1950s | Flashback : Dallas

Dallas Fire Stations — 1951

by Paula Bosse

Above and below, an interesting collection of snapshots of firehouses which were dotted around the city in 1951.

Edited: Because I found so many weird errors in the magazine’s captions (“Almons Road” is supposed to be “Abrams Road,” for instance…), I just went and looked them all up. There are a lot of errors! The corrected list — or at least the best I could do — is below. A surprising number of the buildings are still standing.

CORRECTED LOCATIONS

1) Station No. 32: 7007 Benning (at Jim Miller, in Urbandale)

2) Station No. 22: 3004 Armstrong (at Central Expressway)

3) Station No. 16: 5501 Columbia

4) Station No. 4: 1602 Young Street

5) Station No. 3: 3215 Gaston (see it around 1901 in the first photo in this post)

6) Station No. 14: 834 W. Tenth (and Tyler)

7) Station No. 12: 2300 S. Ervay

8) Station No. 13: 425 S. Hampton

9) Station No. 7: 706 E. 10th

10) Station No. 18: 1003 McKinney

11) Station No. 23: 1735 S. Ewing

12) Station No. 31: 9365 Garland Rd.

13) Station No. 19: 5600 East Grand

14) Station No. 31: 9365 Garland Rd. (again!)

15) Station No. 5: 3801 Parry

16) Station No. 11: 3828 Cedar Springs (which I wrote about here)

17) Station No. 8: 4422 Live Oak

18) Central Station: 2111 Main (now 2121 Main)

19) Station No. 29: 2449 Abrams Rd.

20) Love Field Station

21) Station No. 6: 2202 Forest Avenue (several pictures of this station are in this post)

22) UNKNOWN

23) Station No. 24: 2331 Poplar

24) Station No. 15: 600 N. Bishop (now Gloria’s restaurant — I wrote about the station here)

25) Station No. 27: 8401 Douglas

26) Station No. 26: 3303 W. Jefferson

27) Station No. 17: 5435 Lewis

28) Station No. 25: 4239 Lancaster

***

Sources & Notes

Photos are from the trade magazine Texas Fireman, 75th Anniversary Edition (June 1951), which is scanned in full here (the individual photo montages are on pages 40, 42, and 44); from the collection of the Dallas Firefighters Museum, via the Portal to Texas History.

See a few fire houses from 50 years before the ones seen above, in the Flashback Dallas post “Dallas Fire Stations — 1901.”

If you want to see more, more, MORE Flashback Dallas, please consider supporting me on Patreon, where for as little as $5 a month, you can see something Dallas-y every single day!

4 Comments

April 16, 2023

St. Mark’s From the Air

Go west, young man…

by Paula Bosse

The photo above shows an aerial view of the St. Mark’s campus, with a view to the northwest. So. Much. Space. The horizontal road in the top third of the photo is Preston Road. In the top right corner, at 5923 Royal Lane, is the round St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, which was built in 1959. (I have learned only tonight that the architect of that church — and many other buildings around Dallas — was designed by architect William H. Hidell Jr., who studied with George Dahl. Hidell grew up in the same house I grew up in — several decades earlier. Small world.) Across the street from the round church is the Preston Royal fire station, built in 1958, and recently destroyed by a tornado (and which I wrote about here). This photo is undated, but it was obviously taken sometime after 1959. That amount of empty land is surprising. (If you really want to freak out about miles of nothing in North Dallas, check out this unbelievable photo of Preston and Valley View in 1958, pre-LBJ).

And here are two other St. Mark’s-centric photos from the same flight — all taken by Squire Haskins (see links below for very large images on the UTA website). Below, a view to the northeast:

And a view to the southeast:

***

Sources & Notes

These three aerial photos are by Squire Haskins, from the Squire Haskins Photography Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. Read more information about these individual photos: the first one is here (view to the northwest); the second is here (view to the northeast); and the third is here (view to the southeast). Click the pictures on the UTA site to see really, really big images.

Please consider supporting the work I do at Flashback Dallas by funding me on Patreon, where I post exclusive content.

10 Comments

March 29, 2023

Southland Center Observation Deck — 1967

550 feet above street level…

by Paula Bosse

I never experienced the observation deck atop the Southland Life Insurance Building (or any of the observation decks sprinkled throughout downtown — other than Reunion Tower, I guess), but I see a lot of people mention it in fond childhood memories. Here it is in an ad from the 1967 Highland Park High School yearbook.

GREAT SCOT… SEE IT FROM THE TOP!

Get a bird’s-eye view of your school from the Observation Deck, high on top of Southland Center. It’s a beautiful view, 550 feet above street level. A completely enclosed Observation Lounge assures visitors of all-weather comfort.

Come every day, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Adults, 25¢ — children (6-12) 10¢. Proceeds go to charity.

Southland Life Insurance Co.
Home Office • Southland Center • Dallas

The observation deck and “lounge” was opened to the public on the 41st floor of the Southland Life Building on Oct. 31, 1956 (the top floor — the 42nd — had a private heliport). I can’t find when it finally closed, but it was open until at least the 1980s.

A search around the internet turned up an interesting bit of footage of the observation deck in 1962 — from a cameo appearance in the TV show “Route 66” (there were a couple of episodes shot in Dallas — I haven’t seen this entire episode, but the clip below has a few cool locations). The pertinent footage begins at the 4:43 mark and lasts for about 2 minutes (if, like me, any hint of fictional animal danger is a problem, you might want to stop around the 5:00 mark). (A couple of cast connections to our fair city: David Wayne, the actor featured in this episode, would later return to Big D as Digger Barnes in “Dallas,” and Dallas actress K Callan — seen in a scene at Love Field at 4:10 — was both a student and a teacher at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Oak Cliff.) From this clip, it looks like there might have been several of the telescopes around the perimeter of the building. (I’d love to see this in color — to see those shimmering blue glass tiles up close.) (This full episode — one of three filmed in Dallas — can be watched on YouTube, here. You’ll see Love Field, the Marriott Motor Hotel, the Southland observation deck, the SMU campus, the Trade Mart, a Wyatt’s cafeteria and grocery store (6126 Luther Lane, in Preston Center), Sheriff Bill Decker’s actual office, and a drive-in movie theater.)

Is there an observation deck there these days?

skyline-looking-west_southland-center_1970_portal

***

Sources & Notes

Top photo/ad is from the 1966 Highland Park High School yearbook.

Check out these related Southland Center posts:

21 Comments

February 24, 2023

The Mercantile Bank Building — 1951

mercantile_squire-haskins_dec-1951_UTA 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.

***

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.)

mercantile_squire-haskins_dec-1951_UTA_sm

4 Comments

February 19, 2023

Kimball High School, Off Campus — Ads, 1959-1961

Browsing the Elvis releases, 1959

by Paula Bosse

A few years ago I posted several Oak Cliff-centric ads found in the 1963 and 1967 Kimball High School yearbooks (see those ads here). I’m back for another installment.

Above, a photo I really love, showing five Kimball girls checking out Elvis records at Priest Music (2447 W. Kiest Blvd). No, they don’t look like high school girls, and, yes, they are. The man at the right is, apparently, the owner, Frank M. Anderson (whom, I think, changed the name of the store to Music Hall the following year?). I posted this ad on my Facebook page last week, and one man wrote, about the owner: “Frank, the owner. His shop was known for its collection of Jazz and Classical albums. We became friends as I got into Jazz thanks to the Great Pete Fountain!” And because, why not, here’s a recent Google Street View of the Kiestwood Village sign which was probably there at that little shopping strip when Frank and the girls were photographed for this ad.

kiestwood-village_2022

Dairy Mart (2739 S. Hampton):

1960

1959

Moreno’s Patio (245 Wynnewood Village):

1961

Ketchum & Killum (334 W. Kiest) — a sporting goods store with perhaps the best name ever:

1961

If you’re in need of some bandages or Mercurochrome after being a little too curious at Ketchum & Killum, head over to Page’s Pharmacy (3220 Falls Dr.):

1959

For all things “fun,” Playland (3900 W. Illinois):

1959

***

Sources & Notes

All ads from the 1959, 1960, and 1961 yearbooks of Justin Kimball High School in Oak Cliff.

More Kimball yearbook ads can be found in the Flashback Dallas post “A Few Ads From the Pages of the 1963 and 1967 Kimball High School Yearbooks.”

priest-music_kimball-high-school_1959-yrbk_sm

10 Comments

February 13, 2023

Tex-Mex in a Can (with Bonus Chili-Burger Recipe) — 1953/1954

cuellar-recipe-bk_ebay_det

by Paula Bosse

So the other day I was browsing through eBay, hoping to find something Dallas-related that I’d never seen before. And a Cuellar’s (“QUAY-YAR”) recipe pamphlet popped up. And it is fantástico! I remember El Chico frozen dinners, but I don’t remember El Chico canned foods, and that appears to be what the Cuellar family of Dallas started off with when they decided to branch off from their expanding Tex-Mex restaurant dynasty. The canned foods first appeared in late 1949 or early 1950 under the “El Chico” brand, and just as it was really starting to take off nationally, the company was forced to rename the line “Cuellar’s” in 1953 because of a copyright lawsuit; in 1954, after a year of court appeals, they were allowed to go back to using “El Chico.” (Read more about this manufacturing business in my previous post, “El Chico Foods/Cuellar Foods.”) Initially, the company produced only canned goods. Including, yes, tortillas in a can. TORTILLAS. IN. A. CAN. It appears this circular tin originally came with a dreaded key to open it, like Spam and canned hams. So if you wanted some tortillas, you really had to put the work in (and make sure you were current with your tetanus shots).

In addition to the tortillas (which I assume were flour tortillas, but I’m not entirely sure about this), the line of El Chico canned Tex-Mex foods included staples such as chili con carne (with beans and without), tamales (wrapped in corn shucks), enchiladas, beans (fried and not), enchilada sauce, tamale sauce, hot sauce, green chiles, jalapeños, menudo, “taco filler,” taco sauce, Mexican-style spaghetti (!), something called enchimales, and Mexican-style rice (I have never heard of cooked rice in a can). And, I’m sure, many more products. One newspaper ad touted the fact that you could concoct a full meal for a family of 6 using only 5 El Chico canned foods for $1.85 (which, somewhat shockingly, is the equivalent today of about $22.00).

El Chico canned food ad, April 1951

But back to that recipe pamphlet I stumbled across on eBay, which would be from 1953/1954, the period when El Chico was forced to use the “Cuellar’s” name for their canned foods. The recipes are interesting — not only were these dishes unfamiliar and “exotic” to most people in the U.S. at the time (meaning that El Chico felt the need to inform readers that “‘tacos’ in Spanish means ‘sandwiches'” and that quesadillas were “cheese turnovers”), but the recipes also have occasional odd little flourishes which seem unusual and may indicate restaurant hacks or traditional preparation tips I am unaware of (guacamole salad calling for a teaspoon of butter, for example). You’ve got recipes for alarming dishes such as “Tongue a la Cuellar” (first ingredient: “one large or two small tongues”). not-alarming-but-unusual dishes such as scrambled eggs made with a can of chili and hominy, as well as the more mundane dishes like tacos (in which the cook is instructed to use toothpicks to keep the tortilla “closed” during deep frying).

But my very favorite recipe is something so spectacular that I can’t believe this hasn’t made its way to the State Fair of Texas food tents. Seriously, if any of you SFOT food vendors or maverick entrepreneurs decide to develop this dish, please remember you learned about it from me as you rake in the cash!

Okay. Take a deep breath, because this is just GREAT.

“CUELLAR CHILI-BURGER — WITH CHEESE”

Place a can of Cuellar Chili con Carne in refrigerator overnight.
Remove both ends of can and push chili con carne out
Using sharp knife slice chili into approximately 1/4” slices
Dip slices in regular pancake batter and fry in deep fat
Have buns ready with slices of cheese melted on same
Place fried patty, along with diced onion, on buns and serve — will make from 8 to 10 chili-burgers

Wow! It’s a chili-burger without a burger. How does this even work? Granted, this was back in the day when canned chili was very, very fatty — I remember opening cans of (delicious) Wolf Brand chili as a kid and marveling at the orange congealed grease (come to think of it, I’m pretty sure I probably used the open-can-at-both-ends-to-push-it-out technique, a la jellied cranberry sauce, and it retained its can-shape in a saucepan until heated). But wouldn’t these slices just disintegrate while deep frying, even if they were really cold (frozen even) and really congealed? My brother has suggested it might work along the lines of a Baked Alaska, in which the ice cream inside the dessert doesn’t melt as it bakes. Regardless. The joy I’ve gotten from reading this recipe and envisioning a bizarro dish made from deep-fried slices of canned chili dipped in pancake batter makes up for the fact that I will never attempt to make it (molten, melting “chili patties” on a hamburger bun would not only be unbelievably messy to eat but perhaps physically painful as well). But I fully endorse and applaud the concept of the Cuellar Chili-Burger — it’s brilliant! “Fair food” ahead of its time. Thank you, Cuellar test kitchen! (Dear readers: PLEASE MAKE THIS AND SEND ME PHOTOS!)

CUELLAR’S
REAL MEXICAN FOOD MADE BY A REAL MEXICAN FAMILY

For authentic Mexican Foods you should select only the Cuellar label. The emblem of the “Sombrero” and the “Smiling Mexican” will always be your assurance of the very finest of ingredients, blended for flavor-association and pleasing, invigorating taste treats that are invariably thrilling. So different! So exotic! So wonderfully blended that you will make Cuellar Foods a regular eating habit in your own home — and a new and exciting experience for your guests.

Cuellar Foods, Inc.
Dallas, Texas

1951

el-chico_logo

***

Sources & Notes

Most images in this post are from the recently ended eBay sale, here (scroll down).

This pamphlet inspired my previous post, “El Chico Foods/Cuellar Foods,” which contains a history of El Chico’s food manufacturing business.

cuellar-recipe-bk_ebay_det_sm

5 Comments

February 12, 2023

El Chico Foods/Cuellar Foods

enchimales_canned_introduced-1968_portal_det El Chico’s Enchimales with Gravy, ca. 1968

by Paula Bosse

I give you the “Enchimale,” a product introduced under the El Chico label in 1968. A news release described the delicacy thusly: “Wedding bells are ringing at El Chico for the marriage of the enchilada and the tamale, and the new product is called the Enchimale. […] This food is in the shape of a tamale, filled with fresh meat, with a mild enchilada sauce over it” (Dallas Morning News, Oct. 31, 1968). (So… a tamale?) I gather this was a short-lived product. (See the “Sources & Notes” section at the bottom of this page for an unusual and unrelated — I hope — recipe for enchimales which appeared in a newspaper in Spokane, Washington in 1950.)

This photo caught my eye while I was looking into the history of El Chico’s manufactured foods. Especially their canned foods, which I was unaware of. I’m not surprised they existed — I remember their frozen food line — I just have no memories of canned foods from El Chico.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. You’ve probably heard the story of Mama Cuellar and the Cuellar brothers and their El Chico empire (if not, a good article is here). As far as their Dallas restaurants, the Cuellar brothers opened their first El Chico restaurant in 1940 at 3514 Oak Lawn (next door-ish to Lucas B & B, which opened in Oak Lawn in 1953). This location closed in either 1954 or 1955.

El Chico No. 1, Oak Lawn, via D Magazine

El Chico No. 1, Oak Lawn, via Portal to Texas History

Six years later, they opened their second location in Lakewood at 2031 Abrams.

El Chico No. 2, Lakewood, via Portal to Texas History

Their third Dallas location opened near the Inwood Theater in 1949 at 5526 Lovers Lane.

el-chico_inwood-village_1953_inwood-village-website El Chico No. 5, via Inwood Village website

When that location opened, the family was operating 11 restaurants in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Kansas. Things were good in Cuellar-land.

At the end of 1949, the Cuellars decided to begin manufacturing canned food products, with the aim to sell Tex-Mex staples nationally under the label “El Chico Foods.” The new factory was located at 162 Leslie St., in the then-pretty-new Trinity Industrial District. (They later moved waaaaaaaaaaay up north, to 1925 Valley View Lane.)

El Chico Canning Co., 162 Leslie St., Dallas

El Chico canned foods began to show up in DFW grocery stores in March 1950. Make way for canned chili, enchiladas, tamales (in corn husks), enchilada sauce, and hot sauce.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Mar. 17, 1950

Soon to follow were other foods, including the mystifying canned tortillas — thanks to the photo below, I now know that it was possible to buy tortillas in a can, which was opened with a key. Just like Spam, or a canned ham. (Not sure what the “El Chico Show” was, but apparently it was broadcast on Channel 5 — at least in October 1950.)

October 1950, via Portal to Texas History

Business boomed! After only 9 months, production tripled. After 2 years El Chico canned foods were in more than 30 states.

But in March 1953, the Cuellar family was sued in federal court for copyright infringement by a man named Benito Collada who owned a well-known nightclub in Greenwich Village called “El Chico,” a name he copyrighted in 1931. He demanded that the Cuellars change the name of their restaurants and their canned foods. The judge handed down an unusual verdict in which both sides were able to claim partial victory (or partial loss): the Cuellars were allowed to keep “El Chico” as the name of their restaurants, but they had to bid adios to the name on their canned foods.

The company regrouped and rebranded. The name of their Tex-Mex products became “Cuellar’s,” and the label even came with a pronunciation guide: “QUAY-YAR.”

cuellar-chili

Apparently, sales dropped. Steeply. The Cuellars fought their way through the appeals process, determined to retain the “El Chico” name on their manufactured foods, and, in September 1954 they won the right to once again sell canned foods under the El Chico brand.

el-chico_canned-tamales_label_smithsonian

Sales really increased when they added frozen dinners to their line — their factory on Leslie Street installed a huge freezing system — they were able to freeze 6,000 frozen dinners at a time in 90 minutes.

el-chico_frozen_smithsonian via Smithsonian Institution

via Smithsonian Institution

Along with the typical frozen dinners you’d expect, El Chico also sold frozen tortillas. In the photo above, there is a box of frozen tortillas in the shopping cart and in the freezer case. As I recall, I think I liked the frozen Mexican dinners as a kid, but frozen tortillas and tortillas in a can sound equally unappealing.

The frozen dinners ultimately took over the manufacturing side of Cuellar foods, and at some point, the canned products eventually faded away. As I said, I remember the frozen dinners, but I don’t remember the canned foods at all. But I find them so interesting that that they are going to get their very own post — check out that post here.

***

Sources & Notes

Top (cropped) image is from the Frank Cuellar Sr. Collection, University of North Texas Special Libraries Collection, Portal of Texas History, and can be found here (the full collection may be browsed here).

Several images in this post are from the Smithsonian Institution’s “Guide to the El Chico Restaurants Collection.”

Read a good history of the Cuellar empire in “The Family Who Sold Tex-Mex to America” by Nancy Nichols, D Magazine (Nov. 2013).

So. “enchimales.” I did a quick search on the word and found mentions back to 1934 for a cafe selling something with this name in Shreveport. For all I know, this is a traditional Mexican dish which I’ve just never heard of. BUT, I wonder whether any actual Mexican-related dish would bear any resemblance to the enchimales recipe devised by Mrs. Vincent Katzenberger of Garfield, Washington which appeared in Spokane’s Spokesman-Review newspaper? It was the 14th-place (!) winner in the “Meltin’ Pot” international cooking competition. Here’s a short synopsis of Mrs. Katzenberger’s dish, which is made like enchiladas: in a tortilla, place a filling of onions, cheddar cheese, and a can of olives (all of which has been passed through a meat grinder) — on top of that filling, plop one canned tamale; roll up this filled tortilla and place it in a baking dish; repeat a dozen or so times; cover everything with tamale sauce; bake; when done, serve on a lettuce leaf and top with sprinkles of Parmesan cheese. The recipe is here. If you make this, please let me know how it came out.

enchimales_canned_introduced-1968_portal_det_sm

8 Comments

December 13, 2022

Stuart Margolin, 1940-2022

Hillcrest High School, 1955

by Paula Bosse

Everyone’s favorite character actor, Stuart Margolin, has died. He grew up in Dallas (Preston Hollow) and went to Hillcrest High School — until he was sent to what sounds like a reform school in another state. A brief look through the Dallas Morning News archives shows that he appeared in local theater productions as a child — he trod the boards in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream when he was 10. As a teenager, he was active in the Courtyard Theater in Oak Lawn, a school and theater led by Robert Glenn, who had also mentored other young Dallas actors such as Jayne Mansfield, Brenda Vaccaro, Ann Wedgeworth, and… Candy Barr). When he wasn’t acting — and apparently causing enough mayhem to get sent to reform school — he was a very good, avid junior golfer who competed in many tournaments (he is shown in one very grainy photo as a 13-year-old member of the DAC Country Club team, wearing a jaunty golf cap). There is no further mention of the young Margolin after 1955, when, one assumes, the teenager was shipped off to someplace not as cushy as Preston Hollow. He starts popping up again in newspaper stories in 1967, in the early days of his long and successful career in Hollywood when he was making regular appearances on TV shows such as Love American Style.

His most-remembered role is Angel, sidekick to James Garner, in The Rockford Files. People loved this character. HE loved this character. He has said, with great affection, that he based Angel on streetwise guys he grew up with in Dallas.

In 1979, though an established working actor and director in Hollywood, he moved back to Dallas for a couple of years, working on writing projects and establishing the production company River Entertainment.

Feb. 1981 (Dallas Morning News)

He tried for several years to establish a theater in the city, saying, “I don’t think there’s a professional theater here that is of a quality that this city deserves, a city that likes to view itself as Dallas does” (“Margolin’s Life Has Many Stages” by Joe Leydon, DMN, Apr. 20, 1980). (He was not a huge fan of the Dallas Theater Center and was especially unhappy that, in 1980, the DTC hadn’t had an Actors Equity contract in 20 years.)

At this time he also recorded a country/blues album, And the Angel Sings, of which he said:

I’m from [Dallas], and my musical influences are from this area. When I grew up in Dallas, I listened to a lot of blues — Muddy Waters, B.B. King, This record was made for the kind of people I grew up with. (The Daily Oklahoman, Apr. 22, 1980)

I just watched him in an old episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show a couple of days ago and said to myself, “I love this guy.” I was always a fan of Stuart Margolin. RIP.

***

Sources & Notes

Top photo from the 1955 Hillcrest High School yearbook, The Panther.

margolin-stuart_hillcrest-high-school_1955_sm

5 Comments

December 12, 2022

New Wheels for Margo Jones — 1955

DeWitt Ray and Margo Jones

by Paula Bosse

The photo above shows Dallas theater legend Margo Jones accepting the keys to a new Ford truck in March 1955. Below, the caption that appeared in the April 1955 issue of Dallas magazine:

GIFT FOR THEATRE ’55: Margo Jones, director of Theatre ’55, is shown as she accepts the keys to a new 1955 panel truck from DeWitt T. Ray, Dallas banker and member of Dallas Theatre ’55 board of trustees. The truck, gift of a group of 18 Dallas businessmen and civic leaders, will be used for transporting set furniture, props and other necessities for the theatre’s productions.

She looks very, very happy!

***

Sources & Notes

Photo is from the April 1955 issue of Dallas, a periodical published by the Dallas Chamber of Commerce.

More on Margo Jones can be found in the following Flashback Dallas posts:

Watch “Sweet Tornado: Margo Jones and the American Theater,” the full documentary on Margo Jones produced by KERA-Channel 13, here.

1 Comment

August 24, 2022

Old Lake Highlands

1956, Room to spread out…

by Paula Bosse

The photo above — taken in 1956 — shows an aerial view of Old Lake Highlands, looking southwesterly toward White Rock Lake. The street in the foreground is Kirkwood Drive.

But for even older Old Lake Highlands, we need to cast our minds back to 1927, when W. H. Brouse began to advertise for one of his many East Dallas developments. One of the ads from the Lake Highlands Co. (W. McCarty Moore, President and H. W. Brouse, Director of Sales) read:

IN THE MAKING — LAKE HIGHLANDS, “THE INCOMPARABLE”

Another High-Class Residence Section For Dallas on White Rock Lake

Believing in Dallas — believing in the continued rapid absorption of territory to the north and east for homes — and especially that beautiful terrain surrounding White Rock Lake, Lake Highlands was conceived and made possible by the owning company.

The tract — some 117 acres — is especially advantageously located in that it is right on the lake itself — just a short drive from the dam, and is bounded by water on three sides. A peninsular piece of ground, in fact.

The ad also noted that “lots will be large — prices low”: $1,100 and $1,200 (about $18,000-$19,500 in today’s money).

1927

And, in a Dallas Morning News real estate advertorial were these additional deets:

Lake Highlands is situated just beyond Dixon’s Branch, on the east shore of the lake, and is accessible directly from the downtown section by Swiss and Gaston avenues and the old Garland road, leading into the lake road. This, in turn, gives access to the 100-foot boulevard, which will circle the whole development, and from which lead streets seventy feet in width, reaching every lot in the development. Roadways and streets will be surfaced with white gravel, while curbs and sidewalks will be installed in advance of building development, as will all utilities, lights, water, gas and sewer facilities….

Construction will be restricted to homes to cost $5,500 to $7,500 minimums [$90,000-$122,000 today], depending on the location of the lots on which they are built. Materials will be limited to brick, hollow tile and stucco, so as automatically to eliminate the fire hazard and also to assure permanence.

I’m sure life on the lake in 1927 was worth every penny.

Google Maps

***

Sources & Notes

I came across the photo at the top of this post several years ago in a photo blog hosted by The Dallas Morning News, but the blog doesn’t seem to exist any longer. The caption noted that the photo had been shared by Lynn Jones who had come across it when going through a collection of color slides inherited by her husband when Don Jones died in 2010.

Quotes from the real estate advertorial, “Plan Homes at White Rock” (Dallas Morning News, Oct. 9, 1927).

white-rock-lake_old-lake-highlands_1956_don-jones_sm

6 Comments

Flashback : Dallas

Category: 1950s

May 9, 2023

Dallas Fire Stations — 1951

Sources & Notes

April 16, 2023

St. Mark’s From the Air

Sources & Notes

March 29, 2023

Southland Center Observation Deck — 1967

Sources & Notes

February 24, 2023

The Mercantile Bank Building — 1951

Sources & Notes

February 19, 2023

Kimball High School, Off Campus — Ads, 1959-1961

Sources & Notes

February 13, 2023

Tex-Mex in a Can (with Bonus Chili-Burger Recipe) — 1953/1954

Sources & Notes

February 12, 2023

El Chico Foods/Cuellar Foods

Sources & Notes

December 13, 2022

Stuart Margolin, 1940-2022

Sources & Notes

December 12, 2022

New Wheels for Margo Jones — 1955

Sources & Notes

August 24, 2022

Old Lake Highlands

Sources & Notes

Category: 1950s

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