“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.

Easter Services at the Circle Drive-In at 2112 LaSalle.

Photos by Fred Marlar, 1950.

Photos from The Texas Collection, Baylor University.

We are pleased to present our April, 2021 “Waco, Texas History in Pictures Magazine”, which is all about the OLD Lake Waco and Dam. This 36-page magazine is FREE to view online, and may be shared to any social media platform or via text or email. It is FILLED TO THE BRIM with amazing photos of that special moment in time known as the Old Lake Waco. And large print so that historic eyes can easily read the great history contained therein! And a special “thank you” to all of of our group members who contributed photos! Be sure to visit our Facebook Group “The Old Lake Waco and Dam” to view so many more photos.

In this issue, you will find;The Old Lake Waco Dam, The Old Highway 6 Bridge, The Old Lake Shore Drive, The North Side of the Dam, Below the Dam, The Speegleville Shore, The Bridges of the Bosque, The Trellis Courts, The Lake Hill Food Store and The Perdichis, The Halbert Buchanan Home at Lake Waco, The Edward C. Bolton Home at Lake Waco, The Mount Carmel Center, Our Website and Past Issues.

If you would like a print copy of this magazine, please contact Vicki at Firmin Printing in Waco at 254-776-5742. The cost is 16.00 plus tax, which ONLY covers cost of printing. We appreciate their help in preserving Waco History! . The first two issues are also available…they are both 16-pages and 9.00 plus tax.

Touch the photo below to view the April 2021 Waco, Texas History in Pictures Magazine.

Pete the Pup (1929-1946)

This was a card that was produced by The Waco History Project and the printing was courtesy of Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center. The back of the card says:

“Pete the Pup (1929-1946) of the Hal Roach “Our Gang” comedies of the 1930s, was the best known of several American Staffordshire Terriers who played the companion to The Little Rascals. He was the pet of former Robinson mayor Ted Lucenay (1925-2004), whose father, Harry Lucenay, signed the dog to the movies starting at $125.00 per week (1,500.00 in today’s dollars). Photo courtesy of Mrs. Ted Lucenay.”

The Liberty Building

Our friend Geoff Hunt at the Texas Collection just shared this amazing article. Thank you, Geoff!

TEXAS OVER TIME: The Liberty Building (One Liberty Place), 601 Austin Avenue, Waco, TX.

Waco’s First United Methodist (organized 1850), 4901 Cobbs Avenue. This was the original sanctuary when the church moved from the downtown location. Postcard image from eBay.