Caterpillars On the Job at Ross and Market — 1922
by Paula Bosse
Roadwork in the warehouse district…
by Paula Bosse
I’ve loved vintage and historical advertisements since I was a child. Since becoming more focused on Dallas history, I’m always excited to find old ads with photos of recognizable Dallas locations, like the one below for Caterpillar tractors, which was printed in the Saturday Evening Post in 1922. (Click to see a larger image and read the rousing tribute given to these “motorized outfits” by City Engineer George D. Fairtrace.)
The photo shows a Dallas street maintenance crew grading Ross Avenue at the intersection of N. Market in 1922 (see the current Google Street View here). Every building seen in the photo is still standing in the Historic West End:
- Southwest General Electric Co., 1701 N. Market (it was later occupied by the Higginbotham-Pearlstone Hardware Co.)
- Federal Glass & Paint Co., 1709 N. Market
- Fairbanks, Morse & Co., 1713 N. Market
- Texas Ice & Cold Storage (partially visible at the right), 701 Ross (until recent years the long-time home of The Palm restaurant; in 1922 it was, I believe, a brand new building)
Google Street View, 2016
Bing Streetside, 2015
Thank you, Caterpillar ad!
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Sources & Notes
1922 Caterpillar ad found on eBay, here.
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Copyright © 2019 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 
I find it interesting that originally “Caterpillar” was a trademark of the Holt Mfg. Co. Of course, some time between then and now they changed the name of the company to “Caterpillar”. My former employer was a supplier to Caterpillar in Peoria.
I wonder if Cat were the originators of the commercial tracked earthmoving vehicle, or just one of several. I guess the basic technology was taken from the WWI tanks.
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“Caterpillar” was a result of a merger of the Holt Manufacturing Company (later Holt Caterpillar Company) and the C. L. Best Tractor Company in 1925
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Yes, I did a little looking and I see the tracked vehicle design originated around 1904, apparently with Holt.
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The wikipedia entry for “Holt tractors” is quite brief, but it does state that the first major use of the firm’s tracked prime movers was in the construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in the years 1908 to 1913.
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