Learning and law came too. Baylor University moved to Waco in 1886 — the oldest continuously operating university in Texas — and made the city a college town along the river. On the Brazos bank the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum keeps the story of the frontier lawmen who policed early Texas, and Wacoans like to point out that their city has produced more Texas governors than any other. For a mid-sized city, it carries an outsized share of the state's history.
The cattle years ran straight into the cotton years. By the 1880s Waco called itself the Cotton Capital of the South, with a grand Cotton Palace fair to prove it — and in 1885, at Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store, a young pharmacist named Charles Alderton mixed up a new fountain drink a full year before Coca-Cola. He called it Dr Pepper, and Waco has been its birthplace ever since; the story is told today in the old brick bottling plant that houses the Dr Pepper Museum.
Why People Visit Waco
Waco balances discovery with simple outdoor time. Visitors mix fossils, the historic bridge, and museums with shaded riverfront parks and an easy downtown. It is friendly, curious, and easy to navigate, with year-round appeal in its parks, paths, and public spaces. Frontier Texas and Ice Age deep time sit side by side here — history and everyday culture together in a welcoming way, with relaxed mornings and unhurried afternoons.
