WACO, Texas (KXXV) — On Saturday a community scavenger hunt celebrated Waco’s 175th anniversary as a settlement. The scavenger hunt will trace Waco’s early years by traveling around the city to locate historical sites.
- The scavenger hunt went to seven historic locations
- Nearly 30 teams and 100 people participated
- The Waco History app and website were used for the scavenger hunt
- Waco's 175th Anniversary celebrations will go until March 2025
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"A lot of things change over time, and obviously city of Waco is not the same as it once was 20 years ago, and it's going to keep changing."
Local mom Daniela Gallegos brought her kids to Waco's community scavenger hunt over the weekend.
"So learning the history about it is always it's a foundation to knowing who you are and where we're from and all that fun stuff," she said.
While she grew up in Waco— she said there is still more for her family to learn.
"She's learned about the Waco Indians that once lived here. And that's something that she never, you know, probably knew about, even though she had, she her school's right was right across the Brazos rivers. I don't think she actually knew that the Indians actually settled right here on Brazos river," she said.
Nearly 30 teams followed clues along with the Waco History app— around seven historic locations in our Waco neighborhood for the hunt— including Fort Fisher where the Texas Ranger Museum is and the Earle-Harrison House.
"I think it's when you start to call a place home where, when you really have you're grounded and rooted there, and you understand some of the. History, it's what makes a place unique. I think it changes how we value the place that we live and the community that we're in," Dr. Stephen Sloan said.
Professor and director of the Institute for Oral History at Baylor, Dr. Stephen Sloan, created the Waco history website and app.
He said it was developed because our community lacks a local history museum.
"What I love about it is we can tell stories from a multitude of perspectives. So there's a lot of African American history on the app. There's women's history on the app, where we would be real limited if I had a brick and mortar museum," he said.
