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Lions Pool, c.1961
Lions Park
Bosque Boulevard and New Road

The street on the side of the pool is New Road, and we are looking south.

This postcard is from our personal collection

The Super Slide was a big part of summer for Waco kids for many years.

In April of 1968, the Super Slide opened on the corner of Valley Mills Drive and Waco Drive, in what was then the Kmart parking lot. There was a Burger Chef restaurant next to it. In 1972, it was moved to Lions Park, where it remained until recent years.

All of the photographs in this video were contributed by Roy Larsen. Roy’s father was a mechanic at a garage at Eleventh and Webster on May 11, 1953. He took these amazing photographs a few days later. ALL OF THESE PHOTOS ARE COPYRIGHT PROTECTED BY ROY LARSEN.

All of the locations given were determined by Roy Larsen. He said, “Dad was a mechanic at a garage at 11th and Webter as the tornado went through. He took these photos a few days later. Some locations from my memory, some from Google Maps, many derived from 1948 Waco City Directory, some unknown.”

We are so thankful for Mr. Larsen, who captured this moment in time.

An F5 tornado hit Waco, Texas on Monday, May 11, 1953. In the aftermath of the tornado, LIFE Magazine sent photographer John Dominis to our devastated city. All of the photos in this slideshow are his.

THE ILLUSTRATED MUNICIPAL HAND BOOK OF WACO, 1912-1914

This amazing book was compiled by Mayor J. H. Mackey. The original caption is on the photo.

When this book was released in 1912, the Amicable Building was one year old, the McLennan County Courthouse was eleven years old, and the Washington Avenue Bridge was ten. Waco had a lot to be proud of, and this drawing captures much of it!

“Mrs. Maggie Little house, Sixth and Washington, northeast corner. Sold to McLennan County about 1899 for $9,000.00 as site for the present Courthouse.”

Photo by Fred Gildersleeve.

From the book “A Pictorial History of Waco” (1964) by Roger N. Conger. From the Gildersleeve-Conger Collection, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.

By the late 1950s, Waco was looking for a way to connect more streets to create more thoroughfares through the city. One of the projects was redesigning 17th, 18th, and 19th Streets to be a thoroughfare that would connect South Waco to North Waco. In North Waco, 18th Street and 19th Streets would need to merge to create a continuous flow of traffic. In those days, 18th Street dead-ended at Wilson Avenue. North 19th Street came up from South Waco, but did not exist between Lyle and Alexander, because that was the grounds of the old Texas Christian University. At Alexander, North 19th resumed and was the street out to the Bosque River and, in fact, had been called “Bosqueville Road” up until at least the early 1950s.

The initial plan, published in the Waco Tribune Herald on September 2, 1957, called for North 18th to veer west at Mitchell Avenue, cutting across the old TCU grounds and connect to North 19th at Alexander. For some reason, that plan was changed by at least May 9, 1961, when a Waco News Tribune article tells us that “The project will cost an estimated $ 217,000 and is included in Waco’s five-year, $ 12.3 million improvements program….the contract will be divided into two parts to reduce inconvenience to motorists and business that will be affected. First construction will include a switchover to reconnect recently rebuilt Eighteenth Street with Nineteenth Street just north of McFerrin and extend to Park Lake Drive. The second increment will provide for reconstruction of North Nineteenth Street from Park Lake Drive to Gregory Lane, where Nineteenth changes into the state-maintained farm road to China Spring and Erath…estimates the entire project will take seven to eight months to complete. The project will be lengthy because a complete system of curbs and gutters must be built and a large amount of storm drainage must be provided. The street will be 44 feet wide and contain four lanes.” (“City to Ask Street Bids on Nineteenth”, The Waco News Tribune, May 9, 1961.)

I can find no documentation for the completion date of this project, but it is what exists today. (Randall Scott)

The 25th Street Theater.

“Confidential Agent”, with Charles Boyer and Lauren Bacall, was released in 1945. In the 1940s, they were having a hard time obtaining the lot behind the theater, because that side of the block was zoned residential. Of course, they eventually did, and it became the parking lot. But the Theater came before the parking lot!

Photo from The Texas Collection, Baylor University.

The Historic Waco Square in 1917, with the old City Hall in the center. The current city hall was built in 1930. Taken from the American Amicable (ALICO) Building by Mann, a photographer believed to have been connected with Camp MacArthur. The ALICO Building was only six years old!

That’s the OLD McLennan County Courthouse at the extreme right side of the page at “3:00”.