Worth Street, A Century Ago
by Paula Bosse
“A hearty welcome awaits…” (click for larger image)
by Paula Bosse
Above is a photograph of the new home of traveling salesman Everett F. Bray (1873-1915) and his wife Erminia Connor Bray (1874-1962); they had moved to Dallas in 1907 with their young children Everita and Melville. The picture-postcard is dated Aug. 28, 1908 and was sent to a friend with Erminia’s message:
Dearie, I hope it won’t be very long before I can have the pleasure of entertaining you in my Dallas home. […] A hearty welcome awaits you at 461 Worth St. Dallas any old time.
The 1905 Sanborn map of this Old East Dallas neighborhood (which, more specifically, is in OED’s Peak’s Suburban Addition) can be found here (461 is an empty lot, near the upper right corner). After the city-wide address-change of 1911, the 400 block of Worth became the 4400 block. As is the case with many of the houses in this neighborhood, Erminia’s house still stands. …But with a whole lot more vegetation.
2016 Google Street View
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Worth Street — which stretches through Junius Heights, Munger Place, and Peak’s Suburban Addition — may be a bit funkier these days, but there are still many beautiful homes lining the street. Below are a couple of postcards from a century ago, well before the “funky” era.
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After I posted the top image on Instagram, a person (whose handle is @uneik_image_inc) made this interesting comment:
We have painted quite a few houses on Worth Street! Interesting fact: lots of these homes are built on Bois D’Arc tree stumps for foundation piers and a solid 85% are still standing and being lived in!
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Sources & Notes
All postcards are from eBay.
The Brays had moved from their Worth Street home by 1915 when 41-year-old Everett Bray was killed in an automobile accident. Erminia — known as “Minnie” — lived almost 50 years longer than her husband, dying in Duncanville in 1962 at the age of 88.
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Copyright © 2019 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 
In Munger Historic District, great homes. Thanks for posting.
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Thanks for reading! The “official” boundaries of all the “Additions” and “Districts” are a bit confusing to me. Google tells me that the house seen in the photo at the top is in Peak’s Suburban Addition, but Worth also continues through Munger Place and Junius Heights.
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I feel the energy in her words! It’s very exciting. Thanks for posting.
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Paula, do you know if the house pictured in the final post card still exists. I didn’t see it on Google but I didn’t “walk” down the entire length of Worth, either.
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I’ve never seen it, and I’m guessing it’s long gone, but I’d love to know who lived there!
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The large ornate house in the bottom postcard belonged to C.C. Slaughter, and was at 3509 Worth, which is now in the center of the Baylor medical complex. It was torn down in 1939. Here’s a link to the photo at Dallas Public Library: https://catalog.dallaslibrary.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.6&pos=9&cn=612001
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Thank you, Tom!
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Hi Paula, My husband and I own the house in the top postcard that was 461 Worth Street! We are slowly renovating it, but most of the original woodwork still exists as well as some of the stained and beveled glass! Do you know if the postcard is available for purchase? We have no old pictures of the home and didn’t realize the address had changed! Thanks for finding this and sharing!
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I’m so glad you saw this, Elizabeth! I found this on eBay back in June. It’s a “real photo postcard” (abbreviated as “RPPC”) — a postcard made from a personal photograph. The Brays probably had a few printed up to send friends and relatives, to show off their new house or to alert them of their new address. Unfortunately, there’s nothing printed on the cards that would make searching for another one easy. And even if Erminia signed the card, it would be difficult for someone to figure out the signature as it’s such an unusual name. If I can track down the seller of the card, I’ll let you know. But it might also have been purchased by someone who reads this blog — if so, I hope they comment here!
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Thanks Paula! I’ll dig around on Ebay and see if I can get lucky and find it! Wow, there really are a lot of postcards out there! Thanks again!
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Hi Paula,
We live two houses over from Elizabeth Nelson (461 Worth) in probably where 437 Worth was. Have you found anything about this property? From what I’ve been told there used to be a brick home there and we have a couple of brick fireplaces that are still visible but not useable.
Thanks
Swati Joshi
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Hi Swati,
Check this page (middle column) from the 1911 city directory which shows the old address in bold and new address (today’s address) to the left to verify that you live in what was 437 Worth: http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~jwheat/history/worleys1911streets/page159.jpg
Also cross-reference to see if the house’s footprint is similar to the 1-story house seen in the 1905 Sanborn map here: http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/sanborn/d-f/txu-sanborn-dallas-1905-85.jpg
It’s confusing because by 1922 two more houses had been added between Peak and the house seen in the photo at the top of this post. I have a feeling you might live in a house that hadn’t been built when the 1905 map was drawn. See the 1922 Sanborn map (showing the house was now one-and-a-half stories) here: http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/sanborn/d-f/txu-sanborn-dallas-1922-324.jpg
If you DID live in what was once 437 and is now 4309, the first occupant I can find was Reuben C. “Reuby” Ayres (often misspelled as “Ayers”) (1860-1924), a prominent banker. He appears to have moved into the house in May or June of 1900 with his wife, Maggie, their children Arthur and Elizabeth, and a brother-in-law. They lived there only a couple of years before moving a few blocks down the street.
Classified ads show that rooms were rented out beginning around 1905. “Nice rooms and board, south front, all modern conveniences, one door from the North Belt car line.” “Room and board in private home, pleasantly located, every convenience and near car line.”
In 1907 a “for sale” ad appeared: “For Sale — Nice 7-room house and lot at a bargain, convenient to car line.”
In 1921 the house number had changed to 4309 Worth and was offered for sale at $7,650 ($109,000 in today’s money).
In 1929 there was a “for rent” ad describing an “8-room duplex.”
Sadly no photo!
If you have any questions or comments (which might be that you don’t actually live in the house that was once 437 Worth), please feel free to email me at flashbackdallas214@gmail.com.
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Friends of mine restored & lived in a house on Worth just east of Fitzhugh 20 odd years ago. I’ve always loved old East Dallas & the neighborhoods in that part of town.
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[…] Heights, Munger Place and Peak’s Suburban Addition, is shown on these old postcards posted by Flashback Dallas. Many of the pictured homes still […]
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5700 Worth St.is my birthplace. We lived there until 1964.
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