History
Crawford
Crawford Located in an area of McLennan County once inhabited by Tonkawa Indians, the community of Crawford grew slowly from an 1850S settlement centered around Tonk Crossing (two miles northeast). The first townsite was at the crossroads of the Waco to Gatesville and Belton to Fort Graham trade routes.
History
Crawford Cemetery
"H. Kee" chiseled on a rockpile marks the first burial at this site, that of Harvey Gilmore Kee (1875-1876), son of Richard and Sarah (Hughes) Kee, who settled in this area for a time in the mid-1870s. Neighbor Uriah Tadlock (1832-1919) offered the use of one of his pastures for the child's burial and at the same time set aside three acres of land for a community cemetery.
History
Crawford Schools
Educational efforts in Old Crawford (2 mi. E), also known as Tonk Crossing, began in the 1870s. There, John H. Gouldy, Dr. J.B. Cranfill and other early teachers conducted classes in a one-room schoolhouse. When the town relocated here along a line of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe railroad in the 1880s, a schoolhouse was among the first buildings constructed.
History
David Smith Kornegay
Fought at San Jacinto, 1836. Escaped the Dawson Massacre 1842. Born in North Carolina 1810. Died April 5, 1856. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
Architecture
Deyerle-Fall House
William W. Deyerle (1853-1920), banker, rancher, and miller, came to central Texas from Virginia. With his wife Willie (Christie), he hired master stonemason Henry Wissman to build this house. Wissman cut and hauled the limestone himself, placing each stone according to his own plan.
Military
Doris Miller
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 Virginia" was docked in Pearl Harbor when it was struck by a Japanese torpedo on December 7, 1941.
History
Dr. Andrew Joseph Armstrong and Mary Maxwell Armstrong
Andrew Joseph Armstrong (1873-1954), a native of Kentucky, was a noted scholar of the life and works of English poet Robert Browning. He held teaching positions at several colleges and universities in the early 20th century and met his future wife, Mary Maxwell (1882-1971), in 1904, when both taught English at East Texas Baptist Institute in Rusk. In 1909, Dr.
History
Dr. David Richard Wallace
(Nov. 10, 1825-Nov. 21, 1911) Educated as a physician, North Carolina native David Richard Wallace moved to Texas in the 1850s. He taught at Baylor University in Independence and in Waco, and served in the Civil War. In Waco, he was a prominent doctor, educator, and civic leader who was instrumental in the formation of state and local medical associations.
History
Dr. John Henry Sears
(October 9, 1826-December 4, 1901) A native of Virginia, John Henry Sears received his medical education in South Carolina. Moving to Waco in 1854, he began his medical practice. After service as a Confederate surgeon during the Civil War, he returned to Waco and became a civic leader.
History
Dr. Rufus Columbus Burleson
Pioneer preacher, president of Baylor University. Born in Alabama August 7, 1823. Died May 14, 1901. His wife Georgia J. Burleson born September 23 1833, died June 11, 1924.
Architecture
Earle-Harrison House
Built in 1858-59, this handsome Greek revival house symbolized culture to early Waco, although only half was ever completed. Local post oak, plantation-made brick, cypress siding, and heart pine flooring were used by the builder, an unknown shipwright. Owner B. W. Earle, a physician, died in 1859, but his wife Eliza Earle lived and entertained here for years. Her brother, Gen. Thos.
History
Earle-Napier-Kinnard House
Original two rooms were built in 1850's by John Baylis Earle. He married Emma C. Nelson; their children--J.B., JR., Henry S., Nelson, Anne--were born here. Earle manufactured Confederate uniforms in mill built in 1861. Main house was built in 1868 by J.S. Napier and wife Mary, who with seven children moved here from Alabama. The Rev. D.C.
Architecture
East Terrace
Built in1870s by John W. (1838-1909) and Cemira Twaddle Mann (1847-1934). Mann, a local business and civic leader, manufactured much of the brick used to build the famous Waco suspension bridge. Brazos River sand colored the brick he made for his own house. The Italian villa styling was probably chosen by Mrs. Mann, a native of New York. Galleries were added in Texas fashion.
History
Eddy Methodist Church
In 1868 a congregation of Methodist living in the Bell and Mclennan county region between Elm and Bull hide Creeks erected a simple sanctary at the site of a nearby cedar log toll bridge. The Rev. James Peeler, a Waco district Methodist Circuit preacher, served the Cedar Bridge Church congregation in 1873.
History
Edward Ferdinant Forsgard
Edward Ferdinant Forsgard was born to Swedish immigrants Samuel Johan Forsgard and Mary Johnson in 1870 at their home at 115 Bridge Street in Waco. Edward, known as "Fuzzy," was the only one of the Forsgard's six children to survive into adulthood; his parents and siblings are buried at Waco's First Street Cemetery.
Architecture
Elite Cafe
The first Elite cafe opened in downtown Waco in 1919 and was acquired by the Greek immigrant Colias family in 1920. The Colias brothers opened this Elite cafe in 1941 on "The Circle," a traffic hub built on Waco's suburban edge in the early 1930's.
History
Elk Community
The first permanent settlers of this area were Martin and Elizabeth McConnel Harper, who arrived from Tennessee with their five children in 1855. Others who settled with the Harpers were Scots-Irish from the American south. The Harper family erected a log cabin, a schoolhouse, and outbuildings on their 160-acre farm.
History
Erath
This locale is one of the early settlements of McLennan County. Erath was one of the first voting precincts in the county in 1850, with settlers attracted by fertile agricultural lands between the Brazos and Bosque rivers. The community was named for George B. Erath, a soldier and legislator who surveyed Waco in 1849.
History
Evergreen Cemetery
Pioneer settlers William and Margaret Oliver gave land in 1860 for a church, school, and this cemetery. From 1866 to 1907, families from the surrounding area assembled here for camp meetings -- times of worship, singing, and fellowship. In 1941 the meetings were resumed, as annual reunions of the pioneers' descendants. In 1957 Evergreen was incorporated as a private cemetery. Major Fred N.
History
First Baptist Church of Mart
The Rev. Thomas D. Suttle (1840-1900) and 18 Baptists assembled on April 28, 1878, under a large elm tree at the present site of Mart City Cemetery (1 mi. SE). There they organized the first church in the town of Mart, originally named Willow Springs. Near the tree, the fellowship built a church which also served as a schoolhouse. Burials in the adjacent cemetery began in 1880.
History
First Lutheran Church
This congregation was organized in 1884 to serve Waco's Norwegian population. Originally known as the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Ebenezer congregation, the church conducted worship services in Norwegian until 1916. In 1917, the name First Lutheran Church was adopted, and the frame building used by the congregation since 1884 was replaced with a Gothic Revival structure.
History
First Presbyterian Church of West
The Rev. D.C. Kinnard began the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1875. The first building on this site was erected in 1883. Walter Bennett Martin constructed the present building in 1901. Czechs organized a Presbyterian church in 1911 and held separate services in their own language. In 1921 the Cumberland Presbyterian Church became the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.
History
First Street Cemetery
As the oldest public cemetery in Waco, First Street Cemetery is the resting place for members of Waco's early and diverse community. Burials include veterans, Masons, Odd Fellows, Woodmen of the World, Knights and Daughters of Tabor and Court of Calanthe. On April 16, 1852, George W. Edwards conveyed five acres of a tract acquired from Jacob de Cordova to the citizens of Waco for a graveyard.
History
Fletcher Cemetery
This cemetery began with the 1868 burial of early settler Sample Carrigan, who is interred in an unmarked grave. the first marked burial site is that of Clinton A. Mahoney (1860-1868). The graveyard was used chiefly by the Carrigan, Needham, and Harris families until Catherine Carrigan Fletcher set aside three acres as a public cemetery in 1873. The burial Cemetery in 1873.
Architecture
Flowers House
This was the home of local cotton gin operator Felix A. Flowers (1870-1950) and his wife Lucinda Mixson flowers (1875-1949), a local social and civic leader. The house was designed by Missouri-born Roy E. Lane (1884-1956), a prominent central Texas architect who designed many structures in Waco between 1907 and 1936.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
