By Maggie Meegan | Reporter
Since its founding in 1849, the city of Waco has celebrated over 175 years with history packed into every moment. Two history buffs have turned a podcast series covering the 175 years into a live show event to celebrate all that has happened in Waco.
Dr. Stephen Sloan, director of the Institute for History at Baylor, has created a way for visitors to learn about Waco’s history. It started 10 years ago as an app called Waco History, exploring different paths around Waco and telling the history of different spots.
“It’s an app of highlighting stories, images, clips of oral histories and things like that that deal with different aspects of Waco’s history,” Sloan said.
Expanding beyond just the app, Sloan has taken other media paths to educate people about Waco’s history. Through his podcast, “Waco History,” he started a series called “Waco 175” that he co-hosts with Rick Tullis, a Baylor graduate and current member of the Office of the Vice Provost for Research.
“It was 175 years since Waco’s founding, so we decided to do a special series where we would take 25-year blocks and count down the most important events, issues and individuals in each of those 25 years,” Sloan said.
With the series ending with a live show March 19, Sloan and Tullis have a lot to reflect on from creating the 35-episode series. The live show will be hosted at Vitek’s BBQ and will have Waco trivia along with other activities to celebrate the end of the series.
With a live audience watching, this will be a new experience for the hosts and a great chance to connect with their listeners, Sloan said.
“It is allowing us to get to see the faces of the voices who have given us feedback on the series,” Sloan said.
Sloan emphasized that going through the 175 years of Waco, the most important part that stood out to him was the history happening now.
“For me, as a historian, I like to really think about the 2000s to 2025,” Sloan said. “Getting to think, ‘OK, what is most important? What can we maybe guess is going to be the most important historically and have a long-term impact on what Waco is and how Waco developed during this time?'”
Tullis had a different perspective on which time period he admires most about Waco’s history.
“There was a lot that really focused on the economic history of Waco,” Tullis said. “The early 1900s were kind of this golden age of [the] cotton economy. That really does not exist anymore in Central Texas.”
Both hosts hope to carry out some kind of media platform that still dives into Waco’s history. Sloan hopes to continue and grow Waco History into more digital opportunities and to expand what the app offers. As for Tullis, he hopes to continue a smaller series in the future and use what he has learned about Waco as he steps into his new role of McLennan County Judge.
