George Cacas, The Terrill School’s Greek Ice Cream Man — 1916
by Paula Bosse
Prep school boys & the ice cream man, 1916 (click for larger image)
by Paula Bosse
I love this photo. It shows two students from the Terrill School for Boys, buying ice cream from George Cacas, a Greek immigrant. I’m not sure of the exact location of the photo, but I would assume it is either in front of, next to, or very nearby the Terrill School, which was located at Swiss and Peak. It appeared in the school’s 1916 yearbook accompanying an “interview” with Mr. Cacas, whom the boys apparently (and one hopes affectionately) called “Spaghetti” (click for larger image):
Another photo of Mr. Cacas, from the previous year’s yearbook (click for larger image):
The Terrill School was established in 1906 and was one of the city’s early important prep schools for boys. (Incidentally, the Terrill School shared a fenceline with the prestigious Miss Hockaday’s School for Girls for many years — I’ll be writing more on this convenient arrangement in the future!) Below, two photos showing three of the campus’ many buildings, from about the same time as the one featuring Mr. Cacas.
Recitation Hall on the left; Phelps Hall, right — 1919
1928
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Top photo and interview from the 1915-1916 Terrillian, the Terrill School yearbook; photos of the “Main House” and two campus buildings from the 1918-1919 Terrillian.
The Terrill School for Boys was located in Old East Dallas at 4217 Swiss Avenue, from 1906 to about 1930. It then moved to Ross Avenue for a few years and was eventually merged with a couple of other schools to form St. Mark’s School of Texas — more on that from the St. Mark’s website, here.
Location on present-day map (Bing)
The name “Cacas” didn’t seem right for a Greek surname — and the signature at the bottom of the photo looks like it might have been George’s, with his last name beginning with a “K.” But George’s family’s name was, in fact, spelled “Cacas,” as seen here in the city directory from 1915. I wonder if they spelled it “Cacas” back in Sparta?
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Copyright © 2015 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 
great photo and original story and then again so much too do……
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I think Mr. Cacas has written his name on the photo in Greek: G A Kakas. It’s pretty common for Greek names outside Greece to be spelled in a fashion that fits in with the new culture, like the film director Michael Cacoyannis, whose surname in Greek has two Ks and a G in it. The 1920 census lists a good number of Greek-born people with the surname Kakas.
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[…] More photos and background on The Terrill School can be found in the post “George Cacas, The Terrill School’s Ice Cream Man — 1916,” here. […]
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[…] “George Cacas, The Terrill School’s Greek Ice Cream Man — 1916.” Just a couple of schoolboys buying ice cream from a Greek merchant in Old East […]
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[…] THE TERRILL SCHOOL FOR BOYS — M. B. Bogarte, head master — 4217 Swiss Avenue (at Peak). The exclusive boys school in Dallas (which, after several mergers, continues today as St. Mark’s); the cost of a year’s tuition for boarding students in 1920 was $850 — the equivalent of about $11,000 — a very pricey school back then. More on the Terrill School can be found in previous Flashback Dallas posts here and here. […]
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