Flashback : Dallas

On the Belmont line…

by Paula Bosse

Time for another installment of this ongoing “series” in which I add newly found (to me) photos to old Flashback Dallas posts, in order to keep stuff together.

Above, this 1954 color photo of a Belmont streetcar trundling down an East Dallas street has been added to the 2018 post “Ghost Rails of the Belmont Streetcar Line.” Anyone recognize where this was taken? (Source: eBay)

*

Below, a photo of a fire truck and firemen taken outside the still-standing fire station on Cedar Springs has been added to the 2014 post “No. 4 Hook and Ladder Company, Oak Lawn — 1909.” (Source: eBay)

*

This photo of SMU’s Ownby Stadium has been added to the 2017 post “Ownby Stadium, With Room to Breathe.” (Source: Park Cities Bank postcard series)

*

Speaking of Ownby Stadium and sports, this cropped screenshot shows Dallas resident and sports legend Babe Didrikson, after she’d competed in the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) track and field championships at SMU in July 1930 (and set two world records, including one in the javelin throw). I’m adding this photo of a teenaged Babe to the 2014 post “Babe Didrikson, Oak Cliff Typist.” (Image source: newsreel footage on the Critical Past website, where you can watch the minute-and-a-half clip here — it doesn’t look a lot like Ownby Stadium, but that’s where the meet happened.)

*

Just across from the SMU campus is Snider Plaza — here is a photo from 1940 showing part of the marquee of the Varsity Theater and adjoining businesses — I’ve added it to the 2021 post “Snider Plaza & The Varsity Theater — 1920s.” (Source: University Park Brown Books)

*

Another movie-house photo — this one of the Jefferson Theater — has been added to the 2019 post “Theaters at 1517 Elm: The Garden, The Jefferson, The Pantages, The Ritz, and The Mirror — 1912-1941.” What an unusual facade! I’m not sure how long that whimsical bit of design lasted (the Jefferson operated between 1915-1925). The marquee advertises appearances by Kasmir & Co. and vaudeville comedians Howard & Lewis. (Source: eBay)

*

I’ve added this 1964 United Press International photo showing the proposed site of the JFK Memorial to the 2014 post “Where to Put That JFK Memorial? — 1964” (where it joins a similarly interesting Associated Press version). (Source: eBay)

*

This Nov. 1955 aerial photo of the construction of South Central Expressway looking north toward downtown is joining a slightly earlier view looking toward the south in the 2016 post “South Central Expressway Under Construction — 1955.” (Source: Squire Haskins Photography, Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, Special Collections — ID No. 10002950)

*

This “key” to identify landmarks (Dr Pepper plant in orange, Meadows Building in blue, etc.) in another Squire Haskins aerial photo has been added to the 2017 post “The Wide Open Spaces Northeast of Central and Lovers — 1957,” mainly because I was driving around there this afternoon and remembered this great photo — it’s one of my favorites, showing the general area I grew up in before it exploded with development. (Source: UTA Special Collections — ID No. 10002957)

*

I stumbled across a photo which was a bit better in quality that the one I had used previously, so I’ve added this photo to the 2022 post “19th-Century Sign-Painting and Real-Estating.” (Source: American Petroleum Institute Photograph and Film Collection, National Museum of American History, Archives Center, via the Smithsonian Institution Online Virtual Archives)

***

*

Copyright © 2023 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.