Mount Carmel Center
| New Mount Carmel Center | |
|---|---|
 New Mount Carmel Center during the Waco siege, with anM728 Combat Engineer Vehiclebringing down the roof of the gymnasium | |
  Location of New Mount Carmel Center in Texas | |
| Alternative names | Branch Davidian Compound |
| General information | |
| Status | Turned into museum |
| Town or city | McLennan County,Texas |
| Country | United States of America |
| Coordinates | 31°35′46″N96°59′17″W/ 31.596089°N 96.98804°W |
| Opened | c. 1958 |
| Destroyed | April 19, 1993 |
TheNew Mount Carmel Centerwas a large group of buildings used by theBranch Davidianreligious group located nearAxtell, Texas,20 miles (32 km) north-east ofWaco.The Branch Davidians were established byBenjamin Rodenin 1959 as a breakaway sect fromDavidian Seventh-day Adventists,and was later led byDavid Koreshstarting in the 1980s. Named after the Biblical mountainMount Carmelin Israel, it was the site of the 51-dayWaco siege.The siege began on February 28, 1993, when federal agents attempted to execute a warrant and arrest some Davidians living inside. A subsequent firefight left fourBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms(ATF) agents and six Davidians dead. At the end of the siege, on April 19, 1993, a fire started, leaving 76 Davidians dead.
Etymology
[edit]Some news reports about the siege referred to it as the "Branch Davidiancompound ". The name derives from a particular verse from theBible,on which the Branch Davidians partially based their beliefs:[citation needed]
Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst ofCarmel:let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
— Micah7:14
History
[edit]In 1935,Shepherd's Rod(also known as the Davidians) founderVictor Houteffestablished the original Davidian headquarters at Mount Carmel Center nearLake Wacowest of the town. After Houteff's death in 1955, his widow Florence usurped the leadership and began selling off parcels of the land, as the neighboring city of Waco began encroaching upon the Mount Carmel Community.[1]In 1957, she sold off the last of the property and bought a 941-acre (381 ha) property in the countryside northeast of Waco, christened New Mount Carmel.[2]Today, Waco's Mount Carmel Drive runs through the Old Mount Carmel area, and nearby Charboneau and Hermanson Drives are named after key Davidian families.
In 1962, Florence Houteff announced that she was disbanding the Davidian organization, with the assets to be sold off and the proceeds disbursed among her Executive Council. This arrangement was opposed by many members. Most of the New Mount Carmel property was acquired by the Double EE Ranch, but the Branch Davidians retained a core 77.8-acre (31.5 ha) area around the administrative building.
The fragmentation of Mount Carmel caused aschismin the already permanently-splinteredDavidian Seventh-day Adventistmovement. Some post-Carmel Davidian groups have also named their headquarters Mount Carmel Center, seeking to carry on its past traditions. Davidians based inSalem, South Carolinause the name, as well as a group that broke away from them inMountaindale, New York.Some of the Mountaindale Davidians came to believe that Victor Houteff never wanted to abandon Old Mount Carmel and in the early 1990s moved back to Waco. They established themselves in a building on Mount Carmel Drive, constructed by Houteff's Davidians. They are across the street from the Vanguard School, a prep school whose buildings were also originally built by the Davidians. Other Davidian groups believe that Mount Carmel represented a doctrinal era in the Davidian Seventh Day Adventist Movement, an era which is now past.
In 1993, three buildings at the former Branch Davidian compound were destroyed in a fire that was deemed suspicious. They were the home ofAmo Bishop Roden,wife of former Branch Davidian leaderGeorge Roden,and two museums she used to record the group's history.[3]There have been various sects and generations of communities that have resided on and/or used the property east of Waco on Double EE Ranch Road. Not all groups or individuals within these groups share the same religious theology or approach to spirituality.[4]Efforts to memorialize the events of 1993 on the property have been altered over the years since 1993.[5]
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Remnants of bus and bathtub in ruins at center in June 1997 -
The entrance to the Mount Carmel Center in June 1997 -
Trailer serves as "office" for center in June 1997 -
The entrance in May 1995
References
[edit]
- ^Victor Houteff (September 1, 1954)."Symbolic Code Vol. 10, No.1"(PDF).The Universal Publishing Assn.Retrieved27 November2013.
- ^Pitts, William L."Davidians and Branch Davidians".Handbook of Texas - Texas State Historical Association.RetrievedNovember 25,2012.
- ^"Fires Strike Waco Site".The New York Times.January 5, 1997.Retrieved5 July2009.
- ^Wittmer, Matthew D."Memorializing Mount Carmel Center East of Waco, Texas - Chart A"(PDF).Stormbound.org - Matthew D. Wittmer. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 30 April 2012.Retrieved5 July2009.
- ^Wittmer, Matthew D."Memorializing Mount Carmel Center East of Waco, Texas".Stormbound.org - Matthew D. Wittmer. Archived fromthe originalon 17 July 2010.Retrieved5 July2009.
External links
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