Courthouse in the Mist/Smoke/Murk — 1901

old-red_dallas-courthouse_1901_degolyerThe ethereal Old Red Courthouse…

by Paula Bosse

I love this photo of the Old Red Courthouse from 1901. (I guess in 1901 it would have been the New Red Courthouse….) The dreamy quality is probably due less to a romantic mists of Avalon effect (which, incidentally, I’ve seen from the Glastonbury tor, and it’s beautiful!) and maybe due more to just a lot of soot and smoke. …Or something altogether more prosaic, like a damaged photograph or plate. Here’s the courthouse a little closer:

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In the image at the top of the page, you can see some of the words for the “Keating Implement & Machine Co.” painted on the white building, seen just above the “Daniel & Goodwin” building on the right side of the photograph. The photo below shows the view from the courthouse, taken about 1900. In the bottom left corner, you can see the Keating building. The reverse view isn’t soft and mysterious (or even all that interesting), but I like that Old Red gets in a tiny Hitchcock-like cameo in the center foreground.

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Sources & Notes

Top photo — titled “[Dallas Courthouse]” — is from the George A. McAfee Photographs collection, DeGolyer Library, SMU Libraries; more information on this photo can be found here.

The view from the courthouse — titled “Looking northeast from Courthouse circa 1900” — is from the Collection of Dallas Morning News negatives and copy photographs, DeGolyer Library, SMU Libraries; more information on this photo can be found here.

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Copyright © 2023 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.