Waco, Texas

 

 

population ~ 1/8 of a million

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Victoria, Texas

 

Population ~60,000 (~7,000 in 1930)

metro area ~111,111

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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New Braunfels, Texas

This used to be the fourth largest city in Texas. (in 1850)

 

Probably the most Ohio-like small city in the state; heavy German influence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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…and at the request of eastvillagedon, here is a picture with at least one person:

 

 

Waco and Victoria are awful places (and I usually give EVERY place some props but those two...no) but I dug New Braunfels (okay, Schlitterbahn).

As a long time Texas resident (Fort Worth) I concur that New Braunfels probably has more charm than Waco or Victoria. If you are looking for great historic architecture Texas has lost most of it to "progress". There are probably more historic homes and buildings in Mansfield, Ohio than in the three largest Texas cities combined.  It's ironic that places where economic progress has been limited and slow are the very places most likely to have surviving historic architecture-such is the American obsession to tear down old homes and buildings deemed "obsolete" only to be replaced by modern structures built with a 30-40 year life expectancy with no expectation of permanence.  With that in mind, we should enjoy these streetscapes because the ones of the future may be even more ugly and cheap. Nice photos in any case whatever the subject matter and location.

FWIW my aunt and uncle retired to New Braunfels from North Royalton...after being lifelong Clevelanders and big boosters of NEO they moved south because of health (weather) reasons.

They like NB...saying it does compare in some ways to Ohio.

Waco seems to have some interesting buildings -- but they're scattered between the many vacant lots, and I noticed several of them had been "updated" with sealed, single-pane windows that look awful.

A bit of an overstatement stating that Manfield has more historic stuff than all three of texas largest cities which technically are Dallas, houston, and san antonio. Houston is the worst of the three but has a decent amount of nice historic homes from the 10s, 20s, and 30s and some historic arch downtown. They really lack urban commercial and walkable neighborhoods. San Antonio has a lot of historic charm downtown, in King William just to the south and quite an extensive historic area north of dwtn focus in the Monte vista neighborhood. Downtown Dallas has a wonder historic set of historic buildings and several good urban neighborhoods. But obviously i agree that ohio far more historic arch. Across the state than Texas.

urbanforever,

Of course you are correct in your statement as I did say "historic" rather than Victorian era which was what I was thinking. There is some of that left as you noted in San Antonio's King William district and a bit of it left in Houston around Heights Blvd. Dallas-Fort Worth only has isolated examples (I live in one) Galveston is really the only large repository of 19th century architecture remaining in Texas and is consists of what the Great Hurricane of September 1900 spared; the city went from being the largest in Texas to a sleepy seaport in the wake of the storm. Maybe Mansfield was not a good example in absolute numbers but perhaps in percentages...I hope you'll agree Cincinnati eclipses every city in Texas with its 19th century architecture. The popular beverage, Dr. Pepper, was concocted in Waco in the 1880's and its Baylor University (established in the late 1840's but moved to Waco in 1886) was a contemporary but the city of that era has almost been obliterated. I admire that Ohio has done a better job at preserving its architectural heritage and hope it continues to do so. There may be a faded Victorian there awaiting our arrival. I have a California friend who also believes the Buckeye State is his future.