I haven't done a Waco History article in awhile and just got the itch. I'll try to do more in the future.
Given, Waco's more recent history with the Branch Davidians and Biker Gangs, I don't think the Chamber of Commerce is excited about the nickname. But, Waco does unfortunately have a long history of gun violence.
Waco as "Six Shooter Junction"
In the 1870s, Waco was a fast-growing frontier town sitting along the Brazos, with dirt streets, wooden storefronts, and a skyline broken mostly by church steeples and saloon signs. Men wore broad hats, boots, and dust from the trail. You had merchants, cotton traders, and lawyers trying to build something stable. But, mixed in were cowboys, drifters, and cattle punchers moving up the Chisholm Trail. It was a town trying to decide what it wanted to be.
And for a time, it leaned rough.
Because of the Suspension Bridge, Waco became a chokepoint for commerce, a natural stop for cattle drives. Saloons and gambling houses lined parts of town, and just south of the square sat the "Reservation," the only legally tolerated prostitution district in the US outside of Las Vegas.
Waco, was organized, busy, and by all accounts, profitable. It had a combustible mix of whiskey, gambling, prostitution, and conflicting agendas.
The environment was primed for conflict.
According to the Texas State Historical Association, Waco's concentration of saloons, vice, and armed men in the 1870s helped earn it the name "Six Shooter Junction."
There were no high-noon movie style duels. Its reputation came from arguments that escalated quickly in a town where almost every man carried a revolver. Contemporary accounts describe shootings breaking out along Austin Avenue and near the public square, often tied to gambling disputes or alcohol-fueled confrontations.
In one widely cited late-19th-century incident, two cowhands opened fire on each other after a saloon argument spilled into the street, sending bystanders scrambling for cover. It was more Unforgiven than Open Range.
The Baylor Texas Collection notes that violent encounters were "all too common on its dusty streets," reinforcing the idea that gunfire in public spaces was not unusual, even if most individual incidents went largely unrecorded outside local papers.
The most famous shootout was between Waco businessman Tom Davis and WC Brann, the editor of a periodic very critical of Waco and Baylor.
The headline of Waco's "Weekly Tribune" on April 2, 1898 - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/569/pg569-images.html
THE STREET DUEL TO THE DEATH IN WACO STREETS. THERE ARE TWO MORE WIDOWS AND EIGHT MORE ORPHANS.
The article included the testimony of Policeman Sam Hall:
"I was standing in front of George Willig's office at the alley and Fourth Street on the same side of the street and say forty or forty-five feet away from the place where the shooting took place. I was talking to Mr. Dugger and was standing out on the sidewalk. Some four or five minutes before the shooting occurred I looked across the street and saw Brann and Ward standing in front of the haberdasher store of L. Krauss, and at that time Davis passed them and went on a couple of doors and stepped inside of the storeroom at that point. I then looked away, not having any idea at all of any trouble, but just happened to see them. The next thing I noticed was the men were close together in front of French's newsstand with Davis between me and Brann and Ward. The first of the trouble I saw Davis had his pistol in his hand and instantly fired. Brann whirled and commenced firing at Davis. I immediately started to them, but had to work my way in and out of one door to the other and work my way along the wall of the building, as Brann was shooting directly toward me all the time. I hallooed several times at them to stop shooting, and just before I reached them Davis fell on the sidewalk and Brann was still shooting. Davis attempted to rise and Ward caught Davis by the shoulders and pulled him back down on the sidewalk. Davis turned with his face towards Brann and kept trying to fire, but his pistol snapped. I jumped over Davis and caught Brann and took the pistol out of his hands. Brann's pistol is a Colts .41, latest improved, and was loaded all around and all chambers were freshly fired. When I caught Brann, Ward was standing up by the wall holding his hand that was shot. I saw Ward fire no shots and I saw no pistol in his hand. I then started with Brann to the city hall, and as I crossed the street towards the Citizens National Bank, Police Officer Durie came up and assisted me in taking Brann on to the city hall."
"Six Shooter Junction" wasn't built on one story. It came from enough moments like this to make people take notice. And in a town where arguments could turn deadly in the space of a few seconds, that was enough to define it.
Waco Cowboys - circa 1885-1890 from UNT Texas History Collection.
Given, Waco's more recent history with the Branch Davidians and Biker Gangs, I don't think the Chamber of Commerce is excited about the nickname. But, Waco does unfortunately have a long history of gun violence.
Waco as "Six Shooter Junction"
In the 1870s, Waco was a fast-growing frontier town sitting along the Brazos, with dirt streets, wooden storefronts, and a skyline broken mostly by church steeples and saloon signs. Men wore broad hats, boots, and dust from the trail. You had merchants, cotton traders, and lawyers trying to build something stable. But, mixed in were cowboys, drifters, and cattle punchers moving up the Chisholm Trail. It was a town trying to decide what it wanted to be.
And for a time, it leaned rough.
Because of the Suspension Bridge, Waco became a chokepoint for commerce, a natural stop for cattle drives. Saloons and gambling houses lined parts of town, and just south of the square sat the "Reservation," the only legally tolerated prostitution district in the US outside of Las Vegas.
Waco, was organized, busy, and by all accounts, profitable. It had a combustible mix of whiskey, gambling, prostitution, and conflicting agendas.
The environment was primed for conflict.
According to the Texas State Historical Association, Waco's concentration of saloons, vice, and armed men in the 1870s helped earn it the name "Six Shooter Junction."
There were no high-noon movie style duels. Its reputation came from arguments that escalated quickly in a town where almost every man carried a revolver. Contemporary accounts describe shootings breaking out along Austin Avenue and near the public square, often tied to gambling disputes or alcohol-fueled confrontations.
In one widely cited late-19th-century incident, two cowhands opened fire on each other after a saloon argument spilled into the street, sending bystanders scrambling for cover. It was more Unforgiven than Open Range.
The Baylor Texas Collection notes that violent encounters were "all too common on its dusty streets," reinforcing the idea that gunfire in public spaces was not unusual, even if most individual incidents went largely unrecorded outside local papers.
The most famous shootout was between Waco businessman Tom Davis and WC Brann, the editor of a periodic very critical of Waco and Baylor.
The headline of Waco's "Weekly Tribune" on April 2, 1898 - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/569/pg569-images.html
THE STREET DUEL TO THE DEATH IN WACO STREETS. THERE ARE TWO MORE WIDOWS AND EIGHT MORE ORPHANS.
The article included the testimony of Policeman Sam Hall:
"I was standing in front of George Willig's office at the alley and Fourth Street on the same side of the street and say forty or forty-five feet away from the place where the shooting took place. I was talking to Mr. Dugger and was standing out on the sidewalk. Some four or five minutes before the shooting occurred I looked across the street and saw Brann and Ward standing in front of the haberdasher store of L. Krauss, and at that time Davis passed them and went on a couple of doors and stepped inside of the storeroom at that point. I then looked away, not having any idea at all of any trouble, but just happened to see them. The next thing I noticed was the men were close together in front of French's newsstand with Davis between me and Brann and Ward. The first of the trouble I saw Davis had his pistol in his hand and instantly fired. Brann whirled and commenced firing at Davis. I immediately started to them, but had to work my way in and out of one door to the other and work my way along the wall of the building, as Brann was shooting directly toward me all the time. I hallooed several times at them to stop shooting, and just before I reached them Davis fell on the sidewalk and Brann was still shooting. Davis attempted to rise and Ward caught Davis by the shoulders and pulled him back down on the sidewalk. Davis turned with his face towards Brann and kept trying to fire, but his pistol snapped. I jumped over Davis and caught Brann and took the pistol out of his hands. Brann's pistol is a Colts .41, latest improved, and was loaded all around and all chambers were freshly fired. When I caught Brann, Ward was standing up by the wall holding his hand that was shot. I saw Ward fire no shots and I saw no pistol in his hand. I then started with Brann to the city hall, and as I crossed the street towards the Citizens National Bank, Police Officer Durie came up and assisted me in taking Brann on to the city hall."
"Six Shooter Junction" wasn't built on one story. It came from enough moments like this to make people take notice. And in a town where arguments could turn deadly in the space of a few seconds, that was enough to define it.
Waco Cowboys - circa 1885-1890 from UNT Texas History Collection.
