Year-End List: Most Popular Posts of 2025

by Paula Bosse

2025 headline-grabber

by Paula Bosse

2025 is taking its sweet time to undarken my doorstep. I don’t want to unnecessarily drag people down by launching into the difficult year this has been for me, but… it’s been a difficult year. Dealing with my mother’s failing health and her ultimate death took its toll. One part of my life affected was my ability to consistently update this blog, but whenever I was lucky enough to be able to sit down and focus on it, it was a relief and a welcome distraction. I missed writing this year, and I hope I can get back into some sort of more frequent activity here. I love writing about Dallas, and I’m hoping 2026 and I can make it work again.

Thank you to everyone who has read and commented this year. My nominee for most annoyingly overused word of 2026 is “algorithm,” but I have to acknowledge that it exists, and that mine (once healthy-ish) is now weak and sputtering. The only “algorithm reach” I’m getting these days seems to exist for other people who have scraped my content and regurgitated it into something bland and lifeless that litters the internet under a variety of anonymous, AI-powered social media pages. So maybe I should add “massage the algorithm until it likes me again” to my list of New Year’s resolutions! 2026, I’m expecting better things from you!

These are the most popular Flashback Dallas posts of 2025, determined by reader activity and ranked in order by the number of page hits, comments, shares, etc. Read the full post by clicking the link in the title.

1. “DALLAS CITY HALL” (November)

This post was far and away the most popular Flashback Dallas post of the year. The photo above of architect I. M. Pei standing next to an under-construction City Hall was the most “liked” photo I’ve ever posted on Instagram, with thousands of people “liking” it — and a few people expressing how sick they were of the whole topic. And the topic? “Discussions Are Being Held About Tearing Down Dallas City Hall.” I’m kind of sick of hearing people talk about it, too, but there are so many reasons why people should be talking about it that we can’t ignore it. I mean, how are people even seriously considering this? We’re living in crazy, crazy times, man.

2. “MY MOTHER, MARGARET WERRY: 1936-2025” (May)

It’s impossible to try to sum up the full life of anyone, much less a parent, in something like a blog post. But I tried. My mother was a wonderful person, and I am very lucky to have had her in my life. I wish she knew how many people read this post about her life.

3. “LULU ROMAN, 1946-2025” (April)

This one is out of left field, but, yes, Lulu Roman — known by most people for her appearances on the TV show Hee Haw — was a Dallas native (Samuell High School).

4. “FISHER’S ADDITION, WEST DALLAS” (August)

I’m happy this one ranked as high as it did, because I really enjoyed writing it. West Dallas represent!

5. “LOOKING FOR THE HISTORICAL DALLAS MORNING NEWS ARCHIVE AT THE NEW DALLAS PUBLIC LIBRARY WEBSITE?” (July)

The ability to access the scanned archive of The Dallas Morning News is something that would be hard for me to live without. Luckily, the archive is available online — free — for all who have a Dallas Public Library card (or who visit the library in person). “But,” I hear many of you ask, “where are the POST-1984 archives?” Short answer: no idea. There are various rumors, but it’s probably easiest to say that there are unresolved contract negotiations (or at least a lack of any sort of publicly available updates), and we’re all waiting to find out when access to those years will return. No one I’ve asked knows what’s going on with this. Let’s hope those missing years return soon!

6. “‘THE MIRACLE MILE’ AND THE UTTERLY CONFUSING LOVER LANE(S) — 1954 (July)

This is the same problem seen along Mockingbird as it changes from “west” to “east” and moves in and out of the Park Cities. If you don’t know what I’m talking about and you would like your head to spin right off your shoulders, click through to read about what’s going on along The Miracle Mile.

7. “STILL HERE…” (March)

This was just a little note to readers explaining why I hadn’t been posting regularly and that I hadn’t disappeared completely.

8. “AN ARTIST’S CONCEPTION OF A FUTURE DALLAS” (January)

A collection of cool drawings on what a future Dallas might look like, if only voters would vote for the new Master Plan and approve it!

9. “DALLAS IN THE ’20s” (September)

The only thing these photos had in common was that they were from the 1920s. It is what one would call “a smattering.”

10. “LAKE HIGHLANDS VILLAGE — 1951” (April)

I live fairly close to this shopping area and was pretty excited when I saw this photo in a 1951 real estate ad.

And this post closes out 2025, a year I am happy to see in my rear-view mirror. I look forward to a happier and more productive 2026, for all of us! As always, thank you so much for reading! And Happy New Year!

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Sources & Notes

See all three 2025 Year-End “best of” lists here.

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

Flashback : Dallas