Waco History

08/18/2026

Our friends at the Baylor University Institute for Oral History are hosting an online workshop for oral historians. Share with all of your oral history colleagues!

We are gearing up for another workshop!

Twice a year we host a workshop for beginners looking to learn more about the ins and outs of oral history and prep them for their future oral history projects. This is a great way to ask our team questions, get feedback, and learn alongside other oral historians.

Click the link below for more information.

https://library.web.baylor.edu/visit/institute-oral-history/workshops/getting-started-oral-history-workshop

07/10/2026

Willie Durham House, an extraordinary person, devoted public servant, and gifted administrator, played a pivotal role in the establishment of two of Waco’s most essential institutions — free public schools and the Waco-McLennan County Library.

To read about her incredible story, visit our website at the link below.
https://wacohistory.org/items/show/264

06/19/2026

On Juneteenth in 1865—the day’s name a combination of “June” and “nineteenth”—Union troops arrived in Galveston, bringing news of the emancipation established in January 1863. There, General Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

Organized by freed Black people in Texas the following year, celebrations of Jubilee Day occurred throughout the state, including Waco. The earliest documented Waco celebration occurred in 1876, which included a two-thousand-person procession led by the Waco Colored Band and local societies, including the Rising Stars and the Young Men’s Club. The groups waved bright-colored banners and wore dazzling uniforms. The parade ended at Waco Creek, in the southern part of the city, where celebrants listened to various speakers and a reading of the Declaration of Independence. Afterward, they danced, sang, and ate together.

To read more about Waco's Juneteenth celebrations, visit our website at the link below:
https://wacohistory.org/items/show/224

06/10/2026

We are sad to see this local business close, but we will always remember the legacy left behind! https://wacobridge.org/2026/06/09/circle-hardware-closing/

If you want to read more about the history of Circle Hardware, visit our website: https://wacohistory.org/items/show/180

05/21/2026

Until the 1990s, hockey teams in the South were few and far between. The heat prevalent in the southern states did not exactly lend itself to ice-based sports, leading locals to favor warm-weather sports such as baseball and football. However, the National Hockey League’s (NHL’s) expansion teams began to gradually make their way further south throughout the 1990s, spreading a new interest in the sport.

In 1993, the expansion reached Texas when the Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas, becoming the beloved Dallas Stars. With these new NHL teams came their minor league counterparts. The majority of these new minor league teams belonged to the Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL), which operated from 1996-2001 and stretched from New Mexico to Mississippi. In 1996, Waco became home to one of Texas’ five (soon to become eleven) WPHL teams, the Wizards.

To read the full story, click the link below:
https://wacohistory.org/items/show/253

05/08/2026

One of the most beautiful buildings on Baylor University’s campus is the Armstrong Browning Library & Museum. Sources such as Campus Grotto and Flavorwire have named the library to their lists of the fifty most beautiful libraries in the United States and in the world, respectively. The three-story Italian renaissance style building houses the world’s largest collection of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning material. Collected by Dr. Andrew Joseph Armstrong, the artifacts have been held in the Armstrong Browning Library since its opening in 1951.

If you are ever in the Baylor area, take some time to visit the !

To read the full story, visit the link below:
https://wacohistory.org/items/show/261

04/30/2026

During World War II, Elizabeth “Bettie” Mae Scott joined a small group of women who took to the skies in support of the United States war effort. Scott served as a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), a program that trained female aviators to perform critical flying duties within the United States while male pilots fought overseas.

Affectionately known as “Scotty” among her fellow pilots, Scott trained for several months at Avenger Field before graduating on April 15, 1944. Upon graduation, the Army Air Forces assigned her to Blackland Army Airfield and Waco Army Airfield in Waco, Texas, where she served as an engineering test pilot. In this role, Bettie flew aircraft that had recently undergone maintenance to determine whether they were safe to return to operational service

To read the full story, click the link below:
https://wacohistory.org/items/show/262

If you would like to learn about other WASP, check out the Wings Across America project within the Baylor University Institute for Oral History online collection. Link: https://digitalcollections-baylor.quartexcollections.com/oral-history-collections/wings-across-america-women-air-service-pilots-wasps-of-wwii