Rapid Delivery from a Famous Firm
Even before the Magnolia craze, Waco has been attracting tourists and shoppers from miles around. This scene from 1911 is not far from the downtown Waco we know today. Just like Spice Village on a Saturday game day, thousands of tourists came to Waco every year to shop and see the sights. This photo was taken the same year the Amicable (today the Alico) building became the tallest building in the southwestern United States. The streets here are lined with hundreds dressed in their Sunday best, hoping to get into the famous shops that lined Waco’s downtown streets.
Much like the downtown Waco we see today, this view down Austin Ave shows the staples of downtown Waco. In addition to the Amicable building towering above the city, we also see historic Waco buildings like the Hippodrome and the McLennan County Court House. This view is only slightly different from the one we see today, with the old City Hall and town square sitting in the distance at the end of Austin Ave. Surprisingly, many local business took up residence in the old City Hall and Court House after their usual residents moved to their new homes.
Even after the political residents moved to the new buildings, the City Hall and Old Court House remained hubs of activity and commerce. Several businesses took advantage of the prime real estate, including the steam laundry service owned by the Crow Brothers. The Waco Steam Laundry Service owned by the brothers was located in the Old Court House at 2nd and Franklin. With their army of delivery trucks and buggies, this service would have been an essential part of daily local life in Waco.
Each of the Crow Brother’s delivery vehicles had their logo and phone number prominently displayed on the side. If someone saw one of these coming down their street, they would almost definitely know who to call for reliable laundry service. These early model trucks would have replaced most of the traditional horse and buggies, but the Crow Brothers kept some of the more traditional vehicles in their fleet as well.
These reliable horse and buggy vehicles remained in the Crow Brothers’ fleet for some time after the use of motor vehicles became more common. The buggies would have been more reliable than motor vehicles, because they were less likely to have mechanical trouble and could travel on the dirt roads of the city far more easily. This buggy is labeled No. 9 in the delivery fleet, so the Crow Brothers had quite the delivery service for their time! This photo also bears the description “rapid delivery from a famous firm.”
Crow Brothers Laundry wasn’t the only Waco business to see the value in traditional transportation. Other companies like the Geyser Ice Company used buggies well into the 1920’s. For ice companies like Geyser, the buggy could be packed with hay or straw to help insulate the ice and keep it cool for the customers. An early motor vehicle would have given off too much heat to keep the ice in tact for sales.
As with early motor vehicles, traditional transportation required some upkeep and repairs. If a business didn’t have a stable onsite, which would have been fairly difficult in downtown Waco, they could pay to keep their trusty steeds in a boarding stable like Jackson’s, pictured here. These stables would feed and care for the horses left in their charge. These businesses all worked together and relied on each other for their daily operations. There would be no ice in the icebox without the weekly delivery, and there would be no weekly delivery if the horses were not well taken care of by stables like Jackson’s.
While many local businesses relied on traditional horse and buggy delivery transportation, other larger corporations were embracing the future of motor vehicles. The Coca-Cola bottling plant in town was located just blocks away from Waco’s own Dr. Pepper bottling facility. Coca-Cola began using these motorized trucks as early as 1916 for more efficient delivery.
Like Coca-Cola, many businesses in town tried to make their delivery as efficient as possible. Industrial manufacturers like Louis Lipshitz relied on a tried and true method of long-distance transportation that appeared in the nineteenth century: rail. Although it would have been a “traditional” method, this highly efficient delivery service is still utilized by industrial manufacturers today. In this photo, the Lipshitz factory has access to a direct line situated to the side of the plant. These rail lines allowed businesses to stretch their distribution to places outside of the city, connecting Waco to the outside world and establishing the city as a major industrial provider in Texas.
While Waco has come a long way since the first decades of the twentieth century, its local businesses remain the heart and soul of the city. Without industrial and commercial exports, Waco would not have been able to transform itself into the city we know today. And of course, none of those exports would have been possible without rapid delivery from a famous firm.
Gildersleeve’s photos offer a fascinating look into Waco’s cultural and commercial past. The following photos explore other facets of Waco and Texas history not covered in this part of the exhibit.
Additional images from the Lockwood Gildersleeve Collection
