Flashback : Dallas

M-K-T approaching…

by Paula Bosse

I love this photo — taken not far from where I grew up — showing an MKT train waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out in the country. A. C. Greene’s caption, from his book Dallas, The Deciding Years:

The Katy approaches Dallas. This spot would be near Mockingbird Lane and Greenville today. It was taken about 1908.

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Here’s another photo, circa 1940s — SMU buildings can be seen in the distance.

And the caption to this photo, from the book The Park Cities: A Walker’s Guide and History by Diane Galloway and Kathy Matthews:

SMU as it was in the early forties can be seen in the distance as the Missouri-Kansas-Texas #379 Train No. 2 “Texas Special” speeds by northbound, approaching Greenville Avenue overpass. This particular day the train has a “pusher” because it was over ten cars long.

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Below, a couple of helpful maps showing the general area (click to see larger images).

1952 Mapsco

Google Maps

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I’m just going to imagine the dearly departed Dr Pepper plant in the background. I grew up very close to here, and I would lie awake in bed as a child and hear train whistles a few blocks away. Even though the railroad tracks across Mockingbird, just east of Central, were removed several years ago, I automatically slow down when I drive across where they had been, still expecting to drive over the raised rails.

I sound old. (Am I old?) No, I’m not old! (…Am I?) Hmm. Maybe it’s time to start handing out ribbon candy to the neighborhood children who fetch my hat pins, lye soap, and a bolt of gingham from the sundries counter of the dry goods store in town.

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Sources & Notes

First photo and caption from Dallas, The Deciding Years by A. C. Greene (Austin: Encino Press, 1973).

Second photo (from the DeGolyer Library, SMU) and caption appeared in the book The Park Cities: A Walker’s Guide and History by Diane Galloway and Kathy Matthews.

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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.