniture Company.
In 1986, Cleveland Witt, Robert’s nephew, and
Robert Goldsmith purchased the corporation
and, in 2000, Mike and Troy Goldsmith and
Lee Bauman became partners in Kirkpatrick
and Witt.
As a locally owned and operated business,
Kirkpatrick and Witt remains dedicated to
the communities it serves and supports many
local schools, churches, and community center
programs. The company also partners with
Habitat for Humanity—sharing in the grand
idea that “together we can make the difference.”
Kirkpatrick and Witt in downtown Waco—
located left on the corner and right on the
price—and online at www.kwitt.net.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 133

DAVIS IRON
WORKS,
LTD.
Above: John Thomas “Jack” Davis.
Below: Michaelis Academic Center at
McLennan Community College
in Waco.
The creation of Davis Iron Works first began
with the dreams of a young John Thomas “Jack”
Davis as he worked on the family farm south of
Waco, near the community of Satin, during the
1920s. After serving as a pilot in World War II,
Davis returned to Waco, where he worked in a
local rock quarry before “remembering the old
blacksmith shop” from his youth, and decided
to go into the iron business. He opened his shop
in a warehouse attached to the Brazos Valley
Cotton Oil Mill near downtown Waco,
and remained there until 1948 when he
built a new shop on North Valley Mills
Drive, which specialized in the fabrication
of ornamental iron.
Among his first employees was Albert
J. “Joe” Williams, who had also served
in World War II. Williams was hired as
shop foreman in 1951 and advanced to
the position of vice president in 1957.
By then the company, bolstered by the
rebuilding of many Waco buildings after
the 1953 tornado, had grown to nearly
forty employees. Davis passed away in
1968, and Williams became president of
the company and served in that capacity
until his retirement in 2006. As Davis
Iron grew, a larger location in Hewitt
was built and their plant relocated in
the spring of 1974. The following year,
Davis sold their ornamental iron business
and put their full efforts into becoming
a first-class steel service center and
structural fabricator.
Always ready to change with economic
conditions, Davis has continually updated
equipment and changed product lines. From
its beginning with ornamental iron and agribusiness
related products, the company has
evolved into a quality certified structural steel
fabricator, a supplier of products for original
equipment manufacturers, and a service center
specializing in on-time delivery. Many Central
Texas schools, manufacturing facilities and
office buildings have steel frameworks fabricated
by Davis. One such structure is the newlycompleted
Michaelis Academic Center at
McLennan Community College in Waco. Davis
is a Presidential Scholarship Donor at MCC and
was proud to be part of their campus improvements.
Equipment has also been updated to
serve an ever-changing marketplace. The
company has shears and press brakes for plate
fabrication, a 4,000-watt laser cutting machine,
robotic welding equipment, a complete structural
fab department and 3D computer graphics.
Today 135 Davis employees
celebrate sixty years of success
in the steel service business.
The company is employee-owned,
and considers relationships—
with employees, customers and
even vendors—their most important
asset. What we sell has
obviously been important, but
how we sell it has been the
measure of our success.
134 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

The historic First Baptist Church of Waco has
served as a definitive landmark in the lives of
individuals for over a century and a half.
Historian Alan Lefever wrote that the church
was first conceived in prayer by Noah T. Byars and
four other Baptists and was officially organized on
May 31, 1851. The new congregation met in the
local Methodist church building. Byars, a member
of Texas’ first Baptist church, agreed to preach
once a month for the new congregation.
S. G. O’Bryan served as the church’s first
resident pastor (1854-1860) and oversaw the
construction of the church’s first structure. From
1860 to 1870, the pulpit was often filled by
Waco University President Rufus C. Burleson.
On January 5, 1870, the church asked B. H.
Carroll to preach in Burleson’s absence. In 1871
he became the full-time pastor. Under his
leadership, First Baptist Waco became the
flagship church among Texas Baptists and also
one of the most prominent churches in the
Southern Baptist Convention. He remained at
the church until his resignation in 1899.
In 1915, J. M. Dawson began the longest
tenure of any pastor of First Baptist, remaining
at the church until 1946. Forrest Feezor, H. E.
Lindsey, H. J. Flanders, Peter McLeod, John
Wood and Scott Walker all provided guidance
for the latter half of the twentieth century.
First Baptist was involved in the formation of
both Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
(1908) and the George W. Truett
Theological Seminary (1994) and has
influenced many future Baptist leaders as
a result of its successful college ministry.
The church has found many ways
to serve the larger Waco community,
including an active Day Care program,
housing a Christian school, Meals on
Wheels, literacy programs, community
recreation opportunities, and numerous
additional community services.
In 2006, Dr. Bill Pitts reflected upon
the astonishing history of the church,
writing that it has maintained continuity
with its heritage. It has steadily provided
to its members the essentials of local
church responsibility: regular worship
with emphasis on preaching and music
and focus on Christian education, with
classes taught by dedicated volunteers.
Since 1907, First Baptist Church has enjoyed
a unique and beautiful sanctuary, which is
magnificently adorned during the Christmas
season. The heritage of First Baptist Church is a
distinguished one, and members draw strength
from this great past. Today, the members study
and worship together to continue traditions of
ministry through missions and service.
First Baptist Church is located at 500
Webster in Waco and at www.fbwaco.org.
FIRST BAPTIST
CHURCH
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 135

RIDGECREST
RETIREMENT
AND HEALTH
CARE
When Ridgecrest Retirement and Health
Care opened its doors in 1986, assisted living
for seniors was a new idea. Founders James
Loudermilk and Bob Bowers shared an innovative
vision to build a full-service graduated care,
retirement center to provide Christian services
to the elderly. The original organization was
formed as Ridgecrest Retirement Community
in general partnership by the two founders on
December 14, 1984.
Landmark events in the earliest days of the
new community included securing financing
from Victoria Savings and Loan of San Antonio,
the cooperation and approval of the Waco Health
Facilities Board and City of Waco Planning and
Engineering Departments, and hiring good
employees from the Waco workforce. Those outstanding
employees who helped open the doors
of Ridgecrest included Administrator Beverly
Huntsman; Director of Nursing Services Millie
Sexton, R.N.; and Assisted Living Director
Brigitte Owenbey.
The concept of Assisted Living was new to
Waco in 1986. In fact, Ridgecrest was the first
continuum of care facility in Central Texas. The
vision of Loudermilk and Bowers was that a resident
could move from one level of care to
another depending on the individualized needs
of the resident. Some residents would come
needing IV medications and wound care and
start in the nursing center. As they recovered and
regained their independence, they could move
to Assisted Living or even the Retirement
Community. Conversely, some residents would
move into Ridgecrest with a great deal of independence.
They continued to drive in the
community and participated in a variety of
campus or off-campus activities. If their health
deteriorated, they could move to the nursing
center without having to move across town.
Today, Ridgecrest Retirement and Health Care
continues to be an innovative leader in the community.
They are dedicated to helping the people
in their care live longer, healthier, and happier
lives. Ridgecrest offers a dignified independent
retirement community, elegant assisted living
apartments, and the finest in skilled nursing care
and rehabilitation. In all areas, Ridgecrest is committed
to helping each resident age with dignity.
Ridgecrest Retirement and Health Care is
located at 1900 West Highway 6 in Waco at
www.ridgecrestretirement.com.
136 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

COUNTRY INN
& SUITES BY
CARLSON-WACO
Opened in December of 1999 by owner Dipak
Patel, Country Inn & Suites by Carlson–Waco is
a leader in the mid-scale hotel segment featuring
residential architecture and a home-line interior
with highlights that include hardwood flooring,
lobby fireplace, and front porch. The hotel
offers many upgraded amenities such as
complimentary hot breakfast, in-room hair
dryer, coffee maker, wireless high-speed
Internet access and free local phone calls,
outdoor pool and fitness center, iron and ironing
board, and weekday morning newspaper.
Spacious two-room suites, Executive suites and
Whirlpool suites are also available and come
with upgraded amenities.
Also provided is an in-house lending library
program, which lends books to guests based on
the assurance they will return the book on their
next visit. Since the inception of the lending
library, the company has donated over $100,000
to literacy organizations across the country.
The ideal Waco location for small meetings,
the Country Inn & Suites by Carlson offers
flexible, well-appointed meeting space for
events and, with the services of the professional
hotel staff, meetings at the hotel are sure to
come off without a hitch.
Located at 1502 North I-35, Country Inn &
Suites by Carlson is a part of Minnesota-based
Carlson Hotels Worldwide whose brands also
include Regent Hotels & Resorts, Radisson
Hotels & Resorts, Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts,
and Park Inn.
Country Inn & Suites by Carlson–Waco
employs fifteen to twenty people at any one
time, generates over $908,000 in annual sales
and accommodates over 10,000 guests per year.
Community and charitable involvement is
very important and includes Texas State
Troopers Association, Komen Central Texas
Race for the Cure, La Vega Little League, Waco
Tribune Herald Literacy Fund, and ProLiteracy
Worldwide Fund.
“Be Our Guest” and please visit Country Inn
& Suites by Carlson–Waco, Texas, on the web
at www.countryinns.com/wacotx.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 137

THE VILLAGE
BAKERY
Above: The Village Bakery is located
at 113 East Oak Street in
West, Texas.
Below: The Village Bakery Westfest
Booth—Labor Day 1976. Pictured
fourth from left are Westfest Director
W. O. Montgomery, Georgia
Montgomery, Gladys Quilter, Lucille
Price, and Jim Quilter.
The Village Bakery, established in 1952 by
Wendel and Georgia Montgomery, is best known
as “The First All-Czech Bakery in Texas.” Signature
items include such authentic Czech pastries as
the kolache, klobasniki, strudel, and buchta as
well as a variety of pies, breads and cookies. A
one-time pharmacist, Wendel was deemed “The
Central Texas Godfather of Kolaches” and was
responsible for the first marketing of Czech
baked products on a commercial level. Wendel
made kolaches as they do in the old countrywith
sweet things like fruit filling and cottage
cheese, but at his mother-in-law’s suggestion,
he also dreamed up a revolutionary twist: the
Klobasniki, which is Czech for “little sausage,”
and is a sausage baked in kolache dough.
The idea for the bakery began around the
Montgomery kitchen table as a response to West
residents’ complaints that they were only able to
get kolaches during the annual church bazaar.
The family’s Catholic priest encouraged Wendel
to open a bakery, so he cleaned out a storeroom
next to his pharmacy, (The Old Corner Drug
Store) while Georgia made curtains and painted
the interior.
Wendel, and Georgia’s mother, “Honey
Morris,” put their heads together and, utilizing
her talent in baking and his background in
chemistry, the family recipe was redesigned for
commercial distribution. Without surprise,
“Honey’s” traditional kolaches, filled with fruits
and spices indigenous to Czechoslovakia (apricot,
apple, prune, poppy seed, peach and cherry)
were an immediate sensation. Over the
years, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry and
cream cheese varieties have been added to the
menu as concessions to the American appetite.
The Village Bakery gained a state and international
following and West’s reputation for this
tasty treat earned it the title of “Kolache Capital
of Texas” from the state Legislature.
Wendel worked in the bakery and greeted
customers until the age of eighty-seven, just two
months before his death in 2003. Georgia, at
ninety-one years young, is still active in its day
to day operation. The Montgomerys were also
instrumental in the organization of the annual
Labor Day Czech festival known as Westfest.
Today West is truly the “Czech Point of Texas.”
For authentic Czech pastries and baked goods
contact The Village Bakery at 113 East Oak Street
in West, Texas and by phone at 254-826-5151.
138 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

Waco’s oldest business in continuous operation,
the Tom Padgitt Company, has spanned five
generations in 141 years of operation.
It was originally a saddle and leather goods
business founded by Tom Padgitt, who came to
Texas in 1854. He learned saddle and harnessmaking
from his uncle, and accompanied the
builders of the Houston & Texas Central Railway,
supplying the harnesses for their draft animals.
On July 11, 1867, at the age of twenty-one,
Padgitt opened his first saddle and harness
business in Bryan before opening his store in
Waco near the banks of the Brazos River on
the town square and “Rat Row,” later called
Bridge Street, in 1872, on the famous Chisholm
Trail. Thirteen years later he moved to 400-411
Austin Avenue.
By 1892 the Padgitt Building was constructed
at the corner of Franklin Avenue and Fifth
Street and soon became one of the largest
manufacturers of saddles and harness in the
world. When Padgitt died in 1926, the firm was
manufacturing buggies, carriages and luggage to
augment the saddles and leather goods lines.
Clint Padgitt succeeded his father and
expanded the sporting goods, luggage, and
added cameras and radios; employed ten
salesmen traveling the southwest offering toys,
bicycles and other wheel goods; while camera
sales increased rapidly as leather goods
decreased. After Clint died in 1945, Waco
banker Wilton Lanning, Sr., bought the
company and expanded the sporting goods to
include guns and ammunition.
In 1949, Padgitt’s moved to the corner of
Ninth and Austin Avenue, where Tom Padgitt’s
home once stood. In 1959, Padgitt’s moved
once again to a large building at 401 South
Thirteenth Street and focused primarily on
wholesale and retail photography.
Wilton Lanning, Jr., joined his father in
1965 and added high-fidelity and stereo
lines, and began marketing audio-visual
equipment to the educational markets in 1967.
Padgitt’s emerged as a leader in teaching and
communications technologies.
In 1972, Lanning, Jr., succeeded his father
upon the latter’s death. By 1978, Padgitt’s had
constructed a beautiful new 15,000 square foot
building at 5054 Franklin and had become one
of the state’s premier photographic, electronics
and communications firms.
In the 1980s, Padgitt’s began advertising
itself as the “Toy Store for Grown-Ups,”
providing customers with digital high definition
televisions and high end audio systems, design
and installation of custom home theaters, and
the design of conference and board rooms, class
rooms and auditoriums.
On February 5, 2004, Lanning, Jr., sold
Padgitt’s to Chris Schroeder, making him
only the fifth owner in 137 years. Chris
has continued the tradition of quality and
dependability, which customers have received
for so many years.
The company has seen virtually everything
change over the years and has survived two
tornados, depressions and world wars. One
thing has not changed—a tradition of quality
and knowledgeable service at a fair price.
TOM PADGITT
COMPANY
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 139

SHEEHY,
LOVELACE &
MAYFIELD, P. C.
Above: Senior members of Sheehy,
Lovelace & Mayfield: Gary K. Jordan,
Henry W. Fielder, John F. Sheehy, Jr.,
G. Maynard Green and
Philip E. McCleery.
Below: Seated: Lanissa Willis,
G. Maynard Green, Gary K. Jordan,
John F. Sheehy, Jr., and Henry W.
Fielder. Standing: Peter K. Rusek,
Stephen S. Garner, Steven M. Burton,
John O’Herren, Philip E. McCleery,
David M. Mathews, and Michael J.
Gulig. Not pictured: Jeffrey R. Cox.
Sheehy, Lovelace & Mayfield, P. C. provides
high-quality legal services with integrity and
is recognized as one of the preeminent law
firms in Central Texas. The firm is further
characterized by its strong commitment to
service in and around the Waco community.
Founded in 1893 the firm, as it exists today,
is a result of the merger in 1968 of the firms of
Jones, Boyd, Westbrook & Lovelace and Richey,
Sheehy, Teeling & Cureton. The law firm
of Jones, Boyd, Westbrook & Lovelace was
a successor to the 1893 law partnership of
Williams & Williams. Richey, Sheehy, Teeling
& Cureton was the a successor to the 1923
partnership of Richey & Sheehy. After the 1968
merger, the firm occupied the eleventh and
twelfth floors of the Alico Center and the
second floor of the First Federal Savings & Loan
building at Thirteenth and Austin.
John F. Sheehy, Sr., led the firm until his
death in 1979. At the helm of the firm today is
John F. Sheehy, Jr., who recently celebrated his
sixtieth year of practicing law.
Located at 510 North Valley Mills Drive in
Suite 500 in the Triangle Tower, the firm of
Sheehy, Lovelace & Mayfield, P. C., currently
includes fourteen attorneys; eight of whom
are Fellows of the Texas Bar Foundation,
elected in recognition of their service and
devotion to the highest traditions of the bar.
Several members are adjunct professors at
Baylor Law School, Baylor University, and
McLennan Community College.
Historically, Sheehy, Lovelace & Mayfield,
P. C., has been characterized by its leadership
in charitable and religious organizations.
Members of the firm are active on numerous
boards of various organizations throughout
the state, and remain active in local civic
leadership roles, serving or having served on
the Waco City Council, in the office of Mayor,
and with the Waco and Midway School Boards.
Members are also active in the
Waco Chamber of Commerce
and have represented the
Waco Industrial Foundation
since its inception in 1958.
For over 115 years, the
firm has served its clients
guided by the vision that
commitment, excellence, and
integrity drive success. As
a result, the firm has built
long-lasting relationships with
its clients, which it remains
committed to continuing for
future generations.
140 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

R. Watson Feed Store in Mart, the United
States’ oldest continually operated Ralston
Purina feed store, was founded in 1905 by Ruff
Watson, one of seven Ralston Purina feed
dealers franchised in Texas that year. The store’s
mule-drawn wagons delivered to area
customers until 1947.
Operating six days a week, from 6 a.m.
to 6 p.m., it remained open till midnight
on Fridays and Saturdays in the fall.
Throughout the Watson family’s operation
in the same building, it has been a
community meeting place. Ruff and his
sons, Murray, Sr., and Orlette, received
feed from St. Louis, purchased corn and
shipped it by the I. & G. N. Railroad until
the railroad discontinued service to Mart
in 1959. In one of the last years, they
shipped ninety-four cars of shell corn.
Ruff stocked feed, seed, cord wood
and coal and provided a slaughterhouse,
butcher shop and leather goods
store. The 1906 structure retains its
original details.
In 1946, Murray, Sr., renamed the business
Watson Feed Store, later passing it to his son,
Murray, Jr., Three generations of family members
grew up working there. Its growth is tied to
the Mart community’s agricultural economy.
WATSON
FEED STORE
Student Loan Revenue Bonds totaling
$14 billion-plus have been made available
through the Brazos Higher Education Authority,
Inc. Since its organization in 1975 the
authority has been directed by a board of
directors appointed by the governing body
of the City of Waco. Directors, who receive
no compensation except for the reimbursement
of expenses, serve two-year staggered
terms of office.
Board officers are David F. Smith, Jr.,
city manager and director of finance (retired)
for the City of Waco, president; and Joyce
Packard, high school counselor for Waco public
schools, dean of women and supervisor of
student teachers at Baylor University (retired),
vice president.
Other board members are Bob Chambers,
chairman and CEO, Automatic Chef Co.;
Lindley F. Elliott, district director, TU Electric
(retired); Wilton Lanning, owner/operator,
Padgitts, Inc. (retired); Paul D. Marable,
Jr., president, First Savings Bank, secretary,
Waco Chamber of Commerce (retired);
John Perry, Chairman, Department of Vocational
BRAZOS HIGHER EDUCATION AUTHORITY, INC.
Agriculture, Mart ISD (retired); Larry
Smith, assistant vice president, University
Development, Baylor University; and Dr.
Joseph F. Velez, professor of Spanish and
director of Latin American Studies, Baylor
University (retired).
Murray Watson, Jr., is the president and CEO
of the education loan company.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 141

TEJAS
LOGISTICS
SYSTEM
Founded in 1902, Exporters &
Traders Compress & Warehouse
Company, Tejas Logistics System is
involved in third party and contract
warehousing, transportation and valueadded
services. Upon the death of
the company’s creator, A. J. Dossett,
Stanton Brown, Sr., traveled from
his home in Mississippi to assist in
settling his sister’s business affairs,
which included Exporters. He took
over the company and it became one
of the state’s major compresses to
store and compress cotton which
flourished. In 1993 the company
turned from cotton to general
merchandise storage due to the decline
of the cotton harvest in central Texas.
In 1995, Tejas added 120,000 square feet of
new warehouse space and, in 1996, a trucking
business was started with one truck and trailer.
Since that time, Tejas has continued to build
their fleet and at present, are at twenty tractors
and over 100 trailers and still growing. In 1993
the company had thirty-three forklifts and
twenty employees, and today sixty forklifts and
fifty employees are required to keep up with
the sixty customers doing business with Tejas
Logistics System. Revenue is currently between
$5 and 7 million annually.
After Stanton, Sr., passed away, Spencer
Brown became president and was followed
by Stanton, Jr., in the early 1980s. In 1989,
Gaylan Y. Beavers was elected president of
the company until 1993. In January 1993 an
ESOP was formed and the controlling interest
of the company was purchased by the
employees. Beavers remained as president
& CEO until 2006 when Tom Greene was
elected president and Beavers became chairman
& CEO.
Tejas Logistics System is active in the
community via the Waco Chamber of
Commerce, HOT Workforce, Waco Rotary,
Public Improvements District, United Way, and
the American Cancer Society.
The corporate office of Tejas Logistics System
is located at 324 Pleasant Street and the Waco
plant is located at 301 Pleasant Street, with
additional plants in Hillsboro, Waxahachie,
and Corsicana. You may visit the company at
www.tejaswarehouse.com.
142 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

SPONSORS
American-Amicable Group................................................................................................................................................96
American Income Life Insurance Company ....................................................................................................................120
Baylor University ............................................................................................................................................................100
Brazos Higher Education Authority, Inc. .........................................................................................................................141
Capstone Mechanical ......................................................................................................................................................119
Central Texas Iron Works..................................................................................................................................................98
Comfort Suites ® ..............................................................................................................................................................128
Country Inn & Suites by Carlson-Waco..........................................................................................................................137
CWA Construction, Inc. .................................................................................................................................................132
Davis Iron Works, Ltd.....................................................................................................................................................134
Dunnam & Dunnam, L.L.P., Attorneys at Law ................................................................................................................121
Extraco Banks .................................................................................................................................................................108
Family Health Center......................................................................................................................................................114
First Baptist Church........................................................................................................................................................135
Harvey-Daco, Inc............................................................................................................................................................110
Hillcrest Health System...................................................................................................................................................106
Imperial Woodworks, Inc. ..............................................................................................................................................124
Johnson Roofing .............................................................................................................................................................116
Kirkpatrick and Witt Furniture.......................................................................................................................................133
McLennan County Historical Commission........................................................................................................................91
Midway Independent School District..............................................................................................................................122
Naman, Howell, Smith & Lee.........................................................................................................................................126
Planned Parenthood of Central Texas, Inc.......................................................................................................................130
Providence Healthcare Network........................................................................................................................................92
Reed’s Flowers.................................................................................................................................................................123
Ridgecrest Retirement and Health Care...........................................................................................................................136
Robert W. Cox Jewelers, Inc..............................................................................................................................................91
Sheehy, Lovelace & Mayfield, P.C....................................................................................................................................140
Spenco Medical Corporation...........................................................................................................................................129
Super 8 Motel Waco Mall ...............................................................................................................................................125
Tejas Logistics System .....................................................................................................................................................142
Texas Life Insurance Company .......................................................................................................................................127
Texas State Technical College Waco ................................................................................................................................112
The Village Bakery ..........................................................................................................................................................138
Tom Padgitt Company ....................................................................................................................................................139
Trautschold Millwork Ltd. ..............................................................................................................................................104
Walker Partners ..............................................................................................................................................................118
Watson Feed Store ..........................................................................................................................................................141
West Auction, Inc. ..........................................................................................................................................................131
Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home ...........................................................................................................................102
Sponsors ✦ 143

For more information about the following publications or about publishing your own book, please call
Historical Publishing Network at 800-749-9790 or visit www.lammertinc.com.
Albemarle & Charlottesville:
An Illustrated History of the First 150 Years
Black Gold: The Story of Texas Oil & Gas
Garland: A Contemporary History
Historic Abilene: An Illustrated History
Historic Alamance County: An Illustrated History
Historic Albuquerque: An Illustrated History
Historic Amarillo: An Illustrated History
Historic Anchorage: An Illustrated History
Historic Austin: An Illustrated History
Historic Baldwin County: A Bicentennial History
Historic Baton Rouge: An Illustrated History
Historic Beaufort County: An Illustrated History
Historic Beaumont: An Illustrated History
Historic Bexar County: An Illustrated History
Historic Birmingham: An Illustrated History
Historic Brazoria County: An Illustrated History
Historic Brownsville: An Illustrated History
Historic Charlotte:
An Illustrated History of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County
Historic Cheyenne: A History of the Magic City
Historic Clayton County: An Illustrated History
Historic Comal County: An Illustrated History
Historic Corpus Christi: An Illustrated History
Historic DeKalb County: An Illustrated History
Historic Denton County: An Illustrated History
Historic Edmond: An Illustrated History
Historic El Paso: An Illustrated History
Historic Erie County: An Illustrated History
Historic Fayette County: An Illustrated History
Historic Fairbanks: An Illustrated History
Historic Gainesville & Hall County: An Illustrated History
Historic Gregg County: An Illustrated History
Historic Hampton Roads: Where America Began
Historic Hancock County: An Illustrated History
Historic Henry County: An Illustrated History
Historic Hood County: An Illustrated History
Historic Houston: An Illustrated History
Historic Hunt County: An Illustrated History
Historic Illinois: An Illustrated History
Historic Kern County:
An Illustrated History of Bakersfield and Kern County
Historic Lafayette:
An Illustrated History of Lafayette & Lafayette Parish
Historic Laredo:
An Illustrated History of Laredo & Webb County
Historic Lee County: The Story of Fort Myers & Lee County
Historic Louisiana: An Illustrated History
Historic Mansfield: A Bicentennial History
Historic Midland: An Illustrated History
Historic Montgomery County:
An Illustrated History of Montgomery County, Texas
Historic Ocala: The Story of Ocala & Marion County
Historic Oklahoma: An Illustrated History
Historic Oklahoma County: An Illustrated History
Historic Omaha:
An Illustrated History of Omaha and Douglas County
Historic Orange County: An Illustrated History
Historic Osceola County: An Illustrated History
Historic Ouachita Parish: An Illustrated History
Historic Paris and Lamar County: An Illustrated History
Historic Pasadena: An Illustrated History
Historic Passaic County: An Illustrated History
Historic Pennsylvania An Illustrated History
Historic Philadelphia: An Illustrated History
Historic Prescott:
An Illustrated History of Prescott & Yavapai County
Historic Richardson: An Illustrated History
Historic Rio Grande Valley: An Illustrated History
Historic Rogers County: An Illustrated History
Historic Santa Barbara: An Illustrated History
Historic Scottsdale: A Life from the Land
Historic Shelby County: An Illustrated History
Historic Shreveport-Bossier:
An Illustrated History of Shreveport & Bossier City
Historic South Carolina: An Illustrated History
Historic Smith County: An Illustrated History
Historic Temple: An Illustrated History
Historic Texarkana: An Illustrated History
Historic Texas: An Illustrated History
Historic Victoria: An Illustrated History
Historic Tulsa: An Illustrated History
Historic Wake County: An Illustrated History
Historic Warren County: An Illustrated History
Historic Williamson County: An Illustrated History
Historic Wilmington & The Lower Cape Fear:
An Illustrated History
Historic York County: An Illustrated History
Iron, Wood & Water: An Illustrated History of Lake Oswego
Jefferson Parish: Rich Heritage, Promising Future
Miami’s Historic Neighborhoods: A History of Community
Old Orange County Courthouse: A Centennial History
Plano: An Illustrated Chronicle
The New Frontier:
A Contemporary History of Fort Worth & Tarrant County
The San Gabriel Valley: A 21st Century Portrait
The Spirit of Collin County
Valley Places, Valley Faces
Water, Rails & Oil: Historic Mid & South Jefferson County
144 ✦ HISTORIC MCLENNAN COUNTY

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