Exploring the Original Fundraising Campaign for Tidwell Bible Building

As the sounds of jackhammers echo throughout campus, it is difficult to ignore the ongoing renovation of the Tidwell Bible Building. On April 25, 2019, Baylor University announced a $15 million dollar gift from the Sunderland Foundation of Overland Park, Kansas dedicated to the Tidwell restoration fund.[1] Less than a year later, the Baylor Board of Regents approved a total budget cost of $21.2 million for the project.[2] The work began this summer and is projected to be completed in 2022.

Under construction from 1953 to 1954, the Tidwell Bible Building was named after the esteemed Dr. Josiah Blake Tidwell (1870–1946), former head of the Baylor Bible department, which later become the Department of Religion. Initially conceived in 1936 by former students of Dr. Tidwell, the building was a permanent homage to him as well as a physical representation of the significance of the Bible. Originally designed as a ten-story building with a “wall of light”, a more modest six-story building was ultimately built. The history of the building, what could have been, and what was, is a story often told. But how does one pay for a structure such as Tidwell? Therein lies an interesting tale…

The short answer is churches. According to a Certificate of Payment to Leslie Crocket Construction Co., the cost to physically build Tidwell was $590,000.[3] (Considering inflation, that is an estimated $5,682,884 in today’s money.) Looking at the records of the Tidwell Bible Building Campaign Committee, it becomes very clear that Baptist churches throughout the state were major contributors to the building fund. Appealing to districts defined by the Baptist General Convention of Texas, churches of all sizes were solicited. For example, in 1944,  First Baptist-Elm Mott donated $75, while Columbus Avenue Baptist Church donated $2,112.14 between 1944 and 1946 including amounts as low as $2.05.[4] In spite of the Great Depression and World War II, by January 31, 1947, a total of $121,988.70 was raised.[5] This amount, however, would not be enough.

In 1947, in an effort to raise the necessary funds, the Tidwell Bible Building Committee, in collaboration with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, approved a large-scale fundraising campaign. Setting an ambitious goal of $500,000, the committee “felt that the individual person approach was the best approach” to achieve said goal.[6] Again, using the BGCT districts, the campaign focused mainly on churches and their membership. The Executive Committee minutes from their February 4, 1947 described the concerted effort thus:

“A plan whereby a solicitor from each church would contact members of his church, and ask them to fill out a pledge card, and select the plan of giving to the Bible Building Campaign Fund. These pledge cards would be sent to the churches all over the state and would be followed up by public appeals in sermons, and then presented to the members by a committee of solicitors.”[7]

To oversee the fundraising campaign, Brother O.D. Martin from District 3 was employed full-time. [8] Setting monetary goals for each district to raise, he reported that “$515,000 worth of goals has been accepted by districts, churches, and association over the state.”[9] The ledgers from 1947 and 1948 reveal churches from all over the state donating various amounts. First Baptist-El Paso donated $10 on September 9, 1947, while First Baptist-Amarillo donated over $3,000 between 1947 to 1949 usually in $100 payments.[10] The concentrated effort paid off and by September 30, 1951, the building fund raised $628,665.02 (a little over $6 million in today’s money).[11] Of course, not all donations came from churches. There were a significant number of individual donors in addition to Baylor University agreeing to contribute $100,000. However, it is undeniable that Baptist churches across Texas played an important role in making Tidwell Bible Building a reality.

A love offering envelope provided to churches. BU Records: Tidwell Bible Building Campaign Committee, Accession #BU/169, Box 1, Folder 6, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
A Tidwell Bible Building pledge card. BU Records: Tidwell Bible Building Campaign Committee, Accession #BU/169, Box 1, Folder 6, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
The cover of a pamphlet to support funding the Tidwell Bible Building. The illustration depicts the elaborate “wall of light” that never was built. BU Records: Tidwell Bible Building Campaign Committee, Accession #BU/169, Box 1, Folder 6, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.

[1] “Baylor Announces $15 Million Gift from The Sunderland Foundation for Tidwell Restoration,” Media and Public Relations | Baylor University, April 25, 2019, accessed August 27, 2020, https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=209144.

[2]“Baylor Regents Celebrate Groundbreaking of the Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center, Approve Final Phase of $21.2 Million Renovation of Tidwell Bible Building,” Media and Public Relations | Baylor University, February 24, 2020, accessed August 27, 2020, https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=217369.

[3] BU Records: Tidwell Bible Building Campaign Committee, Accession #BU/169, Box 2, Folder 22, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.

[4] Ibid., Box 1, Folder 10.

[5] Ibid., Box 1, Folder 1.

[6] Ibid., Box 1, Folder 3.

[7] Ibid., Box 1, Folder 2.

[8] Ibid., Box 1, Folder 1.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid., Box 1 Folder 18.

[11] Ibid., Box 2, Folder 2

Looking Back at Baylor: Echoes from Old Carroll Field

This piece by former Texas Collection director Kent Keeth was originally published in The Baylor Line in January 1990. Blogging About Texas periodically features selections from Looking Back at Baylor, with hopes of sharing Keeth’s work with a new audience.

 As Baylor prepares for a shortened and socially distanced football season due to COVID-19, McLane Stadium will host the fewest number of fans since its opening in 2014. Capacity for McLane is listed at 45,140, the 25% allowed this season is only 11,285. The last time max capacity for Baylor Football was so low, the Bears played at Carroll Field which held about 12,000 fans during the 1930s. Read on to learn more about the legacy of Carroll Field.

Harvard has its ‘Soldiers Field,’ . . . Princeton its ‘Franklin Field’ and Baylor will have its ‘Lee Carroll Field,”’ boasted the Lariat on January 17, 1902. The campus newspaper was reporting an offer made to the university’s Athletic Association by athletics business manager Lee Carroll, who challenged students to raise $600 in order to receive his matching gift of $1,000 toward the creation of a sports arena.

At the turn of the century, when collegiate athletics were only just becoming established in Texas, specialized facilities for them were still relatively rare. At the time of Carroll’s offer, Baylor football was played on vacant lots where grass was minimal, weeds were rampant, and sandburs provided a powerful incentive to avoid being tackled. The designation of a purpose-built athletics facility would not only raise the school’s standards of competition, but would also give Baylor bragging rights relative to its peer institutions.

The university community responded to the challenge, and by fall Carroll Field was in use. Situated directly behind the new science building, its length extended as far as the banks of Waco Creek. At first it was little more than an open space along whose sidelines standing spectators ranged themselves. Not until 1915 was a grandstand erected on the west side, anchored to the sloping side of a wedge-shaped brick athletics building that housed dressing rooms, equipment storage, and coaching facilities. The area served for football, baseball, track, and assorted other sports, and while various circumstances would require temporary off-campus relocations of large events, Carroll Field constituted the true center of Baylor athletics until it was dismantled in 1940.

Though the field has been gone for fifty years, memories of it remain vivid to those who knew it. Former bookstore manager Bob Bright ’46, who grew up near the campus, remembers joining with other neighborhood children to watch games through knotholes in the field’s wooden fence; and retired mathematics and religion professor P. D. Browne ’21 recalls helping to erect that same fence during his student days. One prominent university benefactor who served as trainer for the football team during the 1930s still relives his embarrassment as the players removed his trousers in the end zone, under the fascinated gaze of coeds who watched from windows on the upper floors of the science building.

While the Lariat may originally have overstated Carroll Field’s significance in relation to the facilities of eastern universities, news of it did occasionally trickle through the Ivy League. On February 22, 1926, Baylor graduate Dixon Westor ’25 took time off from his graduate studies at Yale to write to former Baylorite Silas Vance at Harvard about “the fire which burned the [Carroll Field] athletic building down and the sweater of Mr. [Assistant Coach Jim] Crow off.”

The net effect of that fire, which had occurred on the night of February 10, was the reconstruction of the athletics building on a scale 50 percent larger, which also served to increase the limited seating capacity. During the field’s heyday in the 1920s and 1930s, further construction would eventually expand its permanent seating to 12,000 places, with temporary bleachers available to accommodate three thousand more in the end zones.

As the physical plant of the campus expanded, however, the university could no longer afford to devote so large and so central an area to athletics. Construction of Pat Neff Hall in 1939 crowded the western boundary of the field very closely, while the site selected for the new student union building impinged upon the gridiron itself.

In the summer of 1940, the Lariat rounded out Carroll Field’s history by reporting that its bleachers, grandstands, and walls were in the process of being leveled. Today — apart from the memories — only two known relics survive. Several courses of brickwork from the athletics building, uncovered during excavations for the Vera Martin Daniel Fountain Plaza, lie reburied under paving stones near Pat Neff Hall; and the elaborate sign from the Fifth Street gate which proclaimed Carroll Field as the “Home of Baylor Bears” still inclines, half a century later, against a wall in one of the university’s warehouses.

In the 1930s Carroll Field had a capacity of around 12,000 fans. Exceeding this number regularly, the Bears began splitting games between Carroll field and the Cotton Palace before moving to Municipal Stadium.
The original Carroll Field Entrance is now marked with a commemorative Column outside of Carroll Science Building.
The original arch has been refurbished and can be viewed inside the Bill Daniel Student Center (SUB).

The Fifth Street entrance is now marked by a brick column and partial replica arch in Vera Martin Daniel Plaza (Traditions Square). The original arch was refurbished in 2018 and now resides in the Bill Daniel Student Center. Find out more in the Baylor Proud post “The story behind the Carroll Field sign in the Baylor SUB.” https://www2.baylor.edu/baylorproud/2018/10/the-story-behind-the-carroll-field-sign-in-the-baylor-sub/

Changes Ahead for The Texas Collection’s Social Media Presence

Photo illustration based on a photo from our Baylor move-in archives, 1960s.

Serving our diverse patron base has always been the primary goal of the team at The Texas Collection, and how we use social media to interact with you is a large part of that commitment. Over the years, The Texas Collection has created and maintained several social media outlets on different platforms ranging from Twitter to Facebook, from Flickr to blogs, and YouTube to print newsletters.

In partnership with the University Libraries’ Marketing & Communications team, we are excited to announce a realignment of our social media channels to more effectively and actively connect our followers with the content we have to offer. Here’s what we’re planning to do for each of our social media channels in the coming weeks.

Facebook (facebook.com/texascollection)
This will continue to be a major source of connection between The Texas Collection and our audiences, especially those who are interested in broader Texas history themes. Content will include exclusive photo posts, short stories, news updates, and links to stories on our other platforms.

The Texas Collection Blog (https://blogs.baylor.edu/texascollection/)
Our blog will serve as the home of longer stories, serialized stories, Research Ready (a digest of the newest archival collections available for research, published monthly), Texas Over Time (a photo series examining the changes in local and state landmarks), and other in-depth stories.

The Texas Collection on Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/texascollectionbaylor/)
Our Flickr stream has been home to dozens of exclusive, high-quality images of the history of Baylor University and the State of Texas. We’ll continue to post intriguing images from our robust holdings on a regular basis.

Coming Soon: The Texas Collection joins @BaylorLibraries on Instagram! (https://www.instagram.com/baylorlibraries/)
Beginning later this month, The Texas Collection will begin featuring content from our collections and the life of the library on the official Baylor Libraries Instagram account! Look for fun, engaging images curated from our collections and focusing on the Baylor University experience to start on September 9th.

In addition to our ongoing and new engagement opportunities, we will be making big changes to two of our social media channels in the coming weeks.

Sunsetting The Texas Collection’s Twitter account
After careful consideration, we have decided to suspend our Twitter account on September 30. We encourage our Twitter followers to follow @BaylorLibraries, where we will be posting information about The Texas Collection, joining with content and collections from across the greater University Libraries ecosystem, starting this fall.

Sunsetting The Texas Collection’s YouTube channel
The University Libraries have revitalized the central Baylor Libraries YouTube channel, and we have decided to shift our future videos into that space in order to consolidate the Libraries’ content into one central location, and to ensure that our videos reach a broader and more diverse audience. We will be migrating many of our older videos to that platform over the coming month, and new videos will appear there exclusively beginning on October 1st. We plan to keep The Texas Collection channel available for researchers through the end of 2020.

We are excited for the new opportunities to engage with our communities that will come with these changes to our social media presence, and we hope you will follow, like, share, and subscribe to each of them. We promise to continue to publish engaging, interesting, unique, and Texas-centric material on all our platforms for many years to come. Thank you for your support of The Texas Collection, and we look forward to seeing you all down the road.

TEXAS OVER TIME: Waco, TX., the Home of Dr Pepper and the old Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Co. (Dr Pepper Museum)

By Geoff Hunt, Audio and Visual Curator, The Texas Collection, Baylor University. 

Texas has changed quite a bit over the years, as is readily seen in our vast photograph and postcard collections. To help bring some of those changes to life, we’ve created a “Texas over Time” blog series that will illustrate the construction and renovations of buildings, street scenes, and more. Our collections are especially strong on Waco and Baylor images, but look for some views beyond the Heart of Texas, too.


                 From the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company to the Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute, Waco, TX

Dr Pepper, America’s oldest major soft drink, has its origins in Waco, Texas. It all started in 1885 when pharmacist Charles Alderton discovered what would become the famous brand at the Old Corner Drug Store, once part of the McClelland Hotel, located on 321 Austin Avenue. To help interpret the story of this famous beverage, Waco is very fortunate to have the Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute. It is housed in what was originally the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company. This old bottling plant was the first facility to produce the soft drink when soda fountain production of Dr Pepper wasn’t sufficient enough to keep up with demand. The structure, located on the corner of Fifth and Mary Streets, Waco, Texas, was built in 1906 and designed by architect Milton Scott. Its brick walls measure 18-inches in thickness and are supported by a solid timber foundation. On May 11, 1953, this was tested when an F5 tornado gashed through the side of the main structure causing considerable damage (see our earlier Texas Over Time post highlighting this). After operations moved to bigger spaces and corporate functions moved to Dallas, the old building sat unused for many years until May 11, 1991, when it officially became the wonderful museum complex it is today. It has since taught countless individuals the story of Dr Pepper, the soft drink industry, and the concepts of business and free-enterprise. The following photographs attempt to tell some of this amazing story by taking us back in time over 100 years and up to the rich legacy Waco’s very own soft drink brand has left us with today.

The “Then” picture in the image sequence below shows: Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company, Fifth and Mary Streets, Waco, TX, circa 1912. The “Now” picture shows the building as the Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute. “Then” picture is by Fred Gildersleeve and digitized from the original 8×10 glass plate negative. Gildersleeve-Conger collection, The Texas Collection, Baylor University. August 2020. “Now” image of same location by Geoff Hunt.


The main picture in the image sequence below shows: Waco, TX, circa 1912 – Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company and early delivery vehicles. The following images in the sequence are close-up’s/crops of the same picture. This area shows what is now part of the Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute. This part of the structure faces the Kellum-Rotan Building, which is also part of the current museum complex. Fred Gildersleeve photograph digitized from the original 8×10 inch glass plate negative (hence the fine detail). Gildersleeve-Conger collection, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.


Same view in August 2020, as above main image of the Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute’s outdoor area. Photo by Geoff Hunt, August 2020.

A sign on the wall of the Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute’s Kellum-Rotan Building, part of the complex. Notice how close Magnolia Market at the Silos is! Photo by Geoff Hunt, August 2020.

                                                                         

Welcome Back to The Texas Collection

This post was written by Amie Oliver, Interim Director and Librarian/ Curator of Print Materials

Though The Texas Collection reading room has been closed to researchers since late March, we are excited to announce that on August 24, we shall open our doors for public use. Staff returned to the the office in June and have made changes that we hope will ensure the safety of all who visit. With these changes, we are putting forth our best effort to ensure quality service.

Below are some of the changes:

  • Masks are required in all Baylor University buildings. All must have on a mask to use The Texas Collection, and the mask must cover the nose and mouth for the duration of the visit.
  • Hand sanitizing stations are found throughout the building.
  • There are now capacity limits in each of our researcher areas
    • Reading Room capacity is fifteen (15).
      • Twelve (12) seats at the research tables and three (3) soft seating spaces.
    • Microfilm Room capacity is one (1).
    • Media Room capacity is three (3).
    • Map Room capacity is five (5).
  • Due to limited capacities, appointments (with a start and end times) are encouraged for materials use. Researchers without appointments may be turned away depending on reading room capacity.
  • Researchers will place any bags into lockers upon arrival. Lockers will be self-service with keys kept in the lockers. Lockers will be disinfected each day.
  • All materials used are quarantined for seven days after the last use by a researcher.
  • After use, staff will wipe any tables or technology used by researchers.
  • There are now only have two computers for public use.
  • Those using the reading room to study may have to seek another space should a researcher need to use materials.

Staff are still available for instruction and presentations which can be delivered safely and in a variety of formats. Email txcoll@baylor.edu if you would like to discuss setting up a session. 

Even with the above safeguards, we understand some patrons may feel uncomfortable researching in person at The Texas Collection. As we learn more about serving the public, we may alter our environment and open times, but staff  continue to do our best to offer virtual reference assistance via email or telephone. Please feel free to contact us should you have any questions or concerns. 

We look forward to seeing you at The Texas Collection.

 

TEXAS OVER TIME: 600 Elm Street, Samuel H. Clinton Grocer and Hardware Building at 140 Years Old

 

By Geoff Hunt, Audio and Visual Curator, The Texas Collection, Baylor University. 

Texas has changed quite a bit over the years, as is readily seen in our vast photograph and postcard collections. To help bring some of those changes to life, we’ve created a “Texas over Time” blog series that will illustrate the construction and renovations of buildings, street scenes, and more. Our collections are especially strong on Waco and Baylor images, but look for some views beyond the Heart of Texas, too.


“Then:” The old Samuel H. Clinton Grocer and Hardware store building on 600-602 Elm Street, Waco, TX., unknown photographer, circa 1900. General Photo File-Businesses-S. H. Clinton; “Now:” recent photo of same structure by G.H., 2020. 


600 Elm Street, S.H. Clinton Grocer and Hardware Building

Sometimes an old structure doesn’t have to be designated as a state landmark or have to have been the site of a famous event to be considered “historic.” What does seem to help is when a structure survives intact and maintains most of its original design for well over a century. On 600 Elm Street, Waco, TX, one such example exists. The building on this site was built in 1880, and in the early 1900’s, was owned by Samuel H. Clinton. Clinton was a supplier of groceries, farm and feed implements, wagons, buggies, tents, harnesses, and cotton. Throughout the rest of the 20th century, the large structure served as a furniture store. Its sturdy two-story design allowed for multiple uses and this seems to be why it still stands after 140 years. Given the age, this makes it one of the city’s oldest surviving buildings built for commercial use. In fact, the Waco Suspension Bridge was just 10 years old when the old structure at 600 Elm was completed! Elm Street is in a direct path to Waco’s famous old bridge and it was the longest of its kind west of the Mississippi River back in 1870. Having a business in this location was desirable and a very wise investment at the time. Waco is fortunate to have such historic structures such as this one on 600 Elm Street, and this Texas Over Time hopes to take the reader back through the years to help demonstrate this.

“Then:” 600-602 and adjoining structures on Elm Street during a flood, unknown photographer, circa 1900. General Scrapbook collection, Box 3; “Now:” recent photo of same location by G.H., 2020. 

 

Looking up Elm Street from the Brazos River side, 1979, by Myron Wood (cropped); the two-story 600-602 building has “Home Furniture” painted on its side. Next door to its right, the structure at 604-606, that’s seen in the above image as a saloon and Central Hardware, was still standing at this time but not in 2020; Sanger-Wood Photographic collection, Baylor University, The Texas Collection.
Looking up Elm Street from the Brazos River side (same view as above); 600-602 building is where the car is passing, 2020, by GH. Notice some buildings have been taken down since the above 1979 image was taken.

 

Texas Over Time: Brazos Valley Cotton Oil Co. to Magnolia Market at the Silos in 2020

 

By Geoff Hunt, Audio and Visual Curator, The Texas Collection, Baylor University. 

Texas has changed quite a bit over the years, as is readily seen in our vast photograph and postcard collections. To help bring some of those changes to life, we’ve created a “Texas over Time” blog series that will illustrate the construction and renovations of buildings, street scenes, and more. Our collections are especially strong on Waco and Baylor images, but look for some views beyond the Heart of Texas, too.


Magnolia Market at the Silos on Sixth Street and Webster, Waco, TX., Fred Gildersleeve image, 1920. General Photo Files-Brazos Valley Cotton Oil Company; recent photo of same by G.H., 2020. Note: the Silos Baking Co. building on the corner is one of the original structures.  


BRAZOS VALLEY COTTON OIL CO. TO MAGNOLIA MARKET AT THE SILOS IN 2020

Cotton was once Waco’s biggest industry. The rich soil in and around McLennan County, with its Blackland Prairie’s, facilitates the growth of this once abundant local crop. The city had multiple cotton mills, yards, and a railroad system to transport the crop across the country. Cotton by-products such as oil from the seeds were also manufactured in the city. Cottonseed oil is used in industrial and culinary applications (cooking oils) and was in very high demand in the first half of the 20th century. In 1910, to help meet this demand, Waco businessman J.T. Davis started the Brazos Valley Cotton Oil Company–now the present day site Magnolia Market at the Silos.

Vast storage and processing facilities were needed for production and the company occupied the entire block within Webster, Jackson, Sixth, and Seventh streets in Waco. At times, it employed up to 75 workers. In 1949-1950, after several devastating fires and storage mishaps in their buildings, the company built two large 120-foot-tall storage silos. Although ownership changed, B.V.C.O.C. remained in operation into the mid-1960’s. After this time, the facility was used for storage by JPM Feeds. However, It remained unoccupied for years and saw little use until the property was purchased by Waco’s Chip and Joanna Gaines in 2014. It soon became one of Texas’ biggest tourist attractions and Magnolia Market at the Silos still attract thousands of visitors to this site. Through The Texas Collection’s photographic archive, see how this old Waco manufacturing facility evolved and has changed over time into 2020!

Brazos Valley Cotton Oil Company throughout the decades and Magnolia Market at the Silos in 2020. “The company occupied the entire block within Webster, Jackson, Sixth, and Seventh streets in Waco, TX.” General Photo Files: Waco Aerials (cropped), Google Earth 2020. 


Works Sourced:

“Brazos Valley Cotton Oil Firm Sold,” The Waco Tribune-Herald, July 13, 1958.

Burke, Anabel. “Magnolia Market at the Silos”Waco History. Retrieved 2020-06-11.

“Brazos Valley Cotton Oil Mill | Waco History”Waco History. Retrieved 2020-06-11.

Commemerating the Invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944, USAAF Capt. Walter Davis Gernand, BU Class of 1940

 

By Geoff Hunt, Audio and Visual Curator, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.

A graduation picture of Walter Gernand, taken in about 1940.
A graduation picture of Walter Gernand, taken in about 1940. Gernand, (Walter, General Photo Files #3976, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.) 
Walter Gernand is receiving his USAAF, Air Medal, in this image
Walter Gernand is receiving his USAAF, Air Medal, in this image. He was also awarded the prestigious Purple Heart. (Frank Jasek Papers.)

Seventy-six years after the Invasion of Normandy (D-Day), on June 6, 1944, we wish to pay tribute to a young Texan and Baylor graduate (class of 1940), Walter Davis Gernand, who died on a return trip after participating in this historic mission during World War II. Gernand, a former Baylor Bear football player, was from Beaumont, and signed up for service in the U.S. Army Air Forces on May 1, 1941. He received his pilot’s wing’s on December 12, 1941. Soon after, he was flying P-38 Lightnings in the 50th Fighter Squadron. In February of 1944, he transferred to the 8th Reconnaissance Photo Squadron, part of the USAAF’s 325th Photographic Wing.

Gernand had logged many flight-hours by this time, and his skills were much needed in the U.S. and Allies’ fight against Hitler’s Third Reich. His squadron’s intelligence work, as well as that of other similar units, helped with military operations including the U.S. Invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. On June 8, 1944, returning from this D-Day mission, Gernand’s photo-reconnaissance aircraft crashed in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire in the south of England. It is believed that mechanical failure caused the mishap. Eyewitnesses stated that he initially tried to land the crippled aircraft in a field with a park nearby but quickly avoided this area after seeing children at play below. His quick decision saved countless lives but proved fatal for Gernand and his crew member as the aircraft slammed into a railroad embankment and exploded on impact, killing him and his USAAF photographer, Sgt. Elbert Lynch.

In doing so, Gernand not only died for his country and cause but also sacrificed his life in trying to avoid these children in the English countryside, the same ones he was fighting for across the English Channel. Gernand and Lynch’s destination was the USAAF’s home at Royal Air Force Watton, in Norfolk, England. Their remains were later interred at the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, Cambridgeshire, England.

In 1972, the Chiltern Historical Aircraft Preservation Group received news of the crash site in nearby High Wycombe, England. The railroad embankment crash-site was excavated and  unearthed one of the two engines, a propeller fragment, and Gernand’s gold Baylor University ’40, class ring (below). The Preservation Group contacted the University and the ring was presented to Walter Gernand’s mother, Mrs. C.A. Gernand of Beaumont, TX. Mrs. Gernand later returned the ring to Baylor where it was kept on display in the Letterman’s Lounge at Baylor Stadium, in memory of the fallen warrior and former Baylor Bear.

Phot0 of Walter Davis Gernand's Baylor University '40 class ring, found at the crash-site of his de Havilland Mosquito aircraft, where the young pilot and Baylor Alumnus lost his life in 1944.
Walter Davis Gernand’s Baylor University ’40 class ring, found at the crash-site of his de Havilland Mosquito aircraft, where the young pilot and Baylor Alumnus lost his life in 1944. (Gernand, Walter, General Photo Files #3976, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.) 

Works Sourced:

Frank Jasek Papers, Accession #3932, Box #6, Folder #8, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.

Texas Over Time: Waco’s Provident Building-Once the Biggest Office Building in Central Texas and Beyond

By Geoff Hunt, Audio and Visual Curator

Texas has changed quite a bit over the years, as is readily seen in our vast photograph and postcard collections. To help bring some of those changes to life, we’ve created a “Texas over Time” blog series that will illustrate the construction and renovations of buildings, street scenes, and more. Our collections are especially strong on Waco and Baylor images, but look for some views beyond the Heart of Texas, too.Continue Reading

Texas Over Time: “The Roosevelt Tower, Waco, TX”

Texas has changed quite a bit over the years, as is readily seen in our vast photograph and postcard collections. To help bring some of those changes to life, we’ve created a “Texas over Time” series of Meta Slider’s that will illustrate the construction and renovations of buildings, street scenes, and more. Our collections are especially strong on Waco and Baylor images, but look for some views beyond the Heart of Texas, too.

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