Page "McLennan County, Texas" Paragraph 19

McLennan County was created by the Texas Legislature in 1850 out of Milam County.

The county seat, Waco, had been founded originally as an outpost of the Texas Rangers, laid out by George Erath, and was known by 1850 as " Waco Village.

" According to local lore, the first sustained flight did not occur in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, but just outside Tokio ( a small community in McLennan County ) by a man flying a gyrocopter.

During World War I, McLennan County was home to at least one military airfield, Rich Field.

In the aftermath of World War I, racial violence disrupted county life, culminating in two major Ku Klux Klan marches ( one in Waco and another in Lorena ) and the public lynching of numerous Black citizens.

( One such public lynching is the catalyst behind a " Lynching Resolution " being discussed by both the Waco City Council and the McLennan County Commissioners Court.

) McLennan County's contributions to World War II include the reopening of Rich Field, Doris Miller ( awarded the Navy Cross for his heroism at Pearl Harbor, also the first African American to earn such distinction ), and James Connally ( a locally famous World War II fighter pilot ).