39The Building That Rose From Its Ashes
Painted phoenix emblem between the window rows and steel phoenix sculpture over the corner of The Phoenix Ballroom, 401 S 3rd St · maker not on record, probably two different hands · undated, most plausibly added when local developer Leslie Henry bought the 1907 warehouse in 2007 and reopened it as the ballroom · know who made them? Tell us.MURAL
A tent factory that survived a fire and the 1953 tornado, then got renamed for the bird that does exactly that.
The white bird flaming up this 1907 brick wall is doing autobiography. This building made furniture, awnings and — through two World Wars — military tents and tarps. It survived a fire. It survived the 1953 tornado that flattened much of downtown. Then it sat derelict for half a century, waiting to be torn down, until a 2007 renovation brought the hardwood floors back to life and somebody gave the place the only name that made sense: The Phoenix Ballroom.
So the painted phoenix rising between the window rows, and its steel sibling mounted over the corner — those aren't decoration. They're a diagnosis. This is what Waco does with buildings other cities would bulldoze: waits for them to rise.
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