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April 15, 2024

Oak Cliff: No Germs, No Mosquitoes, No Malaria — 1907

Nov. 1907

by Paula Bosse

It’s 1907. How is it you’re not scooping up real estate in Oak Cliff?!

Aside from that “no saloons EVER” thing, it sounds positively idyllic.

On the Hills of Oak Cliff
When Thinking of a Home for Your Wife and Children You Need

- - First — Altitude
    Where the air is clear and free from mosquitoes and malaria.
  - Second — Water
    Clear and Pure and Free From Germs

In Oak Cliff these things predominate, you are on the hills, higher than Dallas, south of the river, and where your breezes come direct from the country, and, as for water, the water running in the Oak Cliff mains is from the great Nelms Well, illustrated on this page, and is the purest and clearest water in Dallas County.

Ask City Chemist Chisholm, or Water Commissioner Sullivan, or Water Superintendent Nelms, they are the three men most competent to pass on this question, and will verify these facts.

The water does not come from Bachman’s Dam or any branch of the river, but deep down in the earth, hundreds of feet, from God’s reservoir, gushing out like a great spring and sparkling like diamonds.

People living in Oak Cliff are healthy and live long. They cannot help it when breathing pure air and drinking clear water.

In spite of the present financial stringency Oak Cliff is building on, and her citizens have great faith in the future of Dallas.

As an evidence of this fact, Mr. J. F. Zang has this week let the contract for over $1,000.00 worth of cement walks to be laid on Zang’s Boulevard and other streets.

Lake Cliff, the beautiful, with its thirty acres of park scenery, its lake and its many costly improvements, is situated in Oak Cliff, and is one of the popular attractions of Dallas.

Oak Cliff has the combined advantages of city and country; it has gas, sewerage, water, electricity, streetcars, telephones, cement walks, and it is only ten minutes’ ride from its center to the center of Dallas; and it has the country scenery so much desired — hills and valleys, great oak and pecan trees, numerous springs and other rural scenes.

Raise your children where there are no saloons. By special act of the Legislature saloons are forever debarred from the territory of Oak Cliff.

Kidd Springs, one of the loveliest parks in Dallas, with the largest springs in the city, is in Oak Cliff, and is one of the leading resorts.

J. F. Zang’s home once stood at Zang and 6th and had what was probably the finest possible view of downtown Dallas, then or now.

Dallas Morning News, Oct. 26, 1900

This might have been a house being built in Zang’s Crystal Hill Addition:

I have to admit, this just looks like a water sprinkler, but here’s the “Nelms Well” in action:

I had never heard of the “Nelms Well.” It was the first deep artesian well in Oak Cliff (1907), and it tapped into a million gallons of spring water, which was, at the time, enough to satisfy the needs of Oak Cliff residents and to slake their thirst for the pure, clear water that put all other Dallas County water to shame.

Richard Nelms, the City Water Superintendent, is seen at the far right in the photo below. The well was named in his honor. And, again, the water? Let me just repeat the rhapsodic ad copy: “the purest and clearest water in Dallas County… [from] deep down in the earth, hundreds of feet, from God’s reservoir, gushing out like a great spring and sparkling like diamonds.” In other words, Oak Cliff had some damn fine water.

***

Sources & Notes

Ad printed in Dallas newspapers in November 1907.

A couple of water-related Flashback Dallas posts that might be of interest:

This post originally appeared in a different version in a Flashback Dallas post on Patreon.

8 Comments

March 12, 2024

The Girls of St. Mary’s

“Juxta Dallas Texas”

by Paula Bosse

St. Mary’s College, founded in 1889 in East Dallas (at Ross and Garrett avenues), was a prestigious school for girls, affiliated with the Episcopal Church. It had a statewide reputation, and many girls attended as boarding students — Lady Bird Johnson was a proud alumna. Around 1930 it became home to a relocated Terrill School for Boys.

The once sprawling “College Hill” campus covered 20 acres (see it on a 1922 Sanborn map here). I can find no news reports of its demolition, but one source says 1948. Read more about the school’s history in the Handbook of Texas entry here. and see other photos and a short history in the Flashback Dallas post “Private Education in Dallas — 1916.”

The site of the former school has recently been filled with apartments. The old chapel tower still stands, but the large, open school campus is long gone. See the most recent Google Street View of St. Matthew’s Cathedral here. — the main school building would have been directly to the right.

As far as the photo at the top of this post, I really love this image of smiling girl athletes (the basketball team?) posing in their gym togs in front of the school.

“Juxta Dallas Texas” (“near Dallas Texas”).

The ad below touts the school’s offerings in 1911 (including a school dairy):

ST. MARY’S COLLEGE AND SCHOOL OF MUSIC

Founded by the Right Rev. A. C. Garrett [Alexander Garrett], D.D., LL. D.
Twenty-third Year Opens Sept. 13, 1911

A College for Christian education of women — college, scientific and literary courses. Bishop A. C. Garrett, instructor in mental science and logic. Advanced classes in charge of graduates of universities of recognized standing. European instructors of modern languages. School of Music under direction of instructors trained in Germany, Paris, France and New England Conservatory of Music. Pianoforte pupils examined annually. Art and China Painting taught according to the best methods. Health, diet and physical culture in charge of two trained nurses and teachers of physical culture.

The group of buildings comprise:
1. St. Mary’s Hall (stone).
2. Graff Hall, which is devoted to the Schools of Music and Art.
3. Hartshorne Memorial Recitation Hall.
4. The Mary Adams Bulkley Memorial Dormitory.
5. Sarah Nielson Memorial for the care of the sick.

Houses heated by steam and lighted by electricity. A very attractive College Chapel and large Gymnasium built last year. A very attractive home. Artesian well. Milk supplied from college dairy. Homemade bread and sweetmeats. Night watchman. School opens Sept. 13. For catalogue address:

Bishop Garrett, President St. Mary’s College, Dallas, Texas

Laying the cornerstone for the chapel, Dallas Morning News, Sept. 29, 1907

Below, the chapel tower can be seen at the left. It still stands, as part of St. Matthew’s Cathedral (5100 Ross Avenue).

As seen from a distance — on the right, from Collett and Junius (more info on this photo from the Flashback Dallas post it originally appeared in, “Munger Place, The Early Days: 1905-1909”):

St. Mary’s appeared in an ad for a street-paving company in 1916 (from the original post here):

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Dallas Historical Society

***

Sources & Notes

Top photo by Frank Rogers, taken some time after 1911. Found on eBay. Originally used in a Patreon post, “The Girls of St. Mary’s.”

Last photo from the Dallas Historical Society, found in the book Dallas Rediscovered by William L. McDonald.

Unless otherwise noted, most other images/postcards found on eBay.

Please consider supporting me on Patreon, where for as little as $5 a month, you can get daily Flashback Dallas posts! (You can follow for free, but only a small handful of posts are “public.”)

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November 23, 2023

An Elegant Thanksgiving Dinner at the Windsor Hotel — 1877

by Paula Bosse

Behold, a feast of yesteryear (and this is just the game and fish dishes):

Dallas Herald, Nov. 25, 1877

AN ELEGANT DINNER

The champion dinner of the season will be served at the Windsor to-day. Colonel Whitla is anticipating Thanksgiving day in this dinner, but he tells us that he will not forget the occasion, which will be remembered in a suitable manner at his hotel. The bill of fare to-day is the most elaborate one yet presented to the patrons of the Windsor.

The manager took time by the forelock and made his orders by telegraph for the particular edibles for the occasion. Last night we were shown a bill of fare for the dinner, by Mr L. J. Faessler, chief cook of the hotel. We have neither time nor space to mention the same entire, but can say that among the game and fish appears green sea turtle, black and red groupper and the sheep’s head, venison, antelope, quail, wild turkey, jack rabbit, opossum, oysters on shell, deviled crabs, and red-headed and canvas-backed ducks, etc.

Hava a Happy (Possom-Free) Thanksgiving!

***

Sources & Notes

Top ad for the Grand-Windsor Hotel from the 1878 Dallas directory. Originally two hotels (the Le Grande Hotel and the Windsor Hotel), they were joined by a little “sky-bridge” over Austin Street when they merged. See the Grand-Windsor on the 1885 Sanborn map here. (The room rates of $2-$3 back then would be the equivalent of about $60-$90, if you trust inflation calculators.)

Article is from the Nov. 25, 1877 edition of the Dallas Daily Herald, via the Portal to Texas History.

More Flashback Dallas posts on Thanksgiving can be found here;

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4 Comments

November 13, 2023

Ads, Ads, Ads, Ads, and a Few More Ads — 1916

Vibrolithic Pavement, y’all…

by Paula Bosse

I have always been fascinated by vintage advertising. I haven’t posted ads in a while, so here are a whole bunch of them, from 1916. 107-year-old ads. Let’s call them historical ads. All are from the same publication (linked at the bottom of this post).

My favorite ads are those that contain photos or highly detailed drawings of buildings, especially if those buildings no longer exist — like the one above, which has a long-gone Dallas landmark in the background: the ad for the VIBROLITHIC CONSTRUCTION CO. shows paving work going on in front of St. Mary’s College in East Dallas at Garrett & Ross (more can be found about the girls’ school in this post, scroll down to “St. Mary’s”).

CLEM LUMBER CO., 2500 Live Oak (at Hawkins). “Every stick a dry one.”

S. G. DAVIS HAT COMPANY, Jackson & S. Austin. Built in 1913 — still standing.

VOORHEES & BURDSAL, Photographers, 912½ Elm.

THE NEW GALLOUPE HOTEL, 2009 Main (across from the Municipal Building). “New, beautiful, best.”

GEO. W. LOUDERMILK FUNERAL DIRECTOR & EMBALMBER, 1935 Main. “First ambulance service in Dallas.”

THE NEWPORT THEATRE, 1505 Elm (near Akard, next door to the Queen Theater). A movie theater I’ve never heard of. It opened in 1915 and closed a couple of years later when it burned. “A family theatre for women and children.”

CHAS. OTT, Locksmith, etc., 1003 Elm. “Motorcycles, bicycles and supplies, locksmiths, guns, dynamite, ammunition […] second-hand safes.” Something for everyone! I wrote about Ott’s previously, here.

SEARS-ROEBUCK & CO., S. Lamar & Belleview. The “immense building” was built in stages between 1910 and 1913. Sears may be holding on for dear life in the 21st century, but its former HQ is thankfully still standing. (More here — scroll down to #10.)

IDEAL LAUNDRY, 3210-24 Ross Avenue. Oh, Ross, I don’t even recognize you anymore…. “Absolutely sanitary.”

W. A. GREEN & CO. department store, 1516-18 — still standing.

KLEIN BROS. CO., southeast corner of N. Walton and Junius. You might have seen this company’s name stamped in sidewalks all over town. “The sidewalk builders.”

SMITH & LAMAR, Booksellers, 1305 Commerce Street. “Don’t fail to visit.”

NEW PROCESS ROOFING & SUPPLY CO., 802-10 Cadiz (I think this is where the Alamo Drafthouse now sits).

EVEREADY STORAGE BATTERY CO., 431 S. Ervay (now the site of the Dallas Public Library). See what it looked like here. “Free from ruinous sulphation.”

THE PARK HOTEL, 1312 S. Ervay. Known in recent years as the Ambassador Hotel (which burned down in 2019) (is anything going to be built on that land?), the Park Hotel, on the edge of lovely City Park, was “a High Class family hotel.”

ELITE COSTUME COMPANY, 1812½ Main. AKA the Elite Dressmaking School & Costume Co., Miss Violet Blackmore, manager. “Everything up-to-date.”

EXCEL-SURE DYEING & DRY CLEANING CO., 4310-12 Elm. This unassuming building in Old East Dallas, just east of the intersection of Peak & Elm, is, surprisingly, still standing and is at least 110 years old.

Here’s a “then and now” comparison:

***

Sources & Notes

The ads in this post all appeared in a souvenir booklet, “Official Souvenir Program, State Fair of Texas: The Greatest Educational Institution in the Southwest, 1885-1916,” from the collection of the DeGolyer Library, SMU Libraries, Southern Methodist University — it can be accessed here.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider supporting me on Patreon for just pennies a day/five bucks a month! I share mini Flashback Dallas morsels daily. More info is here.

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October 16, 2023

Herbert A. Kline’s “Miniature Coney Island” at the State Fair of Texas — 1909

by Paula Bosse

Herbert A. Kline (1873-1934) was a showman and promoter from Michigan who provided acts to several state fairs and large carnivals in the U.S. — his heyday appears to have been the 1910s. In 1909, he brought his troupe of performers and sideshow features to the State Fair of Texas. Most of the photos in this post are from promotional material for that 1909 season, with most of the photos showing Kline’s traveling “amusements.”

Two weeks before he got to Texas, he posted this ad in the entertainment trade magazine Billboard — I hope Capt. Sorcho (“the great deep-sea diver”) dropped him a line.

sfot_kline_billboard_100209 Billboard, Oct. 2, 1909

“THE BEAUTIFUL ORIENT” — included were dancers, gun-spinners, magicians, acrobats, and — somehow — wedding ceremonies. It also boasted “the cleanest and most refined dancing-girl show in America.”

“SUPERBA, THE BEST” — a collection of vaudeville-type performers, including one woman whose “talent” appears to be that she was attractive.

“MRS. D. H. KINCHELOE, WARBLER” (a whistler/reader/vocalist/pianist from Kentucky — her name is misspelled below) and “THE GREAT McGARVEY, FEMALE IMPERSONATOR” (Bert McGarvey was known for a nicely turned-out ankle, charisma, magnetism, and a specialty number called “The Sacred Cobra Dance”). They — along with Galetti’s Musical Monkeys — would appear after the more high-brow operatic singers.

“THE IGORROTE VILLAGE” — native peoples of the Philippines gave a sort of presentation on how they lived, employing what might be seen as primitive customs in daily life. (A description of a “performance” in New York’s Central Park noted that there were demonstrations on how to shrink heads, which might have been too “exotic” for Dallas.)

John T. Backman’s Troupe of Glass Blowers — this was absolutely fascinating (the sign alone!). Check out this entertaining article about the sorts of things these people did.

Also in Kline’s family of traveling show-folk:

A creature half-reptile and half-human
Russian Prince Midget, who speaks three languages, weighs less than 16 pounds, and whose crib was a cigar box
Alice, The Wonder, “who is acknowledged by the press and the public to be the strangest girl in all the world”
Schlitzie, the Aztec Wild Girl, “whose head is no larger than an orange” (this is most likely the sideshow performer best known for appearing in Tod Browning’s cult movie “Freaks”)

Here is an image from an eBay item, showing where these photos came from.

There was also a “ride” called “THE HUMAN ROULETTE WHEEL.” It was probably more fun for the spectators than for the participants.

Houston Post, Nov. 7, 1909

The prospect of being flung off a human roulette wheel might have been daunting to women of the period, who wore heels, corsets, long skirts, and big hats. Below are some typical fairgoers of the time, in a souvenir photo taken at the 1907 State Fair of Texas (Louis Block of Fort Worth, Miss Ray Goldsmith of Dallas, her sister Grace Goldsmith Rosenblatt, and Grace’s husband, David Rosenblatt). Imagine these people wandering around Fair Park and stopping in to see “the strangest girl in all the world” and watching people being hurled off a spinning disk.

via eBay

New York Clipper, Oct. 1912

This ad for a South Dakota fair — a few months before Kline’s stop in Dallas — shows descriptions of several of the acts. (“A tiger that rides horseback.”)

Aberdeen (South Dakota) American, June 9, 1909

And a promotional article sent to local papers ahead of Kline’s arrival.

McKinney (TX) Weekly Democrat Gazette, Oct. 14, 1909

***

Sources & Notes

All photos from a brochure/handbills listed earlier this year on eBay; sources of ads and other images as noted.

So many Flashback Dallas posts about the State Fair of Texas — here.

I’m on Patreon, where I post daily. Check it out!

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3 Comments

October 9, 2023

“Thrilling! Inspiring! Gorgeous!” — 1936

by Paula Bosse

I don’t think the 1936 Texas Exposition at Fair Park could have oversold itself. It was everything it promised. The sensory overload must have been almost debilitating!

The night beauty of the Texas Centennial Exposition at Dallas is breath-taking! Rainbow-hued fountains, rippling flags, colorful buildings, thousands of constantly changing lights blending into a symphony of thrilling, inspiring, gorgeous effects… A glamorous fairyland of scintillating light, color and cool water that alone will repay your trip. SEE this marvel of beauty!

“Have the time of your life in Dallas! […] Joyous days and nights of holiday-making await you … in one of the most magnificent settings ever conceived! […] The Texas Centennial Exposition at Dallas is being enthusiastically applauded as the most magnificent spectacle ever attempted on the American continent.”

“World’s Greatest Show for 50¢… Ample Tourist Accommodations… Come to Dallas!”

(According to the Inflation Calculator, 50¢ admission in 1936 would be equivalent to about $10 in today’s money. 10¢ hamburgers would be about $2, and 5¢ cold drinks would be about $1.)

“Dallas: Night Spot of the World! / Dallas: Day Spot of the World!”

***

Sources & Notes

Images from a promotional brochure offered recently on eBay.

Check out many previous Flashback Dallas posts on the Texas Centennial here.

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2 Comments

September 25, 2023

1500 Block of Elm — 1920s

1500 block of Elm Street, south side…

by Paula Bosse

This is a great photo by Frank Rogers showing businesses on the south side of the 1500 block of Elm Street, between Stone and Akard (see it today on Google Street View here — some of these buildings are still standing). Mid-1920s? Back when Elm ran two ways, and you could park your rumble-seated roadster at the curb.

Mostly out of frame at the left is the W. A. Green department store (1516-18 Elm), then, moving east to west, Leelands women’s fashions (1514 Elm), Fields Millinery Co. (1512 Elm), part of the Marjdon Hat Shop (1510 Elm), and, above the hat shop, Neuman’s School of Dancing. (“Marjdon” must be one of the most annoying and hard-to-say business names I’ve come across.)

The block continues in the photo below, in another photo by Rogers (this building has been replaced and is now a parking garage).

We see a full shot of Marjdon (that name…). Previously (1916-1924), that street-level space was occupied by the Rex Theater. Next door is Thomas Confectionery (1508 Elm, one of the company’s several downtown locations), which, according to the promotional postcard below was the “largest confectionery in the state.”

via Portal to Texas History

Dallas High School yearbook, 1916

March 1, 1924

April 21, 1922

March 1, 1925

Elm Street, 1925 Dallas street directory

Check out this block in the 1921 Sanborn map here.

***

Sources & Notes

The two photographs were taken by Dallas photographer Frank Rogers for real estate developers McNeny & McNeny; they were found on eBay.

6 Comments

February 25, 2023

Dallas, The City of Splendid Realities — 1905

dallas_city-of-splendid-realities_texas-and-pacific-quarterly_1905_det_b

by Paula Bosse

In 1905, a group of jaycees-like Dallas businessmen formed the Hundred and Fifty Thousand Club — their aim was to promote the city in hopes that it would achieve a population of 150,000 by 1910. Below is one of their impressive ads, which, of course, includes the favorite insistent claim of Dallas boosters that the Trinity River will ANY DAY NOW become a bustling “direct water route to the Gulf and the Panama Canal, that will put it in closest touch with the markets of the entire world.” The entire world! (Still waiting for that “navigable Trinity,” guys….) (Transcription is below the ad.)

DALLAS: The City of Splendid Realities

Probably no community in the world offers larger opportunities for the investment of capital and intelligent effort than does the city of Dallas, Texas.
Dallas is the commercial and industrial center of the most rapidly developing state in the Union.
The country surrounding the City is wonderfully rich and fertile — the famous black waxy belt that has never known a crop failure.
Its railroad shipping facilities are unexcelled, and now that the improvement of the Trinity River is assured it will stand at the head of navigation with a direct water route to the Gulf and the Panama Canal, that will put it in closest touch with the markets of the entire world.
There are dozens of opportunities for money making right now in the supplying of distinctly felt needs.
Conservative investors who have capital to place safely and profitably in industrial or public service enterprises, wide-awake men who are looking for a profitable employment of personal effort and limited capital in fruit raising, truck farming, chicken raising or small canning industries, are invited to write for information that will be of distinct interest to them.

Hundred and Fifty Thousand Club
Dallas, Texas
Write for Booklet, Dallas 1905

When the results of the 1910 Census were revealed, Dallas hadn’t reached its goal of a population of 150,000. But it had grown an impressive 116% in a decade, and, according to The Dallas Morning News, this meant that Dallas had the largest population in all of Texas and about the 50th largest in the United States. (Click article for larger image.)

Dallas Morning News, Sept. 14, 1910

***

Sources & Notes

Ad found in the pages of Texas and Pacific Quarterly, 1905.

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4 Comments

January 15, 2023

Exposition Park: No Swamps, No Malaria — 1889

by Paula Bosse

In 1889, Parry Bros. were developing 80 acres of Capt. William H. Gaston’s old stomping grounds — aka the Gaston Homestead. The ads came fast and furious. One sentence stands out:

The natural drainage of Exposition Park, under the guiding hand of our civil engineer, has become practically perfect. There are no swamps or other sources of malaria contiguous to this property.

Sounds good to me!

(I always thought the Fair Park area was prone to flooding, but perhaps the area I’m thinking of is not “contiguous to this property.”)

***

Sources & Notes

Ad from The Dallas Morning News, Oct. 24, 1899.

2 Comments

September 13, 2022

Cedar Crest, L. O. Daniel’s Country Home

Still standing on West Jefferson Blvd. in Oak Cliff

by Paula Bosse

While looking for something on W. Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel (former governor and U.S. senator), I came across the image above, which I had mistakenly labeled “O’Daniel” rather than “Daniel.” It had nothing at all to do with W. Lee O’Daniel but, instead, showed a house belonging to L. O. Daniel. Who was L. O. Daniel? I’d never heard of him.

Lark Owen Daniel Sr. (1866-1927) was a wealthy businessman who made big money from… hats! He sold a lot of hats through his wholesale millinery company, and he was also involved in some spectacular real estate dealings (a newspaper article in 1907 mentioned he had just sold a couple of lots on Elm Street for $30,000 — if you believe online inflation calculators, that would be the equivalent of almost a million dollars in today’s money!). As a proven earner of big bucks, he was also the first president of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce.

Even before that huge real estate sale, Daniel was swimming in hat-cash. In 1901 he bought 27 acres near the Fort Worth Interurban rail line and built a 5,000-square-foot, 3-story, 15-room Victorian mansion. He named the house “Cedar Crest.” I don’t know if it was technically in Oak Cliff at that point, but it was definitely outside the Dallas city limits. This is the way Daniel’s address appeared in the 1910 city directory:

1910 Dallas directory

And here’s a photo of an interurban trundling along, uncomfortably close to the house:

The luxurious splendor of the somewhat isolated Cedar Crest apparently emitted a high-pitched siren-call which was frequently heard by area bandits: it was burgled quite a few times (at least 3 times in one 12-month period). After one incident in which a burglar wandered through the house in the dead of night and woke Mrs. Daniel as he stood over her as she lay in bed, Oak Cliff police said that they found no trace of the trespasser but saw where he had hitched his horse and get-away buggy, out back in the orchard. In another incident a few months later, Mrs. Daniel — who had been alerted by an employee that the family car was about to be stolen from the “automobile house” — ran out to the garage armed with a revolver and fired three shots at the thieves, scaring them away (I don’t think she was attempting to fire warning shots — I think she fired AT them). This may seem extreme, but the newspaper noted that the value of the car (in 1915) was an eye-watering $4,000 (more than $110,000 in today’s money!). I don’t know where Mr. Daniel was during all this, but Mrs. Daniel was not about to let that car go anywhere!

One summer, the Daniels rented out Cedar Crest while they vacationed elsewhere. The ad in the paper specified that only “responsible parties without small children” were welcome. I hate to keep harping on about the money, but a two-month stay at L. O.’s “beautiful country home” would set some responsible childless person/s back a cool $300 (almost $9,000 in today’s money). (Who would pay such an exorbitant amount of money to stay in an un-airconditioned house in North Texas during the height of the summer?)

Summer 1912

L. O. Daniel died in Feb. 1927. His business empire was closed down, and the large Cedar Crest swath of land he owned was put up for sale in 1929.

April 1929

I’m not sure what happened with that specific transaction, but his son, L. O. Daniel Jr., ended up breaking that land up into parcels and selling residential lots as part of the “L. O. Daniel Jr. Addition,” beginning in about 1940.

June 1940

November 1940

This beautiful house is — somehow — still standing. It is located at 2223 West Jefferson in Oak Cliff, facing Sunset High School (see it on Google Street View here). Over the years the mansion fell into disrepair, but in the early ’80s the house was restored by two men — Martin Rubin and Earl Remmel — and it received historical landmark status in 1984. Cedar Crest was purchased a few years ago and has gone through additional restoration/renovation — it currently serves as the impressive law offices for the firm of Durham, Pittard & Spalding.

There are lots of photos online. View some on the Zillow site — which show what it looked like before it was recently updated — here. See some really beautiful photos on CedarCrestOakCliff.com, here. I particularly love this one:

It shouldn’t have been so hard to find a photo of L. O. — but this is about all I could find. Followed by a hats-hats-hats! ad.

Oct. 1915

***

Sources & Notes

Postcard at top (circa 1909) found a few years ago on the Flickr stream of Coltera (not sure if he’s still posting there — if not, that’s a shame, because he had amazing things!).

Photo of the interurban from the 2017 Oak Cliff Advocate article “Law Firm Renovates Historic Mansion on Jefferson” by Rachel Stone (click the link at the bottom of the article to read a piece published in Texas Lawyer which includes information on specific restoration/renovation work done on the house).

There are so many great homes in the L. O. Daniel area — look at a whole bunch on the L. O. Daniel Neighborhood Association website here.

Also recommended is the 2019 Candy’s Dirt article “What’s in a Name For L. O. Daniel?” by Deb R. Brimer.

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Category: Historic Ads

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DALLAS: The City of Splendid Realities

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