Waco State Home
Waco, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1919, the 36th Texas Legislature established a "state home for dependent and neglected children" in Waco to provide these children with care, training, and education. The Waco State Home, as it later was renamed, officially opened in 1922. Located on a hill that then overlooked the city of Waco, the campus was situated on land that had been part of Camp MacArthur, an early 20th Century Army training camp. Two brick dormitories were constructed to house the children, although additional facilities were built as needed. During the late 1930s, enrollment reached nearly 400 children. Houseparents provided supervision for those who lived on campus. Until the mid-1950s, the Waco State Home operated as an Independent School District to provide an education for dependent and neglected children. The home also managed a farm on the property, producing much of the food consumed by the residents. Its yields included dairy products, vegetables, and livestock feed. Until 1979, when the facility was closed, the Waco State Home provided care, training, and education to hundreds of needy children during their formative years, many of its former students have become active citizens of communities throughout the state. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Established by the Texas Legislature in 1919 and opened in 1922, the Waco State Home cared for dependent and neglected children on a hilltop campus that had been part of Camp MacArthur, a World War I army training ground. Brick dormitories, live-in houseparents, and a working farm sustained a population that neared 400 by the late 1930s, and until the mid-1950s the home ran its own independent school district. It closed in 1979 after schooling and raising hundreds of Texas children.
Why it matters
The home shows how a state took on the care and education of its most vulnerable children in the twentieth century, a chapter in the history of American public welfare.
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Themes & tags
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