Col. Speight was born May 31, 1825 in Green County, North Carolina. His early days were spent in Mississippi where he married Josephine Pruitt before moving to Waco, Texas in 1854. He was a planter, civic leader and served as Chairman of the board of trustees of Waco University. He settled south of the Brazos River.
John Camden West was born April 12, 1834 in Camden, South Carolina. He also moved to Texas in 1854 and married Mary Eliza Stark. West practiced law and served as headmaster of the Waco and Trinity River Classical School which became Waco University. He settled on property that adjoined Speight's across Waco Creek.
The maps below are from a document written by T. Bradford Willis, DDS, MSD entitled "Some Notable Persons in First Street Cemetery of Waco, Texas." See the arrow for the north-south orientation of the map.
Below is a zoomed in look of the Speight property which includes the five long tracts in the center of the map.
If Fifth and Seventh Streets are extended from downtown, the Speight properties 2, 3 and 4 roughly correspond to what was conveyed by Speight to the City of Waco and then to Baylor in 1886. The creek that forms the border of the Speight property is Waco Creek. Judge John C. West owned property across Waco Creek to about where Dutton Street is today. Before the transaction, much of West's property was used as a park called Minglewood Park. In general, West's property was bordered by Dutton Street and ran to a line near the back of Martin Hall, down to Waco Creek and to a line roughly near the back of Kokernot Hall. The land transaction was discussed in Waco University trustee minutes of April, 1886.
West had a residence across from the corner of Seventh Street and Dutton. The first residence burned at one point and was apparently replaced by a concrete block structure that served as West's residence. Afterward, it served as the residence for Dr. A. J. Armstrong for many years.
At present, it is unknown exactly where the Speight residence actually sat on Speight's property. A newspaper account from 1953 stated that "General Speight lived where historic Old Main and Burleson Halls are now located on the Baylor University campus." The writer could have been speaking generally, but as of now, this is the only written comment we are aware of that addresses the actual location of the farm house. (As an aside, Col. Speight reportedly was in the process of being promoted to General, but became ill and returned home to Waco before the necessary paperwork was completed.)
Speight had previously sold a homesite to another family. The location is said to be roughly where the Student Union Building currently sits. Apparently other city contributions were made to acquire it to make up the 23 acres that comprised the initial Waco campus of Baylor University. We believe that West and Speight first conveyed their land to the City of Waco which in turn combined them with the above mentioned homesite and donated it to Baylor University. Waco University and Baylor University at Independence, Texas, we believe, each conveyed their assets to a new Baylor University entity about that time. Also, construction of the buildings now known as Old Main and Georgia Burleson Hall was started, and both buildings were completed in the latter part of 1897.
Special thanks to Amanda Norman of the Baylor Texas Collection and to Charles Guittard.
