Wacoans have always loved Valentine’s Day…these ads and newspaper clippings prove it! Touch/click each picture to see the full photo.

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Wacoans of long ago…and not so long ago…may have shared Valentine cards like this. All of these images are from Google Images

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Smallest Church in the World
Layman’s Time Shop
909 Columbus

According to the back of this postcard, this little building had an 8’ x 8’ sanctuary, eight seats, a pipe organ, a pulpit and a recording machine for making records. According to a a June 22, 2013 article in The Waco Tribune Herald, this church building was at another location and active in the 1930s and 1940s and the pastor was Rev. Bernie Hayter. In 1949, it was moved to 909 Columbus and became “Layman’s Time Shop”.

“Zeke Varner was one of the best friends I ever had. From the time I was 14 until he died last year, we were the best of buddies. We drank together and gambled together. Zeke played all games, from pool to poker to dominoes. He was an expert at them all. The first time I remember meeting Zeke was at the Nite Owl in West, Texas. He was always one of my biggest fans. When I played with Bud Fletcher and the Texans at the Nite Owl, Chief’s Bloody Bucket, Shadowland, The County Line, all the beer joints around Waco and West, Zeke was there every night.””

From the book “The Facts of Life” (2002) by Willie Nelson.

WHY IS AUSTIN AVENUE SO NARROW NOW?

When you look at old photos of Austin Avenue, one of the first things you notice is how WIDE the street is. You usually see four lanes of traffic, with two additional parking lanes. Today, the street is much more narrow. But these present-day photos of the much-widened sidewalks let us know where the street went. These sidewalk extensions on both side of Austin Avenue, along with the trees that now line the street, really narrows Austin between Ninth and Third Steet. I believe this is a result of converting Austin Avenue back to a regular street in 1986 after the infamous Pedestrian Mall that was created in the 1970s. In the last photo, you can see that, west of Ninth Street, it’s back to the wide street that we all grew up with.

The Eighteenth Street Viaduct was completed in February, 1935. The construction of the Viaduct provided a continuous paved street from North Eighteenth and Alexander all the way out to Speight on concrete pavement, and to the highway Circle on asphalt. At the time, Fifth Street was the only other street that carried travelers across town on pavement…from Herring Avenue to LaSalle.(1) As Waco began to prepare for Interstate 35 in the early 1960s, another viaduct was built on Seventeeth Street. The new viaduct was dedicated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, October 11, 1962. Eighteenth and Seventeenth had become one-way at midnight the night before. (2)

(1)” New Viaduct Will Open Next Friday is Engineer Hope”. The Waco Tribune Herald, January 27, 1935.
(2) “17th, 18th Are 1-Way at Midnight”. The Waco News Tribune, October 10, 1962.

At one time, Hillcrest Drive in Waco, Texas was called “Speegleville Road”. It descended into the Bosque River Valley and led to a low-water crossing that crossed over to Speegleville. This was known as Mills Crossing because the Seth Mills Farm was on the other side of the river. Around 1900, a steel bridge with a wood plank floor was built at Mills Crossing.

When the first Waco Dam was built in 1929-30, the decision was made to move the Mills Crossing Bridge to the North Bosque. It was to be a part of a proposed 35-mile “scenic route” around the new lake. Many people who are still living remember driving over the “rickety” bridge…quite noisy as a car drove over. It was located near the DeHay Farm, and was named the DeHay Bridge. (The old Highway 6 Bridge replaced the Mills Crossing Bridge as the main bridge connecting Waco and Speegleville.)

The old DeHay Bridge was removed when the new dam was built 1958-64, and a new highway and bridge were constructed linking China Spring Highway to Highway 6. CR 185, also known as North River Crossing, is just up steam from the old DeHay Bridge.

Although it’s gone, and the location is now underwater, the old bridge served Waco and Speegleville for almost 60 years, with its first 30 years at Mills Crossing and its last 30 years at DeHay’s Crossing.

This is an artist’s concept of the first Church in Waco Village, built by the Methodists in 1850. This is one of many church photos in our gallery “Houses of Worship”.

Baylor Stadium, located about four miles from Baylor on South Valley Mills Drive, was opened in 1950 with a Baylor Game against the Houston Cougars. It cost $1.8 million to build, and sat 50,000 people. At halftime of the homecoming game on November 5, 1988, it was renamed “Floyd Casey Stadium” by the son of Floyd Casey, Carl B. Casey of Dallas, who gave $5 million towards an $8 million stadium renovation project. The final game in Floyd Casey Stadium was played on December 7, 2013, against the Texas Longhorns, where the attendance record of 51, 728 was established. The stadium was used for 64 seasons before being replaced by McLane Stadium in 2014. Baylor Stadium/Floyd Casey Stadium was demolished on May 14, 2016. (Based on a Wikipedia article “Baylor Stadium”.)

This month we launched our new “Waco, Texas History in Pictures” online magazine, but now, if you’re in Waco, you can get a hard copy!

Firmin Business Forms in Waco has agreed to print our magazine for those who request them. This is a beautiful, 16-page, full color rendering, filled with Waco History. The cost is $ 10.00 per magazine, which only covers the cost of printing. I want to be clear that neither I nor this group will benefit financially from this… you will only be paying printing cost. Of course, you are welcome to print your own at home…but it might surprise you how much ink it takes!

We appreciate the Firmin’s willingness to help us. Here is their information:

Firmin Business Forms
202 Deb
Waco, Texas 76712
254-776-5742