Speegleville, Texas facts for kids
Speegleville is a small community in McLennan County, located in the middle of Texas. It's like a neighborhood or suburb of the bigger city of Waco. You can find Speegleville about 8 miles west of Waco, right on the edge of Lake Waco. In 2000, about 111 people lived there.
Today, Speegleville has a volunteer fire department, an elementary school, and three churches. There's also Speegleville Park by Lake Waco, which is a fun place with a public beach and campgrounds maintained by the US Army Corps of Engineers.
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A Look Back at Speegleville's History
Speegleville got its name from a man named Israel Washington Speegle. He was a blacksmith and farmer who moved to the area in 1849 from Missouri.
Early Days of the Community
In 1859, a Baptist church group, called the Pleasant Grove Church, started up. They shared a building with the local school. Speegleville even had its own post office from 1879 to 1929, and Israel Speegle was the very first postmaster.
By the mid-1880s, about 25 people lived in Speegleville, and this grew to 50 by the early 1890s. In 1896, the community had two general stores. Most people living there made their living by raising farm animals. The Speegleville school district had 77 students and one teacher that year.
Moving for the Lake
Building the Waco Dam in the late 1920s meant that some people had to move their homes or businesses. Then, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, residents had to move again! This was because a new dam was being built for Lake Waco. The original town area was covered by the lake, and Speegleville became more spread out, with houses scattered around instead of a central town.
In 1980, the Speegleville Independent School District joined with the Midway Independent School District.
People from Speegleville
Some interesting people have lived in Speegleville:
- Congressman Joe Barton worked at the Speegleville Store during his teenage summers. He helped his uncle, Calvin Buice, who owned the store.
- Johnny Watkins was a local celebrity. He hosted a farm and ranch show on a TV channel called KCEN.