Waco History Podcast

Guest(s): Fiona Bond Topics: Waco Auditorium Cotton Palace Hippodrome Waco Hall Circle Drive-In Katy Park Walker’s Auditorium HOT Fair and Rodeo Magnolia Market Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Formed separately in the mid-1800s, the Young Men's Christian Association and the Young Women's Christian Association have since collectively been at the forefront of most major social movements, such as women's, civil, and human rights. The YMCA and YWCA are more commonly associated with promoting physical activity and education and offering safe lodging. Gladys Casimir describes her mother's involvement with the Waco YWCA prior to Prohibition: "When they went to their meetings they wore little white ribbon bows or rosettes, whatever you want to call it, on their left shoulders. They marched. The women were very active in trying to promote the abolition of liquor. City of Waco had a lot of saloons before they had to close down." Tom Charlton, former director of the Baylor Institute for Oral History, recalls the Y in Beaumont in the 1940s and 50s: "The YMCA played a—a big role in my life from the time I learned to swim at the YMCA when I was about nine. My mother and dad always made sure I had a membership at

Guest(s): Kris Collins Topics: Texas economy Booms – Cattle, Cotton, Lumber, Oil Early Waco economy Businesses in Waco New industries Waco Industrial Foundation SpaceX  Industrial and logistics powerhouse 3 hours from 22 million people Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Graduating from a school and starting a new chapter in life at another campus can be a bittersweet moment. Charles Armstrong remembers his last days at Bell's Hill Elementary School in Waco: "They asked everybody that wanted to, to write a little something about the school, what they—what they learned or didn't learn. So I wrote a little poem, entitled ‘Good-bye, Bell's Hill.' Said: Good-bye, Bell's Hill, good-bye.I'm leaving you now, but I won't forget,The time I've spent with you.The boys and girls and teachers great,My memory will be with you.I've journeyed with you for days and years,And now we drift apart.The pleasant memories of things gone by,Is written in my heart.Good-bye, Bell's Hill, good-bye."Mrs. Armstrong: "It's darling." Interviewer: "That's nice." He recalls a time in 1941 when he and his wife Ruth, who also grew up in Bell's Hill, returned to the school: "They'd vote up there at the school; they still do. And I was voting for the first time, and she was. I walked down the hall there. I was go

Guests Ashley Cruseturner and Marlene McMichael Topics: McClennan Community College Texas State Technical College Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode: Dr. Kenna Lang Archer, author of "Unruly Waters: A Social and Environmental History of the Brazos River," joins us to talk about Waco's most prominent river. We talk about its history all over the state, and the many attempts to tame it. Check out Dr. Archer's website at kennalangarcher.com. You can find Kenna's book on Amazon and at Barnes and Noble. Special thanks to ACT Music for letting us play "Brazos River Breakdown" at the end of this episode. It's by the Nils Landgren Funk Unit from the album ACT 9455-2 License to Funk. About the Waco History Podcast The Waco History Podcast is co-hosted by Randy Lane and Dr. Stephen Sloan. Randy Lane is the great-grandson of Waco architect Roy E. Lane. He’s also a former American Forces Network Radio DJ and is currently the host of the High Performance Leadership and Charity Champions Podcasts.  Stephen heads the Oral History Institute at Baylor University. He’s authored several books and created and developed WacoHistory.org, a website and free mobi

Early Texas Colleges Waco Female College Waco University Baylor University Paul Quinn Hill’s Business Colleges Add-Ran College Toby’s Business College 4C Higher Education Tangents Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Living Stories, featuring voices from the collections of the Baylor University Institute for Oral History. I'm Kim Patterson. Over the years, Central Texans have celebrated a variety of Easter customs. Dr. Delta Hafford of De Leon managed the clothing program at the Methodist Children's Home in the 1950s and later served as school coordinator. She describes Easter at the Methodist Home in a 1977 interview: "Easter Sunday was always such an exciting time because this was the time when every little girl had a new dress and a new pair of shoes, and they were so proud to wear them on Easter Sunday. This was probably the only day of the year that everybody had a brand-new dress on the very same day. Otherwise, the clothing was renewed, you know, at specific—at—on a staggered basis over the year. But on Easter Sunday, every little girl had a brand-new dress and a brand-new pair of shoes. And that was an exciting time. And it was really a time of pride, I think, for the children. This was also coincided with

Guest(s): Brady Taylor Topics: Climate v. Weather Rainfall Weather Events Floods Droughts Freezes Tornados Historical Impact on Waco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Prof. Sloan talks with Benna Vaughan about the Horace Sherman Miller Collection Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest(s): Dr. Mike Parrish Topics: Early history WWI and WWII bases Billy Mitchell and others spent time in Waco Connally AF Base Bluebonnet Ordinance Plant Rocketdyne Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Slaon talks with Baylor alumnus John Dennis Anderson about Madison Alexander Cooper, Jr. Madison Cooper was an American businessman and philanthropist from Waco, Texas, and is best remembered for his long novel Sironia, Texas (1952), which made publishing history at that time as the longest novel in English originally published in book form, in two volumes totaling 1,731 pages, containing an estimated 840,000 words. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest(s): Mayor Dillon Meek Topics:  Organizing city political system over time 4 governors from Waco At one time was where all statewide races were announced The Bush ranch brought the political world to Waco Broader political connections to Waco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the early to mid-1900s in Waco, circuses were the stuff of children's dreams and stirred excitement from the moment they rolled into town. Charles Armstrong recalls circus members on Seventeenth Street, when they were performing on the Cotton Palace grounds: "By the corner, they had a fireplug right behind where Safeway store is right now—old Safeway store. And had a fireplug, and they'd water the elephants and water the animals and carry the water to the circus ground[s] from there. And we could see all from our house." Helen Geltemeyer remembers thinking about the Big Top while a student at Bell's Hill School: "I always wanted to go to the circus when [it] came to town. Never did. But we had a lot of trees along on Cleveland [Avenue] side there where we could sit. They had little benches around the tree. And I decided I'd show them how the clowns would jump off of this bench. Brother, I felt like my arm went through my body, and they had to take me into the—the cafeteria and put ice on it. But I—I really

Guest(s): John Morris Topics: Waco Auditorium Cotton Palace Sports Top host of HS playoff games Host of TAPPS Magnolia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Sloan visits the Dr. Pepper Museum during their "The People Who Made Dr. Pepper LIVE" and interviews Bj Greaves, and Harvey Griggs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Topics: Overview, the concept of crossroads as a way to understand Waco The North Bosque valley was a seasonal travel way for Native Americans from the high plains to the lowlands 1837 Santa Fe Expedition Torrey Trading Company Sam Bass Bonny and Clyde Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"in the morning of January 22, 1927, Baylor University's basketball team set out by bus for Austin to play the University of Texas that night. The game, however, would never be contested. Ten of the twenty-two passengers died when a train hit the team's bus at a crossing in Round Rock--the worst such accident in Texas history at the time. The students who died soon became known as "The Immortal Ten," eulogized across the state and nation. This is their story." https://amzn.to/41h1QAl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode #1 – Waco as Crossroads Guest(s): Claire Kultgen MacDonald Topics: Overview, the concept of crossroads as a way to understand Waco I-35 Brazos River (only natural crossing at Marlin Falls) Hwys 6, 84, and 77 Geographical Ecological Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the late 1800s, cotton was the driving force in Waco's economy, and the city wanted to implement a fall festival to celebrate the white substance. With a newly built exposition hall, Waco held its first Cotton Palace in 1894, and it was a great success. The building burned shortly after the month-long event but was rebuilt and opened again in 1910, and for two decades the Cotton Palace drew people from all over the state with sights and sounds galore. Helen Geltemeyer, who grew up in the Bell's Hill area, describes the festival in the 1920s: "And they had horse races at the Cotton Palace. Then right in the middle was the football field. Then they had all these other barns, like [Helmut] Quiram. Mr. Quiram there on Burnett had all these horses for you to go ride them. They had motorcycle races there; just everything they could try to do. Mr. [Benjamin W.] Cheaves, C-h-e-a-v-e-s, was the manager of the Cotton Palace. The main thing is—where we had fun—is going in the display of all the women putting their cl