64 Years Ago Today….

North 19th Street Flooded

The Waco News Tribune, April 21, 1957. Due to heavy flooding, water had to be released from the OLD Lake Waco Dam. It flooded the road between Bosqueville and Waco, and this photo description says that many cows were washed away, some washing up in Cameron Park!

Halbert and Margaret Buchanan, better known as “Doc and Peggy”, were the owners of Buchanan’s Laundry and Linen Supply at 420 South Eleventh Street.  They had a home at 5309 Hillcrest, at the end of Hillcrest Drive that overlooked Lake Waco.

Their granddaughter Julie Oates told us: “The house was designed by Charles Dilbeck http://dougnewby.com/architect/charles-s-dilbeck/ who built many homes in Dallas and Oklahoma City. My grandparents, Halbert (Doc) and Margaret (Peggy) Buchanan loved Dallas and must have seen his homes when visiting. Doc grew up in Waco on a working ranch. He was one of nine children and the youngest of five boys. He was one of the most generous and joyful people I have known. Peggy grew up in Boulder, Colorado. She was a lady to the ‘nth degree’ who also enjoyed fishing, hunting, and horseback riding all her life. They met at the Waco Cotton Palace in 1930. Peggy’s Godmother was from Waco so Peggy travelled on what must have been an adventure to Texas. Theirs was a marriage made in heaven. Their two children were/are my mom, Elizabeth (Betsy) Buchanan Oates, and uncle, Mercer Buchanan. Uncle Mercer still lives nearby in Waco. They moved into the home before Mom was born which was 1938, but I don’t know exactly when.”

“They lived their remaining years in the home and treasured this magical place. They loved to entertain and welcomed people from all over the world. They owned and operated Buchanan’s Laundry, attended St. Paul’s Episcopal church, were active in the community, and traveled extensively and were amazing grandparents. Their house has been beautifully restored and maintained by current owners Will and Merrill Jones. Part of my heart will always be at 5309 Hillcrest.”

This article first appeared in the April, 2021 issue of “Waco, Texas History in Pictures Magazine”.

All of the photos in this article were contributed by the Buchanan’s granddaughter, Julie Oates.

The Waco City Hall sits in the middle of what used to be the historic Waco Square. This beautiful Art Deco building was built in 1930, and is well- maintained today. The Square survived an F5 tornado in 1953, but couldn’t survive “urban renewal” in the 1960s.

Waco Drive In

4100 South Interstate 35

The Waco Drive In, which opened in 1946, was on the east side of Interstate 35 at the end of present-day New Road.

This photo from the early 1970s shows a daytime event with rather unconventional parking!

Photo from The Texas Collection, Baylor University.

The Edward C. Bolton Home at Lake Waco

Before the new dam was built in the early 1960s, Hillcrest Drive went all the way to the old lake shore. As the winding road descended to the lake, the Buchanan Home was on the bluff to the right, overlooking Lake Waco.  The Buchanans were the owners of Buchanan’s Laundry and Linen Supply at 418 South 11^th and Buchanan’s Cleaners and Cold Storage at 1002 Austin.  Next door to the Buchanan place was the 47-acre estate of Edward Cameron Bolton, grandson of William Cameron.

E.C. Bolton was born on April 30, 1906, the son of Edward Rice Bolton and Miss Margaret Cameron, the youngest daughter of William Cameron.  He graduated from Waco High School in 1923, and in 1927 received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College in Massachusetts.  In 1929, he received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University’s School of Business, graduated magna cum laude.  He graduated first in his class. At Waco High, he had played basketball and baseball, and played on Paul Tyson’s football team there.  After working in Missouri in the 1930s, he returned to Waco around 1940 to become assistant to the president of William Cameron and Co., Inc after the death of his uncle, W.W. Cameron, in 1939. He served three years at sea as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, during WWII. After returning to Waco, he sold his interest in the company in 1949 and entered the investment business. The Cameron-Bolton interests in William Cameron and Company were sold in 1954 to Certainteed Products, Inc. of Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

Mr. Bolton was married twice-first to Mary Lyle Staton, niece of Senator Tom Connally, then to Catherine Ross, descendant of Sul Ross.

Prior to building his Lake Waco home, Mr. Bolton and his family lived in their ancestral home at 1223 Austin Avenue, from where he also ran his office.  The Boltons built their home at Lake Waco around 1946.  Their 47-acre property had a two –story red brick home that overlooked Lake Waco, and featured a beautiful lawn and large rose garden.  The driveway looped around to the back of the house, where there was a main entrance. They loved dogs, and had several Dalmatians. Mr. Bolton facetiously called his place “Poverty Hill” when he complained to the builder about the cost of its construction.

In addition to the main house, there was a side building which contained Mr. Bolton’s office and a garage apartment with servant’s quarters. And their own gas pump!  The house was a social hub, and the Boltons frequently hosted society events.  The second Mrs. Bolton was President of the Waco Garden Club and often hosted club meetings at their home.

When discussions were being held in the late 1960s about the construction of the Herring Avenue Bridge, Mr. Bolton was adamantly against it and reminded the City of Waco that building the bridge would violate the terms of the agreement of the Cameron Family’s gift of Cameron Park to the city.

Edward C. Bolton died in 1973, and Catherine Bolton died in 1978. The house was demolished by their descendants around 2010, and the property is adjacent to the Windmill Hill neighborhood.  The building that served as the office is still standing, although it has been heavily remodeled.

-by Randall Scott, March, 2021.  Based on Mr. Bolton’s obituary in the Waco News Tribune, April 16, 1973 and interviews with Mr. Bolton’s granddaughter, Linda.

“Legendary Baylor English Professor Dr. A.J. Armstrong pontificating for Baylor students at Emmons Cliff in Cameron Park, 1928. Photo courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University.” From the book “William Cameron Park: A Centennial History 1910-2010” by Mark E. Firmin.

The HOT Coliseum had its Grand Opening on April 11, 1953…68 years ago today. It was billed as the new entertainment venue for the area, including the Heart of Texas
Fair and Rodeo. But exactly one month after the Grand Opening, an F5 tornado hit downtown Waco, killing 114 people, injuring over 600 others, and destroying hundreds of homes and businesses. The new Coliseum was turned into a used clothing distribution center to help those who had lost their homes in the tornado.

Today, the HOT Coliseum is Extraco Events Center.

The Elite Café
608 Austin Avenue
Directly across from Kress

The Elite Café

Victor, Mike, and George Colias

Since 1920.

No. 1 608 Austin Avenue

No. 2 The Circle

No. 3. Elite Steakhouse 731 North Valley Mills Drive

“Home cooking like Mother used to do.”

Postcard images from eBay.

In the 1970s, the Waco Corvette Club met regularly at Poppa Rollo’s Pizza in The Golden Triangle, which was located across Valley Mills Drive from Westview Shopping Center.

If you have any additional photos of the Waco Corvette Club, please send them to us at wacotexashistoryinpictures@gmail.com. We will be glad to add them, and will give you photo credit.

PEOPLE

“When twenty-year-old Clyde Barrow went before the McLennan Grand Jury on March 4, 1930, charged with five counts of theft, one of burglary, and one of receiving and concealing stolen property, he did not know that one of the cars he had stolen belonged to W.W. Cameron, president of the William Cameron Lumber Company. Nor did Barrow know that E.S. Fentress, founder of the Waco Times-Herald, and V.M. Cox, founder of Cox’s Department Store, were members of the grand jury. After the grand jury indicted him and Judge Richard S. Munroe sentenced him to seven two-year terms, Barrow’s nineteen-year-old girlfriend, Bonnie Parker, came to visit him in Waco’s jail. She smuggled in to him the Colt-32 revolver that he used in his jailbreak. Soon captured and returned to Waco, Barrow went on to prison in Huntsville but, due to overcrowded conditions there received a general parole from Governor Ross Sterling. Clyde Barrow’s and Bonnie Parker’s life of crime had just begun. Photo courtesy The Historic Waco Foundation.”

From the book “Waco: A Sesquicentennial History” (1999) by Patricia Ward Wallace.