Local History: Local History Stories

51 years of educating the community: the old Waco High School on N. 19th

The Waco High School Lofts on Columbus.  If you have lived in the Waco area since 2010, you may have heard of and possibly driven by them.  Waco High School on N. 42nd.  You may have driven by or near the school, maybe you attended school there, or perhaps you heard about it due to the recent bond election to fund the construction of a new campus.  But do you know about Waco High School on N. 19th Street?   

First, some history: Central High School, which was located at 4th and Webster, essentially where Hoffman Banana Co. was located for many years, served white public school students from 1887 until 1912.  In 1912, a new high school, called Waco High School, opened at 815 Columbus.  

Fifty-four years later, in December 1966, the Waco Independent School District board approved holding a February election to get voter approval to sell $2 million in bonds each year from 1967 through 1969 to fund, among other things, the construction of new high schools in the Jefferson Urban Renewal area and on N. 19th as well as what would eventually be called Viking Hills Elementary School.  On Tuesday, February 21, 1967, a majority of Waco voters approved the bond package (and also approved a separate $17 million city of Waco bond package).  

While Viking Hills was dedicated in November 1968 and construction started on the Jefferson school about mid-1969, higher interest rates in 1969 required Waco ISD to go back to voters to ask that they approve new bonds at the higher rate to fund the construction of the new North Waco high school.  

As the election approached, then-Superintendent Avery Downing expressed concern that if the new bond election failed, the district would be forced to move students around as Jefferson-Moore High School was then under construction and would replace both Waco and Moore high schools.  Waco ISD’s other high schools were University and Richfield.  According to newspaper reports, he feared that a failed election would result in “volatile shifting” and would “set this town ablaze”. Fortunately for Waco ISD, a majority of voters approved the new bonds in the election held on November 18, 1969.  

In September 1970, while the new high schools were being built, student government leaders from both Waco and Moore high schools asked the district to keep those names for the new schools.  As history shows us, only Waco High students were fully successful in that quest, while the new school on Jefferson Avenue was given the name Jefferson-Moore High School.  

A little more than four years after the original bond election and a year and a half after the second, on Friday, May 7, 1971, Waco High School students left the school and walked the four miles to their new school.  Robert Evans led the procession, just as he did in 1912 when students walked from Central High School to the new Waco High on Columbus.  

Waco ISD school consolidation plans in the early 1980s meant the end of Waco High on N. 19th after only 15 years of use. At the start of the 1986-87 school year, Waco, Jefferson-Moore, and Richfield high schools all merged into one Waco High School on the Richfield campus on N. 42nd.   

In April 1986 McLennan Community College and Waco ISD officials began discussing the possibility of the college buying the school when it closed at the end of the 1985-86 school year.  On Thursday, March 5, 1987, the Waco ISD board voted to sell the former Waco High School to MCC for $3 million.  

After buying the facility, MCC made some renovations, moved some of its programs into the building, and paved the former football practice field to provide more parking spaces. In May 1988, MCC renamed the building the Community Services Center. Thus, 51 years after it opened, 36 years after it closed, and 35 years to the month since Waco ISD agreed to sell it to MCC, the former Waco High School on N. 19th continues to serve the community as a place of education. 

Bibliography and further reading

Bonds would buy sites for school”.  Waco News-Tribune, 15 Feb 1967, p. 1A  

Cantrell, Roger. “School trustees plan $6 million bond issue”. Waco News-Tribune, 16 Dec 1966, p. 1  

“Downing warns of student shuffle if voters fail to pass bond plan”.  Waco News-Tribune, 13 Nov 1969, p. 1A 

“Former high school renamed”.  Waco Tribune-Herald, 25 May 1988, p. 1B 

“Future of Waco High becomes point of discussion school bond issue”.  Waco News-Tribune, 15 Feb 1967, p. 10A

Gines, Sandra.  “MCC trustees OK preliminary parking plans”.  Waco Tribune-Herald, 13 Jan 1988, p. 1B

Hoover, Carl.  “MCC eyes WISD campus”.  Waco Tribune-Herald, 19 Apr 1986, 1B

“Ideal high school for Waco students”.  Waco Morning News, 28 Jan 1912, p. 13 

McNabb, Linda.  “WISD votes to sell Waco High to MCC district for $3 million”.  Waco Tribune-Herald, 6 Mar 1987, p. 1A

Sadler, Bob and Roger Cantrell.  “Waco voters give city, school bond issues decisive win in surprisingly big turnout”.  Waco News-Tribune, 22 Feb 1967, p. 1

Shipp, Dixie.  “Waco gives approval to school bond issue”.  Waco News-Tribune, 19 Nov 1969, p. 1

“Trustees OK new Waco High School”.  Waco News Tribune, 14 Jul 1971, p. 1A

Tweedle, Renee.  “Same school names sought by students”.  Waco News-Tribune, 3 Sep 1970, p. 2A

Tweedle, Renee.  “Waco High students walkout…but for a stroll to new school”.  Waco Tribune-Herald, 8 May 1971

Photo Gallery

Waco High School 

Waco High School 

Waco High School 

Waco High School Aerial 

Waco High School Construction