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July 5, 2014

The Smith Brothers Can Set You Up With a Hearse … Or a Cab — 1888

Need a ride? (click for larger image)

by Paula Bosse

Need a hearse? No? Then how ’bout a cab?

Diversification is the key to success! Ed. C. and G. D. Smith — of the Ed. C. & Bro. Undertakers and Embalmers — branched out from the hum-drum world of mortuary science and entered the exciting world of transportation-for-hire (it really IS only a short jump from hearse to cab). Their Dallas Cab Co. provided the city with something brand new: Gurney cab service.

The “Gurney cab” was the invention of Bostonian J. Theodore Gurney — it was a two-wheeled, horse-drawn cab into which passengers entered through the back and, for a quarter, rode in sleek, well-appointed comfort. This new form of conveyance was an alternative to the larger, clunkier, slower “hacks.” Gurney patented his cab in 1883 and traveled around the country promoting his vehicle to large cities. He visited Dallas in March, 1888:

gurney_dmn_031888 Dallas Morning News, March 18, 1888

He must have been pretty persuasive, because the “Gurney cabs” went on the streets less than three weeks later:

gurney_fwdailygazette_040588 Fort Worth Daily Gazette, April 5, 1888

Gurney worked his way around Texas. Next stop was Fort Worth:

gurney_fwdailygazette_041488 FWDG, April 14, 1888

Then Austin:

gurney_austin-weekly-statesman_042688 Austin Weekly Statesman, April 26, 1888

As to whether the more familiar hospital “gurney” (a wheeled stretcher) has any connections, some say yes and some say no (both arguments can be read here). Wouldn’t it be great if those Smith boys went into stretcher manufacturing a few years later? Cabs — stretchers — hearses: they’ve got you covered … coming and going.

***

Ads from The Immigrant’s Guide to Texas — City of Dallas, 1888. They did, in fact, appear on the same page.

An interesting article — “The Short, Contentious, History of the Gurney Cab Company in San Francisco” by Donald Anderson — can be read here.

The fare for hiring a Gurney cab was 25 cents, which according to the Inflation Calculator, was about $6.00 in today’s money.

Click top ad for larger image.

1 Comment

June 25, 2014

Stevens Park Estates: “The Ideal Place for Your Home” — 1930

You deserve “maximum enjoyment”

by Paula Bosse

Do you dream of a home of your own? Then go and see the beautiful scenic Stevens Park Estates. “The Ideal Place for Your Home.” There you will find the ideal place for your “dream home.” A beautiful 146-acre park — 18 holes of golf — modern fan-shaped lots — broad sweeping boulevards — in fact, everything to make you realize the maximum enjoyment out of your home.

***

Sources & Notes

Ad from 1930.

History of Oak Cliff’s Stevens Park Estates can be found here and here.

June 23, 2014

Newspaper Subscriptions by the Bushel

dallas-herald_wheat_112664 Dallas Herald, Nov. 26, 1864

by Paula Bosse

No Confederate money, please.

WHEAT
Will be taken in payment for
Subscription to the Dallas Herald, at the rate
of Two bushels for six months, delivered at this office,
or any mill in this vicinity.

dallas-herald_wheat_020965 Dallas Herald, Feb. 9, 1865

Those of our subscribers who have promised us wheat, and have not as yet delivered the same, are requested to bring it in with as little delay as possible. We desire to get up a good supply of paper, and specie, or something that will bring it, is the only thing that will buy it; we also wish in a few months to enlarge our paper to double its present size, and thereby give our readers as much, if not more reading matter than any paper in the State, outside of Houston. It will depend altogether upon the encouragement and promptness of our patrons, whether we shall do this or not.

Persons at a distance can deposit wheat at any of the following mills, and the miller’s receipt will bring the paper, viz:

Mansfield Mills, Tarrant Co., Record & Elliott’s, Cedar Springs, Horton & Newton’s, Wiggington’s [sic] and Parker’s Mills in Dallas county, and at Dowell’s Mill near McKinney, in Collin county.

(Note: the Civil War-era Dallas Herald was two pages: front and back of a single sheet.)

dallas-herald_wheat_subscription_050465 Dallas Herald, May 4, 1865

Wheat will be taken in payment for Subscription to the Dallas Herald, at the rate of Two bushels for six months, delivered at this office, or at any of the following mills, and the miller’s receipt to, viz:

Mansfield Mills, Tarrant County; Record & Elliott, Cedar Springs, Horton & Newton’s, Wigginton’s and Parker’s Mills, in Dallas county, and Dowell’s Mill, near McKinney, Collin county.

***

All of the above from the Dallas Herald collection via UNT’s Portal to Texas History site,

Wikipedia entry on Confederate money here; entry on commodity money here.

June 19, 2014

Keep Oak Cliff Kinky — 1923

by Paula Bosse

I’m not sure what more I can offer, except to say that in today’s money — with inflation taken into account — that little $3 bondage device for a child’s thumb would run you a cool 40 bucks in 2014. (Updated: in 2024, make that $55!)

I picture Mrs. J. C. Thompson assembling the inventory herself, at the kitchen table in her little frame house on Melba Street in Oak Cliff, the Victrola playing in the other room, having a chirpy one-sided conversation with the imaginary “Dr. Thompson.” I wonder if she sold any?

To quote the Messrs. Python: “Guaranteed to break the ice at parties!”

***

Sources & Notes

Ad from The Dallas Morning News, Nov. 18, 1923. I’m not sure there was a follow-up.

Whither Mrs. J. C. Thompson, OC entrepreneur?

1 Comment

June 17, 2014

Ads for Slaves Lost, Found, and For Sale in the Pages of The Dallas Herald

runaway_negro_dallas-herald-1856 Dallas Herald, June 7, 1856

by Paula Bosse

When one is browsing through Texas newspapers from the 1850s and 1860s, one shouldn’t be surprised to see things like this. But that doesn’t make them any less shocking. Black men and women were not regarded as people, but as property — in all of these “ads” you could easily substitute “horse” for “negro.” I think I always wanted to believe that slavery wasn’t much of an issue in Dallas — but it was. The name of one man, E. M. Stackpole, a successful shopkeeper, kept coming up a lot in these advertisements. In addition to the general merchandise of his store, he seemed to do a pretty brisk trade in buying, selling, hiring (more like leasing from other slave-owners), and hiring out slaves. One of his ads is below. (By the way, the word “likely” was a common adjective for slaves; it meant, basically, “worthy of purchase.”)

trade_for_negro_dallas-herald_1856 March 15, 1856

negro-auction_dallas-herald_091558 Sept. 15, 1858

negro-auction_dallas-herald_102058 Oct. 20, 1858

negro_for_sale_dallas-herald_1861 1861

***

Sources & Notes

All advertisements from The Dallas Herald, via UNT’s Portal to Texas History site.

My lack of knowledge about slavery in Texas is appalling. The Wikipedia entry provides a good overview; read it here.

3 Comments

June 12, 2014

Cokesbury Book Store — 1959

cokesbury_dallas_1959

“For a summer of pleasure, grab a good book.”

1 Comment

June 7, 2014

Irby-Mayes Ad With a Cameo by the Merc — 1948

Landmark alert!

by Paula Bosse

An ad with the famous local building making a cameo.

It’s called PLATEAU
…the wonder fabric by Pacific Mills
that’s so perfect for our Texas weather. Suits of
[redacted??] look like regular weight worsted
…yet can be worn most every month of the year.
A new shipment exclusive at Irby-Mayes.

I love this 1948 ad. Irby-Mayes was located — where else? — in the Mercantile Bank Building!

4 Comments

June 4, 2014

The Texas Land & Mortgage Company — 1912

1912

by Paula Bosse

The Texas Land and Mortgage Company of London, Ltd. was the first mortgage company in the state of Texas. The Dallas branch of the English company opened in 1882 at a time when British investment across Texas was booming; it was one of the few speculation firms in the state that grew and prospered into the 20th century. Much development of the city in this period can be attributed to loans granted by the Texas Land & Mortgage Company.

The building they occupied (built by them in 1896) was located at the northwest corner of Commerce and Field, across Field from where the Adolphus has stood since 1912. The building in the 1912 ad looks a little different from the one in the photo below, taken four years earlier. It’s not a terribly attractive building in either photo, but there is some improvement in the later picture, and it IS vastly superior to the 7-Eleven occupying that corner today.

1908

***

Advertisement from the pages of The Cattle Raisers’ Association of Texas, March 1912.

Bottom photograph from Greater Dallas Illustrated (Dallas: Friends of the Dallas Public Library, 1992 — originally published in Dallas in 1908).

For a short biography of A.G. Wood, the Scottish general manager of the Texas Land & Mortgage Co., see the Encyclopedia of Texas (1922) entry here.

Click pictures for larger images.

1 Comment

May 30, 2014

The Marsalis House: One of Oak Cliff’s “Most Conspicuous Architectural Landmarks”

The fabulous Marsalis house in Oak Cliff (click for larger image)

by Paula Bosse

The Marsalis Sanitarium was a 15-bed private surgical and convalescent hospital in Oak Cliff, established in 1905 by Dr. J. H. Reuss and his partner, Dr. James H. Smart. Whether or not that building was actually pink (and I certainly hope that it was!), it was most definitely a show-stopper — one of those stunning structures that one doesn’t expect to see in and around Dallas because almost none of them still stand.

This grand home was built by Oak Cliff promoter and developer Thomas L. Marsalis in about 1889 as his personal residence at a reported cost of $65,000 (the equivalent of more than $1,750,000 in today’s money). It was located at what is now the southwest corner of Marsalis Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. The house was apparently never occupied. Supposedly, Marsalis’ wife did not want to live there because it was “too far from town” (!), but Marsalis’ financial distress throughout this time was probably more to blame.

Dallas Morning News

Marsalis’ insolvency resulted in the foreclosure of the house in the early 1890s and its ultimate sale at public auction in 1903. The winning bidder at that auction was Dr. Reuss, and the house became the Marsalis Sanitarium soon after.

1905 ad (click for larger image)

marsalis_sanitarium_dmn_010109 DMN, Jan. 1, 1909

Worley’s City Directory, 1909

Sometime after 1909 it became a girls’ seminary, and then in 1913 it fell into private hands. On August 10, 1914 the poor house burned to the ground. The headlines the next day read:

“Oil Starts Oak Cliff Early Morning Fire; Fisher Asserts Some One Set Old Building Ablaze; Firemen Find Structure Completely Enveloped in Flames and Interior Roaring Furnace.”

marsalis-house-fire_dmn_081114 DMN, Aug. 11, 1914

Such a sad ending for such a beautiful house!

***

Sources & Notes

1905 ad for the Marsalis Sanitarium from the December 1905 issue of the Texas State Journal of Medicine, found on the Portal to Texas History, here.

Black and white photograph of the Marsalis home in 1895 from the article in Legacies magazine, “Where Did Thomas L. Marsalis Go?” by James Barnes and Sharon Marsalis (which can be read here); photo from the collection of the Dallas Public Library.

For a biography of the family of Dr. Joseph H. Reuss, proprietor of the Marsalis Sanitarium, see here.

Click pictures for larger images.

5 Comments

May 28, 2014

The Statler Hilton: Dallas Has It All … Again

by Paula Bosse

It’s alive!

The old Statler Hilton looks like it might finally be renovated! Read about the exciting plans here.

Click picture for larger image.

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