Mount Carmel Center
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Mount Carmel Center was a large compound building used by the
Branch Davidians The Branch Davidians (or the General Association of Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventists) were an apocalyptic new religious movement founded in 1955 by Benjamin Roden. They regard themselves as a continuation of the General Association of ...
religious group located near
Axtell, Texas Axtell is an unincorporated community in eastern McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Waco Metropolitan Statistical Area. U.S. Census data is not readily available for the bedroom community of Axtell, but 2000 Census numbers s ...
, 20 miles north-east of
Waco 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 st ...
. The Branch Davidians were a breakaway sect from Davidian Seventh Adventists, established by
Benjamin Roden Benjamin Lloyd Roden (January 5, 1902 – October 22, 1978) was an American religious leader and the prime organizer of the Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association. Early life Benjamin Roden was born on January 5, 1902 in Bear ...
in 1959 and later led by
David Koresh David Koresh (; born Vernon Wayne Howell; August 17, 1959 – April 19, 1993) was an American cult leader who played a central role in the Waco siege of 1993. As the head of the Branch Davidians, a religious sect and offshoot of the Davidian Sev ...
starting in the 1980s. Named after the Biblical mountain
Mount Carmel Mount Carmel ( he, הַר הַכַּרְמֶל, Har haKarmel; ar, جبل الكرمل, Jabal al-Karmil), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias ( ar, link=no, جبل مار إلياس, Jabal Mār Ilyās, lit=Mount Saint Elias/Elijah), is a c ...
in northern Israel, it was the site of the 51-day
Waco siege The Waco siege, also known as the Waco massacre, was the law enforcement siege of the compound that belonged to the religious sect Branch Davidians. It was carried out by the U.S. federal government, Texas state law enforcement, and the U.S. mi ...
. The siege began on February 28, 1993, when federal agents attempted to execute a warrant and arrest some Davidians living inside. A subsequent firefight left four
ATF The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as the ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and preven ...
agents and six Davidians dead. At the end of the siege, on April 19, 1993, a fire broke out, burning through most of the compound and killing 76 Branch Davidians.


Etymology

Some news reports about the siege referred to it as the "Branch Davidian compound". The name derives from a particular verse from the
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
, on which the Branch Davidians partially based their beliefs:


History

In 1935, Shepherd's Rod (also known as the Davidians) founder
Victor Houteff Victor Tasho Houteff ( Bulgarian; Виктор Ташо Хутев ; March 2, 1885 – February 5, 1955) was the founder of the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist organization, known as The Shepherd's Rod. Early life Houteff was born in Raicovo, Ea ...
established the original Davidian headquarters at Mount Carmel Center, near
Lake Waco Lake Waco is a man-made reservoir located just northwest of Waco, in McLennan County, Texas, which serves as the western border for the city of Waco (pop. 135,858). This reservoir provides water to several cities in the Waco Metropolitan Stati ...
, west of the town. After Houteff's death in 1955, his widow Florence usurped the leadership and began selling off parcels of the land, as the neighboring city of Waco began encroaching upon the Mount Carmel Community. In 1957, she sold off the last of the property and bought a property in the countryside northeast of Waco, christened New Mount Carmel. Today, Waco's Mount Carmel Drive runs through the Old Mount Carmel area, and nearby Charboneau and Hermanson Drives are named after key Davidian families. In 1962, Florence Houteff announced that she was disbanding Davidian organization, with the assets to be sold off and the proceeds disbursed among her Executive Council. This arrangement was opposed by many members. Most of the New Mount Carmel property was acquired by the Double EE Ranch, but the Branch Davidians retained a core area around the administrative building. The fragmentation of Mount Carmel caused a schism in the already permanently-splintered Davidian Seventh Day Adventist Movement. Some post-Carmel Davidian groups have also named their headquarters Mount Carmel Center, seeking to carry on its past traditions. Davidians based in
Salem, South Carolina Salem is a U.S. town in Oconee County, South Carolina. The population was 135 at the 2010 United States Census.See http://factfinder.census.gov for population numbers and for municipality and CDP lists in the 2010 Census. Geography Salem is locate ...
use the name, as well as a group that broke away from them, in Mountaindale, New York. Some of the Mountaindale Davidians came to believe that Victor Houteff never wanted to abandon Old Mount Carmel, and in the early 1990s moved back to Waco. They established themselves in a building on Mount Carmel Drive, constructed by Houteff's Davidians. They are across the street from the Vanguard School, a prep school whose buildings were also originally built by the Davidians. Other Davidian groups believe that Mount Carmel represented a doctrinal era in the Davidian Seventh Day Adventist Movement, an era which is now past. In 1998, three buildings at the former Branch Davidian compound were destroyed in a fire that was deemed suspicious. They were the home of
Amo Bishop Roden George Buchanan Roden (January 17, 1938 – December 8, 1998) was an American leader of the Branch Davidian sect, a Seventh-day Adventist splinter group. In 1987, he was evicted from the Mount Carmel Center near Waco, Texas, by his rival David Ko ...
, wife of former Branch Davidian leader
George Roden George Buchanan Roden (January 17, 1938 – December 8, 1998) was an American leader of the Branch Davidian sect, a Seventh-day Adventist splinter group. In 1987, he was evicted from the Mount Carmel Center near Waco, Texas, by his rival David Ko ...
, and two museums she used to record the group's history. There have been various sects and generations of communities that have resided on and/or used the property east of Waco on Double EE Ranch Road. Not all groups or individuals within these groups share the same religious theology or approach to spirituality. Efforts to memorialize the events of 1993 on the property have been altered over the years since 1993. Image:mt-carmel-bus-tub-1997-06-23.jpg, Remnants of bus and bathtub in ruins at center in June 1997 Image:mt-carmel-entrance-1997-06-23.jpg, The entrance to the Mount Carmel Center in June 1997 Image:mt-carmel-trailers-1997-06-23.jpg, Trailer serves as "office" for center in June 1997 Image:mt-carmel-driveway-1995-05.jpg, The entrance in May 1995


References


External links

*
Branch Davidians See Conspiracy in Highway Project
at
NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
{{Coord, 31, 35, 45, N, 96, 59, 17, W, type:landmark_region:US-TX, display=title 1993 disestablishments in Texas Buildings and structures demolished in 1993 Houses in McLennan County, Texas Waco siege