1611 Main Street — Another One Bites the Dust
by Paula Bosse
The 1600 block of Main St. in 1909, from Ervay (click for larger image)
by Paula Bosse
Yesterday (Sept. 21, 2014), a 129-year-old building — one of the oldest buildings still standing downtown — built in 1885! — was demolished. Today it’s a pile of rubble. Yeah, I don’t understand it, either. Dallas has a real problem with preserving its history. In the 1909 photo above, it is the one at the right, behind the three men in white shirts who are standing above the crowd. And now it’s gone. And so is the Praetorian, the tall white building on the corner of Main and Stone. Maybe someone should make sure the Wilson Building has armed guards on 24-hour wrecking-ball watch.
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Photo is a detail from “Parade Day, Military Tournament, Dallas, Texas” by Clogenson (1909), from the collection of the DeGolyer Library, Central University Libraries, Southern Methodist University. It can be viewed here.
The original photograph is the subject of a previous post, “Parade Day — 1909” which can be viewed here.
A Dallas Morning News article by Robert Wilonsky on the surprise demolition of 1611 Main Street (which, until 1911, was actually 369-371 Main Street) can be read here.
Interestingly enough, there was an effort of sorts to declare the building a city landmark back in 1981, when it was a mere 96 years old. A list of buildings eligible for landmark status back then can be seen here; a few on the list didn’t make it nearly as long as 1611. RIP.
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Tearing down the history of the city. Very sad indeed.
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And it just keeps happening.
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I think that most Texans now have only been here maybe two generations and don’t have any emotional connection to the city.
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Well, *developers* certainly don’t.
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You are wrong, Rick Mitchell. There are plenty of native Texans still there. I can’t explain why they let things like this happen. Maybe it’s because the decision makers don’t have long term connections. It grieves the heart a true Texans, I can assure you.
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[…] The dark-colored three-story building behind the three men in white shirts standing above the crowd (1611 Main) was demolished yesterday, Sept. 21, 2014. (A better view of the full building can be seen in the post “1611 Main Street — Another One Bites the Dust,” here.) […]
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