April and May have been a little tough for me but I'm back and ready to hit the road. We wanted to do a little road trip, an overnighter, some place close enough that we wouldn't be in the car too long but far enough away that we had to book a hotel. We chose Belton and Waco. Why? Why not?
The drive to Belton was about 2 1/2 hours. You go straight down I-35S and when you get to Temple, you hang a right and boom! You're there. Belton is the county seat of Bell County and home to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, a private Baptist school.
We stopped at the University first. It's a beautiful campus. I wanted to know who Mary Hardin-Baylor was and why she had a college named after her. The school was originally named Baylor Female College back in 1885 and was named for R. E. B. Baylor (who also helped found the better known Baylor University). So...maybe Mary Hardin-Baylor was his wife? She was ahead of the times and she hyphenated? Nope!
It's actually just Mary Hardin. She and her husband Jim Hardin were from Burkburnett and they discovered oil on their property. They became very wealthy and they gave a lot of their money away to worthy causes...like Baylor Female College who was in financial trouble. When the Hardins donated money, they renamed the school after Mary who had been a schoolteacher. Mary Hardin (for her) then Baylor (from the original name).
Next on the list was the Bell County Museum. This is a pretty cool museum. It's free and open Tues - Fri from 12 - 5 and Saturday from 10 - 5. On one side they had an exhibit on loan from the World War II Museum about Bob Hope. In this center part of the museum, they had exhibits about the prehistoric inhabitants of the area.
In 1904, the city of Belton received a grant from Andrew Carnegie for a public library. Carnegie funded several libraries across the United States and not a lot of them are still around. Generally speaking, the deal was that Carnegie would fund the building but the citizens had to provide the books and the staffing, etc.
I was very happy to see that this library was still standing (this would be me expressing my joy through song on the stage on the second floor of the Carnegie Library). The books for the Belton library were provided by the Women's Wednesday Club. It was an active library until 1975. Now it's part of the Bell County Museum and houses the history of the county.
Driving around town we came across this vintage Texaco station. The pumps aren't active but they look cool. I read that it's a car repair shop.
In the center of the town square is the Bell County Courthouse. This is the third version and was built in 1884. The original log cabin was built in 1850 and then sold in 1855 so that a new limestone building could be erected in 1859. That courthouse lasted until 1884 when this one replaced it. In 1950, it was "modernized". That meant removing the clock tower on the top. Luckily, in 1990, it underwent a complete renovation using the original plans and the clocktower was restored.
On the square is the Cochran, Blair and Potts Department Store which was a mercantile business that stocked dry goods, hardware, drugs, and coffins. This store opened in 1884 and has been in business every since. I took a peek in the window and they had leather goods like boots, and clothes.
At the back of the store on the corner was this mural for Belton.
Everyone loves a good Coca-Cola mural, especially me. Belton was a cool little town. It wasn't far to Temple where all the major businesses and chain restaurants are. There was an HEB in Belton right at the line where the road bleeds into Temple.
The next part of the trip was in Waco. If I've driven through Waco once on the way too or from Austin, I've driven through a hundred times. Well, this time we stopped. We stayed downtown at the AC Hotel. It was a great location.
Our first stop was the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame and Museum. We're not talking baseball here. The Texas Rangers started back when Texas was still part of Mexico. They were regular guys that would help patrol the area and keep the settlers safe from attacks.
This is a sample of one of the guns they would carry. Its a Colt Walker Repeating pistol. This thing is heavy! It weighs about the same as a two-liter bottle of soda. If I had this thing in a holster, it would pull my pants down!
The museum was pretty cool. It's the history of the Rangers, warts and all. This the an exhibit about the capture/killing of Bonnie and Clyde. The guy that set up the ambush was Frank Hamer, an ex-Ranger.
Then speaking of Rangers, we go to our next stop. This is the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. I had no idea this place was there! They recognize people that have made "lasting fame and honor to Texas Sports". And of course there's an exhibit for everyone's favorite Texas Ranger, Nolan Ryan.
There was also an exhibit for our 2023 World Champion Texas Rangers.
There were several exhibits for various sports. On one wall, they had the songs for all the various colleges in Texas but they missed the best one, University of Texas - Arlington! We had a song...I think. But then we went into the Tennis exhibit and that's where we found a shout out to UTA. Our tennis team won some stuff!
The next museum was the Dr Pepper Museum. This was the busiest museum we visited that day. Dr Pepper was invented in Waco at the Old Corner Drugstore back in 1885. This was the building where they made it.
Inside they have a timeline of inventions of various soft drinks. Coca-Cola was invented by a guy who used it to try and get over his morphine addiction. Who knew? This replica of the drug store is cool. When you walk in, there are the two guys in a video talking about how they invented Dr Pepper.
This is a well that was dug inside the factory so they had direct access to the water source. The water was from an artesian well. They had to stop using it in the 1920s due to drought. So they filled it with trash and then cemented over it. It was discovered and cleaned out when the museum was opened.
This building was where they would bottle the Dr Pepper. Inside they have a soda fountain where you can get drinks and treats like Dr Pepper flavored cotton candy. Uh, no thank you.
After the tour, you get a nice refreshing glass of Dr Pepper pulled from and old fashioned soda fountain. It was pretty good and Dr Pepper is not my preferred drink. This place was fun and very interesting.
Waco is the county seat of McLennan County. This is the McLennan County Courthouse in the center of downtown. It's the fourth one. The first was a two-story log cabin built in 1851. Then in 1856, a brick courthouse was erected but not very well. There were deaths associated with the "faulty second floor". Another courthouse was built in 1877. But the county outgrew it and in 1901, the current courthouse was built. I love these old courthouses. I'm glad that its still in use.
The Silos. This is where the Magnolia stuff related to Chip and Joanna is located. Pre-Chip and Jo, there was a cotton mill here. The Brazos Valley Cotton Oil Company, which was formed in 1910, would purchase cottonseeds and then extract the oil and store it in these silos. The oil was used for cooking. I've never heard of that before.
In 2014, Chip and Jo bought the place and restored it. Now, there's the Magnolia Home Store, Magnolia Press for coffee and the Silos Bakery. I'm not really a fan but you have to give them credit. Prior to their show, Waco was known for the Branch Davidian disaster and now it's a tourist destination so that people can come see everything Chip and Jo. Plus, I do appreciate preserving history. We didn't go over there during the day so I'm not sure how busy it was but at night, not so much.
On our last day, we went over to the Brazos River and walked around. This is the Waco Suspension Bridge. It's a pedestrian bridge that spans the river, so we took it. Built in 1870, this was originally a toll bridge for wagons, pedestrians and cattle. In 1889, it was sold to the county and became a free bridge.
We walked back over on the Washington Avenue Bridge, built in 1901. I love walking around the river.
Waco has it's own Riverwalk, right along the Brazos River. It's quite peaceful with plenty of trees and places to sit and rest. It was cool in the shade. One thing I thought was odd was that in some places there was no barrier between you and the river!
We wanted to walk around Baylor University but we ran out of time. So much to do! Baylor is definitely a college town. School was out and all the kids left so it was a great time to visit in that there were no lines.
If you're in the area, don't drive through. Stop. The museums are cool and the river is beautiful. We had a great time. Cheers from Waco!
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