City of Waco
PLAY TOUR AUDIO Waco, like many Texas towns, was transformed by the War. Camp MacArthur was built nearby in 1917, housing nearly 45,000 soldiers. It doubled the city’s population. And Waco would…
This tour tells the real stories of Texas’ war time transformations and will guide you to the real places where Texans made their contributions to the Great War.
PLAY TOUR AUDIO Waco, like many Texas towns, was transformed by the War. Camp MacArthur was built nearby in 1917, housing nearly 45,000 soldiers. It doubled the city’s population. And Waco would…
Dominik Naplava was born in Czechoslovakia. At 22 years old, he emigrated from Europe and arrived in Texas in 1914. Naplava twice attempted to join the US Army - but was rejected…
The tank was one of the greatest military and technological advances of the war. It was basically a moving fort! The French were the first to invent a truly effective armored tank…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO No college or university in the country contributed more to the war effort than the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas (today Texas A&M). The faculty voted unanimously in…
Historically, the border between Mexico and Texas was merely political – not cultural or economic. People from both sides crossed over freely, and the region was a fluid mix of traditions. Violence…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO The waterfront of Orange was transformed shortly before - and during – the First World War. Italian immigrant Henry Piaggio built a shipbuilding plant here on the Sabine River…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO Oakwood Cemetery is best known as the burial place of General Sam Houston. But it’s the final resting place for many fascinating Texans, including the famous Marine and World…
At 10:30 a.m. on January 10, 1901, a seismic event changed the course of Texas history. Near this spot, the famous “Lucas Gusher” blew, shooting black crude oil more than 100 feet…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO The Texas Forestry Museum tells the story of industry in the forests of Texas and is one of the largest museums of its kind in the United States. It’s…
As war appeared imminent, Congress passed the National Defense Act of 1916 – a move that would establish Army officer training programs at more than 500 colleges and universities around the country…
Thurber was famous for two things: coal mining and brick making. The Texas & Pacific Coal Company - controlled every facet of the town. Homer G. Harris was a young coal miner…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO Shortly before World War I, Lt. Benjamin Foulois and a cadre of young pilots pushed the limits of flight at Fort Sam Houston. Their bravery and flight experiments would…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO The US Army Medical Museum tells the story of the Army Medical Corps, from 1775 to the present. Part history museum, part science museum, it showcases exhibits covering the…
The massive structure of Hangar 9 at Brooks City Base is a National Historic Landmark – and believed to be the only surviving wooden airplane hangar from World War I in its…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO King William Historic District is one of the most scenic – and historic – neighborhoods in San Antonio. German immigrants settled in San Antonio in the mid-19th century, many…
This stadium, home to the famed Texas Longhorns football team, is also a monument to Texan veterans of the Great War. Built in 1924, 10,000 students and alumni donated money for its…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz — one of the 20th century’s top military minds — was born here to a family of German immigrants. Chester Nimitz’s grandfather, Charles Nimitz…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO Stinson Air Field is named after one of the great pioneers in aviation history: the “Flying Schoolgirl”, Katherine Stinson. The fourth woman to ever earn a pilot’s license, Katherine…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO Home of the Texas Military Forces Museum, Camp Mabry was established in the 1890s. Inside the 45,000-square-foot museum, battle dioramas, full-scale war-scene mock-ups, weapons, and uniforms shed light on…
The final resting place of governors, revolutionaries, and many legendary Texans, this 22-acre sanctuary also holds the remains of 27 servicemen who served in the Great War. One of those veterans was…
In his search for a new Army aviation training site, Major Benjamin Foulois located 700 acres of flat farmland here, 7 miles south of San Antonio. The new aviation base - Kelly…
The Buddy Wright Post of the American Legion was named for PrivateBuddy Wright, the first casualty of World War I from Washington County. The Brenham post was established in 1919, just one…
PLAY TOUR AUDIOThe Battleship Texas is currently closed for a major repair project. The USS Texas holds the distinguished designation of a National Historic Landmark and a National Mechanical Engineering Landmark…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO Brenham was where a young musician from modern-day Czech Republic began a new life. Professor F.J. Navratil immigrated to Texas as a young man, and dedicated his life to…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO In World War I, more than 370,000 African-Americans served in the US Army. One man who symbolizes the story of African-Americans in the Great War, amidst the backdrop of…
This coastal fort was built in 1897, named after the legendary frontiersman and folk hero Davy Crockett, who was killed at the Alamo in 1836 (who once quipped, “You may all go…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO Overlooking Galveston Bay, Fort Travis served as a heavily armed fortification for coastal artillery. Fort Travis was occupied by troops in both world wars, and a number of German…
The Houston Ship Channel was completed in 1914, just as the Great War began. From his office in Washington DC, President Woodrow Wilson fired a cannon via remote control to mark the…
This airfield didn’t end up here by coincidence - but through the intense lobbying of the Houston Chamber of Commerce to the federal government. In 1917, when the US entered the Great…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO Camp Logan trained 45,000 troops during the Great War. Once deserted, the Hogg family purchased two tracts, selling them to the city at cost and establishing a memorial park…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO The Pioneer Flight Museum is home to a special collection of historic aircraft and motorized vehicles, many of which date back to the First World War. As a living…
America had won the war – but it faced another challenge immediately after: how do you integrate millions of soldiers, many suffering from physical and emotional trauma, back into a peacetime economy…
Wartime demands on hardened metals for arms production limited the availability of steel for other applications. As a result, the US Navy produced cargo tankers—included the USS Selma—out of concrete. Though the…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO The sculpture garden of the Anatole Hotel features a most unusual artifact: the giant propeller of the doomed passenger Ship Lusitania. Her brutal sinking by a German submarine killed…
This humble home is the birthplace of the 34th US President: Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower. Born in 1890 in a bedroom of this house, Eisenhower’s family moved to Kansas 18 months after his…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO Fort Worth became part of the vanguard of the military aviation evolution during World War I. Newly built airfields like Barron Field near Fort Worth trained large numbers of…
During the Great War, Dallas became a hotbed of military aviation and training. The Army built Love Field as a base for flight training. After the base opened in October 1917, one…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO During the First World War, the United States struck a deal with its allies in Great Britain and Canada: they could use the excellent training airfields in Texas, and…
This is the home of legendary Texan Sam Bell Maxey. But less well-known are the remarkable contributions made during World War I by another family member who once lived here: Maxey’s great-nephew…
Sam Rayburn was the legendary Texas statesman who served in Congress for a whopping 48 years - including 17 years as Speaker of the House. His career spanned eight presidential administrations -…
Created in 1893, the Fort Worth Stockyards was one of the largest livestock markets in the United States. So much money changed hands here that it was nicknamed “Wall Street of the…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO One of the most remarkable – and least known – stories of the Great War is that of the American Indian code-talkers. Several Choctaw servicemen, who were trained at…
Wartime history is the collection and exhibit focus of the Texas Heritage Museum. This remarkable collection includes personal stories of native Texans at war, and how those experiences have influenced howwe live…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO Benbrook Field – an important Army aviation training center – was located here during the First World War. It was later bulldozed. Here's a story about one of it's…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO More than 500 Army pilots received their wings during the Great War at Call Field. Today, little remains of Call Field, now the site of Wichita Falls regional Airport…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO [CLOSED FOR REDESIGN UNTIL SUMMER OF 2025] Fort Bliss can trace its history back to the Mexican-American War, when it was first garrisoned in 1846. In 1916, Fort Bliss…
Camp Marfa’s heat and isolation didn’t make it the most desirable Army post. The 35 desertions in 1923 attest to that! In the early 1900s, the Mexican Revolution erupted, and Americans feared…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO Fort Clark had a long and colorful history as a US Army post on the Mexican border. Troops were garrisoned here to defend against raids from Comanche and Apache…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO Fort Duncan was established in 1849 after the Mexican War to protect American settlers living near the border. More than 50 years later, in 1911, Lt. Benjamin Foulois and…
This memorial depicts two American soldiers - one Army, one Navy - standing on either side of a German artillery piece. The statue on the right is called “The Spirit of the…
Step into this impressive historical museum and go back into Texas’ past. You’ll see the cavalry boots, spurs, canteen and cartridge belt of Lt. William Younger, a local Texan who fought alongside…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO This humble building is home to American Legion Post #107 – which some claim to be the very first American Legion Hall in the world. This building has played…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO Dating back to 1853, this cemetery is a trip back in time. Here you can walk along the gravestones and mausoleums, and see the final resting places of soldiers…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO Fort Brown has longed played an important role in protecting the border. Originally named Fort Texas, it was a strategic fort in the Mexican War of the mid-1800s and…
PLAY TOUR AUDIO Fort McIntosh was an important Army post established in 1849following the Mexican-American War. When the Mexican Revolution broke out in 1910, Army troops weredeployed to protect the area from…
The history of South Texas runs deep and wide, challenging the best of institutions to explore the region's entire dramatic arc. Edinburg's Museum of South Texas History succeeds in mastering the challenge…
Mountain Trail Region
Building 1735 Marshall Road Fort Bliss, TX 79918 (915) 568-5412 Website
Tropical Trail Region
318 S. Main St. Donna, Texas 78537 (956) 342-4855
Independence Trail Region
903 N. Park Street Brenham, Texas 77833 (979) 836-8348 Website
Independence Trail Region
3523 Independence Pkwy La Porte, TX 77571 (832) 841-3500 Website
Forest Trail Region
601 W Division Orange, TX 77630 (409) 883-1011 Website
Independence Trail Region
105 South Market Street Brenham, TX 77833 (979) 830-8445 Website
Tropical Trail Region
600 E. Jackson Brownsville, Texas 78520 (956) 541-5560 Website
Independence Trail Region
3816 Caroline Houston, TX 77004 (713) 942-9920 Website
Brazos Trail Region
106 Texas Ranger Trail (IH-35 and University Parks Dr.) Waco, TX 76701 254-750-8696 or 800-922-6386 Website
Brazos Trail Region
119 W. French Avenue Temple, TX 76501 (254) 899-2935 Website
Lakes Trail Region
609 South Lamar Avenue Denison, TX 75021 (903) 465-8908 Website
Tropical Trail Region
80 Fort Brown UT-Brownsville and Texas Southmost College Brownsville, TX 78520 (956) 882-7624 Website
Pecos Trail Region
U.S. Hwy 90 and Fort Clark Road Brackettville, TX 78832 (830) 563-2493 Website
Tropical Trail Region
West End Washington Street at Laredo Community College Laredo, TX 78040 (956) 721-5140 Website
Hill Country Trail Region
Fort Sam Houston San Antonio, TX 78234 (210) 221-6358 Website
Hill Country Trail Region
Fort Sam Houston San Antonio, TX 78234 (210) 221-1886 Website
Lakes Trail Region
3300 Ross Avenue Fort Worth, TX 76106 (855) 733-8627 Website
Lakes Trail Region
6911 Lemon Ave Dallas, TX 75235 (214) 350-3600 Website
Lakes Trail Region
3100 White Settlement Road Fort Worth, TX 76107 (817) 336-0584 Website
Independence Trail Region
2311 Canal Street Houston, TX 77003 (713) 225-1688 Website
Hill Country Trail Region
Bounded by Durango, South St. Mary’s, Eaglel, and the San Antonio River San Antonio, Texas 78205 (210) 207-2011 Website
Independence Trail Region
11551 Aerospace Ave. Houston, TX 77034 (800) 359-5736 Website
Hill Country Trail Region
405 E. 23rd St. Austin, TX 78712 (512) 471-7323 Website
Tropical Trail Region
200 North Closner Blvd. Edinburg, Texas 78541 (956) 383-6911 Website
Brazos Trail Region
19124 State Highway 6 S College Station, TX 77845 (979) 690-0501 Website
Hill Country Trail Region
340 East Main St. Fredericksburg, TX 78624 (830) 997-8600 Website
Forest Trail Region
Avenue I and 9th Street Huntsville, TX 77340 (800) 289-0389 Website
Independence Trail Region
190 Pershing Ln. Kingsbury, TX 78638 (830) 639-4162 Website
Independence Trail Region
FM 1098 Rd & University Dr Prairie View, TX 77445 (936) 261-3311 Website