Waco : Texas
Waco is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 113,726.
History
Prior to white settlement, a Wichita Native American group known as the “Waco” or “Hueco” lived on the land of contemporary downtown Waco west of the Brazos River. In 1824, on an expedition to the Waco village, Thomas M. Duke reported the following to Stephen F. Austin: “[T]his town is situated on the West Bank of the River about half a mile from the River[. T]hey have a spring almost as cold as Ice itself[. A]ll we want is some Brandy and Sugar to have Ice Toddy[. T]hey have about four hundred acres planted in corn beans pumpkins and melons and that tended in good order [sic.] I think they cannot raise more than One Hundred Warriors.” After Austin aborted the first attempt to destroy their village in 1825, he made a treaty with them. The Wacos were soon forced to abandon their village and moved upstream to what is now Palo Pinto County (due west of Dallas).
Neil McLennan settled in an area near the South Bosque River in 1838. Jacob De Cordova bought McLennan’s property and hired a former Texas Ranger and surveyor named George B. Erath to inspect the area. Erath had once been stationed at nearby Fort Hood. In 1849, Erath designed the first block of the city. Property owners wanted to name the city “Lamartine", but Erath convinced them to name the area Waco Village, in honor of the Native Americans who had lived there.
In 1845, Baylor University was founded in Independence, Texas, making it the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of Texas. It moved to Waco in 1886 and merged with Waco University, becoming an integral part of the city. The university’s Strecker Museum was also the oldest continuously operating museum in the state until it closed in 2003, and the collections were moved to the new Sue & Frank Mayborn Museum Complex.
