On a sleepy hungover Sunday, a friend of mine and I were driving from Dallas to Austin and decided to stop for lunch in Waco. I also wanted to see the Waco Suspension Bridge, which is the oldest (and first) suspension bridge in Texas. The cables were originally made by the Roebling Company (as in the Brooklyn Bridge).
Waco is home to Baylor University, which we did not explore, but the football stadium is right on the river. 180420-0423 TEXAS 618
by Michael Stroh, on Flickr
The Waco Suspension Bridge, with a span of 475ft. It was orginally built as a cattle crossing. The bridge was closed to traffic in the 1970s, and is a now a pedestrian bridge. 180420-0423 TEXAS 1361
by Michael Stroh, on Flickr
Waco is home to the Chip and Joanna Gaines 'Magnolia' empire, which apparently is a big thing for home improvement junkies... 180420-0423 TEXAS 703
by Michael Stroh, on Flickr
Waco was a market town for central Texas until an improved transportation system enabled Dallas and Ft. Worth to expand their influence. It was a fairly important railroad town. The Katy had a big presence in Waco, which is where its north-south trains serving Ft. Worth and Dallas and San Antonio and Houston swapped their cars. The Baptist Church had a dominating influence. McClennan Co., including all of Waco, was "dry" with the exception of one precinct in which the little town of West was located. A devastating tornado struck in 1953, devastating much of downtown. There are still vacant lots where buildings destroyed in that tornado were never rebuilt. They have done an excellent job of sprucing up, though, particularly along the Brazos.
awesome thread -- its interesting to see around downtown waco. i've only driven that route once and blew through. i knew about dr. pepper, but did not know roebling had bridge work there.
There's not much to downtown Waco, but as is evident from Chip and Joanna Gaines' show, there are some really gorgeous neighborhoods around the city. It's a good place to be if you want to escape the craziness of Austin or other large cities. It's no place for the younger set, though.
A few years ago I drove around the hilly areas by Lake Waco and found neighborhoods that rivaled some of our nicest areas of west Austin. Prior to that, I had spent decades driving through on I-35 without stopping unless to get fast food.
Last edited by AviationGuy; Mar 31, 2020 at 5:32 AM.
There's not much to downtown Waco, but as is evident from Chip and Joanna Gaines' show, there are some really gorgeous neighborhoods around the city. It's a good place to be if you want to escape the craziness of Austin or other large cities. It's no place for the younger set, though.
A few years ago I drove around the hilly areas by Lake Waco and found neighborhoods that rivaled some of our nicest areas of west Austin. Prior to that, I had spent decades driving through on I-35 without stopping unless to get fast food.
A couple of weeks ago, I got out of town and stopped in Hillsboro and Waco for an afternoon. I haven't posted my pictures, but I basically walked through the main part of downtown where the 1953 tornado hit.