Waco

By Eric Ames

The story of Waco's modern era starts with a disaster and ends with rebirth. In 1953, a record-setting tornado swept through the city's downtown, killing 114 people and destroying a century's worth of original buildings. From the devastation came an ambitious urban renewal project, an explosion in suburban developments, and several cycles of waning and revitalization in the downtown area. Baylor University's steady growth in academic excellence and national exposure kept the city on the map. The images in this book detail the milestones and memories of a proud city founded in the 1840s, and they highlight achievements both personal and civic.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Mar 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9781439655351

Eric Ames

Eric S. Ames is curator of Digital Collections and an adjunct professor in the Department of Museum Studies at Baylor University. He is the author of Arcadia Publishing's Images of America: Waco (2009) and is active in Waco's cultural heritage preservation community. This volume features many never-before-seen images drawn from sources like the Bill S. Foster Archives, the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce, and the author's own collection.

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INTRODUCTION

Like many American cities, Waco traces the start of the modern era to the end of World War II. The city certainly saw its share of postwar prosperity, as military investments and domestic production facilities pumped dollars and life into the local economy. Suburban developments housed a booming population. Downtown Waco sported shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues. Baylor University—which had weathered the difficult years of the Great Depression and the hardships of the world wars—was finally returning to normal, as veterans came to campus to take advantage of GI Bill funding.

Waco’s history was forever altered on May 11, 1953, when one of the deadliest tornadoes in American history tore a devastating path through downtown. Part of a larger outbreak that wreaked havoc across a large swath of Central Texas, the Waco tornado killed 114 people, destroyed almost 200 businesses, damaged scores of buildings, and generated almost $500 million in property damage. The gaping physical scar the storm left through downtown was matched by an equally indelible trauma left on the collective psyche of every Wacoan alive that day, and decisions about how to rebuild, revitalize, and restore downtown would be a regular occurrence up to the present day.

The mid-century saw Waco struggling with many of the same challenges facing almost every American city of any size at that time: how to modernize without abandoning its roots, embrace change without compromising tradition, and approach issues like aging infrastructure, integration, and a shift of the population into neighboring suburbs. Two major developments in the 1950s and 1960s would forever change the city’s physical (and sociopolitical) landscape. The first was the beginning of the urban renewal era in 1958. Initiated to combat a host of problems, it included addressing urban blight, including the razing of hundreds of derelict and decaying structures, examining problems of income inequality and challenges associated with integration, and renewing and renovating areas like the downtown core. Waco’s focus on urban renewal tactics led to its inclusion in the federal government’s Model Cities program in 1967. In all, more than $100 million in funds from the urban renewal project would shape Waco’s urban fabric well into the 21st century.

The second major development in the mid-20th century came with the creation of Interstate

35. A major north-south artery on the federal interstate highway system, Interstate 35 made its inexorable way closer to Waco over the early 1960s. By the early 1970s, construction on the section through Waco was well underway. The gleaming ribbon of concrete and commerce brought increased traffic to the city, but it was not without its detractors. The thoroughfare’s route cut a line like a surgical scar across established neighborhoods dating back to the earliest days of Waco history, and it severed areas of town like the Baylor University campus from the downtown corridor.

The 1980s saw Waco’s population crest the 100,000 mark for the first time, and attractions like the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and the Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute were founded, adding to the growing number of educational and recreational pursuits afforded to Wacoans and visitors alike. Waco’s economy underwent many of the same booms and busts as other American cities during this period, with major events like General Tire’s decision to close its Waco facility and lay off 1,400 employees highlighting the period’s challenges.

By the 1990s, Waco had regained some of its economic stability, but an event that took place 10 miles outside the city limits would occur in the spring of 1993 that would forever brand Waco’s name in the national consciousness. In February of that year, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) attempted to execute a warrant on a religious group called the Branch Davidians, whose Mount Carmel Center compound near the small community of Elk was believed to house illegal weapons. A raid led to a 51-day siege and, eventually, more than 80 dead, all played out on