City Park, From the Air: 1948-1997
City Park, 1948 (Dallas Municipal Archives)
by Paula Bosse
These eight aerial photos of City Park/Old City Park in The Cedars, just south of downtown, show the encroachment of an ever-increasing acreage of asphalt onto what was once the city’s most beautiful park. (All photos are from the Dallas Municipal Archives, and all are larger when clicked.) The one thing present in all photos is the late Ambassador Hotel (RIP).
Above, in 1948, before the cement mixers arrived (photo by Barnes Aerial Surveys).
Below, 1954.
Squire Haskins, Dallas Municipal Archives, 1954
1966:
Squire Haskins, Dallas Municipal Archives, 1966
1969:
Squire Haskins, Dallas Municipal Archives, 1969
1972:
Squire Haskins, Dallas Municipal Archives, 1972
1975:
Squire Haskins, Dallas Municipal Archives, 1975
Circa 1982:
Dallas Municipal Archives, ca. 1982
1997:
Reginald D. Loftin, Dallas Municipal Archives, 1997
Today-ish (or at least before the Ambassador burned down in May, 2019):
Google Maps
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Sources & Notes
All photos are from the Dallas Municipal Archives Collection, via the Portal to Texas History; they can all be found here.
Read about the history of the Ambassador Hotel in the Flashback Dallas post “The Majestic Hotel/The Park Hotel/The Ambassador Hotel: R.I.P — 1904-2019.”
A few old postcards of City Park in its heyday can be found in the post “Iola Bridge.”
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Copyright © 2020 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
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