476 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
-
Ice Toddy on the Brazos: The 1824 Scout Report
In June 1824, Stephen F. Austin sent Thomas M. Duke up the Brazos to look over the Waco village that stood where downtown Waco stands today. Duke came on hard business, asking after a killing and stolen horses and…
-
Waco Tornado of 1953
· Historical Marker
On May 11, 1953, an F5 tornado struck downtown Waco, killing 114 people and injuring 597. It was the deadliest tornado in Texas history.
-
Waco, TX
Waco's always been a place of comebacks, a city that reinvents itself while holding onto its roots. The Magnolia effect, spurred by Chip and Joanna Gaines, is the most recent chapter. It’s more than just a home…
-
Billy Joe Shaver
If you've heard Waylon Jennings' Honky Tonk Heroes, you've basically heard a Billy Joe Shaver record — Shaver wrote nearly every song on it. He lived up in Waco, he was right in the thick of Willie Nelson's exodus out…
-
Honky Tonk Heroes' by Waylon Jennings (1973)
Here's a Waco story that's really a Billy Joe Shaver story. In 1973, Waylon Jennings put out an album called "Honky Tonk Heroes," and nine of its songs came from one pen — Shaver's, the hard-living poet long tied to…
-
Chisholm Trail Crossing
· Historical Marker
Over five million cattle walked this route, and the trail they wore into the prairie was sometimes a quarter mile wide. The Chisholm Trail ran from the brush country of South Texas to the railheads at Abilene and Dodge…
-
Dr Pepper Birthplace - Morrison's Old Corner Drug
· Historical Marker
A year before Coca-Cola existed, a young pharmacist in Waco was mixing flavored syrups behind the soda fountain at Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store and stumbled onto something customers could not stop ordering. Charles…
-
Magnolia Market at the Silos
· Things to Do
Chip and Joanna Gaines' Fixer Upper empire. Shopping food trucks and shiplap everything.
-
H. & T. C. Railroad
· Historical Marker
You're driving past Waco, where the H. & T. C. Railroad made its mark. Imagine the excitement back on September 18, 1872! That was the day the tracks finally reached Waco, bringing the railroad to town for the very…
-
The Sims Cabin
· Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Sims Cabin, a testament to early Texas homesteading. Sterling Sims, who came from Georgia, built this oak cabin in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1852</say-as> in Freestone…
-
McLennan County
· Historical Marker
You're driving through McLennan County right now. It was officially created on January 22nd, 1850, and organized just a few months later, on August 5th. The county is named for Neil McLennan, who arrived in Texas way…
-
Cypress, TX
· Local history
Cypress, Texas, a growing Houston suburb in Harris County, draws its name directly from Cypress Creek, a significant waterway flowing through the region. This community, established in the 1800s, sits on the relatively…
-
Rotan-Dosset House
· 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past a house that tells a story of Waco's rise from a frontier town to a center of commerce. Edward Rotan, a Confederate veteran, arrived here in 1867 and quickly made his fortune as a merchant and…
-
Saint Mary's Church of the Assumption
· 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here is the site of Saint Mary's Church of the Assumption. Founded way back in 1869, it's the oldest Catholic parish in Waco. Father Bussant led the original congregation, building…
-
Austin Avenue United Methodist Church
· 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Waco, and right here, you're passing the site of Austin Avenue United Methodist Church. Back in 1900, Waco's First Methodist Church was bursting at the seams. So, the denomination decided to…
-
Sturgis House, The
· 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Sturgis House in Waco, a beautiful example of refined Victorian architecture. Built in 1887 by James N. Harris, this home boasts bricks handmade from Brazos River sand, used in both the main…
-
Columbus Avenue Baptist Church
· 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here is the site of Columbus Avenue Baptist Church. It all started on Christmas Eve, <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1900</say-as>, when a group of Baptists met at a home to…
-
Austin Avenue Methodist Church
· 0.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Austin Avenue Methodist Church in Waco, a striking example of Gothic Revival architecture. Designed by R.H. Hunt, this substantial brick structure was built in 1925, during the ministry of Rev.…
-
First Presbyterian Church of Waco
· 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here, you're passing the site of the First Presbyterian Church. This congregation got its start way back in 1855 with just seventeen members. They built this current building in…
-
First Lutheran Church
· 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Waco, and right here is the site of the First Lutheran Church. Organized in 1884, this congregation was originally known as the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Ebenezer congregation, serving the…
-
Clifton, Albert Turner, House
· 0.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and to your right stands a beautiful example of Tudor Revival architecture. This was the home of Albert Turner Clifton, a prominent Waco businessman and civic leader, built for his family in…
-
Site of Old Texas Cotton Palace
· 0.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, the former "Cotton Capital of the South." Back in 1894, this city founded the Texas Cotton Palace. It was a huge annual exposition held each November to celebrate the end of the cotton…
-
Waco Springs, Site of the Waco Indian Village
· 0.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Waco Springs, where the Waco Indian village once stood. These were a semi-civilized tribe who made a treaty with Stephen F. Austin way back in 1824. Later, they were driven out, though…
-
Stratton-Stricker Building
· 0.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Stratton-Stricker Building in Waco, a testament to the city's early 20th-century commercial boom. In 1922, business partners Golladay Stratton and Henry Stricker bought this land for their…
-
Grand Lodge of Texas, A.F. & A.M.
· 0.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Grand Lodge of Texas, a story that starts way back in 1828. Stephen F. Austin himself tried to get Freemasonry going in Texas, petitioning the Mexican National Grand Lodge. Political…
-
Waco Theatre
· 0.8 mi · Historical Marker
Hey road-trippers, look to your right as you roll through Waco! You're passing the site of the old Waco Theatre. It kicked off in 1914 as the Hippodrome, showing silent movies and hosting traveling Vaudeville acts.…
-
Waco, Texas - 1953 Tornado Aftermath
· 0.9 mi · Things to Do
-
Bell's Hill School
· 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Bell's Hill in Waco, an area that owes its name to a groundbreaking moment in 1886. That's when Joseph D. Bell drilled the city's very first artesian well right here. Soon after, the local school…
-
Katy Park, 1929: Eleven Thousand People in a Four-Thousand-Seat Ballpark
· 1.0 mi
You're standing on what used to be Katy Park, a 4,000-seat ballpark that opened in March 1905 beside the M-K-T ("Katy") rail line and was home to the Waco Cubs, the city's Texas League club. On the afternoon of April 4,…
-
Waco Tornado, The
· 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here, you're passing the site of one of Texas's most devastating tornadoes. On the afternoon of May 11th, 1953, a massive twister ripped through downtown. It killed 114 people,…
-
Katy Park
· 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Katy Park, a place that was a hub for baseball in Waco for over 60 years. Designed by a former baseball player, it hosted everything from the Waco Tigers to the New York Yankees, even a…
-
Alico Building
· 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Alico Building in Waco, a skyscraper that once defined the skyline! Built in 1911 by Sanguinet & Staats and Roy E. Lane, this 22-story Beaux Arts beauty was the home office for the Amicable Life…
-
Ross Oak, The
· 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Ross Oak, a giant Live Oak that's seen a lot of Texas history unfold. In <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1839</say-as>, Shapley Prince Ross and his family camped here overnight on their…
-
The Courthouses of McLennan County
· 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here is the story of McLennan County's courthouses. It all started back in 1850 when the county was created. Their first courthouse was a simple two-story log building, finished in…
-
McLennan County Courthouse
· 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here stands the McLennan County Courthouse. This impressive building, the county's fourth, was built during the peak of Central Texas cotton wealth, a testament to the region's…
-
McCulloch,C.C., House, The
· 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of Champe Carter McCulloch, a prominent Waco figure. Around 1866, a local physician built a small house and kitchen right here. Then, in 1871, McCulloch bought the property. He was a…
-
New Hope Baptist Church
· 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of New Hope Baptist Church, one of Waco's oldest African American congregations. Before emancipation, Black Wacoans worshipped at the city's first Baptist church. But in 1866, the pastor…
-
Brann-Davis Shootings
· 1.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and just ahead, you're passing the site of a deadly feud born from fiery words. In the late 1890s, William Cowper Brann, publisher of 'The Iconoclast,' was known for his sharp criticisms,…
-
Gerald-Harris Shootings
· 1.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a deadly feud right here in Waco, sparked by words on paper. It was November 19, 1897. James Harris, editor of the 'Time-Herald,' had already won a fistfight against Judge George Gerald…
-
Mount Zion United Methodist Church
· 1.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Mount Zion United Methodist Church, a testament to the resilience of Waco's African American community. Founded in the years after Emancipation, this congregation began with eighteen…
-
Lusk House
· 1.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Lusk House in Waco, built back in 1866 by Captain R.W. Lusk. Fast forward to 1885, and a bit of family drama unfolds. Captain Lusk's widow, Margaret, marries her brother-in-law, Dr. W.R. Clifton.…
-
Forsgard House
· 1.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here is the Forsgard House, a testament to Swedish ingenuity. Samuel Johan Forsgard arrived from Sweden in 1855, eventually settling in Waco. He and his son, Edward, a world…
-
First Baptist Church of Waco
· 1.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church, established way back in 1851. Imagine this: for six years, they worshipped in the Methodist meetinghouse until they built their own…
-
Waco University
· 1.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Waco University, a key player in Texas higher education. Back in 1861, Dr. Rufus Burleson, a big name in Baptist education, left Baylor to lead the Waco Classical School, founded just…
-
Waco
· 1.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, a city founded way back in 1849 and named for the local Waco Indians. This place was a key spot on the Texas frontier, sending men to defend the state's edge and later fighting for the…
-
De Cordova, Jacob
· 1.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the heart of Waco, a city whose very layout owes a debt to Jacob De Cordova. Born in Jamaica, he came to Texas in the 1830s and built a fortune as a land agent. By 1848, he was here, laying out this…
-
Waco Suspension Bridge, The
· 1.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Waco Suspension Bridge, The. In 1866 the Waco Bridge Company was granted a 25 year charter to build a toll bridge here. The charter guaranteed that no other bridge or ferry could be built within five…
-
Washington Avenue Bridge (Waco, Texas)
· 1.3 mi · Scraped Hmdb
You're driving across a piece of Waco history! The Washington Avenue Bridge, built in 1902, was once the longest single-span vehicular truss bridge in Texas. It stretches 450 feet over the Brazos River. It was built to…
-
The Cottonland Castle
· 1.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a Waco castle, built on the back of King Cotton! Stone contractor John Tennant started this place in 1890, right when Waco’s cotton economy was booming. He sold it unfinished in 1906 to a…
-
Johnson-Taylor House
· 1.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and just ahead, you're passing the Johnson-Taylor House. Built between 1873 and 1879 as a modest pink brick home for merchant Sanford Taylor, this place got a serious glow-up after it was…
-
Waco City Waterworks
· 1.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Waco's historic waterworks. Back in 1849, Waco's main street was laid out near natural artesian springs. For years, private companies supplied the city's water, but by the turn of the…
-
Rotan Drive
· 1.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving along Rotan Drive, a scenic road that opened in 1914 to connect Waco's downtown to William Cameron Park. Inspired by the City Beautiful movement, this grand boulevard was made possible by the land…
-
Earle-Harrison House
· 1.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Waco, and right here stands the Earle-Harrison House. Built between 1858 and 1859, this Greek Revival beauty was meant to be a symbol of culture for the growing town. Interestingly, only half of…
-
Earle-Napier-Kinnard House
· 1.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Earle-Napier-Kinnard House, a Waco landmark with roots stretching back to the 1850s. John Baylis Earle built the first two rooms right here, and his children were born within these walls. By…
-
East Terrance
· 1.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the East Terrace neighborhood in Waco, home to a house built in the 1870s by John W. Mann. Mann was a big deal in local business, and he even manufactured much of the brick used for the famous Waco…
-
St. James United Methodist Church
· 1.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past St. James United Methodist Church in Waco, a landmark that's been serving this community for over a century. Organized way back in 1874 by Father Anderson Brack, the congregation started in a house…
-
Castle Heights
· 1.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and look around at the streets. This is Castle Heights, platted in 1923 by W.T. Herrick and W.L. Wollett. It was named for Cottonland Castle and its high elevation. For six years, it was its…
-
Waco Springs
· 1.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Waco Springs. Application for Listing Non-State Historical Marker With the State included.
-
Baylor University
· 1.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Baylor University, the world's largest Baptist university! It all started way back on February 1st, 1845, when the Congress of the Republic of Texas issued its charter. Judge R.E.B. Baylor, a former…
-
Neff, Governor Patrick Morris
· 1.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the birthplace of Patrick Morris Neff, a man who wore many hats in Texas. Born right here in McLennan County, Neff was a young Waco lawyer before heading to Austin. He served in the Texas House of…
-
Baylor, R.E.B.
· 1.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a true Texas legend, R.E.B. Baylor. He was a man of many hats: a soldier in the War of 1812, a congressman from three states, and a U.S. Senator. But here in Texas, he was a foundational…
-
William Cameron Park
· 1.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and you're passing through William Cameron Park. This massive park, now over 400 acres, started with a generous gift in 1910. The family of William Cameron, a prominent lumberman who died in…
-
Methodist Home, The
· 1.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Methodist Home in Waco. Back in 1890, Bishop Joseph S. Key, fresh from helping orphanages in Georgia, saw a big need right here in Texas. He and Reverend Horace Bishop secured this…
-
Truett, George W.
· 1.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the story of George W. Truett, a giant of Texas faith and finance. He arrived in Texas in 1889, just a young man from North Carolina. By 1890, he was ordained a Baptist minister. But Truett wasn't…
-
Dr. Andrew Joseph Armstrong
· 1.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, the home of a truly remarkable literary endeavor. Dr. Andrew Joseph Armstrong, a scholar of English poet Robert Browning, dedicated his life to collecting the poet's papers. After meeting…
-
Dr. David Richard Wallace
· 1.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the birthplace of Dr. David Richard Wallace, a physician born in North Carolina way back in 1825. He came to Texas in the 1850s, teaching at Baylor University before serving in the Civil War. Wallace…
-
Texas Christian University, Old Site of
· 1.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the original home of Texas Christian University in Waco! Imagine this: a hundred faculty and students, fresh off the train on Christmas Eve 1895, marching three miles to this very spot. They were…
-
The Armstrong Browning Library
· 1.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Baylor University campus in Waco, home to the Armstrong Browning Library. It houses the world's largest collection of books, manuscripts, and art related to English poets Robert and Elizabeth…
-
Old Main
· 1.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Old Main, the very first building constructed on Baylor University's campus after its move to Waco. Completed in 1887, this landmark structure housed everything from classrooms and offices to the…
-
Hebrew Rest
· 1.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Hebrew Rest Cemetery in Waco. It started in 1869 when the Hebrew Benevolent Association bought this land for a Jewish burial ground. They named it Hebrews' Rest. The very first person laid to rest…
-
Second Baptist Church of Waco
· 1.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here, you're passing the site of the Second Baptist Church. On December 7th, 1879, twenty-one members of another church organized this congregation to serve the black community in…
-
Burleson Quadrangle
· 1.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Burleson Quadrangle at Baylor University, named for its first president, Rufus C. Burleson. This historic social area took its current shape as Baylor's first four buildings went up starting in…
-
George W. Carroll Science Hall
· 1.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past George W. Carroll Science Hall. GEORGE W. CARROLL SCIENCE HALL CARROLL SCIENCE HALL WAS NAMED IN HONOR OF BUSINESSMAN AND PHILANTHROPIST GEORGE WASHINGTON CARROLL, WHO GAVE TWO SEPARATE DONATIONS OF…
-
The Texas Collection
· 1.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past The Texas Collection. Established in 1923 when Dr. Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth donated books to Baylor University, the Texas Collection is a library and archives research center holding a vast…
-
University High School, Waco (LaDainian Tomlinson)
· 1.7 mi
The University High School campus on Bagby Avenue in Waco, TX is where LaDainian Tomlinson starred before his Hall of Fame career. Born in Rosebud with family roots near Marlin, Tomlinson was raised in Waco and, as a…
-
Beverly, TX
· 1.7 mi · Local history
Beverly, Texas, a small town often overlooked on state maps, holds a surprising legacy of impactful individuals who once called its quiet streets home. It was here, in the shadow of the old cotton gin, that a young…
-
Texas Rangers and the Fence Cutters, The
· 1.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Texas, a land where for centuries, cattle roamed free across public lands. But after 1875, farmers started fencing off their crops with barbed wire, and the cattlemen weren't happy. Things got…
-
Waco, County Seat of McLennan County
· 1.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Waco, the county seat of McLennan County. Just about here, back on March 1st, 1849, they held the very first sale of town lots in Waco Village, once home to the Waco Indians. Shapley P. Ross, the…
-
Thomas Hudson Barron
· 1.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here is the story of Thomas Hudson Barron, a man whose life touched so many parts of early Texas. Born in Virginia in 1796, Barron fought in the Battle of New Orleans with the…
-
Carroll Library
· 1.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Waco's Carroll Library, a building with a long history at Baylor University. It started in 1901 when President Oscar Cooper pushed for a dedicated librarian, and James J. Carroll got the…
-
Proctor Springs
· 1.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Proctor Springs, a spot that's been quenching thirst and offering rest for centuries. Long before it was a city park, frontiersmen relied on these springs. Later, it became a favorite picnic spot for…
-
Samuel Johan Forsgard
· 1.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and you're passing the site of a fascinating life. Samuel Johan Forsgard arrived here from Sweden in 1855, part of the first big wave of Swedish immigrants. He married, settled down, and…
-
William McKendree Lambdin
· 1.7 mi · Historical Marker
Keep your eyes peeled as you pass through Waco. You're driving by the area where William McKendree Lambdin, a Methodist minister, settled in Texas back in 1857. He came here from Virginia, the son of a preacher, and…
-
General Richard Harrison
· 1.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a remarkable Texan family. General Richard Harrison, a physician and statesman, was one of three brothers who all reached general rank in the Confederate Army. He earned his commission in…
-
First Street Cemetery
· 1.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and you're passing the oldest public cemetery here, First Street Cemetery. It started in 1852 with five acres donated by George W. Edwards. Over the years, it saw burials disturbed, graves…
-
Seventh & James Baptist Church
· 1.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Waco's Seventh & James Baptist Church. Back on June 26, 1898, a group of local Baptists decided to start a new congregation, calling it Third Street Baptist Church. Just a month later,…
-
Central Texas Baptist Sanitarium
· 1.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a hospital that started as a community dream back in 1910. The Waco Baptist Association wanted a hospital, and with help from everyone – pastors, citizens, even doctors – they planned to…
-
Health Camp Burgers & Shakes
· 1.9 mi · Things to Do
Mid-century burger-and-custard stand on the Waco Traffic Circle, open since 1949. The neon sign and the carhop layout are untouched roadside Americana.
-
Elite Cafe
· 1.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the historic Elite Cafe in Waco. This spot opened in 1941, but its story starts earlier, in 1919, when the first Elite Cafe opened downtown. The Colias family, Greek immigrants, took over the…
-
Wesley United Methodist Church
· 1.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Wesley United Methodist Church in Waco. It began in 1902 as the East Side Mission, serving the community from various locations before establishing Jones Chapel in 1911. The congregation…
-
Beverly Hills, TX
· 2.0 mi
Beverly Hills, Texas, a small community near Waco, holds a surprising connection to a figure whose name once echoed through American pop culture.
-
Engineering the Waco Circle
· 2.0 mi
Just west of Beverly Hills is a massive piece of 1930s traffic engineering that shaped this entire area: the Waco Traffic Circle. They built it out in the countryside in 1933, and for a while you could drive out to it…
-
Life in the Donut Hole
· 2.0 mi
Look at a map of Waco and you'll see a small hole in the middle of its south side. That hole is Beverly Hills. This is an enclave — a piece of territory completely surrounded by a larger one. It didn't get that way by…
-
Hogle Cabin
· 2.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past a piece of Texas history, folks! This cabin, originally built in 1858, started its life over 100 miles away in Rusk County. It was constructed from hand-hewn yellow pine logs, a real testament to…
-
Miller, Dorris
· 2.1 mi · Historical Marker
Doris (Dorie) Miller was reared on a farm in McLennan County, Texas, and attended Waco's A.J. Moore High School. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was assigned to the battleship "USS West Virginia" in 1940. The "West…
-
Robertson
· 2.1 mi · Historical Marker
Hey road trippers! Look to your left, just down the road a bit. You're passing the resting place of a remarkable father-son duo. Gen. Jerome B. Robertson commanded Hood's Texas Brigade during the Civil War, and his son,…
-
Congregation Rodef Sholom
· 2.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, home to Congregation Rodef Sholom, which means 'pursuing peace.' This historic Jewish congregation began forming back in 1869 with the Hebrew Benevolent Association, which later bought land…
-
Paul Quinn College
· 2.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Paul Quinn College, Texas' oldest liberal arts college for African Americans. It began way back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1872</say-as> in Austin as the Connectional High School and…
-
Oakwood Cemetery
· 2.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Oakwood Cemetery in Waco, a place with roots reaching back to a horse-racing track. Established in 1878, this 157-acre burial ground became the final resting place for many from Waco's oldest…
-
Butler, George Harrison, House
· 2.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the George Harrison Butler House in Waco. Built in 1869, this was one of the very first brick houses constructed east of the Brazos River. George Butler and his wife Emiline built it just two years…
-
Cobbs-Walker Cemetery
· 2.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Cobbs-Walker Cemetery, a quiet resting place with a surprising connection to Texas history. It began in 1853 with the death of an infant, but it also holds the stories of veterans from the Texas War…
-
Burleson, Dr. Rufus Columbs
· 2.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the resting place of Dr. Rufus Columbs Burleson, a true pioneer of education in Texas. Born in Alabama in 1823, he came to Texas and became a preacher and the president of Baylor University. He lived…
-
McLennan, Neil
· 2.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through McLennan County, named for a man who started his journey across the world to get here. Neil McLennan was born on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, way back on September 2nd, 1787. He made his way to…
-
First Church Building in Waco
· 2.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the spot where Waco's very first church building stood, right around 1850. It was a simple log house where folks gathered to hear Reverend Joseph P. Sneed, an itinerant Methodist preacher. His…
-
A.J. Moore High School
· 2.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here is the site of A.J. Moore High School. Back in 1875, Professor A.J. Moore saw a need. He started teaching Waco's Black children in his own home because there just wasn't a…
-
Earle, Hallie, M.D.
· 2.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here is where Dr. Hallie Earle made history. Born on a local ranch, she earned degrees from Baylor and then her medical degree. In 1907, she became the very first licensed female…
-
Saint Luke African Methodist Espiscopal Church
· 2.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and just ahead is the site of Saint Luke African Methodist Episcopal Church. According to local lore, this congregation started way back in 1886, meeting as an evening Sunday school. By…
-
Canuteson, Ole
· 2.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Canuteson, Ole. Ole Knudson was born in 1832 to Knud and Anna Knudson in Norstrokke on Norway's Karmoy Island. In 1850, the family, changing their name to Canuteson, moved to Illinois, where Ole wed…
-
Sears, Dr. John Henry
· 2.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Dr. John Henry Sears's medical practice in Waco. A Virginian by birth, he studied medicine in South Carolina before heading to Texas in 1854. After serving as a Confederate surgeon in the…
-
Edward Ferdinant Forsgard
· 2.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Waco, passing the site of a truly remarkable Texan. Edward 'Fuzzy' Forsgard, born in 1870 to Swedish immigrants, was a child prodigy. By age eleven, he was touring the country as a marksman and…
-
Kellum Family Cemetery
· 2.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Kellum Family Cemetery, a quiet resting place for a family that helped settle this part of Texas. Edward Kellum, a veteran of the War of 1812, moved here from Virginia with his wife Karen and…
-
Waco Lodge No. 92, A.F.& A.M.
· 2.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the home of Waco's oldest organization, still in continuous existence! It started as Bosque Lodge way back in 1852, and changed its name to Waco Lodge in 1856. This Masonic lodge has been devoted to…
-
Waco State Home
· 2.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Waco State Home, established back in 1919 by the Texas Legislature. This wasn't just any orphanage; it was a dedicated home for dependent and neglected children, offering them care,…
-
Dr Pepper Company
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
The Dr Pepper Company has operated in the Dallas area since being officially incorporated on July 6, 1923 under the State of Colorado. The company marketed Dr Pepper fountain syrups and sold soft drink concentrates to…
-
Jaworski, Leon
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Leon Jaworski, lawyer, was born in Waco, Texas, on September 19, 1905, the son of Polish and Austrian immigrant parents Rev. Joseph and Marie (Mira) Jaworski. The family lived for several years in Geronimo, Guadalupe…
-
Jesse Washington Lynching
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Of the 492 lynchings that occurred in Texas between 1882 and 1930, the incident that perhaps received the greatest notoriety, both statewide and nationally, was the mutilation and burning of an illiterate…
-
Banton, Travis
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, the birthplace of Travis Banton, a Hollywood costume designer who defined the 'Paramount Look' during the Golden Age of cinema. Born in 1894, Banton moved to New York as a child but…
-
Beville, Alexander Archer
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, and right here, you're passing through the history of Texas dentistry. Alexander Archer Beville arrived in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1870</say-as>, and he's credited as the…
-
Bledsoe, Julius Lorenzo Cobb
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, the birthplace of Julius Bledsoe, a baritone whose voice would make an American classic out of "Ol' Man River." Right here, in Waco, this gifted musician got his start, eventually…
-
Boynton, Benjamin Lee
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, the birthplace of Benjamin Lee Boynton. Right here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1898</say-as>, a future football legend was born. Boynton wasn't just any player; in…
-
Coke, Richard
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco right now, a town Richard Coke helped shape. He arrived here in 1850, when Waco was little more than a frontier shantytown. Coke would go on to become a Texas governor and a U.S. Senator. He…
-
Moreland, Whitt L.
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, the birthplace of Whitt L. Moreland. On May 29, 1951, during the Korean War, Private First Class Moreland was scouting with his rifle platoon near Kwangch'i-Dong. After helping take a…
-
Oscar, Gussie
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, a town that once defied the law for a good show! Gussie Oscar, a pianist and conductor, took over the Waco Auditorium in 1915. She brought stars like Houdini and Will Rogers to town, but she…
-
Shaver, John Edwin [Eddy]
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, the hometown of Eddy Shaver. Born in 1962, Eddy grew up surrounded by music, the son of legendary songwriter Billy Joe Shaver. By age thirteen, Eddy was already playing on his…
-
Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, and right here is the home of the legendary Texas Rangers. The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum isn't just a building; it's the official state historical center dedicated to…
-
Thompson, Henry William [Hank]
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, the birthplace of Hank Thompson, a true innovator in country music. After serving in the Navy during World War II, Thompson returned to Texas and formed his band, the Brazos Valley…
-
Torrance, Edgar Lee
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, and right here, you're passing through the birthplace of the modern motel. Edgar Lee Torrance, born just up the road in Elk, Texas, was probably the first in the state to develop the concept…
-
Gay, George Henry, Jr.
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, maybe near Waco, where George Henry Gay, Jr. was born back in 1917. He was a Navy pilot flying a torpedo bomber in the Battle of Midway. On June 4th, 1942, his squadron took off from the…
-
Burton, Marvin [Red]
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, and right here, in the heart of Texas, you're passing through the territory of Marvin "Red" Burton, a Texas Ranger who wasn't afraid to stand up to the Ku Klux Klan. On October…
-
Lyons, Theodore Amar [Ted]
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, maybe near Waco, where a baseball legend got his start. Ted Lyons wasn't just any pitcher; he was a star athlete at Baylor University, earning letters in baseball, basketball, and…
-
Waco, TX
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, a city with roots stretching back to an ancient agricultural village of the Waco Indians. Right here, in 1849, George Erath laid out the first block of this new town. It was a gamble,…
-
Greenwood Cemetery
· 2.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here is Greenwood Cemetery, established in 1875. It was set up with equal land for both the White and Black communities. Decades later, in the 1930s, folks like Mrs. Emma Norwood…
-
Camp MacArthur, World War I Training Camp
· 2.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Camp MacArthur, a massive World War I training ground that dwarfed the nearby city of Waco! Founded on July 18, 1917, this camp was built to train the 32nd National Guard Division.…
-
Armstrong, A. Joseph
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, home to one of the world's most impressive collections of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning poetry and manuscripts. Right here, A. Joseph Armstrong, a dedicated English professor, spent…
-
Barnard, George
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, and right here, you're passing through a story of adventure and trade. George Barnard, a merchant from Connecticut, arrived in Texas in 1838. Just a few years later, in 1841, he joined the…
-
Barron, Thomas Hudson
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, and right here, you're passing near the heart of Texas Ranger history. Thomas Hudson Barron, a frontiersman who fought from the Mexican Texas period all the way through the…
-
Brooks, Samuel Palmer
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, the heart of Central Texas, and right here is where Samuel Palmer Brooks shaped a university for over thirty years. Born in Georgia, he came to Johnson County as a boy and eventually took…
-
Central Freight Lines
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here in Waco, a transportation giant got its start. In 1925, William W. Callan, Sr., fired up a single Model-T truck, founding Central Forwarding and Warehouse Company.…
-
Coke, Mary Evans Horne
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, the hometown of Mary Evans Horne Coke, the First Lady of Texas. When she was just fifteen, she met Richard Coke, who was so smitten by her foot and ankle that he declared he would marry her.…
-
Davenport, Jouett Harbert [John]
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Waco, Texas, where a Confederate regiment was organized in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1862</say-as>. Jouett Harbert Davenport, a local livestock raiser, was elected major of this unit,…
-
Davis, Mervyn Bathurst
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, a city that owes a debt to Mervyn Bathurst Davis. He arrived here in 1873, but Davis wasn't just a journalist; he was a passionate conservationist. In 1881, right here in Waco, he…
-
De Cordova, Jacob Raphael
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the heart of Texas, and right here, you're passing through Waco. But did you know this city owes its very existence to a pioneering land agent and colonizer named Jacob Raphael De Cordova? Back in…
-
Friend, Kate Harrison
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, and right here is a place that remembers Kate Harrison Friend, known to many as Miss Kate. By age thirteen, she'd read all of Shakespeare! She founded the Waco Shakespeare Club in 1899, and…
-
Harrison, Thomas
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here in Waco, you're not far from the story of Thomas Harrison. He wasn't just any soldier; he rose to lead Terry's Texas Rangers during the Civil War. Harrison took…
-
Martin, Matthew Thomas
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Smith County, Texas, a place where a theological controversy once brewed. Matthew Thomas Martin, a Baptist preacher, arrived here in Waco in the late 1800s. He taught a peculiar…
-
Methodist Home For Children
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, and right here is the site of the Methodist Home for Children. In 1890, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, wanted to unite its factions with a common project. They established this…
-
Miller, Horace Sherman
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, near Waco, where Horace Sherman Miller lived out his final years. Born in Walnut Springs in 1901, Miller had a varied early life, serving in the Navy and working for railroads.…
-
O'Hara, John Bernard
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, and right here, you're passing through the story of John Bernard O'Hara, the man who made Dr Pepper a national brand. He arrived in Waco back in <say-as interpret-as="date"…
-
Padgitt, Kate Ross
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, a city with a rich social history, and right here is where Kate Ross Padgitt lived and thrived. Born in 1851, she was a prominent figure, graduating from Waco University and becoming one of…
-
Pape, Eleanor Fay Jurney
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, and right here, Eleanor Pape left her mark on this city. Born in 1888, Nell Pape was a philanthropist who poured her wealth back into her community. After her husband, Gustav, passed away in…
-
Patten, George W.
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas right now, near Waco. Back in the late 1850s, the Patten family packed up their entire flour milling business from New York and hauled it all the way to McLennan County. They set up…
-
Poage, William Robert
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through central Texas, and right here is the legacy of W.R. "Bob" Poage. Born in Waco in 1899, Poage spent his early years on his father's ranch in Throckmorton and Shackelford Counties. That rural…
-
Prather, William Lambdin
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, and right here is where a man named William Prather left his mark on Texas education. Prather, a lawyer by trade, served as Waco's city attorney and later president of the state bar. But his…
-
Ray, Robert James [Buddy]
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Right here in Waco, Texas, Buddy Ray was born in 1919. He wasn't just any musician; he was a violinist, saxophonist, vocalist, and songwriter who became a legend in western swing and jazz. Ray got his start with his…
-
Shaw, James Dickson
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, and right here, back in 1882, a Methodist minister named James Dickson Shaw faced a crisis. After being accused of heresy for his liberal views on scripture and atonement, he refused to…
-
Sisters of St. Mary of Namur
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, and right here is where a remarkable chapter of education and faith began for Texas. In 1873, five Sisters of St. Mary of Namur, arriving from New York, founded Sacred Heart Academy.…
-
Smith, Robert Lloyd
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Colorado County, and right here, Robert Lloyd Smith founded the Farmers' Home Improvement Society back in 1890. He was a politician, a businessman, and a champion for Black farmers, inspired by…
-
Speight, Joseph Warren
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, a town that owes much of its early development to Joseph Warren Speight. He arrived here in 1854, a civic leader and lawyer from Mississippi. Speight was instrumental in bringing Rufus C.…
-
Spell, Jane Madden
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, perhaps near Waco, and right here, Jane Madden Spell was a powerhouse for women's rights. Back in 1915, she was a leading voice in the fight for suffrage, applying immense pressure…
-
Strecker, John Kern, Jr.
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, the heart of McLennan County, where John Kern Strecker made a name for himself not as a politician, but as a naturalist. Though he started as a stonecutter, Strecker developed a lifelong…
-
Texas Music Café
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Right here in Waco, you're driving past the birthplace of the Texas Music Café. <break time="400ms"/> Started in 1997 by the Ermoian brothers, this show aimed to capture the heart of Texas music, from legends like…
-
Tyson, Paul Leighton
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, the heart of Texas football country. Right here, in the early 1900s, Paul Tyson began an extraordinary coaching career. For twenty-eight years, he led the Waco Tigers, winning four state…
-
Wallace, David Richard
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here is a place that changed how we think about mental health. Dr. David Richard Wallace, a physician who served as a surgeon in the Civil War, became a pioneer in…
-
Dunklin, Hallie Milburn Atkins
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, a city with a rich history, and right here is where Hallie Milburn Atkins Dunklin made her mark. In 1894, she took the helm of the newly-incorporated Telephone Publishing Company, becoming…
-
Ballanfant, Edward Lee
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, and right here, in Waco, a future Major League umpire was born. Edward Lee Ballanfant, born in 1895, played minor league ball until a severe leg injury ended his playing career. But he…
-
Patten, Nathan
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, maybe near Waco, and right here is where the Patten family faced a harrowing choice during the Civil War. Originally from New York, Nathan and George Patten ran a gristmill that was…
-
Walker Homestead, Old
· 2.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the first brick home in rural McLennan County. Built around 1853 by James and W.C. Walker, this house was a testament to their service in the Texas War for Independence. They were both…
-
Academy of the Sacred Heart
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, and right here, on October 1st, 1873, a Catholic school opened its doors with just one student. It was called the Academy of the Sacred Heart, named for the feast day on which the land was…
-
Armstrong, Mary Maxwell
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, home to a truly unique treasure: the Armstrong Browning Library. Right here, Mary Maxwell Armstrong and her husband, A. Joseph, dedicated their lives to collecting the world's largest trove…
-
Austin Avenue United Methodist Church (Waco)
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, and right here is the site of the Austin Avenue United Methodist Church. Back in 1900, the congregation of Fifth Street Methodist Church decided they'd outgrown their building and Waco…
-
Baker, Robert Holmes
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, and you might be passing by a place that Robert Holmes Baker helped shape. Born in Tennessee, Baker arrived in Waco in 1882 and became a major player in Texas business and reform. He led…
-
Battle, Nicholas William
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, a town that owes a lot to Judge Nicholas William Battle. He arrived here in 1850, a lawyer from Georgia, and quickly became a leader. He helped bring the railroad to town and founded…
-
Camp MacArthur
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Right here, just outside Waco, you're driving past the former site of Camp MacArthur. This massive World War I training camp, named for General Arthur MacArthur, sprang to life in 1917. Construction began in July, and…
-
Conner, Jeffie Obrea Allen
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, maybe near Waco, and right here is where Jeffie O. A. Conner dedicated her life to improving the lives of rural Black families. Starting in 1923, as a cooperative extension agent,…
-
Cox, Charles Hudson
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, where a rather remarkable artist named Charles Hudson Cox found his muse. Born in England in 1829, Cox came to Waco in 1889, not as a painter, but as a cotton buyer. But soon, he was…
-
De Graffenried, Gaines
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, and right here is a story about a man who turned a lifelong passion into a Texas treasure. Gaines De Graffenried, born in 1905, wasn't just interested in guns; he collected them. His…
-
Earle, Hallie
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, maybe near Waco, where Dr. Hallie Earle made her mark. Born in 1880, she was a trailblazer in medicine, graduating top of her class at Baylor Medical School. In 1915, she opened a…
-
Evans, Andrew Jackson
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, near Waco, where Andrew Jackson Evans made his mark. Born in South Carolina in 1832, Evans became a prominent attorney and judge in Texas. He served in the Seventh Texas…
-
Flint, John Thompson
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, a city with a history tied to a man named John Thompson Flint. Flint wasn't just any lawyer; he was a key player in building this community. He served as president of the Waco Bridge…
-
Harrison, James Edward
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here near Waco, you're passing through the history of Brigadier General James Edward Harrison. A man who moved from Mississippi to Texas in 1857, Harrison quickly became…
-
Held, John Adolf
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, and right here, you're passing through the legacy of John Adolf Held, a Baptist leader who arrived in Texas from Austria as a teenager. He became a vital part of Baylor University,…
-
Knebel, George Moses
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, maybe near Waco, where George Moses Knebel got his start. Born in 1899, Knebel became a petroleum geologist, and by 1924, he was working for Standard Oil. He didn't just find oil; he…
-
McLennan County
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, right where the city of Waco now stands. This area was once home to the Tawakoni and Wichita tribes, and a large village of Waco Indians. Permanent settlement here was delayed by…
-
Moore, Thomas
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Burnet County, Texas, a place that saw a bit of post-Civil War drama. In 1866, Dr. Thomas Moore, who had moved here from Kentucky and later practiced law, was arrested along with his son and…
-
Ross, Shapley Prince
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here in Waco, you're passing through a place shaped by the frontier. Shapley Prince Ross arrived in Texas in 1839, eventually settling in Waco in 1849. He wasn't just any…
-
Scott, Manuel L.
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, the birthplace of Manuel L. Scott, a nationally renowned preacher. Born in 1926, Scott's early life was marked by poverty and segregation. But a chance encounter with a neighborhood…
-
Texas Central Railroad
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, near where the Texas Central Railway got its start. Chartered in 1879, this line was originally meant to connect Ross Station, just outside Waco, all the way to Eastland County.…
-
Thirtieth Texas Cavalry
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, near Waco, where a unique Texas cavalry unit was born. On August 18, 1862, Colonel Edward Gurley organized the Thirtieth Texas Cavalry, also known as the First Texas Partisan…
-
Twelfth Texas Infantry
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, near Waco, where the Twelfth Texas Infantry was formed in the spring of 1862. This regiment, which was sometimes mistaken for the Eighth Texas, was made up of men from ten…
-
Waco Female College
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, and right here is where a pioneering institution for women's education once stood. The Waco Female College, chartered in 1860, was a significant step for higher learning for women in Central…
-
Way, Charles Burr
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, the heart of McLennan County. Right here, Charles Burr Way was a man of many hats. He arrived in Texas in 1850, becoming a lawyer, a newspaper editor for the Waco Southern Democrat, and…
-
White, William Richardson
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, the heart of Texas, and right here, you might be passing the former stomping grounds of William Richardson White, a man who shaped Baylor University for over a decade. He became president of…
-
Herbert, John F.
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, a city with a history of civic leaders. One such figure was John F. Herbert. Born around 1832, Herbert served with distinction during the Civil War, first as a sergeant in the Fifth Kentucky…
-
Toliver Chapel Baptist Church
· 2.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and just ahead is the site of Toliver Chapel Baptist Church. It began in July 1895, organized by the Rev. I. Toliver, a respected minister and civic leader in Waco's African American…
-
Mullens, Shepherd
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Shepherd (Shepart, Sheppard) Mullens, black political leader, was born a slave in Lawrence County, Alabama, in 1828 or 1829. He arrived in Texas, still a bondsman, during 1854. Between 1865 and 1870 he acquired several…
-
Alexander, James Patterson
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, perhaps near Waco, where James Patterson Alexander began his rise through the Texas legal system. Born in Moody in 1883, Alexander eventually served as Chief Justice of the Texas…
-
Boynton, Charles Albert
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, a state that's seen its share of political players. Charles Albert Boynton arrived in Waco back in 1891, fresh out of law school. He quickly climbed the ranks, becoming a delegate to…
-
Cameron, William Waldo
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, the hometown of William Waldo Cameron, a man who built an empire right here. Born in 1878, Cameron took over his father's business in 1900, transforming it into a lumber and milling giant.…
-
Crudup, Robert
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, Texas, and right here in Waco, a local leader named Robert Crudup served just a few short months in the Texas House of Representatives. He was a Republican, a former slave owner…
-
Flowers, Allen Gilbert
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, the final stop in the life of Allen Gilbert Flowers. Flowers wasn't always a legal eagle. He spent over twenty years as a printer, even working in Washington D.C. before earning law degrees…
-
Gurley, Davis R.
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, and right here is where Davis R. Gurley made his mark. Born in Alabama, he moved to Waco in 1853. When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted in the Sixth Texas Cavalry. He served as…
-
Gurley, Edward Jeremiah
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, near Waco, where Edward Jeremiah Gurley made his mark. A lawyer by trade, Gurley answered the call when the Civil War broke out. He raised and led the Thirtieth Texas Cavalry,…
-
Hutchenrider, Clarence
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, birthplace of jazz musician Clarence Hutchenrider. Born in 1908, he picked up the tenor sax at fourteen and was soon playing in bands across Texas. His big break came in 1931 when he…
-
Lake Waco
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving past Lake Waco, a massive reservoir that's actually two lakes in one! The first Waco Dam was finished way back in 1929, creating a lake that covered nearly 3,000 acres. But over the years, sediment filled…
-
Lambdin, William McKendree
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, a city with a rich Methodist history. Right here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1857</say-as>, William McKendree Lambdin arrived from Virginia. He wasn't just any…
-
Lane, Roy E.
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, and right here, you might be passing buildings designed by Roy E. Lane. Born in Missouri in 1884, Lane came to Waco in 1907, and quickly became a major architect in Central Texas. He…
-
Laws, William Joseph
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, and right here is where William Joseph Laws, a prominent A.M.E. minister and educator, served as president of Paul Quinn College. From about 1904 to 1908, Laws led the institution, shaping…
-
Morrison, William Melvin
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, a city that was home to William Melvin Morrison, a dedicated dealer in Texana. Born in Alabama in 1914, Morrison moved to Texas in the late 1930s. After serving in World War II, he…
-
Parrott, Robert B.
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, a city that owes a lot to Robert B. Parrott. He arrived here in 1872, a young Confederate veteran who’d even served with the famous John Singleton Mosby. Parrott wasn't just a…
-
Phelan, Macum
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, and right here is where Macum Phelan, a minister and writer, first landed in Texas. He came to Waco in 1890, just a teenager looking to join his brothers. He worked as a cowhand…
-
Roberts, Benjamin W.
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, maybe even Waco itself, and right here is a place connected to Benjamin W. Roberts. Roberts was more than just a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church; he was a man…
-
Ross, Robert Shapley
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Waco, deep in McLennan County. Right here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1848</say-as>, Robert Shapley Ross was born. He might have been the very first white child born in this area, then…
-
Temple, Edward Arthur
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, Texas, and right here is where Bishop Edward Arthur Temple made his home. He was chosen in nineteen ten to lead the newly formed Missionary District of North Texas, a huge area that had just…
-
Thompson, Paul Jennings
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Waco, Texas, and right here is where Paul Jennings Thompson met his future wife. Thompson, a journalism professor, was serving in World War I at Camp McArthur. After the war, he returned to Texas and…
-
Waco and Northwestern Railroad
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here, the story of the Waco and Northwestern Railroad begins. Chartered in 1866 as the Waco Tap Railroad, its main goal was simple: connect the growing city of Waco to the…
-
Watson, John
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, maybe near Waco, but let's talk about John Watson. He wasn't just a Confederate soldier and state representative; Watson became the Grand Master of Texas Masons. Imagine leading…
-
Willis, James Madison
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was then Davis County, Texas, right around the height of the Civil War. <break time="400ms"/> This area was represented in the Tenth Texas Legislature by Dr. James Madison Willis. <break…
-
Witt, Edgar E.
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bell County, not far from Waco, where Edgar E. Witt built a remarkable career. After serving as a captain in France during World War I, Witt won a special election to the Texas Senate while still…
-
Yantis, James E.
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waco, the city that was home to James E. Yantis, a lawyer who rose to serve on the Texas Supreme Court. After practicing law here for years and partnering with George W. Clark, Yantis was elected…
-
Young, Robert Butler
· 2.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, and right here in Waco is where Robert Butler Young called home. By 1860, he was a stock raiser, but when the Civil War broke out, he headed to Galveston and joined the Tenth…
-
2018 UIL 4A Division 1 Football State Champions
· 2.9 mi
La Vega High School (Waco, TX): Most recent: 35-21 over Liberty Hill · 2018 4A Division 1 final.
-
First United Methodist Church of Waco
· 2.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here, you're passing the site of the very first church in town. Back in 1850, Reverend Joseph P. Sneed and 23 members started this Methodist congregation. They began meeting in a…
-
Congregation Agudath Jacob
· 3.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here, you're passing the site of Congregation Agudath Jacob, the city's first Orthodox Jewish congregation. It started small in 1888 with just fifteen families, meeting in a rented…
-
Crash At Crush
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving north of Waco, right through McLennan County. In 1896, this area was the site of one of the most spectacular publicity stunts in Texas history: the Crash at Crush. Passenger agent William George Crush of…
-
G. W. Carver High School
· 3.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of G.W. Carver High School, built in 1956 to educate African American students in the La Vega district. It was named for the famous scientist George Washington Carver. The school's…
-
Bean, Peter Ellis
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once wild Texas frontier, a place where fortunes were sought and lives were often lost. Right here, in what is now McLennan County, Peter Ellis Bean found himself in the middle of a…
-
Connally, Thomas Terry
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, Texas, the heart of oil country. Back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1935</say-as>, the oil industry here was in a real slump. To help out, Senator Tom Connally…
-
Tehuacana Creek Councils
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, right near where a series of important meetings happened back in the 1840s. These were the Tehuacana Creek Councils, where Texas officials tried to forge peace with numerous…
-
Torrey Trading Houses
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here, in what is now McLennan County, stood one of the most important trading posts in the Republic of Texas. From 1838 to 1848, the Torrey Brothers operated a vast…
-
Bosqueville, TX
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Bosqueville is four miles northwest of downtown Waco near the intersection of Farm roads 1637 and 3051 in north central McLennan County. Settlement of the area was well underway by the 1850s, and the community may have…
-
Bosque College and Seminary
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Bosqueville, not far from Waco. Right here is where Bosque College and Seminary once stood. Chartered in 1858, it was the first coeducational college in McLennan County. It offered a wide range of…
-
Central Christian Church of Waco
· 3.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here is the site of Central Christian Church. It all started way back in 1867, with just eighteen members of the Disciples of Christ meeting in homes. By 1870, they had organized a…
-
Axtell, TX
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Axtell is on Farm Road 1330 between U.S. Highway 84 and State Highway 31, eight miles northeast of Bellmead in eastern McLennan County. It was established in 1881, when the Texas and St. Louis Railway laid track from…
-
Downsville, TX
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Downsville is on Farm Road 434 eight miles southeast of downtown Waco in southeastern McLennan County. William Woods Downs owned the land in the 1850s and used slaves to work it; after the Civil War he gave each family…
-
Tours, TX
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Tours, on Farm Road 3149 seventeen miles northeast of Waco in northeast McLennan County, was first called St. Martinville. A wagon train from Teutopolis, Illinois, arrived at the site on November 11, 1874, the feast day…
-
Windsor, TX (McLennan County)
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Windsor is at the intersection of Farm roads 3268 and 3047, near the Middle Bosque River twelve miles west of Waco in west central McLennan County. It took its name from Windsor Ranch, which was the property of Harry…
-
Barcus, John M.
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, and right here, in Bruceville, John M. Barcus was licensed to preach in 1880. He went on to earn the first M.A. degree from Southwestern University and served as secretary of the…
-
Bosque River
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the heart of Texas, near the Bosque River. The name itself, 'Bosque,' is Spanish for 'woods,' and it likely got its name back in 1719 from the Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo. Some accounts even…
-
Graves, Marvin Lee
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bosqueville, Texas, the birthplace of Dr. Marvin Lee Graves. Born in 1867, Graves wasn't just any doctor; he was a pioneer in Texas medicine. After earning his degree in New York City, he…
-
McLennan Community College
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, and right here is the site of a Texas first! In 1965, voters approved the creation of McLennan County Junior College. The very next year, it became the first public junior college…
-
Patrick, TX (McLennan County)
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, near the Brazos River, and you're passing through what used to be Patrick. The area was first settled in the 1850s and called Garrett's Mill. A post office named Starke Grove…
-
Scottish Society of Texas
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, and right here, in the heart of Texas, Scots have been celebrating their heritage for decades. Back in 1963, the Scottish Society of Texas was formed, bringing together fifty…
-
Battle, TX
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Battle, once known as Battle Institute, is between State Highway 164 and Farm Road 2957 three miles northwest of Mart in eastern McLennan County. The area was settled about 1880 and named for Nicholas William Battle ,…
-
Elm Mott, TX
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Elm Mott is near the intersection of Interstate Highway 35 and Farm Road 308, eight miles north of Waco in northeast central McLennan County. The area was settled shortly after the Civil War by the Christian and Long…
-
Harrison, TX
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Harrison is on State Highway 6 some eight miles southeast of downtown Waco in eastern McLennan County. The area was part of a plantation owned by Gen. James E. Harrison during the late 1850s and 1860s. After the Civil…
-
Hoen, TX
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Hoen (Hoehn), also known as Pate, is on Farm Road 308 about four miles northeast of Leroy in northeastern McLennan County. It was established in the late 1800s by the George Hoehn family. The community became a flag…
-
Rosenthal, TX
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Rosenthal was on U.S. Highway 77 four miles south of Robinson in southern McLennan County. The area was settled in the 1870s, and a school community called Oak Grove was established on Castleman Creek. By 1880 the main…
-
South Bosque, TX
· 3.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
South Bosque is on the South Bosque River just south of U.S. Highway 84, eight miles northeast of McGregor in southwest central McLennan County. Though settlers began arriving in the area in the 1850s, the South Bosque…
-
The Town the Railroad Built
· 3.8 mi
Imagine a factory complex so vast it was like a city unto itself. That was the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad shops, the very reason Bellmead grew. Opening in the mid-1920s, this wasn't just a repair depot; it was an…
-
The Lake Waco Murders — Koehne Park, Waco, Texas, 1982
· 3.8 mi
Koehne Park sits on the edge of Lake Waco — a place where people fish and run trails. In July of nineteen eighty-two, three teenagers were found murdered near this park: Jill Montgomery, Raylene Rice, and Kenneth…
-
The Railroad That Didn't Just Serve Bellmead, It Built It
· 3.8 mi
Bellmead exists because of the Katy. The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, universally known as the Katy, took control of the Texas Central Railway in 1910, and Bellmead became the site of the railroad's major Central…
-
The Wartime Airfield That Changed Bellmead Overnight
· 3.8 mi
Northeast of where you are now, Waco Army Air Field opened on May 5, 1942, built to train the Army Air Forces pilots the country desperately needed as it went to war. It later became headquarters for the Central…
-
From Locomotive Shops to the Vietnam-Era Bomb Plant
· 3.8 mi
Bellmead's industrial story took a strange turn in 1968. The former Warden Locomotive Shops, built decades earlier to repair steam engines, were converted into a plant that produced bomb casings. The company A.O. Smith…
-
The Smell of Money and Rubber
· 3.8 mi
For about 40 years, there was a smell in the Bellmead air that everyone recognized: the smell of curing rubber. It was the smell of the General Tire and Rubber Company plant, a colossal factory that opened in 1944.…
-
The Engineering of the Iron Horse
· 3.8 mi
The Katy Railroad shops weren't just a garage for trains; they were a high-tech engineering hub for their time. Imagine the science required to maintain a fleet of steam locomotives. In the boiler shop, workers used…
-
The Town That Started With an Absent Owner and Squatters
· 3.8 mi
The ground you're crossing here was once part of the enormous Tomas de la Vega land grant, and for years it belonged to a man who never lived on it. After the tract changed hands, it ended up owned by Colonel John W.…
-
The City That Had to Be Founded Twice
· 3.8 mi
Bellmead is one of those rare towns that had to be created twice. Residents first voted to incorporate as a city in 1939, but the new municipality collapsed almost immediately. The problem was brutally simple: it had no…
-
The Hidden Gas Network Under the Locomotive Shops
· 3.8 mi
The 1923 Bellmead railroad complex was really a coordinated heavy-engineering campus, and one tiny building reveals just how sophisticated it was. Repairing a locomotive took far more than a roundhouse. It needed…
-
Concord Cemetery and the Triplet Grave
· 3.8 mi
Near Bellmead's northeastern edge, out by the Texas State Technical College area, sits Concord Cemetery, the last surviving piece of a community that has otherwise vanished. The settlement of Concord once had a church,…
-
The Pride of the Pirates
· 3.8 mi
In Texas, Friday night football is a way of life, and here in Bellmead, it’s a source of incredible pride. This is the home of the La Vega Pirates. For decades, the community has rallied around its team, but in the 21st…
-
The Theater That Opened Four Months After V-J Day
· 3.8 mi
At 3008 Corsicana Highway stands the old La Vega Theater, which opened on December 21, 1945, right in the middle of Bellmead's postwar boom. The timing tells the whole story: soldiers were coming home, the railroad…
-
From Wartime Tires to University Research
· 3.8 mi
One Bellmead property has lived two completely different industrial lives. General Tire began producing tires here in November 1944, during the wartime years when rubber and tires were in critically short supply, and…
-
The Christmas Parade That's Run for Half a Century
· 3.8 mi
Every December, Bellmead pulls out one of its oldest community traditions. The Bellmead Christmas Parade began in 1972 and has kept going for more than fifty years straight, which in a town this size is no small feat of…
-
Bellmead, TX
· 3.8 mi
Bellmead, Texas, and the surrounding area, has long been associated with agricultural production, particularly cotton. The Blackland Prairie soil is deep and fertile, perfect for growing the crop that once defined the…
-
Providence Sanitarium
· 3.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Providence Sanitarium, a hospital born out of necessity in Waco. Back in 1901, Dr. James W. Hale saw his patient needed care, but Waco didn't have the facilities. So, he teamed up with…
-
Drought or Flood? A Fossil Detective Story
· 4.2 mi
Here is a real scientific mystery, still being argued over. How did this whole herd die at once? For years the leading idea was a sudden flash flood that swept in and buried the mammoths fast. It is a dramatic story,…
-
The Waco Siege, Mount Carmel Center — Elk, Texas, 1993
· 4.3 mi · Curated
Eleven miles east of Waco, on a flat stretch of land off a two-lane road, stood the Mount Carmel Center — home of the Branch Davidians, a religious sect led by David Koresh. On February twenty-eighth, nineteen…
-
The Only Mammoth Nursery Ever Found
· 4.3 mi
Right here in Waco, scientists uncovered something no one had ever recorded before: a nursery herd of Ice Age mammoths, frozen in time exactly where they died. A nursery herd is a family group of adult females and their…
-
Waco Mammoth National Monument
· 4.3 mi · Historical Marker
About 68,000 years ago, a nursery herd of Columbian mammoths, mostly females and calves, was caught in a flash flood along the Bosque River and buried in mud. Their bones lay undiscovered until 1978, when two teenagers…
-
Bigger Than the Woolly, and Nearly Bald
· 4.3 mi
Quick myth-buster: the mammoths buried here are not the famous woolly mammoth. These are Columbian mammoths, a different species, and in some ways a more impressive one. The woolly mammoth lived up north in the freezing…
-
How Do You Date a Bone Too Old to Carbon-Date?
· 4.3 mi
Here is a puzzle that stumps a lot of people. You have probably heard of carbon dating, the classic way scientists figure out how old something is. The catch: radiocarbon dating only works back to about 50,000 years.…
-
Frank Hamer - Texas Ranger
· 4.4 mi · Historical Marker
Frank Hamer was born in Fairview in 1884 and joined the Texas Rangers when he was twenty-two. By the time he retired the first time, he had been in fifty-two gunfights, been wounded seventeen times, and been left for…
-
El Conquistador and a Half-Century of Family Tex-Mex
· 4.6 mi
If you want a Bellmead meal with real roots, El Conquistador at 901 North Loop 340 is the stop. It's a multigenerational Central Texas Tex-Mex business, started by the Gonzalez family in the Waco area back in 1969, and…
-
White Hall Cemetery
· 4.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past White Hall Cemetery, the last remnant of a once-thriving farming community called White Hall. The earliest burials here date back to 1877, on land donated by Civil War veteran Captain Burl Jones…
-
Bosqueville High School — State Softball 2026
· 4.7 mi
Bosqueville High School in Bosqueville, Texas qualified for the 2026 UIL state softball championships, reaching the state tournament (final four) in Class two A, Division One.
-
Site of Waco Boating and Fishing Club
· 4.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a surprisingly exclusive club that started right here in Waco. Back on January 10, 1890, some of the city's most prominent citizens met to form a boating and fishing club. They got their…
-
Zion United Church of Christ
· 4.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past Zion United Church of Christ in Waco. Imagine this: it's the 1870s, and German-speaking immigrants are looking for a spiritual home. Pastor Friederich Werning starts holding services in a…
-
Bellmead, TX
· 5.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Waco, heading into Bellmead. This town owes its existence to a railroad. In the mid-1920s, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad chose this spot for its locomotive shops, bringing hundreds of jobs…
-
David Smith Kornegay
· 5.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the resting place of David Smith Kornegay, a man who saw some of the most pivotal moments in early Texas history. Born in North Carolina in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1810</say-as>, he…
-
Alexander McKinza
· 5.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site where Alexander McKinza settled in McLennan County around 1860. But his story started years earlier, when he moved to Texas from Alabama in 1834. During the Texas War for Independence,…
-
Bosqueville Cemetery
· 5.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Bosqueville Cemetery, a final resting place with roots stretching back to the earliest days of Texas settlement. Burials began here around 1850, on land donated for a school and graveyard. In fact,…
-
Bosqueville Methodist Church
· 5.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bosqueville Methodist Church, a community that’s been gathering for worship for over 170 years. Before even having a building, folks met in homes, then the New Oakwood schoolhouse, and…
-
Midway High School — State Softball 2026
· 5.5 mi
Midway High School in Waco, Texas qualified for the 2026 UIL state softball championships, reaching the state tournament (final four) in Class six A, Division One.
-
Bosqueville Baptist Church
· 5.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're passing Bosqueville Baptist Church, one of McLennan County's oldest rural congregations. Organized way back in November of 1854 by the Rev. S.G. O'Bryan, this church has worshiped without interruption ever since.…
-
Saint John United Church of Christ
· 5.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Robinson, a town with roots stretching back to German immigrants. It all started around 1882 when Herman Staas convinced fellow Germans to settle here. By 1884, they'd formed this congregation,…
-
Walker, Sarah Ann Vouchere
· 5.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the resting place of Sarah Ann Vouchere Walker, a woman who lived a life straight out of Texas legend. Born in Louisiana in 1811, she came to Texas in 1829 and settled in this area in 1844. She was…
-
Moore, Louis
· 5.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a man who saw Texas history unfold firsthand: Louis Moore. Born in Missouri in 1817, Moore came to Texas around 1834, just as the winds of revolution were starting to blow. He enlisted in…
-
Moore Cemetery
· 5.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Moore Cemetery, a resting place that began as a family burial ground. Louis Moore arrived in Texas around 1834, and his son John, who died in 1858, may have been the first person buried here. The…
-
Woodway, TX
· 5.8 mi · Local history
The name Woodway has a unique origin, stemming from a creative blend of existing local place names. In the early 1950s, a committee of citizens came together with the task of naming their developing community. They…
-
Youngblood Memorial Presbyterian Church
· 5.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Youngblood Memorial Presbyterian Church, a testament to faith and community in Robinson. This congregation got its start way back in 1874 as Robinsonville Presbyterian Church, organized…
-
Central Presbyterian Church
· 5.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Waco's Central Presbyterian Church, a congregation with roots stretching back to 1869. It started as the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Waco with just 18 members. Their first…
-
Robinson, TX
· 5.9 mi
Robinson is a place where Friday night lights mean something. You can feel it in the air – the pride that swells up when the Rockets make a playoff push.
-
Brazos River Transmission Electric Cooperative
· 5.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here is the story of the Brazos River Transmission Electric Cooperative. Organized in February 1941 by eleven small electric co-ops, this was the very first generation and…
-
Texas HS Baseball Playoff Hits 2026: Robinson (Robinson)
· 6.1 mi
Robinson, TX placed on the Texas high school baseball PLAYOFF HITS leaderboard for the 2026 postseason: Bryce Vasquez (19 hits, #3 in TX).
-
Texas HS Baseball Playoff Leaders 2026: Robinson (Robinson)
· 6.1 mi
Robinson put a player on the statewide leaderboards of the 2026 Texas high school baseball playoffs. Bryce Vasquez had 19 hits (3rd in the state), and 8 stolen bases (14th in the state).
-
Lacy-Lakeview, TX
· 6.1 mi
Lacy-Lakeview isn't the kind of place that produces a lot of household names. It's more of a working-class town, a suburb where people are focused on family, work, and community. And that's really the point. The town's…
-
Lacy-Lakeview, TX
· 6.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving north of Waco on I-35, and you're passing through Lacy-Lakeview. The land here was granted way back in 1843 to Sarah Ann Walker, whose husband fought at the Alamo. Two communities, Lacy and Lakeview,…
-
Northcrest, TX
· 6.6 mi
The city of Northcrest derives its name from a combination of its geographical location and elevation. Situated 6 miles north of Waco, and boasting the highest elevation in the Waco area, the city's name reflects both…
-
Chalk Bluff Baptist Church
· 6.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Chalk Bluff Baptist Church, a congregation with roots stretching back to 1870. Originally called White Rock Baptist Church, it was founded by locals who wanted a Baptist church right…
-
Hewitt Baptist
· 6.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Hewitt Baptist Church, a place that's been a cornerstone of this community for over a century. It all started on November 4th, 1894, when twenty members of a nearby church decided to form their own…
-
Hewitt, TX
· 6.9 mi · Local history
This community began in the 1880s thanks to John A. Warren, the town's first businessman. He donated land, and the town site was officially named Hewitt in 1883. For decades, it thrived on farming and agriculture, a…
-
Robinson, TX (McLennan County)
· 6.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Robinson, Texas, a town that owes its existence to two brothers. In 1856, John and Levi Robinson surveyed 171 acres, dividing it into lots to encourage others to settle here. They even sponsored…
-
First United Methodist Church of Hewitt
· 7.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hewitt, and right here, you're passing the site of the First United Methodist Church. It all started way back in 1875, eight miles west, with Methodist settlers gathering at Stanford Chapel.…
-
Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church
· 7.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waco, and right here is the site of Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church. Organized back in October of 1886, this congregation served the African-American community southeast of town. They…
-
Hewitt, TX
· 7.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hewitt, a town born from the expansion of the railroad. In 1882, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad laid track through this area, and decided to name this new stop after George A. Hewitt, one…
-
Trooper Richard Cottle Memorial Highway
· 7.5 mi · Historical Marker
This stretch of Interstate 35 in McLennan County is named for Senior Trooper Richard Dale Cottle. On the morning of May 9, 2001, Cottle was driving from Waco up to Dallas to testify in court. A heavy fog had rolled in…
-
Stanford Chapel Cemetery
· 7.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Stanford Chapel Cemetery, a place with roots stretching back to 1862 when Reverend Thomas Stanford and his family arrived in Texas. The Stanfords, along with the E. R. Barcus family, were true…
-
Concord Cemetery
· 7.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Concord Cemetery, the last vestige of a town that vanished. Concord Baptist Church formed here in 1866, but the cemetery holds the real story. The first burials in 1869 were Elizabeth Boddie Parrish…
-
Speegleville Baptist Church
· 7.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Speegleville Baptist Church, a congregation that's been a part of this community for over 150 years. It all started back in 1850, organized as Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in the home of…
-
Downsville Baptist Church
· 8.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Downsville Baptist Church, organized way back on May 6, 1894. Elder A.J. Moore and nineteen members from the Robinson Baptist Church started this congregation. By the end of that year, 39…
-
Fletcher Cemetery
· 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Fletcher Cemetery, a final resting place that started with a single, unmarked burial. Sample Carrigan, an early settler, was laid to rest here in 1868. The first *marked* grave belongs to…
-
Miller, Doris
· 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here near Willow Grove, you're passing through the birthplace of Doris Miller. He was the first African American hero of World War II. Born in 1919, Miller enlisted in the…
-
Tehuacana Creek
· 8.9 mi
On a small branch of Tehuacana Creek, about eight miles south of the old Waco village, stood Torrey's Trading Post Number Two, and in the 1840s it hosted the grandest Indian council the Republic of Texas ever held.…
-
Torrey's Trading Post No. 2
· 8.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving near the site of the greatest Indian council ever held in the Republic of Texas! Right here, President Sam Houston himself came in 1844 for famous peace talks with assembled chiefs. This place, Torrey's…
-
Old Harrison
· 9.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Old Harrison, a town that sprung up thanks to a railroad and a Confederate general. General James E. Harrison, a relative of a US President and friend to Jefferson Davis, was a major…
-
Erath
· 9.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through what used to be Erath, one of McLennan County's earliest settlements. Settlers were drawn here by fertile land between the Brazos and Bosque rivers. At its peak, this community boasted churches, a…
-
Willow Grove Community Cemetery
· 9.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through McLennan County, near Willow Grove. This cemetery you're passing has served this community since the late 1800s. It all started after emancipation, when former slaves William 'Buck' Manning and…
-
Crain, Joel Bunditt
· 9.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through McLennan County, and right here is where Joel Bunditt Crain lived out his days. He was a sergeant-major in General Sam Houston's army during the Texas War for Independence. Imagine this: Crain was…
-
Mount Carmel Center
· 9.7 mi
On a lonely stretch of prairie outside Waco, a small chapel and a memorial grove mark the place where the Branch Davidian compound once stood. For fifty-one days in the spring of 1993, the buildings here were surrounded…
-
Branch Davidian Compound Site
· 9.9 mi · Historical Marker
On February 28, 1993, seventy-six ATF agents attempted to serve a search warrant at the Mount Carmel Center compound northeast of Waco. What they expected to be a quick operation turned into a firefight that killed four…
-
UIL 4A Football State Champions — 2 titles
· 9.9 mi
China Spring High School (China Spring, TX): Most recent: 24-21 over Boerne · 2022 4A Division 1 final.
-
Bosque River Crossing of the 1841 Texas Santa Fe Expediton
· 10.3 mi
You're driving past the Bosque River crossing, a tough spot for a doomed expedition. Back in 1841, President Lamar sent a group to New Mexico to open trade and claim land for the Republic of Texas. We forget how much a…
-
Evergreen Cemetery
· 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Evergreen Cemetery, established on land given by William and Margaret Oliver back in 1860. For decades, families gathered here for camp meetings, and later, these evolved into annual reunions for…
-
Harris Creek Cemetery
· 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Harris Creek Cemetery, a final resting place for some of the earliest settlers in this part of McLennan County. The story here starts back in the 1850s when families like the Haleys, Crains,…
-
Harris Creek Baptist Church
· 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Harris Creek Baptist Church. Worship services once gathered in the home of Aquilla and Delila Jones. In 1872, they donated this land for a church, school, and cemetery. The congregation…
-
Teague Property, The Isaac Jackson
· 10.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Isaac Jackson Teague property, a home built for a large family back in 1899. Isaac Teague, born right here in Texas, bought this land in 1893. He hired a local contractor to build this farmhouse,…
-
Edens, John Silas
· 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through McLennan County, heading past the small community of Leroy. Back in 1868, this was the new home for John Silas Edens, a man who'd already lived a full life in Texas. He arrived in Texas way back…
-
White Rock Cemetery
· 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past White Rock Cemetery, a final resting place for over 1,600 people. Local legend says it started with a drifter in 1855, but records show Elizabeth Bennett was the first buried here in 1856. This…
-
Gholson, TX
· 11.3 mi
In the 1840s, the area now known as Gholson was first settled and went by the name Sardis. It wasn't until the Gholson brothers, Benjamin and Samuel, became prominent early settlers that the area gradually adopted their…
-
Aquilla Creek Truss Bridge
· 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of an old iron truss bridge over Aquilla Creek. The original road here was built way back in 1875, but heavy rains often made it impassable. In 1887, the county hired a company to build a…
-
Ross
· 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ross, a town with roots stretching back to the earliest days of McLennan County. Its story really begins in 1873, when a new railroad line bypassed the old settlement of White Rock. Residents…
-
China Spring Tabernacle
· 11.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the China Spring Tabernacle, a building that's been the heart of this farming community since about 1903. Lavantia Conger deeded the land, and the two-story structure quickly became a hub for…
-
Ross, TX
· 11.8 mi
Ross, Texas, might seem like just another blink-and-you'll-miss-it spot along the old rail line, but there's a certain grit to this place, built right into the Blackland Prairie. You can almost feel it in the land,…
-
Gholson Cemetery
· 11.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Gholson Cemetery, a final resting place that started with a tiny tragedy. In 1871, the infant daughter of the Rozell family, early settlers here, was buried on this land. The oldest headstone…
-
Hallsburg, TX
· 11.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, heading east-southeast of Waco. Right here is Hallsburg, a town born from a doctor's land purchase. Back in the 1880s, Dr. W.E. Hall bought over two thousand acres and started…
-
Papa Joe's Texas Saloon
· 12.0 mi
There's a motorcycle bolted to the roof of Papa Joe's Texas Saloon, right off Interstate 35 in Lorena. Inside it's pool tables, neon, and paintings of the Coors cowboy wrapped in plastic to keep the cigarette smoke off…
-
Lorena, TX
· 12.0 mi
Lorena's always been a place where Friday night lights shine a little brighter, especially when the Leopards are facing McGregor. That rivalry's a constant, something you can set your watch by. But lately, there's been…
-
Bull Hide Creek Iron Bridge
· 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Bull Hide Creek Iron Bridge, built in 1914 by the El Paso Bridge and Iron Company. This 69-foot Warren pony truss bridge, with its timber deck and concrete piers, served as a vital…
-
2021 UIL 3A Division 1 Football State Champions
· 12.1 mi
Lorena High (Lorena, TX): Most recent: 35-18 over Brock · 2021 3A Division 1 final.
-
Lorena United Methodist Church, The
· 12.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Lorena, and right here is the Lorena United Methodist Church. Organized way back in 1881, this congregation first met in the local Baptist church building. By 1886, they’d built their own…
-
H. J. and Cora Hudson House
· 12.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the H. J. and Cora Hudson House, built starting in 1881. Herbert Hudson, originally from England, came to Lorena in 1877 and married Cora Field here in 1880. He became a prominent businessman,…
-
Daniel, Charles Davis
· 12.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Navarro County, Texas, and right here, in Lorena, is where Charles Davis Daniel spent his final years. Born in Alabama in 1856, Daniel’s life took him from Brazil, where his family moved after the…
-
Gholson, TX (McLennan County)
· 12.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Gholson, Texas, a farming community that actually started out with a different name: Sardis. Settled in the late 1840s, it got its first school in 1854 and a post office in 1858. The Gholson…
-
Lorena, TX
· 12.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving southwest of Waco on I-35, and you're passing through Lorena. This town owes its existence to the railroad. Right here, in 1881, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas line was being built, and the townsite was…
-
The Day the Sky Fell on Riesel
· 12.2 mi
As you roll through Riesel, southeast of Waco on Highway 6, picture all of Central Texas looking up one Sunday morning, February fifteenth, two thousand nine, a little after eleven o'clock. A fireball streaked across…
-
China Spring Cemetery
· 12.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through China Spring, a community named for its chinaberry trees and a nearby spring. Settled around 1870, the early families buried their dead in private plots. But in 1902, locals banded together to…
-
Golinda, TX
· 12.4 mi
Golinda, Texas, has a history marked by a tragic event. In 1905, Sank Majors, a Black man from Golinda, was lynched by a white mob in Waco. This dark chapter in the city's past is a stark reminder of the racial tensions…
-
Ross, Peter F.
· 12.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the wild Texas frontier. Right here, Peter F. Ross, a man who would become a Texas Ranger, cattleman, and Confederate officer, cut his teeth fighting Comanches. In 1858, he captained…
-
Ross, TX
· 12.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, just north of Waco, past the community of Ross. It began in the early 1870s as a stop on the Houston and Texas Central Railway. A post office arrived in 1880, named for the famous…
-
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Axtell (Axtell)
· 12.6 mi
Axtell (Axtell, TX) placed on the 2A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Levi Leathers (0.512 avg, 2 HR).
-
Lorena Cemetery
· 12.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Lorena Cemetery, a final resting place with roots stretching back to the railroad boom. In eighteen eighty-one, Daniel Aerl set aside two acres here for pioneer settlers. Just days later, financier…
-
Shiloh Baptist Church
· 12.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crawford, not far from Hog Creek. Back on May 17th, 1884, five people met in the Bellview Schoolhouse to start Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church. They met just once a month back then, for services…
-
Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church
· 12.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church, a focal point for this community since 1873. Methodist families here gathered during the Reconstruction Era to organize their church. Services…
-
Riesel, TX
· 13.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Riesel, Texas, a community with roots stretching back to the late 1800s. Right here, the Houston and Texas Central Railway laid down a sectionhouse called Roddy around 1880. Soon after, German…
-
Saint Paul's Church of Gerald
· 13.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Gerald, Texas, a town that once thrived thanks to the railroad. German farmers started settling here in the late 1800s, and by 1888, they had a post office and a bustling main street. But the…
-
Sank Majors Lynching
· 13.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Right here, south of Waco, near Golinda, is where a brutal chapter of Texas history unfolded in the summer of 1905. Sank Majors, a young Black man, was accused of assaulting and stabbing a white woman. The community…
-
Golinda, TX
· 13.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Golinda, a community named after a priest, Ignacio Galindo, who received a land grant way back in 1833. Early settlers chose this spot on high ground, avoiding the malaria-prone Brazos River…
-
Westbrook, Charles A., Plantation
· 13.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Lorena, Texas, and right here is the site of the old Westbrook Plantation. Charles Alexander Westbrook arrived in Texas from Mississippi in 1859, eventually settling in McLennan County after…
-
Elk Community
· 13.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Elk, a community with a name that sounds wild, but it started with a family name. The Harper family, arriving from Tennessee in 1855, were the first permanent settlers here. Their farm became…
-
Saint Mary's Cemetery
· 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through West, Texas, and you're passing Saint Mary's Cemetery. This isn't just any graveyard; it's a testament to the area's rich Czech and German heritage. After Catholic immigrants, many from Bohemia,…
-
The Crash at Crush
· 13.9 mi
About 15 miles north of Waco in McLennan County, a marker records the "Crash at Crush." On September 15, 1896, more than 40,000 people gathered at a one-day town named Crush, Texas, to watch a staged head-on collision…
-
Cottonwood Baptist Church
· 13.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Cottonwood Baptist Church, a testament to faith and community for over a century. <break time="400ms"/> This congregation began in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1884</say-as>…
-
Meier Settlement Methodist Church
· 14.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Meier Settlement Methodist Church, founded in 1887 by German immigrants. For over thirty years, this congregation held all its services in German, only switching to English in 1922.…
-
Riesel
· 14.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Riesel, a town that grew up around cotton. After the Civil War, this fertile land and good water drew farmers, especially cotton growers. German settlers arrived soon after, led by Reverend…
-
Friedens Evangelical and Reformed United Church of Christ
· 14.1 mi · Historical Marker
German immigrants settled Riesel in the late 1800s. In July 1903, eight families founded Friedens Church, meeting in a schoolhouse before building their own sanctuary. The church building was moved to its current site…
-
Crawford, TX
· 14.3 mi
Crawford, Texas, wasn't born overnight; it grew slowly, like the oaks that still shade the town square. The land here, nestled in the rolling hills of McLennan County, drew farmers first, folks looking for fertile…
-
Morgan Family Cemetery
· 14.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Perry, Texas. To your right is the Morgan Family Cemetery, established around 1868. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2003.
-
Leroy, TX
· 14.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through northeastern McLennan County, passing through the community of Leroy. It sprang up in the late 1890s, named for Leroy Smith, president of both the Smith Land Company and the International-Great…
-
Wortham Bend Cemetery
· 14.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Wortham Bend Cemetery, a resting place named for a man who came to Texas around 1854. William Green Duke Wortham and his wife Charlotte settled right here, and their community took his name. This…
-
Groppe Barn
· 14.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Groppe Barn near West, a testament to German immigrant ingenuity. August Groppe, Sr. bought this land back in 1874, becoming a founder of the local German community. By 1883, he was ready to…
-
Battle Cemetery and Community
· 15.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of what was once the town of Battle. Established around 1880, it was named for landowner Nicholas Battle. By the 1890s, a bustling community had sprung up here, complete with a school, post…
-
Site of North Prairie School
· 15.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former site of North Prairie School, a community born out of a petition back in 1896. Imagine this place buzzing with life! By 1910, a two-room schoolhouse was already teaching about twenty…
-
Lone Oak Cemetery
· 15.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Lone Oak Cemetery, established on land purchased in 1880 for a school and church. The first burial was an infant in September of 1881. It's the final resting place for several Confederate veterans…
-
St. Martin's Cemetery
· 15.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of St. Martin's Cemetery, a final resting place for many German and Czech immigrants who settled this area. It all started back in 1874, when a wagon train from Illinois arrived on the feast…
-
Cedar Grove Baptist Church
· 15.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Cedar Grove Baptist Church, a story of faith and resilience born right after emancipation. In 1865, newly freed African Americans gathered on Colonel Ruben Buhl's plantation to form their…
-
Friedens Cemetery
· 15.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Friedens Cemetery, established in 1903 by eight local families who also formed a German Lutheran Church. Although the church moved in 1908, this burial ground, donated by Philip Engelke,…
-
Former Site of Saint Peter's Church
· 15.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through McLennan County, near the former site of Saint Peter's Church. Organized in 1887 by eight German families, it began as a meetinghouse on land owned by Jacob Closner. The congregation eventually…
-
The Grange in Texas
· 15.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past The Grange in Texas. The Grange, also known as the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, was a nonpartisan national organization comprised of farmers to establish economic independence, socialization and…
-
Bold Springs Cemetery
· 15.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Bold Springs Cemetery, a resting place with roots reaching back to the 1850s. It all started when Isaac Cauble built a cabin near a spring that had been home to Native Americans for generations.…
-
Tours Community
· 15.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Tours, Texas, a place that started life as Martinsville. In 1872, settlers arrived from Illinois, calling their new home Martinsville after St. Martin's Day, November 11. Just two years later, in…
-
Janes, W.H., Home
· 16.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the W.H. Janes home, built in 1885. Look for the board and batten siding on this house, constructed by Janes himself, a Kentucky native and Civil War veteran. He and his wife Sue lived here,…
-
Bruceville, TX
· 16.2 mi
Bruceville sits nestled in the Blackland Prairie, a stretch of fertile land carved out by ancient seas and the relentless work of the Brazos River and its tributaries. You can feel it in the rich, dark soil that clings…
-
Irons, Martin
· 16.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Bruceville, Texas, where a Scottish immigrant named Martin Irons spent his final years. Irons, a machinist by trade, became a powerful union leader in the late 1800s. He helped organize workers for…
-
Bruceville Methodist Church
· 16.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bruceville Methodist Church, a congregation with roots stretching back to the Civil War era. Local tradition says it began as Cedar Bridge Methodist, holding services near a cedar bridge…
-
Bruceville Baptist Church
· 16.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bruceville Baptist Church, a congregation with roots going back over 125 years. It started around 1870 as Salem Baptist Church in the town of Mastersville, holding services in homes and…
-
Crawford Cemetery
· 16.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crawford, and just off the road is Crawford Cemetery. It started with a tragedy in the mid-1870s, when a young boy named Harvey Gilmore Kee died just shy of his second birthday. His parents,…
-
Mooreville Cemetery
· 16.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Mooreville, Texas, a community founded by an Irishman named Robert Moore in the 1850s. He opened a general store right here, and soon other families joined him. By 1865, Confederate veteran Edward…
-
Trinity Lutheran Church
· 17.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Riesel, and right here is the story of Trinity Lutheran Church. It all started back in 1882 when a traveling missionary held the first Lutheran service for German immigrants in this area. By 1883,…
-
Perry United Methodist Church
· 17.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Perry United Methodist Church, a century-old congregation with roots reaching back to 1872. It started west of here, in the home of Theodore Reusse, with just four members and a traveling…
-
From Bombs to Boosters: McGregor's Engineering Legacy
· 17.1 mi
The area just west of McGregor is one of the most important rocket engine test sites on the planet. This legacy of engineering began when the WWII Bluebonnet Ordnance Plant was converted to test rocket technology after…
-
McGregor, TX
· 17.1 mi
While no famous individuals are noted as originating from this Texas city, its association with a popular HGTV show brings a touch of celebrity.
-
McGregor Mirror
· 17.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the McGregor Mirror, a newspaper that's been serving this town since 1904. It was founded by T.E. Streight, but the Hall family really made it their own, purchasing it in 1918 and running it for…
-
McGregor
· 17.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past McGregor, a town that owes its start to the railroad. On this day, back in 1882, lots were sold for this brand new town, advertised statewide by two major railways. It was named for Dr. Gregor…
-
First Christian Church of McGregor (Disciples of Christ)
· 17.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of McGregor's First Christian Church. It all started in the 1870s with just four families near Comanche Springs. They called Reverend W. L. Harrison to be their first pastor. When the…
-
First Baptist Church of McGregor
· 17.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through McGregor, and right here is the First Baptist Church. Its roots go way back to 1858, with the Onion Creek Baptist Church, about ten miles southwest. About thirty members from the Comanche Springs…
-
Glenn and Mary Gulledge Crain House
· 17.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Glenn and Mary Gulledge Crain House, built in 1892. Glenn Crain, whose father was McGregor's first mayor, started selling insurance and married Mary Gulledge in 1890. They hired architect Charles…
-
Indian Battlefield
· 17.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a fierce battle that happened January 16, 1839. This skirmish took place near the pioneer home of George Morgan. Settlers in the area clashed with warriors led by Chief Jose Maria. The…
-
Perry, Albert G. (Judge) and Harriet Elizabeth Grimes
· 17.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Falls County, passing the site of a life shaped by the Texas frontier. Albert G. Perry, born in Tennessee in 1807, studied law young and headed to Texas in 1831. He married Harriet Elizabeth…
-
Crawford
· 17.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Crawford, a town that grew from a humble 1850s settlement. It started around Tonk Crossing, a key point on early trade routes. The town itself was laid out at a crossroads, but its name is a bit of a…
-
Church of The Assumption
· 17.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Church of the Assumption in West, Texas. This congregation got its start around 1890, right after the railroad arrived and basically created this town. In 1892, the Bishop gave them permission to…
-
St. Mary's School
· 17.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through West, Texas, a town with a rich Catholic heritage. Back in 1892, the local church saw a need for Catholic education. Father Sebik reached out to the Sisters of Divine Providence, and soon, four…
-
Zion Lutheran Church
· 17.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Zion Lutheran Church, a spiritual and cultural anchor for German immigrants in Central Texas. As early as 1890, families gathered in homes, speaking German and holding informal worship…
-
Crawford, TX
· 17.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, heading towards Crawford. This community started back in the 1850s, centered around a river crossing called Tonk Crossing. The town itself likely got its name from Nelson…
-
Slovacek's West
· 17.7 mi · Things to Do
I-35 exit 353 in West, Texas — the rival Czech bakery to the Czech Stop across the highway. Over 35 kolache varieties, in-house smoked meats, and a full deli…
-
First Presbyterian Church of West
· 17.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through West, Texas, a town with a rich immigrant history. Back in 1875, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church started here. The first building went up in 1883, and the one you see today was finished in…
-
Baker, James B.
· 17.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, not far from Crawford, where a young man named James B. Baker took up arms for the Confederacy. Born in 1847, Baker was just fifteen years old when he left managing his family's…
-
First Baptist Church of Crawford
· 17.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crawford, home to the First Baptist Church. Organized in 1878 with about a dozen members, it met in the schoolhouse initially. The church has been a spiritual and community leader in Crawford for…
-
First United Methodist Church of Crawford
· 17.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First United Methodist Church of Crawford. Area families met for prayer as early as the 1840s. The church was officially organized around 1878 and has served the Crawford community…
-
West, TX
· 17.8 mi
West, Texas, isn't just another blur of roadside businesses along I-35. It's a place where the smell of baking kolaches hangs heavy in the air, a testament to its deep Czech roots. For generations, agriculture has been…
-
The Czech Stop
· 17.8 mi · Things to Do
In 1983 Bill Polk opened a little convenience store off I-35 in West Texas and started selling kolaches he bought from a nearby bakery. The pastries moved so…
-
Mynar's Bar
· 17.8 mi
Downtown West, Texas, a Czech town straddling Interstate 35 — and on one side of the street sits Mynar's. The Mynar family bought the building back in 1923, but don't let that fool you: it ran as a grocery store through…
-
Wolf's Sports Bar
· 17.8 mi
Across the street from Mynar's in downtown West stands Wolf's — and Wolf's leans sports bar over honky-tonk. The walls are painted up with Texas team logos, there's a University of Oklahoma logo hung in memory of an old…
-
West, Texas - Czech Heritage and Resilience
· 17.8 mi · Historical Marker
Every Texan who has driven I-35 between Dallas and Austin knows the town of West, and they know it for one reason: kolaches. Czech immigrants settled this stretch of the Blackland Prairie in the 1880s, bringing with…
-
Pope, Lawrence Chalmous
· 17.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, maybe not far from West, and you might be wondering about Lawrence Chalmous Pope. He was a banker, but in October of 1960, he robbed two banks in Thornton and Schulenburg. Pope…
-
West, TX
· 17.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through West, Texas, a town with a rich Czech heritage. But right here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">2013</say-as>, this community faced unimaginable tragedy. A massive explosion at the West…
-
Best Theatre Building
· 17.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Best Theatre, built around 1890 by town founder Thomas West. It started as saloons, then a grocery store, before becoming the Best Theatre in 1923, showing vaudeville, local acts, and…
-
West
· 17.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through West, Texas, a town that owes its start to a man named Thomas West. Back in the late 1860s, he set up a stagecoach stop, a store, and a post office right here, calling it the Bold Springs…
-
Urbanovsky, Elo John
· 17.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here in West, Texas, Elo Urbanovsky got his start. Born in 1907, he went on to become a landscape architect and professor. After graduating from Texas A&M in 1931, he…
-
Groppe Building
· 17.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through West, Texas, looking at the Groppe Building. Built in 1892 by August Groppe, Sr., this was the first brick building in town. Groppe, a prominent cotton farmer and businessman, used local bricks…
-
The Crash at Crush
· 17.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a spectacular disaster right here in McLennan County. On September 15th, 1896, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad staged a head-on collision between two locomotives. Passenger agent…
-
Site of the Home of George Morgan
· 17.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Perry, Texas, near the site of a brutal frontier tragedy. Just 400 yards northeast of here, the home of George Morgan stood. But on the night of January 1st, 1839, tragedy struck. Indians attacked…
-
Bruceville-Eddy, TX
· 17.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bruceville-Eddy, a town born from a rivalry between two railroad stops. <break time="400ms"/> Back in 1882, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad laid tracks, creating two stations: Bruceville,…
-
Crawford Schools
· 17.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crawford, and right here is the site of a school system with a long history. Educational efforts in Old Crawford started way back in the 1870s, with classes held in a simple one-room schoolhouse.…
-
The Rivalry of Two Towns
· 18.0 mi
You’re driving through a place with a split personality, literally. Bruceville-Eddy wasn’t always one town. For 92 years, they were Bruceville and Eddy, two separate, competing towns founded about a mile apart on the…
-
The Interstate's Shadow
· 18.0 mi
As you cruise down Interstate 35, you're on the piece of engineering that redefined this place. Bruceville and Eddy started as two separate railroad stations in 1882 - Bruceville named for Lucien N. Bruce, who donated…
-
Bruceville-Eddy, TX
· 18.0 mi
Bruceville-Eddy might be a small place, but it’s got deep roots in the land. Drive around a bit, and you’ll quickly see it’s ranching country. Cattle graze in fields that stretch out toward the Brazos, and you can…
-
The Katy Comes to Town
· 18.0 mi
The reason you're passing a town here at all is a railroad nicknamed the Katy. In 1882 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas put stations on this stretch of prairie, and two communities formed around them. One took the name of…
-
First Baptist Church of West
· 18.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through West, Texas, a town with roots stretching back to 1858. Right here, you're passing the site of the First Baptist Church, a community cornerstone for over 160 years. It started in a settlement…
-
The Feed Store Whose Owner Was Governor for One Day
· 18.1 mi
On the rise of Texas Avenue stands a brick building that has been doing business with Mart for more than a century. Ruff Watson bought the property in 1903 and started what became R. Watson Feed Store, with the present…
-
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: West (West)
· 18.2 mi
West (West, TX) placed on the 3A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Cade Simmons (2 HR); Logan Fiser (2 HR); Nick Holub (2 HR).
-
Goodall Cemetery
· 18.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Goodall Cemetery. In 1846, W.H. Everett of Yellville, Marion County, Arkansas, settled on this 320 acres. He set aside this cemetery at the death of Sarah Hornbeak (1847-1851), daughter of Samuel and…
-
A Klan Threat in 1921, and the Answer Printed Beside It
· 18.4 mi
A Baylor University community-history project digging through Mart's past uncovered a pair of 1921 newspaper notices. One, tied to the Ku Klux Klan, warned Black residents not to be on the streets after 8 p.m. The other…
-
The Town Marshal Who Took the Job While Charged With Murder
· 18.4 mi
Marvin A. "Red" Burton was already a famous Texas Ranger when Mart came calling. He'd built a reputation chasing bootleggers through Prohibition and squaring off against the Ku Klux Klan during the violent 1921 Lorena…
-
The Town That Named Itself After the Future It Wanted
· 18.4 mi
This stretch of eastern McLennan County started life after the Civil War as a settlement called Willow Springs. When residents won a post office in 1880, they did something unusual: they renamed the place Mart, the old…
-
The House the Hobos Knew Was Friendly
· 18.4 mi
When the railroad ran through Mart, it brought more than freight. The town's spot on a busy line made it a regular stop for transient workers and hobos riding the rails through Central Texas. Longtime resident Janet…
-
Wringing Every Useful Part Out of a Cotton Crop
· 18.4 mi
By 1914 Mart wasn't just shipping cotton, it was taking the whole plant apart and selling the pieces. The town ran three cotton gins and a cottonseed-oil mill, which turned it from a simple shipping point into an…
-
The Black Cemetery Brought Back From the Brush
· 18.4 mi
Evergreen Cemetery is one of the most important places in Mart, and for a long time it was one of the most overlooked. This historically Black burial ground holds the history of Mart families who were often poorly…
-
Brisket, Live Fire, and a Hollywood Cameo Behind the Counter
· 18.4 mi
Victorian's Barbecue at 419 East Texas Avenue isn't an old Mart institution, but it's the town's strongest reason to pull over and eat right now. Pitmaster Joey Victorian brings more than 30 years of barbecue experience…
-
Rock Springs Cumberland Presbyterian Church
· 18.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Rock Springs Cumberland Presbyterian Church, a testament to resilience and faith. This black congregation began in 1870, led by the Rev. James B. Sadler. A self-educated former slave, Sadler not…
-
The Cemetery That Began Under an Elm Tree
· 18.4 mi
Mart City Cemetery traces back to a single tree. On April 28, 1878, when the community was still called Willow Springs and Mart's marketplace ambitions were two years from even having a name, a small group of local…
-
The Small-Town Library That Became a Black-History Archive
· 18.4 mi
The Nancy Nail Memorial Library is a modest small-town library, but it holds something that took a community to assemble. When Baylor University students and Mart residents set out to recover the town's African American…
-
West Brethren Church
· 18.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through West, Texas, a community built by Czech immigrants. Back in 1888, Reverend Henry Juren held the first Moravian Brethren services here, baptizing a baby who would later become a minister himself.…
-
Watson Feed Store
· 18.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Mart, and right here is the Watson Feed Store. Back in 1903, Ruff Watson bought this spot and started selling everything a farmer or rancher might need – feed, seed, wood, coal. He even ran a…
-
First Baptist Church of Mart
· 18.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Mart, Texas, and you're passing the site of the very first church organized here. It was April 28, 1878, when Reverend Thomas D. Suttle and eighteen Baptists gathered under a big elm tree, right…
-
First Baptist Church of Eddy
· 18.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Eddy. It started life way back in 1875 as Sage Chapel. The congregation packed up their little frame church and moved it two miles east to the new town of Eddy…
-
How a Railroad Turned 300 People Into 3,000
· 18.6 mi
In 1900, Mart was a modest settlement of about three hundred people. Then the International and Great Northern Railroad connected Mart with Waco to the northwest and Marlin to the southeast, and the town changed almost…
-
Mart: Named for a Market That Never Came
· 18.6 mi
This town was called Willow Springs until 1880, when it finally got a post office and needed an official name. Residents chose Mart, short for marketplace, because they believed the town was going to become a major…
-
Walker, Cindy
· 18.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Mart, Texas, the hometown of Cindy Walker, a songwriter whose words became legendary. Born in 1918, she started young, singing and dancing in traveling shows. By 1936, she was writing for Billy…
-
A Church Founded Under an Elm Tree
· 18.6 mi
In 1878, before Mart even had its name, eighteen Baptists gathered outdoors beneath an elm tree and organized the community's first Baptist congregation. There was no building yet, so the tree served as their first…
-
Flowers House
· 18.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Flowers House, a reminder of the cotton boom that once fueled this area. Built in 1910, this home was designed by Roy E. Lane, a prominent architect who left his mark on Waco. Look for the…
-
Eddy Methodist Church
· 18.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Eddy Methodist Church, a place that's been serving this community for over a century. It all started back in 1868, when Methodists in the area built a simple sanctuary near a cedar log toll…
-
Gates, Isaac Edgar
· 18.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, near Mart, where Isaac Edgar Gates was born back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1874</say-as>. Gates wasn't just any pastor; he was a builder. He helped raise funds for…
-
Mart, TX
· 18.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Mart, Texas, a town that was once called Willow Springs. In 1880, residents renamed it Mart, hoping it would become a major commercial hub. By the mid-1880s, it had two steam gristmills and cotton…
-
The Songwriter Born Near Mart
· 18.7 mi
Cindy Walker was born near Mart in 1918 and became one of the most recorded country songwriters in history. She wrote more than five hundred songs over a career that spanned decades. Among them were You Don't Know Me,…
-
Small Town, Full Industrial Stack
· 18.7 mi
By 1914, Mart had assembled an industrial base that most towns its size never approached. The community supported three cotton gins running during harvest season, a cottonseed-oil mill processing what the gins left…
-
Nothing Wasted: The Science of the Cottonseed Mill
· 18.7 mi
More than a century ago, the cottonseed-oil mill in Mart was doing something that sounds modern but was already standard practice: turning nearly every part of a single agricultural material into a different useful…
-
Kane, John Riley
· 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McGregor, Texas, the hometown of John "Killer" Kane. Born here in 1907, Kane wasn't your typical hometown hero. After a stint at Baylor, where he was involved in a campus brawl and survived a…
-
Folsom, Alfred Iverson
· 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and you might be passing near McGregor. Right here, in 1946, Dr. Alfred Iverson Folsom, a true pioneer in his field, met his end in a car accident just outside Dallas. But Folsom…
-
Bluebonnet Ordnance Plant
· 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near McGregor, and right here, you're passing the former site of the Bluebonnet Ordnance Plant. Opened in 1942, this massive facility was built to support the World War II effort, churning out bombs for…
-
Davis, Roy Bennett
· 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McGregor, Texas, the birthplace of Roy Bennett Davis. Born here in 1900, Davis would go on to become a giant in the cotton industry. He transformed the Plains Cooperative Oil Mill in Plainview…
-
McGregor, TX
· 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McGregor, Texas, a town born from a handshake and a promise. It started in 1882 as McGregor Springs, named for Dr. Gregor Carmichael McGregor, who gifted land to the railroad. Imagine this: lots…
-
Patton Baptist Church
· 18.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Patton Baptist Church. This congregation started out as Walnut Grove Baptist Church of Christ, organized way back in 1872, a few miles south of here. For a while, they worshipped in a…
-
Col. Leonard Williams
· 18.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Mt. Calm area, where Colonel Leonard Williams settled in 1845. He was a heroic frontiersman and soldier, even a friend of President Sam Houston, who made him a Colonel. Williams had a wild life:…
-
Deyerle-Fall House
· 18.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Deyerle-Fall House, a testament to central Texas stone craftsmanship. Banker William Deyerle brought his family here from Virginia in the late 1800s. He hired stonemason Henry Wissman to build…
-
Chilton, TX
· 18.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Chilton, Texas, a town with a pretty unusual start. It all began in 1876 when Lysias B. Chilton opened a store. But the town wasn't officially named Chilton until 1888, when the San Antonio and…
-
St. Paul United Church of Christ
· 18.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of St. Paul United Church of Christ in Marlin. German settlers founded this congregation back in 1894 as the St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Congregation. They built a school just two years…
-
UIL 2A Football State Champions — 3 titles
· 19.1 mi
Mart High School (Mart, TX): Most recent: 25-20 over Hamlin · 2019 2A Division 2 final.
-
Nine State Titles in a Town of Fewer Than 2,000
· 19.1 mi
For a town this small, Mart plays football like a power. The Mart Panthers have won nine state championships, in 1957, 1969, 1999, 2006, 2010, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2023, a run that spans more than six decades and…
-
First Baptist Church of Mart
· 19.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Mart, Texas, and right here, you're passing the birthplace of the town's first church. Back in January of 1878, local Baptists gathered at a home to hear a preacher. Just three months later, on…
-
Chilton, TX
· 19.2 mi
Chilton is nestled in the western part of Falls County, Texas. The community is strategically positioned with U.S. Route 77 marking its western edge, offering a direct route 20 miles north to Waco or 16 miles south to…
-
Powell-Tull Cemetery
· 19.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Powell-Tull Cemetery. John Powell was the first person buried here in 1889, leading his family to set aside this land for burials. It became the final resting place for several local families,…
-
Roy Bedichek
· 19.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the birthplace of Roy Bedichek, a giant of Texas education and culture. Born in Illinois in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1878</say-as>, he came to Falls County as a boy and was educated…
-
Perry Cemetery, Old
· 19.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the last vestige of the Perry community, established by pioneer settlers here in McLennan County. Look around – all that remains is this cemetery. It began with the burial of Jane Leach, a…
-
Lebanon United Methodist Church
· 19.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Lebanon United Methodist Church. Land was deeded for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in 1872, with Reverend Floyd T. Wiginton serving as the first pastor. The church's name,…
-
Spivey Crossing
· 19.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the Brazos River Valley, near what used to be Spivey Crossing. This farming community got its name from Temple Spivey, a wealthy planter who settled nearby in the 1850s. The actual wagon trail…
-
Scott's Chapel Cemetery
· 19.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hill County, near the site of Scott's Chapel. This community was named for the Scott family, who settled here in the 1850s. One son, Palestine Scott, donated land for a school and church, while…