User:Ducknish/Texas Cotton Palace
The Texas Cotton Palace was a venue in Waco, Texas used from 1895 to 1930 for an annual exhibition to showcase Texas cotton.
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 1983.[1] The city's location near the Bosque and Brazos rivers gave it a fertile environment for cotton production.[2] Because of the importance of cotton production to the city, the citizens of Waco raised $40,000 to build an exhibition center, and in 1894, created plans for what would become the Texas Cotton Palace in Padgitt Park.[1][2] Construction was swift, and on November 8, 1894, the first Cotton Palace exhibition was opened by Texas governor James Stephen Hogg.[1] The building itself was short-lived and, on January 19, 1895, burned to the ground.[1][2]
References
- ^ a b c d Texas Cotton Palace Records Accession #792, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
- ^ a b c Conger, Roger. "COTTON PALACE". The Handbook of Texas. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 21 April 2015.