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Prior to its founding, Neil McLennan had 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. He wanted to name it Lamartine, but eventually the name Waco was chosen, in honor of the historic Huaco Native American tribe that once had occupied the lands.
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 .
In 1866, the city embarked on an ambitious project to build the first bridge to span the wide Brazos RiverThe Brazos River is the longest river in Texas, running 1360 km (840 mi) from the center of the state to the Gulf of Mexico. Its 116,000 km² (44,620 sq mi) watershed reaches all the way to New Mexico. The Brazos proper begins at the confluence of its Salt. They contacted an architectural firm owned by John Augustus Roebling in Trenton, New JerseyTrenton is the capital of New Jersey, a state of the United States of America. As of the 2000 census, it has a population of 85,403. Trenton is located in almost the exact center of the state. Due to this, it is sometimes included as part of North Jersey to build the 475-foot brick Waco Suspension BridgeThe Waco Suspension Bridge crosses the Brazos River in Waco, Texas. It opened in 1869, and at the time it was the longest single-span suspension bridge (475 feet) in the world. It contains nearly 3 million bricks., the longest span of any bridge west of the Mississippi RiverThis page is about the river in the United States; for other uses, see Mississippi River (disambiguation). The Mississippi River is the second-longest river in the United States; the longest is the Missouri River, which flows into the Mississippi. Taken t at the time of its completion in 1870Events January 6 The inauguration of the Musikverein ( Vienna). January 10 John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil January 15 A political cartoon for the first time symbolizes the United States Democratic Party with a donkey ("A Live Jackass Kicking. Because it was one of the first suspension bridgeA suspension bridge is a bridge that consists of two multiple column pillars, one on either end of the central span, with two or more cables slung between them. The bridge deck is suspended from vertical cables or rods attached to the main cables. The mais built in the United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in, it also was a pioneering engineering feat of the era. The bridge was used as a working prototype for Roebling's later famous work, the Brooklyn Bridge. The economic effects of the bridge were immediate and large, attracting cattle runs from the nearby Chisolm Trail and increasing the population of the city, as immigrants now had a safe passage for their horse drawn carriages to cross the river. The bridge is now open only to pedestrian traffic.
In 1885, the soft drink Dr Pepper was invented in Waco's Old Corner Drug Store.
In the 1890s, William Cowper Brann published the highly successful Iconoclast newspaper in Waco. One of his targets was Baylor University. Brann revealed that Baylor officials had been importing South American children recruited by missionaries and making house-servants out of them. Brann was shot in the back by Tom Davis, a Baylor supporter. Brann wheeled, drew his pistol, and killed Davis. Brann was helped home by his friends, and died there of his wounds. [edit]
In 1894, the first Cotton Palace fair and exhibition center was built to reflect the dominant contribution of the agricultural cotton industry in the region. Since the end of the Civil War, cotton had been cultivated in the Brazos and Bosque valleys, and Waco became known nationwide as a top producer. Over the next 23 years, the annual exposition would welcome over eight million attendees. In 1931, the exposition fell prey to the Great Depression, and the building was torn down. However, the annual Cotton Palace Pagent continues to the present day, hosted in late April in conjunction with the Brazos River Festival .
On May 11, 1953, a tornado hit downtown Waco killing 114. As of 2004, it remains the tenth deadliest tornado in U.S. history and the deadliest in Texas state history.
In 1978, locals discovered bones emerging from the mud at the confluence of the Brazos River and the Bosque River . Subsequent excavations revealed that the bones were 28,000 years old and came from an ancient giant wooly mammoth. Eventually, the remains of at least 28 wooly mammoths were found at the site, making it one of the largest - and most intriguing - findings of its kind in the world. Scholars have puzzled over why such a large herd had been killed all at once.
On April 19, 1993 a standoff between federal agents and Branch Davidians ended in a fire that destroyed their compound located in a rural area two miles outside of the city's limits, and killed many of the cult's members.