The Waco Citizen (Waco, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 69, Ed. 1 Tuesday, September 1, 1987 Page: 10 of 24
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PAGE 2, TEXAS 150 PROGRESS, WACO, TEXAS, SEPT. 1986-87
“What The
Sesquicentennial
Meant To Me.”
By ROY WALTHALL
McLennan County Chairman
The Sesquicentennial celebration
has been a special time for McLen-
nan County. It has brought us closer
together by reminding us that we are
all a part of our Texas heritage.
However, for me the Sesquicenten-
nial was more than just the fireworks
and parades; it was also about
history. The McLennan County
Sesquicentennial Commission was
the first time that all the cities in the
county ever worked together on
anything. Our joint project, the
County Quilt, was not only a work
of beauty, but it was symbolic. It was
saying that we are all woven together
to make this county, and it takes all
of us to make it work.
It was such a privilege to present
the County Slide Show to over a
hundred church, civic, and senior
citizen groups this past spring. It told
about the history of each of our
communities, but the main message
of the slide show was about past
glory, and unfulfilled dreams. We
were the very heart and soul of this:
State when the twentieth century j
dawned that morning of January 1,
1901. In the next ten years we con-1
tinued to prosper and by 1910 this
county was at its zenith.
The fall of cotton, the floods, the:
1953 tornado, the closing of James
Connally in the mid-1960’s all played i
a part in that fading from glory.
Those setbacks were eventually
overcome, by hard dedicated work
and a sense of a people determined to i
get back on track. However, the
greatest loss of that period was not-
brick or mortar, it was our youth.
As a native of Waco, I became one
of those statistics when the Missouri- .
Kansas-Texas railroad shop, where1
my father worked, was shut down in
1961. For the next twenty years
around Texas and in the Army when
I served as an infantry officer, I kept
running into former Wacoans all in
their 20’s and 30’s, all dejected that
they weren’t living in Waco and
raising their families here. In mass
they all had the same tale, they just
couldn’t make a living in this county.
REIURNING HOME
When I returned to McLennan
County as City Administrator in
Mart, the same was true for the
smaller outlying cities. There are
practically no young people at all in
these little communities. While in
Mart I attended the First Methodist
Church in Waco and got to meet a
bunch of wonderful people my age.
All highly educated, highly
motivated, with a wealth of talent
and experience. However, in that
two-year period I witnessed one by
one, them leaving Waco, for the big
city to go where they could make a
living and be appreciated. All wanted
to stay here, but they couldn’t make
it.
It was to me, history repeating it-
self. After World War I and the
depression this county saw a mass
migration of its young to Dallas or
Houston. The same was true in the
sixties. Look around you, yes, we are
bustling with young people in Waco,
but look deeper. One out of every
five of us is a student. The other
three and a half of us are either
children or retired. That leaves only
one out of ten people in Waco that
are between 25 and 55, and are “up-
wardly mobil,” and are earning
productive incomes doing productive
things. That is also assuming that
each of those people are employed
with full-paying jobs, which isn’t the
case at all.
DOING SOMETHING
I committed myself since returning
home to not just talk about this
travesty, but do something about it. I
started Charter Revisioning because
it deals with Waco’s lack of leader-
ship, I wanted GM Saturn, because
we needed a transfusion of new jobs,
I want us to get moving on a bi-
ccunty airport and rapid rail because
that’s our future, and it could be our
nightmare. We could wake up in the
Twenty-first century to see that one
of our neighbors had the vision and
took the risk and they, not us, are the
center of Central Texas.
A city or county is only as good as
we perceive ourselves in becoming.
Youth’s advantage is to dream
dreams, the older generation needs to
temper those dreams with reality.
Waco’s problem is that it has had too
much reality and very little vision.
The Sesquicentennial to me was not
just a time to look back at our past,
but build upon that past and move
forward to the future.
Sesquicentennial
Calendar
JANUARY
22—McLennan Co. Founded, 1850
25— Lone Star Flag Adopted, 1839
FEBRUARY
1— Baylor established, 1845
MARCH
2— Texas independence Day, 1836
6— Fall of the Alamo, 1836
17— Northcrest Incorporated, 1958
19— Battle of Coleta Creek, 1836
27— Massacre at Goiad, 1836
APRIL
1— William Brann, The Iconoclast,
killed in Waco, 1898
15—Leroy incorporated 1902
17— Moody incorporated 1904
21 — Battle of San Jacinto, 1836
26— Robinson incorporated 1955
30— Brucevflle-Eddy incorporated
1974
MAY
3— Hallsburg incorporated 1980
11— Waco tornado killed 114,1953
14—Treaty of Valasco, ended Texas
Revolution, 1836
JUNE
7— Lorena incorporated 1959
14— West incorporated 1892
15— Beverly Hills incorporated 1939
20— Woodway incorporated 1955
21— Congress approves statehood
for Texas, 1845
JULY
1—Waco Bridge Co. organized,
1866
13-—Hewitt incorporated, 1960
AUGUST
29— Waco incorporated, 1856
SEPTEMBER
10— First passenger train comes to
Waco, 1872
21—Crawford incorporated 1891
28— Worst Brazos River flood
(41 ft.), 1936
OCTOBER
3—First Texas Congress meets in
Columbia, 1836
12— First Interurban train arrives in
Waco, 1913
19—Cotton Palace ended, 1930
NOVEMBER
12—Bellmead incorporated 1953
25—Mart incorporated 1902
McGregor incorporated 1886
28— Riesd incorporated 1973
DECEMBER
1—McLennan Community College
created, 1965
3—2nd worst Brazos flood (39 ft.),
1913
6— 1st TV murder trial in America
opens in Waco, 1955
29— Texas admitted to the Union,
1845
31— Interurban makes its last run,
1948
County-wide
Celebration
Marks
Sesquicentennial
Year
^J4DENC£
The McLennan County
Sesquicentennial Commission
celebrated the year coordinating the
twenty-five community Sesquicen-
tennial events all over the county.
The year started in December with
the very successful Christmas on
the Brazos, in which for the first time
the Courthouse was part of the
historical home tour. The Robinson
High School Marching Band was
next on stage performing at both the
Bluebonnet and Cotton Bowl
parades, a feat no band in the U.
S. had ever achieved.
A calendar of events was
published by the McLennan County
Commission to raise funds for a slide
The Waco
CiTIZEN
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postage paid to Waco, Texas POSTMASTER: Send ad-
dress changes to Citizen Newspapers, P.O. Box 3280,
Waco, Texas 76707.
BWC. Fester..............................PaMtter
C.A. Foster..................................Editor
EddFadal.............................Sports Editor
Ahaa Stewart.....................Display Advertising
Warn Dwyer............. Omdation
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PaaHnc Lopez................ .....Composing Room
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standing of any individual. Arm or corporation in this paper
will be corrected if called to the attention of the publisher.)
We reserve right to reject or cancel any ad at any time and
to edit letters to the editor.
COUNTY QUILT
show and for the various com-
munities. The forty-minute slide
show narrated by chairman Roy
Walthall took a historical tour
through the county telling about the
county’s as well as all twenty-five
communities’ history. It was presen-
ted to over 125 church, civic, and
school groups.
Next came the Sesquicentennial
Pony Express escorted through our
county by over fifty horsemen. In
their saddlebags they carried letters
from President Reagan and 49 state
Governors to Governor Mark White
and the people of Texas.
Unveiling of the County’s
Sesquicentennial Quilt, depicting 25
community artist’s displays of
something historical in their town,
PONY EXPRESS RIDERS **
inside the historical courthouse
rotunda was the climax of a year’s
work. The historical quilt will be
permanently displayed in the new
County Record’s Building entrance.
The next day bells tolled all over the
county at 12 noon on March 2nd,
Texas Independence Day, followed
by a breath-taking similcast fireworks
display over Lake Waco and nine
other cities on April 21st to celebrate
Sam Houston’s victory over Santa
Anna’s army at the Battle of San
Jacinto.
Celebrate Waco was a smashing
success, as was McGregor’s Western
Days, the Bellmead Round-up, Ax-
tell’s Centennial, Hallsburg’s, Leroy
and China Spring’s Homecoming,
BOX RINGING ON
INDEPENDENCE DAY
Mclennan county
Mart’s Chamber of Commerce
parade and picnic, the Riesel Fair,
and just last weekend, Westfest.
Cities like Hewitt with Bill Ten-
nyson, Woodway with Bob Griffin,
and Lacy Lakeview with Helen Latta
!have been holding Sesquicentennial
events all year long,
j In mid-June Texas came to Waco
to witness a fantastic Air Exposition
which featured the British supersonic
Concorde, the USAF Thunderbirds,
the Confederate Air Force, and
planes of all shapes and sizes from
the Silver Bullet to the Goodyear
Blimp.
This fall our own Heart of Texas
CELEBRATE WACO DURING Jud«e Rentz. stK>uld _ be
BRAZOS RIVER FESTIVAL commendal for putting together
such a hard working group.
theme, and the State Fair of Texas
will be a month long celebrating
Texas’ unique heritage. We are also
looking forward to Crawford,
Lorena, Moody and Bruceville-
Eddy’s celebrations later this year.
The Sesquicentennial in McLennan
County will end where it began with
December’s Christmas on the Brazos.
A lasting tribute to the Sesquicen-
tennial will be a park square that will
be located directly in front of the
County Courthouse. It will be com-
posed of flowers, flagpoles, benches,
and the old jail bell that once rang
from the jail tower, where the Cour-
thouse annex is presently. ROBINSON BAND
McLennan County Texas
Sesquicentennial Committee
Chairman Roy Dell Walthall
Vice-Chairman Dr. Tom Charlton
Axtell-Chester Partwood
Bellmead-Robert Hawkins
Beverly Hills-Kenneth Boen
Bosqueville-Joe Johnson
Bruceville-Eddy-E.B. Firguin
China Spring-Karen Holder
Crawford-Kathryn Blanton
Hallsburg-Edna Thompson
Hewitt-Bill Tennyson
Lacy-Lakeview-Hellen Latta
Leroy-Darlene Randolph
Lorena-Joan Melton
Mart-Babe Aycock
McGregor-Frances Hudson
Moody-Jo Harrison
Northcrest-Dalton Tynes
Riesel-Dorothy Kuehl
Robinson-J.B. Morris
Speegleville-Dorothy Jones
Waco-Bill Falco
West-A. W. Marchak
Woodway-Bob Griffin
At-Large-Domingo Capetillo
At-Large-Katie Oliver
Jr**
McLennan County Courthouse
McLennan County, State, and Local Officials
SPtGMct/ 9)flC4VSC^/
A Salute To Texas
H-E-B is proud to join in the celebration of 150 years of growth and progress in our own
great state of Texas. Texas boasts a colorful heritage comprised of dedicated hard
working people who pulled together to make it the fine state we enjoy today. From
the scenic mountains of the west to the miles of sandy beaches of the south, Texas
offers a distinctive blend of cultures that is uniquely its own.
H-E-B is a tndition that was born and raised in Texas. We’ve grown from a one room
grocery stou in Kerrville to the 146 modern food/drugs stores that serve you today.
And like Texas, we look forward to the next 150 years of progress. Progress that can
only be attained by finding new and better ways of serving you.
During oar Sesquicentennial Celebration, we would like to renew our commitment to
provide you with the quality, variety, convenience, low prices and friendly service
that you’ve come to expect. And we’d like to thank you for making us a part of the
Texas tradition.
County Judge Stanley Rentz
Commissioner Wayne Davis
Commissioner Jim Lewis
Commissioner Vince Incardona
Commissioner Don Cantrell
State Senator Chet Edwards
State Representative Betty Denton
State Representative M.A. Taylor
County Sheriff Jack Harwell
District Attorney Vic Feazell
County Clerk Frank Denny
County Tax Collector Gene Prickette
County Treasurer Odessa Wells
District Clerk Joe Johnson
19th District Judge Bill Logue
54th District Judge George Allen
74th District Judge Derwood Johnson
170th District Judge Ray Mormino
10th Appellate Judge Frank McDonald
10th Appellate Judge Vic HaD
10th Appellate Judge Bob Thomas
County Court Judge David Hodges
County Court Judge Mike Gassaway
Mayor Unatha Beatty of Bellmead
Mayor Kenneth Boen of Beverly Hills
Mayor E.B. Firquin of BniceviUe-Eddy
Mayor Frank Golson of Crawford
Mayor Howard Sexton of Gholson
Mayor Glover Land of Lacy-Lakeview
Mayor W.H. Janes of Leroy
Mayor S.B. Collins of Lorena
Mayor Margie Wilbanks of Hallsburg
Mayor Howard Thompson of Hewitt
Mayor Babe Aycock of Mart
Mayor Felix Morris of McGregor
Mayor Bennie Hargrove of Moody
Mayor L.D. Petty of Northcrest
Mayor Burney Mullins of Riesel
Mayor Clint Capers of Robinson
Mayor Billy Long of Ross
Mayor LaNeDe McNamara of Waco
Mayor William Pareya of West
Mayor Calvin Kent of Woodway
Join us In celebrating Texas Sesquicentennial... A tribute to our native state!
FOODS ■ DRUGS
You Get What You Want At H-E-B
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Foster, C. A. The Waco Citizen (Waco, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 69, Ed. 1 Tuesday, September 1, 1987, newspaper, September 1, 1987; Waco, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth621518/m1/10/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .