Waco, County Seat of McLennan County

The plaque names Waco's flying schools without saying what they were. Waco Army Air Field opened on May 5, 1942, and Blackland Army Air Field began that June as a glider school before training pilots on two-engine aircraft. Reactivated in 1948, the first field became Connally Air Force Base in 1949, named for a local pilot killed in Japan in 1945. Its instrument school trained instructor pilots from allied nations, and the base prepared crews for B-47 bombers. The Twelfth Air Force took over in January 1966, and the base later passed to Texas.

What the plaque says

Waco, County Seat of McLennan County Within sight of this spot March 1, 1849, occurred the first sale of town lots at Waco Village, former home of Waco Indians. Shapley P. Ross, first settler, started Brazos Ferry in 1850. McLennan County was created same year, named for Neil McLennan, pioneer Scot whose cabin on the South Bosque River became first Anglo-American home in the area (1845). Waco, county seat, grew steadily as a center of trade, education, and industry for rich farm and ranch area. Completion of first Brazos River Bridge, 1870, and coming of first railroad, 1872, set city on the road to industrial expansion. At the turn of the century, Waco was one of Texas' major inland cotton exporters. Three Texas Governors have resided in the city: Richard Coke (1874-1876), Sul Ross (1887-1891), and Pat M. Neff (1921-1925). Baylor University moved to Waco, 1886, and Texas Christian University was located here 1896-1910. Military training (1917-1918 and 1941-1966) made Waco famous in faraway places. Camp McArthur and aviation schools at Rich Field, Blackland, Waco Army Air Field, and Connally Air Force Base have been located here. Flood control dams on Brazos Basin (built 1954-1965) assure future water supply of the area and have opened much land for development in metropolitan Waco. (1967)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum — steps away
  The official state repository of Texas Ranger memorabilia, opened in 1968 in Fort Fisher Park on the Brazos, named for a Ranger post of 1837 whose site no one has located.
• Dr Pepper Museum — 0.6 mi
  The 1906 bottling plant of the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company, built where Dr Pepper outgrew a Waco drugstore soda fountain, now the Dr Pepper Museum.
• Waco Suspension Bridge — 0.6 mi
  A Brazos crossing opened in January 1870 as the longest single-span suspension bridge west of the Mississippi, tolled until 1889, closed to vehicles in 1971 and now walked.
• Armstrong Browning Library — 0.8 mi
  A three-story Italian Renaissance library on the Baylor campus built to hold A. J. Armstrong's Browning collection, dedicated in December 1951 and now, by its own account, the world's largest of Browning material.

More markers nearby

• Thomas Hudson Barron — steps away
• Samuel Johan Forsgard — steps away
• William McKendree Lambdin — steps away
• Hebrew Rest — steps away