The Mercantile Bank Building — 1951
by Paula Bosse
Squire Haskins Collection, UTA Special Collections
by Paula Bosse
Photo of one of my favorite downtown buildings, the Mercantile, taken by ace photographer Squire Haskins in December 1951. See a very large image of this at the UTA website, here. Zoom in and take a look around. Check out all the landmarks. You’ll probably find Waldo while you’re at it.
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Sources & Notes
“Downtown Dallas — Mercantile Building” by Squire Haskins, taken on Dec. 11, 1951; from the Squire Haskins Photography, Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, Special Collections — more information can be found here. (I have slightly cropped the image.)
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Copyright © 2023 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 
My dad opened me an account there at the Mercantile when I was a baby… and for years, he and my Mom would help us roll pennies up to deposit when we went downtown. I always found the bank to be busy and exciting… but I was curious about the elevators. I remember asking what was “upstairs”… and never got to go in the elevator – until I was like 5… We were buying our second house – and dad had to go see somebody about the loan or maybe the title or escrow… (not sure now)… and I got to ride up in the elevator with him… I think we went to see a couple of men about whatever it was… and it was interesting, but kind of a letdown.. the upstairs office floor was not nearly as interesting as the big room with the teller windows… but at least I got to see what some of it looked like.
I remember the beacon on top gave weather forecasts.
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Thanks, Bill. I would have loved to have gone into that lobby as a child!
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I’m wondering what they did with the gun turrets when they renovated the building for apartments. that would be a marvelous post. You can still find photos of the Merc clock with gun turrets in each corner.
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Interesting! Maybe someone reading this will know! Thanks, Jane.
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