After the Amicable Life Insurance Company opened for business on April 2, 1910, the owners began searching for a location to house their new business. The owners of First National Bank, located at Fifth Street and Austin Avenue, also served as members of the board of trustees for the Amicable Life Insurance Company (ALICO). The bank owners decided to sell their lot to ALICO, and in 1910, the insurance company demolished the old bank to break ground for the new building.Construction began in...| Waco History
The founding of St. Francis on the Brazos in 1924 marked the return of Franciscan missionaries to central Texas after a century’s absence. At the invitation of Rev. C.E. Byrne, the bishop of Galveston, Spanish Franciscan missionaries settled in Waco to serve the poor Mexican American community of the area. After their first wooden mission burned to the ground in 1928, the missionaries petitioned to have a stone structure built. The Galveston diocese funded the project and hired Roy E. Lane,...| Waco History