Waco history: Brazos Past

Home: » Waco News » Waco history: Brazos Past

Facebook

Twitter

RSS

Waco history

Black banker, legislator, sought to elevate African-Americans through busting poverty cycle

Robert Lloyd Smith’s legacy will be celebrated through March 20 at The Texas Collection at Baylor University, as curators present “A Homegrown Vision: Robert L. Smith and the Farmers Improvement Society,” an exhibit mounted in observance of Black History

Robert Lloyd Smith (1861-1942) came to Texas in the late 1800s and aspired to improve the lives of newly freed blacks in his adopted state.

Brazos Past: Mooreville church celebrating 100 years in present-day sanctuary

Mooreville United Methodist Church was formally founded — as Mooreville Methodist Episcopal Church South — in 1867.

Mooreville United Methodist Church, about 20 miles southeast of downtown Waco, will celebrate 100 years in its sanctuary Sunday.

Historic fashion exhibit open house this Sunday

“Collectors’ Choice,” a fashion review curated by Claire Masters of Historic Waco Foundation fame, will debut with a public open house from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Fort House Museum, 503 S. Fourth St. in Waco. Masters, who has amassed a personal collection of antique garments ...

Rebel aeronauts, including a Central Texan, took their fight to the skies

A period illustration of Thaddeus S.C. Lowe making a balloon ascension on a reconnaissance mission to Vienna, Va.

In Corsicana's Oakwood Cemetery lies a curious slab of stone - weathered by almost a century, lopsided and moss-covered - which depicts a hot air balloon on the tomb of a Confederate private named Adolphus E. Morse.

Brazos Past: Waco pioneer Kate Ross grew to social leader

Kate Ross was the daughter of famous Texas Ranger and Indian fighter Capt. Shapley Prince Ross (1811-89) and Catherine Fulkerson Ross (1812-86).

Waco pioneer and community philanthropist Kate Ross died 100 years ago this month, after a 61-year life span that bridged Waco's frontier roots to its Ragtime era prosperity.

Brazos Past: Waco history

Waco, Strange but True

Waco, Strange but True: Human flies and other daredevils

Waco, Strange but True: Baylor's Paul Baker brought Hollywood to Waco

Waco, Strange but True: Professor Cannaday pulls a fast one

Waco, Strange but True: Waco's petrified man

Waco, Strange but True: 1940 flashback — Christmas in Waco

Waco, Strange but True: Baylor football goes Hollywood

Waco, Strange but True: Football had tentative start at Baylor

Waco, Strange but True: The man who hated Waco

Waco, Strange but True: Jim the Mule never forgot

Waco, Strange but True: Searching in vain for Van

Waco, Strange but True: The Baton-wielding Band-its

More Brazos Past: Waco & Central Texas history

Brazos Past: Waco exhibit shares doc's Civil War letters

Dr. Nathaniel Alexander Morgan enlisted for one year as a physician with the 19th Louisiana Infantry for the Confederate States of America — but did not see his family again for almost four years.

The Texas Collection at Baylor University hopes to take readers on an interactive journey through the Confederate correspondence of a Texas physician who eventually made Waco his home.

Brazos Past: Sportswriting legend Jinx Tucker surely smiling on Baylor this year

Henry Harrison “Jinx” Tucker covered sports from 1920 until his death in 1953 for the Waco News-Tribune, which became the Waco Tribune-Herald after merging with the Waco Times-Herald in 1927.

Jinx Tucker, legendary sportswriter for the News-Tribune and Times-Herald for more than 30 years, would have been elated to cover the football frenzy involving RG3.

Brazos Past: Seasons greetings passed through the years via Christmas cards

Sharon Griffith, of McGregor, a Waco native who grew up during the ‘Golden Age” of sending Christmas cards, recently shared some of her collection of cards and postcards with Brazos Past.

Long before the Internet and instant messaging, the way many Americans chose to extend "Seasons Greetings" to their friends, neighbors and kin was through the Christmas card.

Brazos Past: Nazi POWs observed Christmas in heart of Texas

Camp Hearne opened in June 1943, with about 3,000 German prisoners. It would also later hold Italian and Japanese combatants.

Some six months after their arrival in the U.S. and shipment by train to rural Texas, several hundred German soldiers celebrated Weihnachten as "guests" of Uncle Sam.

Brazos Past: Waco's frontier grocer with a colorful name

Colonel Christmas Comfort Compere (1864-1929) worked in Waco as a “frontier grocer” for a decade before moving to Abilene in late 1899 to run a real estate and insurance business with his brother.

A man with the colorful name of Colonel Christmas Comfort Compere was one of Waco's "frontier grocers," according to family history buff Robert Compere III of Plano.

Brazos Past: Baylor thwarted UT's dreams of football glory 70 years ago

Baylor football player Weldon Bigony, now 91, remembers the joy of thwarting a powerful Longhorns team in 1941.

Nov. 8, 1941, was a date which lives in infamy for fans of the University of Texas Longhorns - for that is when the irresistible force that was that year's football team ran smack into the unmovable object that was the Baylor Bears.

Brazos Past: Remembering Waco's Indian roots

Jerry Zotigh, of Waco, seen here wearing the ceremonial garb of his Kiowa ancestors, is a member of two of the tribe’s three warrior societies.

As Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, much attention is paid to the Pilgrims, but not nearly as much to American Indians, to whom Waco’s history is tied.

Brazos Past: Water baron helped Waco grow for decades

Water from Joseph Daniel Bell’s wells were used to supply the entire growing city of Waco with its water for several decades after the formation of his utility on April 20, 1889.

Joseph Daniel Bell drilled the first successful artesian wells on his property in 1886, which garnered Waco the moniker “Geyser City.”

Brazos Past: Victorian-era diary leads to Waco mystery

The National Publishing Co. of Philadalphia, Pa. — producer of The Excelsior Diary — was founded in 1863 and still exists today.

How and why a certain little hide-bound book ended up in the hands of a Central Texas family is still a bit of a mystery to the sleuths at the West Waco Library and Genealogy Center.

Acres of fun with pioneer broadcaster Johnny Watkins

Born April 7, 1921, in the small town of Kemp in Kaufman County to a farm couple, the young Johnny Watkins was a Navy veteran of World War II. After the hostilities ceased, he attended Texas A&M University and graduated in 1948.

It’s been a quarter of a century since his microphone went silent for all time. But Johnny Watkins, a pioneer broadcast of KWTX-AM and television fame, is recalled in these parts with fondness. Born April 7, 1921, in the small town of Kemp in Kaufman County to ...

Pearl Harbor remembrances

Americans are only one month away from the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor — the catastrophic event that launched the United States and thousands of Texans into the middle of World War II. Brazos Past and the Tribune-Herald would like to acknowledge the occasion by gathering ...

The haunting of Cameron Park

Ghostly orbs of light seem to dance wildly through the trees along trails at Cameron Park.

Local lore collector Brad Turner will share some of his tantalizing tales on the radio this weekend and on Halloween morning.

Eagle Springs homecoming today

The trustees of Historic Eagle Springs Baptist Church will host their annual Homecoming historic appreciation celebration, starting at 10:30 a.m. today at the site, located just off Farm-to-Market Road 107 between Moody and Gatesville. Built in the 1870s by founders who included the parents ...

Brazos Past: Camp Hearne debuts 'How Texans won WWII'

Camp Hearne visitors discuss World War II weapons with a historian from the Texas Military Forces Museum in Austin.

Today Camp Hearne will launch a new exhibit, "How Texans Won WWII," in conjunction with the Central Texas WWII POW Camp's living history day activities.

Presentation on genealogy info in probate process

Most American adults in our history left some type of estate to be administered. Some left wills, some did not — but either way, if there was land or large amounts of personal property, there was an estate to be disposed. Probate records, therefore, can be a treasure trove of fruitful research ...

In My Opinion ...

Do you support the Komen foundation's change of heart on funding for Planned Parenthood?

Magazine

New issue!

High-speed wreck on Waco Drive kills 1, injures 2

UIL realignment breakdown: Feb. 2, 2012

Man dies in motorcycle wreck

Affection for Kim Mulkey brings Trace Adkins to Waco

National Signing Day 2012 in Central Texas

Passenger says driver reached 130 mph before deadly Waco Drive wreck

Hewitt city manager wants to join police, fire departments

Former Axtell High School student indicted for allegedly shooting girlfriend in the head

RSS feeds

Get all our content delivered straight to your news reader in RSS, RSS2 and Atom formats.
» Get feed for this section: RSS RSS2 Atom

Buy, sell & more

View All Top Jobs

View All Top Cars | Place an Ad

Waco marketplace

Back to the Top

Waco history

Waco, Strange but True

More Brazos Past: Waco & Central Texas history

Archive