Former students become tenants at old Waco High - Waco, TX
Posted by: WalksfarTX
N 31° 33.357 W 097° 08.230
14R E 676811 N 3492722
Frances Saenz lives in her high school library. Really, it’s true. Her generously stuffed sofa fits, just so, under the 8' tall windows along the back wall. Her front door is across from the study hall.
Waymark Code: WMW36D
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 07/04/2017
Views: 1
Waco Trib Website
Before units at Historic Lofts at Waco High were complete, she and her husband, Mario, toured the building and handpicked their apartment.
The Saenzes graduated from old Waco High School in 1965. Frances Saenz said the couple couldn’t wait to live at the renovated school.
“That’s why we’re here,” Frances Saenz said. “When we walk through the building, all these memories come back, all these good memories.”
The century-old high school at Columbus Avenue and Eighth Street reopened with 104 loft apartments in January.
The four-story, 127,000-square-foot building is getting a big boost in the memory department this week.
A group of alumni is cleaning up and moving boxes of old trophies and other memorabilia into trophy cases in the front halls of the building.
As the Waco High alumni placed trophies on the shelves, they also took a look at what their alma mater has become.
From chalkboard trays to some wood floors, many original pieces of the historic building remain.
“We’re delighted it’s being used instead of torn down. The reconstructive work they’ve done is really far beyond what we thought it would be,” said Winona Wieting Lipsett, a 1957 graduate.