Waco, Texas

We hadn't planned on visiting Waco but since we were only about an hour away, we made the trek as there were a few things of interest to see.

Who knew that Dr Pepper was invented in Waco?  We'd seen the original Pepsi location so why wouldn't we want to see where Dr Pepper started?  

Dr Pepper was created in the 1880s in Waco by pharmacist Charles Alderton.  It was first served  in 1885, and introduced nationally in the United States at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition as a new kind of soda pop.  Its introduction in 1885 preceded the introduction of Coca Cola by one year.

Early advertisements for the soft drink made medical claims, stating that it "aids digestion and restores vim, vigor, and vitality."

The Dr Pepper Museum was opened to the public in 1991.  The building was the first building to be built specifically to bottle Dr Pepper.  It was completed in 1906, and Dr Pepper was bottled there until the 1960s.

For anyone who knew my mother, you know that she LOVED Diet Dr Pepper.  In fact, she called it her "medicine" and before she made a visit, I would be sure to have plenty on hand.  I don't care for Dr Pepper but it was fun to see lots of the memorabilia.

This simple can brings back SO many memories!  Thinking of you, Mom.

Remember the 10 2 4 slogan?  

This sign would have been part of a pair so the whole message would read "Drink Dr Pepper...at 10 2 and 4."

Nice displays showing how things changed along the way.

Young pharmacist Charles Alderton created Dr Pepper at Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store.  He liked the way fruit syrups made the store smell and set out on a mission to formulate the perfect recipe.

A replica of the Old Corner Drug Store inside the museum.

Doc Alderton portrayed in this hologram.

A nice display of the bottlers and how they worked.

The plant's bottle washer originally sat in this spot.  The bottle washer used very hot water and strong soap to ensure that the bottles were as clean as possible for reuse.  Over the years, the soap and water that leaked from the bottle washer ate away at this section of the floor.

This style of jug, from about 1900, was used at soda factories to dispense syrup to make drinks and treats.

Dr Pepper/Seven Up (DPSU) was created by the merger of Dr Pepper, Inc. and the 7 Up Company in 1986.  The merger was a result of the independent bailouts of both companies and the subsequent Federal Trade Commission blockage of a Dr Pepper merger with Coca-Cola.  The DPSU merger resulted in a breakup of international branding rights held by the two independent companies.  

DPSU was purchased by Cadbury Schweppes and the Carlyle Group in 1995 after the conglomerate became debt-ridden and insolvent.  This made Cadbury Schweppes the largest soft drink company in the world not to be named after a cola beverage.

A deadly series of at least 33 tornadoes hit 10 different states on May 9-11, 1953.  The strongest and deadliest tornado was a powerful F5 tornado that struck Waco on May 11, causing 114 of the 144 deaths in the outbreak.  It was the deadliest tornado in Texas history and is the 11th deadliest tornado in U.S. history.

Bill Little worked at the Dr Pepper plant the day the tornado hit and recalled the roaring of the wind and crashing of lightning as the tornado struck the Waco plant.

"Numerous cases of Dr Pepper were sucked out of the plant as the huge roll down doors were as Kleenex being crushed within one's hand," Little recalled.  "The boxcars were turned over and sugar was scattered over a wide area.  The building groaned as it took the full force of the storm."

"As suddenly as the tornado hit, it moved away from us.  The terrible roaring sounds ceased and the crying and screams of the survivors could be heard along with the sounds of car horns and emergency vehicles," Little said.

Included in the destruction was the original pharmacy that Dr Pepper was created in.

An interesting visit but it was time to move on.

Baylor University

Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university which was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas.  Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the first educational institutions west of the Mississippi River in the United States.  With a campus of 1,000 acres, it is the largest Baptist university in the world.

What a beautiful campus!

You know we found the book store.

Hats

The Bill & Eva Williams Bear Habitat is fully accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the independent, international accrediting organization for the best zoos and aquariums.  Baylor became the first university in the world to receive this designation and joins the Santa Fe college Teaching Zoo in Gainesville, Florida, as the only AZA accredited zoos on higher education campuses.

Baylor students, school groups and campus visitors frequently visit the Bear Habitat, a facility heralded as one of the most visited spots on campus.  The Habitat welcomes an estimated 25,000 visitors per year, including over 5,000 children visiting on educational trips for schools, camps, and other groups.

Unfortunately, the bears were not there for us to visit as they were off site for training.  But we did learn a bit about the two cubs who were not yet a year old.

While at a university, we always like to see the stadiums.  We saw this in the bookstore......

.....and were happy when we were able to find the "real" thing.

The name of the stadium will spark a memory for my high school friends.

Waco might be most well known for the siege of Mount Carmel and the Branch Davidians by the federal government for 51 days in February-April, 1993.  There is A LOT to the story so I'm not going to rehash it here but many of us remember the siege and ultimate fire that destroyed the compound.  Of the 85 Branch Davidians in the compound on the final day of the siege, 76 died in various ways from falling rubble, to suffocating effects of the fire, or by gunshot from fellow Branch Davidians.  Additionally, four ATF officers lost their lives.

Coincidentally, about 6 months after I'd started a new job, I was in Waco in mid April, 1993.  The fire had been out just a few days (as usual, my memories are sketchy) and a few of the attendees and I took a drive out to the site to see what we could see.  I remember we couldn't get too close but the streets leading to the compound were lined with vendors selling t-shirts and other memorabilia.  And later that night, we met for a group dinner and the restaurant was filled with journalists - even Peter Jennings was there!

So here we were again 30 years later.

We'd read some reviews, many of which were a bit sketchy, and learned that if the gates were open we were free to drive on.  Hmmm, gates were open.  Should we keep going?

See the house behind the sign?  Apparently, someone lives there so they open the gates when it's convenient for them but somehow it seemed ghoulish so we just turned around and looked at the church from the truck.

This guy (or gal) seemed perfectly at peace being there.

It was a full day but we were glad we made the trip.