The 1957 Tornado, Seen From Old East Dallas
by Paula Bosse
The view from Liberty & Live Oak… (click for larger image)
by Paula Bosse
Great shot of the historic Dallas tornado (which killed 10, injured at least 200, and left about 500 people homeless) as it was plowing through Oak Cliff and West Dallas on April 2, 1957, seen from the 2800 block of Live Oak.
Aside from the tornado, this is an interesting view looking toward downtown, the Medical Arts Building, and the Republic Bank Building (that rocket must have been Dallas’ tallest lightning rod at the time!). The building containing the strip of businesses at the right still stands (I love these buildings — there are a lot of them in the older parts of town) — a present-day view can be seen on Google, here. What stood out to me was a Burger House — I didn’t know of any other than the one on Hillcrest, but this one stood at 2811 Live Oak from 1950 or ’51 until about 1976.
Below, the businesses in the 2800 block of Live Oak — between Texas and Liberty — from the 1956 city directory (click for larger image):
***
Sources & Notes
Top photo from the book Historic Photos of Dallas in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s by Rusty Williams (Nashville: Turner Publishing Company, 2010); from the collection of the Dallas Public Library.
Film footage of the tornado can be found in several videos on YouTube, here.
One of the newspaper reports on the tornado which captures the terror felt by those in the twister’s path and is well worth reading in the Dallas Morning News archives is “‘Roar of Thousand Trains’ Precedes the Killer Funnel” by James Ewell (DMN, April 3, 1957). Of particular interest is the story of T. M. Davisson who hid with a customer in a large empty steel tank on his property.
A previous Flashback Dallas post — “Tornado As Learning Tool — 1957” — is here.
Photo and clippings are larger when clicked.
*
Copyright © 2016 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 
Interesting that one of the firms still remains on Live Oak, but has moved a few blocks up the street–Trophies Inc.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Do you have the 1956 info for the area of 1616 Singleton, mentioned in the article? curious if the building that survived this storm is still there today. It says the woman’s grocery store was there at that time…Manuela Orozco’s grocery.
LikeLike
Hi, Regina. When I wrote the post, I looked up 1616 Singleton, and it appears to be a used car lot now. The Orozco store was at 1615 Singleton, right across the street. I would guess that the building standing there now — at the corner of Navaro (is it really supposed to be spelled with only one “R”?) — was the building standing there when the tornado hit. Here’s the building on Google Street View: http://bit.ly/2haGq55
LikeLike
Paula,
Thanks for clarifying! i end up spending an hour or two when i stray from your site after reading your posts….takes me all over Dallas and to other links relating to what you post! lol thanks for all your work!
LikeLiked by 1 person
My grandfather lived with his daughter and two nieces on Willomet Ave. at the time of the tornado. One niece was home when it hit Oak Cliff. The house survived but some of the neighbors’ homes did not fare as well.
The same niece was in Wichita Falls when the big tornado hit there in the 1970s!
LikeLike
[…] 1957 Dallas tornado 1957 Dallas Tornado Flashback.com […]
LikeLike
Paula,I was raised in Oak Cliff at 3430 S.Marsalis.Born in 52.I remember it like it was yesterday.I was layin in the livein room floor lookin out the front door.I saw what I thought was a big fire.I told my grand daddy”Pappy.look,there’s big fire over there.He took one look at it and said”boy,that ain’t no fire it’s tornado”!He rushed us all outside and to the car.I stood in the field,a DP&L powerline field,I think it was,and looked at the thing rippin people’s houses apart just down the hill from our house.Pappy grabbed me and said,as he was throwin me in the car”get in the car boy”!When we were all aboard he backed out of the driveway at a high rate of speed,jumped the median backwards and headed south on Marsalis all the way out past the Singin Hills area.He instinctively knew to go directly south as tornadoes always seem to travel south west to north east.And we were due east of the thing about 3 blocks.Man that thing was loud!For some reason I thought it was in 56 but after seein your post I guess it was in 57.Makein me 5 instead of 4.Thanks for your post and pics.Brings back a lot.My grand daddy was kindasorta my daddy cause he was the one that raised me.Mom ran my dad off before I was born cause he was no good.Fine with me.Pappy was the bestest father a kid could have.Huntin,fishin,drivein and everything else there was to learn.Plus his values were old school.And I got em.Thanks again.God Bless you and your’s.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow. That’s quite a story. Glad the both of you made it out okay!
LikeLike
[…] “The 1957 Tornado, Seen From Old East Dallas” […]
LikeLike