Flashback : Dallas

“Gathering Pecans” by Otis Dozier (Amon Carter Museum)

by Paula Bosse

We’ve reached the end of another year. Time for lists! Here’s my first of three end-of-year lists. This one gives me an excuse to share some of my favorite artworks and photos one more time. Here are my Top 15, plus a couple of bonus pictures I shared on social media but not on the blog. These are my favorites from 2025, listed in the order in which they were posted. Click the titles to see the original posts.

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Above (a bit out of chronological order), is a 1941 mural (oil on canvas) by Dallas artist Otis Dozier titled “Gathering Pecans,” a New Deal work commissioned by the U.S. government to hang in the Arlington Post Office. It now hangs in the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth. There is more below about the post this appeared in, “Hunting Pecans in the Park.” (Source: Amon Carter Museum of American Art)

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From a January post that I absolutely LOVED but which got criminally low traction out in readership-land: the futurist drawings of artist Ignatz Sahula-Dycke that appeared in the post “An Artist’s Conception of a Future Dallas.” I have always been a fan of futuristic illustrations (check out the spectacular work of artist Hugh Ferris — who was an obvious influence on Sahula-Dycke’s style — here), and the fact that we’ve got Deco-futurist “visions” of what Dallas might look like in the future is, for me, a fantastic combination. This is one of my favorites: the depiction of a new central library, with excitable text from (most likely) the Tracy-Locke advertising company, which employed Sahula-Dycke. (Source: Dallas Master Plan Vertical Files, Dallas History & Archives, Dallas Public Library)

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Speaking of the central library — where I now work (in the Dallas History & Archives department) — I saw this wonderful architectural drawing of the current downtown library when I pulled open a large print drawer. I think I gasped and then promptly snapped this photo. (This drawing of the future library even includes the library’s prized sculpture by Harry Bertoia hanging inside the entrance.) From the March post “A Few Photo Additions to Past Posts — #24.” (Source: Dallas Public Library Archives, Dallas History & Archives, Dallas Public Library)

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One day while browsing around eBay, I came across a perfectly nice postcard of Main Street — in fact, I don’t think I had ever seen the postcard — but I have to admit, I didn’t get really enthusiastic about it until I zoomed in on the “hat,” seen below in a cropped detail. From the May post “Whimsy on Main Street — ca. 1906.” (Source: eBay)

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I think more people than you might realize are mildly obsessed with all-things-Sportatorium. This aerial photo of the original Sportatorium (which burned down in 1953 and was rebuilt) (but not as a hexagon!) is amazing. From “Vaudeville at the Sportatorium? — 1936,” posted in July. (Source: from World Class Memories, a wrestling website)

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I can’t fully explain why I love this photo so much. I guess it falls under the “nostalgia for a time I never knew” category. It looks nothing like Dallas. The house in the foreground was somehow still standing until three or four years ago. From the July post “McKell Street’s Golden Age.” (Source: real photo postcard from eBay)

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I’ve seen so many postcards of Dallas over the years. So many! But I’d never seen this one. And I’d never heard of a place called “Fisher’s.” Read about it in the August post “Fisher’s Addition, West Dallas.” (Source: eBay)

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I love this fantastic photo from the August post “Martinez Brothers, Eagle Ford — 1939.” (Source: Dallas Neighborhood Stories Grant Collection, Dallas History & Archives, Dallas Public Library)

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I love homes designed in the 1910s, the 1920s, and the 1930s. This is one of many houses I’ve come across while doing this blog that I’ve deemed “dream homes.” It’s from “Dallas in the ’20s” from September. (Source: R. M. Williamson Collection, Dallas History & Archives, Dallas Public Library)

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It seems like I should have seen this aerial view of Fair Park before, but I don’t think I had. It’s pretty amazing. It’s from the National Achives and Records Administration (NARA) and was shot over Fair Park (and the surrounding neighborhood) during the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936. The photo was uploaded to Wikipedia in a very, very high resolution. It’s spectacular. Click the photo below to see the image on Wikipedia and keep zooming in! From the October post “Dallas Fire Department Training Tower, Fair Park — 1936.”

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I thought this was the perfect photo for the time-change! From “Time to Fall Back, Unless You’re Hanging from the Mercantile,” posted in November. (Source: Richards Group Collection, Dallas History & Archives, Dallas Public Library)

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The unthinkable is happening: the City Council is mulling over the idea of tearing down Dallas City Hall, designed by internationally renowned architect I. M. Pei. How is that even possible? This is my favorite photo of Pei, which I found while going through Dallas Times Herald photos and vertical files at the library. It’s such a great image (taken by Times Herald photographer Jay Dickman in 1976). A lot of people seem to like it as much as I do — this photo has garnered more response on Instagram than anything else I’ve ever posted. From the November post “Dallas City Hall.” I also liked the two photos I took of the iconic building, one of which I’ll include in this list. (Sources: Dallas Times Herald Collection, Dallas History & Archives, Dallas Public Library; photo of City Hall at sundown taken by Paula Bosse on Oct. 23, 2025)

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The companion to the Otis Dozier mural at the top of this post is this photo of mothers and children collecting pecans in White Rock Lake Park. More than any other photo I posted all year, this took me back to my childhood, when my brother and I often went to White Rock Lake to gather pecans with our mother on crisp autumn days. From the November post “Hunting Pecans in the Park.” (Source: Hayes Collection, Dallas History & Archives, Dallas Public Library)

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Bonus if you’ve read this far: Speaking of Instagram, the photo below was one I found in the library’s photo archives (such an amazing thing to have access to!), and I had hoped it would be shared on the DPL’s social media platforms during Classical History Month, but, for whatever reason, it didn’t make the cut — so I shared it on my Instagram (but not on the blog). I love this photo so, so much. It shows Walter Hendl, conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra from 1949 to 1959, intently studying a music score in 1953. (Source: Hayes Collection, Dallas History & Archives, Dallas Public Library)

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Bonus #2. In March, I went to the Preservation Dallas-sponsored tour of the Scottish Rite Cathedral downtown, a place I had always wanted to see inside of. I meant to write about it but managed to post only a few of my photos to the Flashback Dallas Patreon account. This was one of my favorites — a view from the second-floor balcony looking west. I should still post those photos here on the blog! (Source: photo by Paula Bosse)

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Lastly, 2025 was the year I lost my mother. I included this very sassy photo of her as a child in the May post “My Mother, Margaret Werry: 1936-2025.” 2025 had its ups and downs (mostly downs), but this photo always makes me smile. (Source: author’s personal collection)

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There they are! Check back before the end of the year to see other year-end “Best Of” lists.

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Sources & Notes

As they are posted, the three Year-End “best of” lists from 2025 will be here.

See all Flashback Dallas “Year-End” lists — past and present — here.

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Copyright © 2025 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.