New Life In An Old Downtown

    Sometimes a city that has reach history just stays in one place. Sometimes a natural disaster happens that puts that city on notice. Other times, it may be a new business comes in and puts the entire town on notice for tourist coming in. Sometimes it's a combination of both. When a natural disaster does happen, but that one thing stands tall in the end. Waco is the perfect destination for if you're on your way from Dallas to Houston or Dallas to Austin. Let's take a deeper dive into the positives and negatives into Downtown Waco and what got it jumpstarted.

    Basics Behind Waco:
    Another concern (especially for the millennial generation) is the lack of good income at a young age. Waco doesn't have the resources of a Dallas or Houston to bring in a ton of attention for good jobs for people just coming out of college and they never will. So big businesses can't come in and be successful immediately due to the lack of population compared to the bigger cities in the state. For example, if you just finished college with a Bachelor's Degree in Sports Communications and you're looking for a $50,000+ salary job within the first 3 years in Waco, it's very unlikely you'll find that. If you move out to a Houston or at least San Antonio, you'll find positions left and right concerning your position and a better start out pay.

    Positives and Negatives to Waco:
    The positives for those that are planning or considering moving to Waco is that Waco is not considered to be a boom nor bust town, although it could be nearing to the point of that. With the Silos and the Gaines' success, it also brings up the question of, "What happens when the Silos popularity dies down"?. With the addition of "Waco Tours", Waco is trying to go for the tourist kind of culture. When in reality, Waco doesn't have enough exotic attractions or a different setting or culture to be a tourist town...yet. One other stat according to my Interview with Downtown Neighborhood Association President, Andi Lopez is that "18% of the population leaves Waco at a certain point through the year". That number is inflated some by Baylor Students. That still means that 25,000 people leave Waco for over at least a month period of time per year. Some families are starting to just stay for a month or two per year rather than staying in Waco long-term. With more apartments going up in the downtown area and having a college like Baylor, it changes the diversity with more and more college students moving into the downtown area.

    Waco has been impacted with the good and the bad. Whether that be from the Tornado hitting back in 1953 or the lynching of Jesse Washington on May, 15th, 1916. What has created new life and an attraction is the Magnolia Market and Silos is what makes people want to come to downtown Waco. But little do people know that the Silos was one of the few things that survived that 1953 Tornado that injured thousands and killed 114 people. It was a plethora of tornadoes across the United States as there were at least 33 tornadoes touched down in 11 States from May 9-11th. Waco's was a category F-5 that demolished almost the entire downtown and was the tied for the deadliest in the state (The 1902 Goliad Tornado) and ranked 11th nationally.

    How Magnolia and the Silos have changed Waco:
    Chip and Joanna Gaines are the hosts of a HGTV show, "Fixer Upper" and are also the owners of the Silos. Chip as well as Joanna are Baylor alumni and after investing properties in the Baylor Area in the business and established in own company 'Trinity Properties', they thought bigger plans. He and his wife were involved in constructing and designing houses of the client the way they wanted which was followed by his work as a co-worker of his wife's company Magnolia Homes. It was a store with all types of accessories along with constructing and designing. After they got Fixer Upper going and they became national, the Gaines decided to take a leap and turn their Silos into a tourist attractions that would bring people from all around. I personally have been to Magnolia Table and the 2 times have been there, have met people from halfway across the country. One couple was from Philadelphia and one family was from Seattle, coming all the way to Waco just to see the Silos.

    Many of my friends say that they don't necessary love the Silos. But I like the silos and the idea and concept behind it. I'm sure Wacoans don't like it now is due to the fact that Waco is used to having tourist come into town. Another one is the fear of the Gaines leaving Waco to move to another Boom city like Houston and that would leave Waco back to where it was not even 5 years ago. No matter what people say, Magnolia, The Silos, and The Gaines are making Waco a place to go to.

Image Credit: https://www.kwtx.com/content/news/Downtown-was-gone-after-1953-tornado-today-its-more-vibrant-that-ever-482338421.html. http://downtownwacotx.com/shop/