2908 McKinney: The Emergency Home — 1912
by Paula Bosse
2908 McKinney Avenue, brand new in 1912… (click for larger image)
by Paula Bosse
Above, the brand new Salvation Army “Emergency Home” in 1912. The accompanying headline and caption, from The Dallas Morning News (March 13, 1912):
American Salvation Army Home for Destitute
This place has been secured as shelter for unfortunate women and children. It is centrally located on McKinney Avenue, near Allen Street.
This “haven for unfortunates” was established on McKinney Avenue to temporarily house those (mostly women and children) who needed a helping hand until they were able to secure work and a permanent home.
It appears that the home lasted only a couple of years. By the 1915 city directory, the house was vacant. It later became a private residence, a rooming house, a children’s clothing and furniture shop, a crime scene, a marble-top table emporium, a place to buy aquariums, a PR firm, the Dallas bureau of Texas Monthly, and a whole bunch of bars and restaurants.
The 1912 house is still standing, and it’s currently a bar and restaurant catering to the young, Uptown party-set. Maybe the Salvation Army should set up a kettle out front this Christmas.
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Below, a couple of articles about the first days of the “Emergency Home” (click for larger images):
DMN, Feb. 24, 1912
DMN, March 13, 1912
And a few photos of the house in recent years, showing a variety of paint colors and renovations.
Dallas Morning News/Eats Blog
Dallas Central Appraisal District photo — see it HUGE here
Then and now-ish
Bret Redman/D Magazine
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Sources & Notes
Top photo appeared in The Dallas Morning News on March 13, 1912 (photo by Clogenson).
As of this writing, 2908 McKinney Avenue is the bar/restaurant Next Door.
A couple of other Flashback Dallas posts concerning surprisingly old buildings along McKinney Avenue which have been re-purposed to attract Uptown nightlife:
- 2400 McKinney Avenue — 100+ Years and Counting (firehouse-turned-gallery-space)
- Not Dead Yet at McKinney & Routh (funeral-home-turned-restaurant)
Click photos and clippings for larger images.
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Copyright © 2016 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 
ok, as a student of criminal justice and history, I HAVE to ask about the incident where this was a crime scene. do you have any other info on that story?
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In December, 1946, a woman who lived in the house as a boarder with her new husband and her two daughters (17 and 20) was killed by her ex-husband who had burst in and shot her with a shotgun. He shot himself as well but survived. He was found to be insane and was sent to Terrell State Hospital. In a June, 1949 lunacy hearing, he was found sane and was, apparently, released.
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wow…that’s terrible….thanks for the update!
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[…] [A similar “shelter for unfortunate women and children” was the Salvation Army’s Neighborhood Home on McKinney […]
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