“Melons on Ice” — 1890s
by Paula Bosse
A sleepy little town…
by Paula Bosse
It looks hot in this photo from the 1890s. I bet those “Melons On Ice” in front of Wiley’s grocery store really hit the spot.
I love this photo. The Wiley Cash Grocery was in business for only a few years — from about 1892 to 1896. It was located at 153 Commerce, one block east of the brand-new county courthouse.
1893 Dallas directory
1893 map of Dallas, det.
The business was owned by Anna E. Wiley (~1862-1930) and her husband Jesse P. Wiley (~1863-1942). When they arrived in Dallas around 1887 their address in the city directory was simply “¾ mile w of river.”
Even though the store seems to have been in Anna’s name, Jesse was forced to file a deed of trust in 1896 when the store was faced with crippling debt. The Wileys owed approximately $1,545 to creditors (about $45,000 in today’s money), but their assets were only about $1,500, plus $800 of “good accounts.” Unsurprisingly, the store was gone by 1897. (Click article below to see a larger image.)
Dallas Morning News, Feb. 15, 1896
This photo captures such an odd view of downtown Dallas — it’s hard to believe that the site once occupied by the Wiley store is now the site of the John F. Kennedy Memorial. A present-day view can be seen here.
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Sources & Notes
This photo is from the Squire Haskins Photography, Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries; additional info is here. See this great photo REALLY big here.
The map is a detail from an 1893 map of Dallas from the collection of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
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Copyright © 2016 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 
Was Commerce Street one-way back then???
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I think it was “*any ol’ way.”
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It is a fascinating photograph, and for me one of those fascinations is that board-and-batten annex leaning up against the west wall of Mrs. Wiley’s grocery store. That the 100 block of Commerce would, as late as the 1890s, have found place for such a modest structure is hard to grasp.
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While it was the County seat, Dallas was still a small town among many tiny towns.
The entire county had about 69k population at the time and Dallas County had just passed Grayson County in population.
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[…] photo at the top appeared in the post “Melons On Ice — 1890s” (the title comes from a sign advertising melons for sale at Wiley’s Cash Grocery). […]
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[…] sounds great. The above photo is one of my all-time favorites, from the 2016 Flashback Dallas post “‘Melons On Ice’ — 1890s.” Enjoy the flashback […]
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