Page 22 - Waxahachie, TX Residential Design Guidelines

IntroductIon

Cotton production and demand maintained high levels in the post‐
World War I era, resulting in sustained regional growth. While the
Blackland Prairie of Central and North Central Texas continued
to produce much of the state’s cotton, South and West Texas
began to grow substantial amounts of the crop. Waxahachie and
surrounding areas thus began to lose their dominant position
as the state’s largest and most significant cotton center. With
the Great Depression of the 1930s, cotton demand plummeted,
spelling the end of Waxahachie’s most prosperous era. Most of
the gins, compresses, and cottonseed oil mills were abandoned.
Federal money from the Works Progress Administration allowed
for some improvements and new construction within Waxahachie.

During World War II, Waxahachie residents banded together
to conserve resources to aid the war effort. In the post‐World
War II era, Waxahachie, like much of the nation, entered the
automobile age and continued to move away from agriculture;
nationwide, “between 1840 and 1940, the percentage of citizens
who made their livelihoods in agriculture declined from nearly 69
percent to just over 17 percent.” Waxahachie’s interurban line
was discontinued in 1949, as citizens used their own cars as
their primary means of transportation. Waxahachie stood at the
crossroads of two federal highways, US 77 and US 287, which
pierced the town and met at the northeast corner of the courthouse
Square. The highways proved an economic asset to the
community but also adversely affected the historic character of the
old neighborhoods and the architectural integrity of the commercial
buildings downtown.

14 Waxahac hie Residential design guidelines