The Cotton Palace was an exhibition ground in the area of Clay Avenue, Dutton Avenue and South Sixteenth Street in

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the ...

, from 1895 to 1930. It was built to highlight cotton-growing activities in the area.

First Cotton Palace

The choice to establish a cotton exhibition in Waco was likely a result of Waco's role as one of the largest cotton markets in the region, with over 120,000 bales of cotton traded in the city in 1883. Texas Cotton Palace Records
Accession #792, The Texas Collection, Baylor University. The city's location near the

Bosque A bosque ( ) is a type of gallery forest habitat found along the riparian flood plains of stream and river banks in the southwestern United States. It derives its name from the Spanish word for 'woodlands'. Setting In the predominantly ar ...

and Brazos rivers gave it a fertile environment for cotton production. Following a campaign where Waco residents raised $40,000 to build the facility, plans were drawn up in 1894 for the Texas Cotton Palace in Padgitt Park. Construction was swift, and on November 8, 1894, the first Cotton Palace exhibition was opened by Texas governor

James Hogg James Hogg (1770 – 21 November 1835) was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a friend of many ...

, which began a month of festivities. The building itself was short-lived and, on January 19, 1895, burned to the ground.

Second Cotton Palace

Despite the popularity of the first Cotton Palace exhibition, a movement to rebuild the Cotton Palace did not occur for 15 years. In 1910, the Young Man's Business League of Waco sold

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

and raised over $100,000 to build a second, significantly expanded, Cotton Palace, with Albert C. Clifton, YMBL president, also serving as president of the board of the directors for the new Cotton Palace. The Cotton Palace's supporters purchased Padgitt Park from its namesake, Tom Padgitt, and expanded beyond the building itself to build a 10,000-seat arena, a racetrack, an auditorium, a

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for Conservation biology, conservation purposes. The term ''zoological g ...

carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

grounds, and a football field. This second Cotton Palace lasted for 21 consecutive years of autumn exhibitions, with no interruption for

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. During this period, over eight million visitors attended the exhibitions. The exhibition over those 21 years included a wide variety of events, including parades, livestock shows, art exhibits, and, in 1918, mock battles and an air show involving 148 planes. Every year the exhibition held the Queen's Ball, Waco's largest social event of the year. The record daily attendance of 117,208 visitors was recorded on November 3, 1923. The exposition closed permanently on October 19, 1930, due to the decline of the cotton market as well as the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. After years in disrepair, the buildings were demolished. The City of Waco sold the material for $10,265 to Morrow Wrecking, who on Monday, February 8, 1943, razed the buildings, dug out the foundations, graded the ground and hauled the scrap away. The only remaining structure was the stage area from the coliseum, which served as the changing rooms for the Sun Pool. The structure was destroyed in the devastating tornado that struck downtown Waco on May 11, 1953, killing two lifeguards that were sheltering in the underground locker rooms. The cornerstone of the original Cotton Palace building is mounted at Lover's Leap in Waco's Cameron Park.

References

{{coord missing, Texas Convention centers in Texas Demolished buildings and structures in Texas Buildings and structures demolished in 1943