[14] Jacob De Cordova bought McLennan's property[15] and hired a former Texas Ranger and surveyor named George B. Erath to inspect the area.

[18] In 1866, Waco's leading citizens embarked on an ambitious project to build the first bridge to span the wide Brazos River.

Add-Ran changed its name to Texas Christian University in 1902 and left Waco after the school's main building burned down in 1910.

Brann revealed Baylor officials had been trafficking South American children recruited by missionaries and making house-servants out of them.

Since the end of the Civil War, cotton had been cultivated in the Brazos and Bosque valleys, and Waco had become known nationwide as a top producer.

However, the annual Cotton Palace Pageant continues, hosted in late April in conjunction with the Brazos River Festival.

"The Crash at Crush" was a publicity stunt done by the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad company (known as M-K-T or "Katy"), featuring two locomotives intentionally set to a head-on collision.

Meant to be a family fun event with food, games, and entertainment, the Crash turned deadly when both boilers exploded simultaneously, sending metal flying in the air.

[27] An African American man named Sank Majors was hanged from the Washington Avenue Bridge by a white mob in 1905.

[28] In 1916, a Black teenager named Jesse Washington was tortured, mutilated, and burned to death in the town square by a mob that seized him from the courthouse, where he had been convicted of murdering a white woman, to which he confessed.

The commonly named Waco Horror drew international condemnation and became the cause célèbre of the nascent NAACP's anti-lynching campaign.

In 2006, the Waco City Council officially condemned the lynching, which took place without opposition from local political or judicial leaders; the mayor and chief of police were spectators.

[30] On May 26, 1922, Jesse Thomas was shot, his body dragged down Franklin street by a crowd some 6,000 strong and the corpse then burned in the public square behind city hall.

[31] In 1923, Waco's sheriff Leslie Stegall protected Roy Mitchell, an African American coerced into confessing to multiple murders, from mob lynching.

In 1937, Grover C. Thomsen and R. H. Roark created a soft-drink called "Sun Tang Red Cream Soda".

The airfield is still in operation, now known as TSTC Waco Airport, and was used by Air Force One when former US President George W. Bush visited his Prairie Chapel Ranch, also known as the Western White House, in Crawford, Texas.

Eventually, the remains of at least 24 mammoths, one camel, and one large cat were found at the site, making it one of the largest findings of its kind.

On February 28, 1993, a shootout occurred in which six Branch Davidians and four agents of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms died.

Downtown Waco is relatively small when compared to other larger Texas cities, such as Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, or even Fort Worth, El Paso, or Austin.

Downtown Waco is home to Magnolia Market, a shopping complex containing specialty stores, food trucks, and event space, set in repurposed grain silos originally built in 1950 for the Brazos Valley Cotton Oil Company.

[62] The Magnolia Market, operated by Chip and Joanna Gaines of the HGTV TV series Fixer Upper, saw 1.2 million visitors in 2016.

The football team has won or tied for nine conference titles, and have played in 24 bowl games, garnering a record of 13–11.

The Waco Marshals of the National Indoor Football League lasted less than two months amidst a midseason ownership change in 2004.

The Waco Wizards of the now-defunct Western Professional Hockey League fared better, lasting into a fourth season before folding in 2000.

The lights were donated by Waco resident Charles Redding Turner, who owned a local farm team for recruits to the Chicago Cubs.

[66] A seven-mile scenic riverwalk along the east and west banks of the Brazos River stretches from the Baylor campus to Cameron Park Zoo.

This multiuse walking and jogging trail passes underneath the Waco Suspension Bridge and captures the peaceful charm of the river.

State Highway 31 splits off US 84 just east of Waco and connects the city to Tyler, Longview, and Shreveport, Louisiana.

Waco Regional Airport (ACT) serves the city with daily flights to Dallas/Fort Worth International via American Eagle.

TSTC Waco Airport (CNW) is the site of the former James Connally AFB and was the primary fly-in point for former President George W. Bush when he was visiting his ranch in Crawford.