Waco

Waco is a riverfront city along the Brazos River in central Texas, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The settlement owes its name to the indigenous Huaco tribe that established villages along the riverbanks. Pharmacist Charles Alderton formulated the soft drink Dr Pepper at Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store in the 1880s.

Raw cotton and feed grain from surrounding blackland prairies move through commercial grain elevators near the railway junctions. Mars Wrigley operates a confectionery manufacturing plant producing Skittles bite-size candies and assorted fruit sweets. L3Harris Technologies modifies transport aircraft, maintains flight fuselages, and integrates sophisticated radar avionics. Balcones Distilling distills craft single malt whisky and roasted blue corn bourbon using traditional copper pot stills. Packaging Corporation of America converts heavy containerboard into corrugated shipping cartons for freight handlers.

Waco Suspension Bridge spanned the Brazos River upon completion in the 1870s and carried longhorn cattle herds moving north along the Chisholm Trail. Baylor University provides collegiate education in law, business, and arts across a campus along the south riverbank established in the 1880s. Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum preserves badges, historic uniforms, and archival photography chronicling state law enforcement. Waco Mammoth National Monument protects the fossilized remains of Columbian mammoths discovered embedded in a shaded creek ravine.

Huaco camps occupied the river valley until frontier trading posts opened during the 1840s. George B. Erath surveyed the initial grid of town streets along the Brazos River in 1849. The settlement achieved municipal incorporation in 1856. River packet boats carried bales of cotton until the Houston and Texas Central Railway reached the town in the 1870s. Urban renewal transformed the downtown commercial avenues following an intense tornado that struck during the 1950s. Flood control dams constructed along the upper river basin in the mid-20th century stabilized the waterfront and protected downtown neighborhoods.