Waco

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm gonna give it to you straight with a little extra air in the lungs. Waco. Say that name out loud and you're already saying something.

Named for the Waco Indians, this city was founded in 1849, planted right there in the heart of Central Texas like somebody meant it to stay. And stay it did. When the Civil War came calling, Waco didn't look the other way.

The city sent men to state frontier defense and to the Confederate Army. Five generals of the Confederate States of America called this place home. Five.

That is not a small number for one city to put forward, and the marker makes sure you know it. But Waco was never just a place shaped by war. It grew into something that the whole Central Texas region leaned on.

Its civic facilities and its financial enterprises reaching out across that broad middle stretch of the state, serving a populous region that needed a center of gravity. Waco became that center. And then there's what it built in peacetime.

Baylor University. Paul Quinn College. Cameron Park.

And every year, the Heart O'Texas Fair rolling back into town like a promise kept. Founded 1849. Named for the Waco Indians.

Built into something the whole region calls its own. That's Waco, and the marker doesn't need to exaggerate a single word.

What the marker says

Founded 1849. Named for Waco Indians. Sent men to state frontier defense and Confederate Army in Civil War. Home of five C.S.A. generals. Civic facilities serve as populous Central Texas region, as do its financial enterprises. Home of Baylor University, Paul Quinn College, Cameron Park and annual Heart O'Texas Fair.