African American Dallas | Flashback : Dallas

March 3, 2023

Black Women’s Equestrian Company K (American Woodmen) — 1920s

George W. Cook Collection, DeGolyer Library, SMU

by Paula Bosse

Above, a photograph of an African American woman holding a pennant which reads “Co. K — Dallas, Texas.” Company K was a women’s equestrian unit of Dallas Camp No. 86, consisting of at least 30 members — it was one of the various “uniformed ranks” of the American Woodmen, a Black fraternal organization. These groups competed in drills and marched in parades, and, from what I gather, they were meant to be seen as something of a symbol of strength, purpose, and resolve. Company K won many drilling contests and was active, from what I can tell, from at least 1922 to at least 1930.

The American Woodmen (not to be confused with the Woodmen of the World, an exclusively white organization) was a national fraternal benefit association which provided loans and insurance coverage to members. It was open to Black men and women. During the 1920s, the Woodmen offices were located at 714 N. Hawkins, at Central (the address was originally 718 N. Hawkins, as seen in the ad below). Members could join various extracurricular “uniform ranks” if they so chose.

Dallas Express, Apr. 17, 1920

The American Woodmen Uniform Ranks were overseen by the national “Commander,” Maj. Gen. John L. Jones (many fraternal organizations borrowed liberally from the military, as seen in their fondness for uniforms, “officer” ranks, precision drilling, etc.). While in Dallas for the Woodmen’s District Encampment in August 1922, Jones told a reporter:

“The American Woodmen in establishing their uniform rank department intended to instill in those who joined it a higher appreciation for the value of the Negro soldier and hero. No other fraternity has thus established that branch of their organization.” (Dallas Express, Aug. 12, 1922)

When uniformed members of these various divisions drilled and paraded — hundreds at a time — it was an impressive, powerful sight. It was good PR, not only for the group selling insurance, but also for Black Americans who rarely had the opportunity to participate in this type of uniformed display of earnest, pillar-of-the-community solidarity. (See a typical group of the “Uniform Ranks” — which also included marching bands and nurses — in a 1924 photo showing the Louisville, Kentucky Camp, here.)

But back to Company K. I haven’t found any photos of them with horses, but I assume they really did ride horses. Below is an ad from January 1922, recruiting men for a Woodmen “cavalry.” I assume there was a similar version of this ad seeking female recruits.

Dallas Express, Jan. 14, 1922

In an early competition at an “encampment” (a meeting of various American Woodmen companies, or “camps”), Company K tied for first place with another Dallas unit, Lone Star Company B. (Read coverage of this huge days-long encampment in the pages of the Black newspaper, The Dallas Express, here — The Dallas Morning News did not mention the event.) The Dallas Encampment was at Riverside Park, a large open space where visitors set up military-style barracks/tents and competed in various military-like precision drills over the course of a few days. Riverside Park was the former Negro Play Park, at what is now Sabine and Denley in Oak Cliff, near the Trinity (it is now, I believe, Eloise Lundy Park). Not only was Riverside Park the site for several encampments and a place where Black families picnicked and gathered for special occasions, it was also the home of Negro League baseball games (these games were so popular among both Black and white Dallasites that a special section for white fans had to be installed during the Jim Crow era, when racial segregation was enforced by law). But back to Company K.

Dallas Express, Aug. 19, 1922

The parade mentioned in the article below is described in the Express article “Woodmen Stage Big Parade” (Aug. 19, 1922). It sounds like it was a pretty big deal.

Black Dispatch (Oklahoma City, OK), Mar. 15, 1923

The incredibly low-resolution photo below was taken at the 1929 Encampment in Denver — it shows the scale of an encampment, with tents visible behind the posed participants. The caption says that Dallas’ Equestrian Co. K won the first prize for women in the drill contest — the prize (which, amazingly, was the same as the first prize for men) was $800, which, in today’s inflation-adjusted money would be about $15,000!

Black Dispatch (OKC), Sept. 5, 1929

In an excerpt from a chatty overview of the women’s drilling groups, Company K spokeswomen say how happy they are to be back in Oklahoma City.

Black Dispatch (Oklahoma City), July 10, 1930

Most fraternal organizations are, as the name would imply, men-only. Yeah, they may have their female “auxiliary” organizations to give the women something to do, but the American Woodmen (Woodpeople?) included women in important roles. And it certainly paid off — the women of Equestrian Company K regularly won competitions and regularly brought the bacon home.

100% of what is contained in this post is information I didn’t know until I set out to discover what “Equestrian Co. K, Dallas, Texas” referred to. As always, it’s exciting to learn about something I had never known about.

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Sources & Notes

Top photo — “[Member of African American Women’s Equestrian Contingent, Company K, of Dallas, Texas]” — is from the George W. Cook Dallas/Texas Image Collection, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University; more information on this photo can be found on the SMU Libraries site, here.

There is very little information on the internet about these American Woodmen women’s companies, so I’ve collected the article “Echoes from the Forest — Uniform Rank Department, American Woodmen” (The Black Dispatch, Oklahoma City, July 10, 1930), which lists female personnel for several Dallas companies, including the equestrian company, drill companies, a hospital company, and a nurse company — read the PDF here.

Read about the American Woodmen Benevolent Society (not to be confused with the (white) Woodmen of the World organization) in two very informative and interesting blog posts, here and here.

Read about Black soldiers during World War I in the sort-of related Flashback Dallas post “Black Troops from Dallas, Off to the Great War,” here.

December 24, 2022

Santa Claus Visits Fair Park — 1969 and 1970

The list is ready…

by Paula Bosse

Check out two charming film clips of Santa visiting kids in Fair Park on Dec. 20, 1969 and Dec. 23, 1970 (the links to the clips are below). He arrives, of course, in a helicopter. These events were sponsored by the Negro Chamber of Commerce.

From this clip’s YouTube description:

A Black Santa Claus lands via helicopter in Fair Park as a large crowd of predominantly African American children rush to meet him; children are seen on Santa’s lap as parents stand by; a box of wrapped apples is seen. (A “Black Santa” was an unusual sight in the 1960s, and the concept was much in the news in the 1969 Christmas season as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) had issued a demand that department stores in Cincinnati hire African American Santas or face a boycott, and the story was widely covered around the country.) (Silent)

Watch the full 38-second (silent) clip on YouTube here. Below are some screenshots.

Santa made a return visit the next year — again via chopper — on Dec. 23, 1970. An article appeared in The Dallas Morning News revealing Santa’s helper to be Issac Debois who was quoted as saying with a chuckle, “I’m the only black Santa Claus from the South Pole.” Watch the full 38-second (silent) clip here.

Merry Christmas!!

***

Sources & Notes

All images are screenshots from WFAA-Channel 8 news stories — from the WFAA Newsfilm Collection, G. William Jones Collection, Southern Methodist University.

The first clip (from 1969) is contained in the larger video on YouTube here — the specific short clip is here.

The second clip (from 1970) is contained in the larger video on YouTube here — the specific clip is here.

Read the Dallas Morning News story about the second visit in the DMN archives: “Santa Enjoys Happy Visit, With Gifts” (DMN, Dec. 24, 1970).

Find more Flashback Dallas posts on Christmas here and Hanukkah here,

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2 Comments

January 20, 2022

When SMU Theology Students Were Sprayed with Insecticide at a University Park Lunch-Counter Sit-In — 1961

university-pharmacy-protest_WFAA_jan-1961_1 Bright’s Drug Store, 6327 Hillcrest, University Park

by Paula Bosse

This week the G. William Jones Film & Video Collection at SMU posted another fantastic clip from their WFAA News archive on their YouTube channel. This one shows an incident I had heard about since I was a child. It shows a peaceful “sit-in” demonstration at the University Pharmacy at the southwest corner of Hillcrest and McFarlin, across from the SMU campus. The sit-in was organized by theology students at SMU’s Perkins School of Theology to protest the owner’s refusal to serve Black customers at his lunch counter. The student demonstration was conducted by a group of silent students — it was a peaceful protest without violence. Until, that is, the owner, pharmacist C. R. Bright, called in a fumigator to set off a cloud of insecticide inside the pharmacy in an extreme attempt to run off the protesters. The students did not leave until Bright closed the drug store. Many of the students then picketed in front of the business as anti-protester demonstrators showed up to heckle and jeer, some waving little Confederate flags handed out by Bright. My mother, who lived nearby at the time and had recently graduated from SMU (but was not a theology student) was there, and she says she can still feel the burn of that pesticide in her throat and says that no one present that day could believe a person would do what Bright did. (And she’s in it! She’s seen sitting at the counter, engulfed by a cloud of insecticide.)

Here is the silent clip from January 9, 1961 (the direct link on YouTube is here):

I took the photo below at an exhibit at the downtown Dallas Public Library in 2017. It shows the students outside the pharmacy as a crowd jeers at them.

via Dallas Public Library

In 1961, there were only 4 or 5 Black students attending SMU. Black students were allowed to attend only the theology and law schools — there were no Black undergraduates until 1962, when Paula Elaine Jones became the first African American full-time undergraduate student at SMU.

In 1961, African Americans were routinely refused service at white-owned establishments in Dallas (as they were in the rest of the Jim Crow South). The sit-in at the University Pharmacy was the result of a Black theology student being refused service at Bright’s lunch counter. There had been a small demonstration at the drug store a couple of nights before the one seen in the film above — it ended when Bright closed early.

The sit-in that grabbed the headlines began around 10:00 on the morning of Monday, Jan. 9, 1961, when 60-75 SMU students, including Black theology students Earl Allen and Darnell Thomas, entered the drug store and sat silently at the counter and in booths. Allen and Darnell were refused service. In protest, the large group of students refused to leave. After about an hour, Bright was quoted by a WBAP news reporter as saying, “This is a good time to kill some cockroaches…” and called an exterminator service. When the exterminators arrived, they turned on fumigating machines inside the business, filling the place with clouds of kerosene-based insecticide which covered the students, the lunch counters, the dishes, the food, and the store’s merchandise. (Bright was a pharmacist, who was no doubt aware of potential physical harm this would cause.)

The students sat there, breathing through handkerchiefs and holding their ground, silent. A University Park policeman, Lt. John Ryan was there, but the police were not actively involved (although Ryan did have a handy gas mask). After half an hour, the students left when Bright closed the store. Bright re-opened an hour or two later (the lunch counter remained closed). Students silently picketed as hecklers jeered.

The SMU student newspaper — The SMU Campus — covered the sit-in. The article contained an unsurprising, unapologetic quote from the 75-year-old C. R. Bright:

Bright steadfastly refuses to integrate his lunch counter. Says the drug store owner, “We are not serving them now and we’ll never serve them.” He continues to explain that it “is against my principle” and “I know it would wreck my business.” (The SMU Campus, Feb. 1, 1961)

Bright retired soon after and sold the business to an up-and-coming young whippersnapper named Harold Simmons, who went on to build a multi-multi-multi-million-dollar empire from that first business investment.

via DeGolyer Library, SMU

via 1965 SMU Rotunda

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university-pharmacy-protest_WFAA_jan-1961_11_UP-policeman

UPDATE, BURY THE LEDE DEPT: Thanks to comments by two readers, I have learned that Christopher R. Bright was the father of former Dallas Cowboys owner H. R. “Bum” Bright. Oh dear.

***

Sources & Notes

All screenshots are from WFAA news footage from the WFAA News Film Collection, G. William Jones Film & Video Collection, Hamon Arts Library, Southern Methodist University; the clip has been posted to the SMU Jones Film channel on YouTube here.

Read coverage of the sit-in (as well as a critical editorial which called the protest “immoral”) in the Feb. 1, 1961 edition of The SMU Campus, the student newspaper — it can be accessed on the SMU Libraries website here, or it can be read in a PDF I’ve made, here.

Read a lively account of the sit-in in a WBAP-Channel 5 news script here (via the Portal to Texas History).

For those with access to the Dallas Morning News archives, the incident is covered in an article by Jim Lehrer: “Protesting Students Sit In, Walk Picket Line at Store” (DMN, Jan. 10, 1961).

Another great clip showing a historical lunch-counter protest in Dallas (the city’s first, I believe) in April of 1960 is also available on the SMU Jones Film YouTube channel — it can be viewed here. Here is a description of what’s happening in the footage: “Rev. Ashton Jones, a white minister from Los Angeles, and Rev. T. D. R. V. Thompson, Black pastor of the New Jerusalem Institutional Missionary Baptist Church, 2100 Second Avenue, together visit segregated lunch counters in downtown Dallas department stores; the peaceful sit-in protests take place at the counters of the Kress Department Store, the H. L. Green Department Store, and the Tea Room of Sanger Bros. department store. This was the first publicized demonstration against Dallas’ segregated eating establishments, and several members of the media — both white and African American — are covering the historic event (Silent).”

Lastly, in a related Flashback Dallas post, there was a previous University Pharmacy which was located, at separate times, on the northwest and southwest corners of Hillcrest and McFarlin — the owner of the very first University Pharmacy built the Couch Building, which can be seen in the background of the top photo of this post. That earlier post, “University Park’s “Couch Building” Goes Up In Flames (1929-2016),” can be found here. A pertinent 1965 photo from that post which shows Simmons’ University Pharmacy, the Couch Building, and the Toddle House (which was also the site of a 1961 sit-in by SMU students) can be seen here.

university-pharmacy-protest_WFAA_jan-1961_1_sm

5 Comments

November 22, 2021

Black Dallas — 1973

Royal Cafe, 2726 Forest Avenue (now MLK Blvd.)

by Paula Bosse

The G. William Jones Film and Video Collection at SMU is the gift that keeps on giving (see their YouTube channel here). In addition to their vast non-Dallas-history holdings, they are the repository of the WFAA news film archives, which is an incredible collection of local news segments from Channel 8. And now they’ve begun digitizing and uploading film from KERA-Channel 13. There are all sorts of clips posted on the YouTube channel so far — I really, really loved the Blackie Sherrod profile — and I’m not even a sports fan! My guess is that a lot of it comes from the legendary local news show Newsroom, including the one I’m writing about here.

This story from 1973 was about a recent increase in crime in the Black neighborhoods of South Dallas and State-Thomas/Hall Street. Crime stories are pretty much the same decade in and decade out, but this piece is great because of the almost 8 full minutes of footage showing parts of town that the media largely ignored (ignores). I haven’t seen most of these areas as they existed when this piece was shot — many of these buildings don’t exist at all anymore. A couple of these places are “famous,” most are not. But this is just great. (Scroll to the bottom of the post for places and addresses seen in the film.)

I was particularly excited to see the exterior of the Ascot Room, which I wrote about in the Flashback Dallas post “1710 Hall: The Rose Room/The Empire Room/The Ascot Room — 1942-1975” — it was an important music club, but I had been unable to find any images of its exterior. Until now! Granted, it’s looking a bit long in the tooth in 1973, but this was so cool to see!

Ascot Room (1710 Hall, at Ross)
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Bill & Bess’ Cafe
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Lucky Eight Recreation Center (1804 Hall); Black Gail’s Domino Parlor
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Blue Lantern Cafe (1609 Hall)
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Congo Club (1801 Hall, at Roseland)
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East Texas Bar-B-Q/East Texan Barbecue (2311 Hall)
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2700 block of Forest Avenue (now Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.)
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1700 block of Hall Street, north from Ross
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Pussy Cat Lounge (3410 Forest Ave. — now part of Fair Park)
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Ross Avenue Motel (3629 Ross) — see what it looked like new here
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2700 block of South Boulevard

Very cool! Thanks, SMU!

Here are some of the places seen in the film, with addresses (if I could find them), in the order they appear (several places make more than one appearance):

Pussy Cat Lounge: 3410 Forest Avenue (now MLK Blvd.)
Elite Theater (sign): 2720/2722 Forest Ave. (closed; originally the White Theater, which opened in 1934)
Blazer Inn: 2722 Forest (in the old theater)
A & H Barber Shop, Recreation, Pool: 2724 Forest
Royal Cafe: 2726 Forest
Royal Barber Shop: 1813 Hall
Soul Shop
Hall’s Hotel: 1809 1/2 Hall
Corner of Hall & Roseland
Busy Bee Cafe: 1612 Hall
Red Door
Black Gail’s Domino Parlor: 1802 Hall
Congo Club: 1801 Hall (at Roseland)
Ascot Room: 1710 Hall (at Ross)
East Texas Bar-B-Q (listed in directories as East Texan Barbecue): 2311 Hall
Mary’s Place
Bill & Bess’ Cafe
Watson’s Cafeteria: 1715 Hall
Jim’s Liquor: 1713 Hall
Alvacado Inn: 1726 Hall
Stewart Motors: 3509 Ross
Vacation Motors: 3623 Ross
Ross Avenue Motel: 3629 Ross
1600 block of Hall, looking toward Ross
Your Thrift Shop: 1622 Hall (warehouse), 3302 Ross
Forest Avenue Store: 2716-A Forest
Hooper’s Jeweler: 2720 Forest
Front of old Elite Theater, then the Blazer Inn: 2722 Forest
2700 block of South Blvd. shows homes at 2707 South Blvd. and 2711 South Blvd.
Liberty Bail Bond Service: 1611 Hall (Theodore Greer, bondsman)
Blue Lantern Cafe: 1609 Hall
Dallas Police Substation: Bexar and Municipal streets

***

Sources & Notes

All images are screenshots from the YouTube video “KERA Report On Crime In Dallas — June 1973,” from the KERA Collection, G. William Jones Film and Video Collection, Hamon Arts Library, Southern Methodist University.

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7 Comments

June 7, 2021

Miscellaneous Dallas #2

Open 24 hours, plenty of free parking…

by Paula Bosse

And now, a bunch of homeless, random images (all are larger when clicked).

Above, the 24-hour Rainbow Restaurant, 1627 N. Industrial at Irving Blvd. Below, its menu.

1951

Thomas Confectionery, 1100 Elm Street. “Largest Confectionery In the State.” Popular date spot with the pre-flapper generation.

1911 (via Portal to Texas History)

1912. Dallas Morning News want-ad

Fair Park Church of God in Christ, 1036 S. Carroll Ave.

1974 (via USC Libraries)

And it’s still standing! (I love that the curb tiles are still there.)

2017 (via Google Street View)

The Knox Street Business District, pre-Central Expressway. …Way pre.

1932 (via SMU Rotunda)

A. Harris & Co. — Texas Centennial Commemorative Paper (gift wrap?).

1936 (via Portal to Texas History)

The Lakewood Country Club (see it before the landscaping in this photo from this post).

(via eBay)

The McFarland Drug Co., 598 Elm, at Hawkins, in Deep Ellum (later became 2424 Elm).

1905 (via DeGolyer Library, SMU)

The Lyric Theatre, 364 Elm, near Stone (later 1602 Elm).

1907-ish (via DeGolyer Library, SMU)

Dudley M. Hughes Funeral Home, 400 E. Jefferson Blvd, Oak Cliff.

(via Tichnor Bros. Collection, Boston Public Library)

“A Drive in White Rock Valley.” Before the lake.

(via eBay)

***

Sources & Notes

Rainbow Restaurant postcard is from the Tichnor Bros. Postcard Collection, Boston Public Library.

See the first installment of “Miscellaneous Dallas” here.

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3 Comments

May 3, 2021

Ross Graves’ Cafe: 1800 Jackson — 1947

Graves Cafe… (photo by Marion Butts/Dallas Public Library)

by Paula Bosse

Ross Graves (1903-1973) seems to have been something of a successful bon vivant who dipped his toe into a variety of businesses catering to Dallas’ African-American community: he was the proprietor of, variously (and often simultaneously), a night club, a liquor store, a gas station, a barber shop, and, most successfully, a restaurant, which was in business for almost 20 years (sometimes referred to as Ross Cafe or Graves Place). Below is a photo from 1947 showing the Ross Graves Cafe at 1800 Jackson Street (at Prather) in downtown Dallas (we see the south side of Jackson, with the view to the west).

This photo accompanied an ad with the following text:

He opened the cafe around 1937 and kept it going until 1955 when he “retired” (he also dabbled in dice-game-hosting at the cafe and was busted in 1954 on gaming charges — he was given a 2-year probated sentence the next year). (Also, the building was part of a large donation to the city in 1955 — more about that below.)

The photo at the top shows, I’m guessing, Mr. Graves standing at the cafe’s cash register with an employee in 1947. He’s also seen in the photo below.

(photo by Marion Butts/Dallas Public Library)

I was originally intrigued by the photo of the exterior of the cafe — I couldn’t picture where it had been. But in trying to find out more about the building, I learned about the life of Ross Graves and came across some interesting little tidbits which paint a a picture of a fun-loving man with an active social life, lots of friends, and a healthy bank account. Below are a few clippings from the Pittsburgh Courier, a newspaper published in Pennsylvania which served as something of a national newspaper for Black America, with political, sports, and entertainment news from around the country. There was always news from Dallas in it — in fact, they had a local office here (3306 Roseland). There was even a Dallas-based society/gossip columnist named Mrs. O. J. Cansler (whose column had the rather unfortunate name of “Kolumn Komments”). She was quite frothy and wrote with the breathless excitement one expects in a society columnist. (I highly encourage anyone with a subscription to Newspapers.com to check out her “kolumn” — it’s a breath of fresh air to read about Dallas’ Black community presented in such a lively and fun manner (or in ANY manner, really — you weren’t going to find any of what she was writing about in the Dallas Morning News or the Dallas Times Herald). Especially interesting are mentions of long-forgotten clubs and nightspots where bands and performers from Dallas’ vibrant musical scene played. Here are a few appearances of Ross (and his wife, Ruby) from the pages of the Pittsburgh Courier.

Pittsburgh Courier, Nov. 13, 1939

Graves was 36 years old at the time.

Pittsburgh Courier, Aug. 8, 1942

The Regal Ballroom (listed as the Regal Nite Club in city directories) was at 3216 Thomas, at Hall. It didn’t last very long, but while it did, it was, apparently, “swellegant”! Here’s a mention of it as the location of a swing band contest in 1940 (won by Don Percell):

Pittsburgh Courier, June 8, 1940

Pittsburgh Courier, Oct. 17, 1942

Graves’ second wife, Ruby Graves, was known for her “smart toggery.”

Pittsburgh Courier, Oct. 14, 1944

Ross and Ruby were quite the hosts:

Pittsburgh Courier, Apr. 7, 1945

I love this. This is the sort of thing you would never have read in the Morning News or the Times Herald. I want to know more about Claudia’s — “that night spot just out of the city limits that has everybody talking.”

Pittsburgh Courier, May 12, 1945

Pittsburgh Courier, June 22, 1946

Just popping up to NYC in their new Fleetwood to take in a boxing match. As one does.

Ross and Ruby eventually ended up living in a house on “swellegant” South Boulevard (2500 South Blvd.). At least one of their daughters was an Idlewild debutante, who made her debut in 1967 (read about the world of Black debutantes in 1937 Dallas here). Milam County native Ross Graves died on Dec. 4, 1973 at the age of 70. He had lived in Dallas for 50 years. And I bet he had a good time.

The location of Ross Graves’ Cafe was at 1800 Jackson Street, between Ervay and St. Paul, in a weird stretch of Jackson where two blocks were connected without a break, in a row of buildings without an intersecting street. (The buildings are long gone, but the location can be seen on Google Maps here.) An interesting detail about these two blocks — the 1700 and 1800 blocks of Jackson Street — is that this property was owned by Dr. John W. Anderson, a prominent Black physician. After his death, his widow, Pearl C. Anderson, deeded the land to the Dallas Community Chest, the proceeds of which would be used to help needy Dallasites. (The donation was conservatively estimated at $200,000 at the time — about $2 million in today’s money). She donated the property in 1955, the same year Graves retired.

Jackson Street, 1947 Dallas city directory

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Sources & Notes

Photos of the interior of Ross Graves’ Cafe are from the Marion Butts Collection, Dallas Public Library. Call Number for the top photo is PA2005-4/380.1; Call Number for the second is PA2005-4/380.2 (both are incorrectly identified as being in Deep Ellum).

The photo of the exterior of the cafe is from the Dallas, Texas Negro City Directory, 1947-1948 (many thanks to Pat Lawrence).

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4 Comments

August 25, 2020

Oak Cliff’s Star Theatre — 1945-1959

Show Hill, with the Star Theatre at right

by Paula Bosse

This is one of those photographs I could stare at all day long. It shows a shopping area in East Oak Cliff at the intersection of E. Eighth Street and N. Moore Street — this part of Oak Cliff was originally settled as a freedman’s town, and this photo shows an area between the Tenth Street Historic District and The Bottoms (or The Bottom) neighborhood (see a great map, here).

When these buildings were built in 1945 by I. B. Clark, it was an exclusively African-American part of Dallas. The anchor of this strip (which occupied what was described as both the 300 block of N. Moore and the 1400 block of E. Eighth) was the Star Theatre, which was, according to Mr. Clark, the only movie house for black customers in Oak Cliff.

Boxoffice, April 28, 1945

Dallas Negro Directory, 1947-48

I. B. Clark was a white businessman who lived on a ranch in Cedar Hill; he had owned the Southern Fireworks Company before the war and had frequently battled with Dallas lawmakers about the constitutionality of banning the selling and shooting of fireworks within the city limits.

In the undated photo above, businesses in the retail strip are the Top-O-Hill Food Mart, the Ebony Cafe (Pit Bar-B-Q), the Easy-Wash laundromat, the second location of the Cochran Street Record Shop, the Star Theatre, and hotel apartments.

This hub of businesses was popular with neighborhood residents, who referred to this area as “Show Hill” (for the picture show). I stumbled across a really wonderful 2018 oral history of Margaret Benson, who, in 1944, moved with her family to Dallas and attended N. W. Harllee Elementary School and both Lincoln High School and Madison High School. She describes these shops and says that whenever black entertainers such as Dinah Washington or Sister Rosetta Tharpe came to town, they frequently stayed in the apartments above these businesses, as hotel accommodations for African Americans were few and far between. (I loved the entire recording of Mrs. Benson reminiscing about living for most of her life in this area of Oak Cliff — the part where she specifically talks about “Show Hill” is at the 8:25 mark in the recording at the link above.)

According to Dallas movie theater historian Troy Sherrod, the Star closed in 1959. Over time the area eventually declined and the remaining businesses closed. The strip, which was looking pretty down-at-its-heels in the 1990s, was demolished around 2000. The photo below shows the once-vibrant strip in its later days. (Three more photos, from 1999, can be found here — the addition of more apartments (the “Ebony Hotel Annex”) can be seen in the third one.)

via Lost Dallas by Mark Doty

Here is what “Show Hill” vacant lot looks like today on Google Street View:

Google Street View, 2019

Bing Maps

via Cinema Treasures

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Sources & Notes

Top photo showing the Star Theatre is from the excellent book by D. Troy Sherrod, Historic Dallas Theatres (Arcadia Publishing, 2014); the photo is from the collection of the Dallas Public Library.

Second photo showing the dilapidated buildings is from another excellent book, Lost Dallas by Mark Doty (Arcadia Publishing, 2012).

The ad for the Star Theatre appeared in the Dallas, Texas Negro City Directory, 1947-1948 (many thanks to Pat Lawrence). The address for the theater was listed in various places as both 300 N. Moore and as 1401 E. Eighth.

If you have access to the archives of the Dallas Morning News, I encourage you to read “Inner-City Secret — The Bottoms Residents Say They Are Forgotten” by Bill Minutaglio (DMN, Aug. 28, 1994).

Also worth a read is Texas Tribune article “Dallas Neighborhood Established by Freed Slaves Fights to Keep Its History Alive” by Miguel Perez of KERA News.

More on the Tenth Street Historic District can be found on the City of Dallas website here.

Check out photos of a pop-up market on Show Hill in 2014 here.

Also, of related interest is the Flashback Dallas post “Movie Houses Serving Black Dallas — 1919-1922.”

Thank you to reader Jerry Richburg for contacting me with a question about this old strip shopping area — he remembered attending church services in one of the buildings and asked if I knew more about what had been there and if I might have a photo. Thanks, Jerry! You led me down the path to discovering a little pocket of Dallas history I was completely unaware of!

3 Comments

July 24, 2020

Dallas Baseball Team — ca. 1910

Team photo, circa 1910… (click for larger image)

by Paula Bosse

I came across this circa-1910 photo on eBay about a year and a half ago. I thought it was unusual because of the presence of an African American man posing with the team. Sports teams weren’t integrated at this time — was he part of the team but not a player? I don’t know what’s written on his shirt, but it doesn’t have “Dallas” on it like the ones the others are wearing. What do you think?

Happy Opening Day!

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Sources & Notes

Photo found on eBay. (I assume it’s Dallas, Texas….)

More Flashback Dallas posts on baseball can be found here.

7 Comments

March 1, 2020

African-American Businesses and Notable Dallasites — 1930

“Madame Pratt” in her music studio

by Paula Bosse

I’ve recently posted lots of photos of black schools and black churches which appeared in the Official Directory: Dallas Negro Churches, Schools and Other Activities; Civic, Business, Fraternal, Social, Etc., an absolutely fantastic historical document (which is scanned in its entirety on the Portal to Texas History site here) — now I thought I’d post some of the businesses and people featured in the directory.

First is the woman seen above, Ella Rice Pratt (1893-1966) who was known professionally as “Madame Pratt” and seems to have taught an extremely wide range of musical instruments. According to this 1930 ad, she was “The only woman of her race in Texas who performs successfully upon two instruments at the same time.” (Most images are larger when clicked.)

1930

Her 1966 obituaries (one of which is here ) list a string of accomplishments, including having studied music at the New England Conservatory in Boston, toured as a concert pianist, trained a 30-piece touring orchestra, and opened what was described as “the first music studio in Dallas where Negro musicians could receive training on all instruments” (Dallas Morning News, Oct. 3, 1966). Not only was she a notable Dallasite, so were members of her family: her father, Charles A. Rice was a principal at Booker T. Washington High School (and is the namesake of Charles Rice Elementary School), her mother, Sally Rice, was the first supervisor of Griggs Park, and her husband, T. W. Pratt was a long-time principal in Dallas schools (at the time of this directory he was the principal of the Pacific Avenue School (he might be seen in this photo which also appeared in the 1930 Negro Directory). The Pratts lived at 3612 Thomas Ave., near Washington, where Madame Pratt also had her studio. (Her headstone in Lincoln Memorial Park has musical notes engraved on it.)

Speaking of music, R. T. Ashford was a prominent businessman (he was one of the founders of the Dallas Negro Chamber of Commerce) who owned R. T. Ashford’s Music Shop, a popular record store at 408 N. Central (at Swiss), just north of Deep Ellum. Before this 1930 directory was issued, Ashford had called his shop “Black Swan Music”(I’m not sure whether this was an “homage” to the Black Swan record label or some sort of partnership). Ashford’s store was apparently very popular and Ashford himself seems to have been taken seriously by record labels whenever he would recommend local talent (he appears to have figured prominently in Blind Lemon Jefferson’s recording career). Ashford moved from Central Avenue to Hall Street in 1931, but he was a Deep Ellum music and business fixture for many, many years. I think the location of Ashford’s record shop (if not the actual store) can be seen in this photo from 1919 (on the street-level floor of the Thorburn Broom & Brush building). (Fun fact, perhaps only to me: Ashford’s Music Shop was next door to a business proprietor named “Simpson.”)

1930

Dallas Express, Dec. 1923

Another entrepreneur was Thad Self, whose main business seems to have been a grocery/general merchandise store on Routh Street south of Colby. He also owned a transfer company, a hotel/boarding house, a barber shop, a cafe, and at least one other general store. Most of his companies were located in buildings on the neighboring lots at 2113 Routh and 2115 Routh, one or both of which he appears to have purchased in 1913 for $100 (about $2,600 in today’s prices). He built a large three-story building on Routh in 1913 (which, according to this 1921 Sanborn map) was built over the Dallas Branch of the Trinity which snaked through downtown and the State-Thomas area — that basement was probably pretty damp.

1930

Dallas Express, Dec. 6, 1919

Speaking of hotels, one of the most prominent hotels in the era when blacks were not allowed to stay in “white” hotels by law was the Powell Hotel at 3115 State Street (between Ellis and Hugo), owned by D. H. Powell and his wife Susie. In May, 1929 Powell was issued a permit to tear down a frame house at 3115 State, and he built his 40-room hotel on the property soon after. The Powell Hotel was where almost every notable African-American visitor to the city stayed. By the late 1940s, Powell had built something of a hotel empire in Dallas with several locations. (I will have to write more about him in a future post!) I like this very early ad, from the 1930 directory, describing it as the “Powel Hotel & Pleasure Dome.” The photo shows a pleasant-looking place, but you and I and Kubla Khan and Coleridge would probably agree it’s no Xanadu.

1930

Dallas Public Library, via Legacies, Spring, 2007

Speaking of “resting places”… another essential element in any community is the funeral home. One of Dallas’ most prominent undertaking firms for black Dallas was the E. J. Crawford Funeral Home at 804 Good (now N. Good-Latimer, between Live Oak and Bryan), founded by Mr. Crawford in 1909. “The last word in funeralizing.”

1930

Dallas Express, Feb. 4, 1922

Another prominent funeral home/ambulance service was Black & Clark, founded originally around 1914 by S. C. Black; in 1927 he was joined by his nephew C. J. Clark. For years they were located in Oak Cliff, at 1109 E. Tenth St., west of what is now South R. L. Thornton, near Cliff Avenue. This funeral home is still in business, and there was recently a profile of the Dallas institution on Channel 5 News (watch it here).

1930

1802 N. Washington (woozy screenshot of photo in Ch. 5 news story)

This is Genevieve T. Starks, a woman with a lot of extra-curricular activities! I love this photo.

1930

The G Clef Club was organized around 1921 by Lincolnia Hayes Morgan, music supervisor for Dallas’ (black) public schools. A blurb about the group appeared in The Crisis, the official publication of the N.A.A.C.P.: “The objects of the club are to assist worthy music students and to raise the music standard of the community” (June, 1921).

1930

A popular singing group was the Belt Sacred Quartette (comprised of J. J. Mollis, J. Poindexter, F. W. Grant, and N. Tisdale) — listen to their recording of “I Have Another Building” below.

1930

Blackwell (OK) Journal-Tribune, July 23, 1932

The Davis Bible Singers (C. Davis, I. H. Burrell, R. Smith, and O. B. Walker) seem to have been pretty popular, having appeared on KRLD, WFAA, and WRR radio. They even recorded for Columbia Records (listen to their great recording of “Daniel Saw the Stone” below).

1930

One of the most important doctors in Dallas in the 1920s and ’30s was Dr. Lee Gresham (L. G.) Pinkston (1883-1961), who opened the Pinkston Clinic at 3305 Thomas Avenue, between Hall and Central, in 1928 or 1929 (it made its first appearance in the 1929 city directory). In 1954, Pinkston — physician, surgeon, and civic leader — was one of the first five black doctors allowed to practice in a “white” Dallas hospital (St. Paul’s Hospital) — before that, the only hospital in Dallas where black doctors could practice was the Pinkston Clinic, which had 15 beds (32 beds were allotted for black patients at St. Paul’s in 1954). (See a photo of the five doctors here, Dr. Pinkston is seated.) A new West Dallas school — Pinkston High School — was named in Dr. Pinkston’s honor and opened in 1964, three years after his death.

1930

Dallas Historical Society

Below, a portrait of Dr. Pinkston with the artist, Calvin Littlejohn (whom I’d known only as a photographer previously), destined to hang in the new school.

Pittsburgh (PA) Courier, Nov. 28, 1964

***

Sources & Notes

All 1930 images are from Official Directory: Dallas Negro Churches, Schools and Other Activities; Civic, Business, Fraternal, Social, Etc. compiled by James H. Smith, 1930; from the Tarrant County Black Historical and Genealogical Society, via the Portal to Texas History. This fantastic resource is scanned in its entirety here.

See the two other Flashback Dallas posts which also use this wonderful directory as a source:

mme-pratt-muisc-teacher_dallas-negro-directory_1930_portal_det_sm

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February 23, 2020

Black Churches in Dallas — 1930

by Paula Bosse

Yesterday I posted several photos of schools for Dallas’ African American community from a 1930 “Negro Directory” — today it’s churches. Of these, only two survive, and only one continues as a church. (All images are larger when clicked.)

Above, my favorite building of these churches, a small one serving as the home of Randolph Free Will Baptist Church, Flora and Watkins streets (3113 Flora — the location can be seen on this 1921 Sanborn map).

Below, Boll Street C.M.E. Church (Christian Methodist Episcopal), corner of Boll and Juliette (2631 Juliette), near Booker T. Washington High School. It can be seen on this 1921 Sanborn map as “Morning Chapel C.M.E. Church” (this area was obliterated when Woodall Rogers was built).

ca. 1932, via DeGolyer Library, SMU (info at bottom of post)

via John L. Patton Collection, Dallas Historical Society

Church of God in Christ, Thomas and Ellis streets (3028 Thomas Avenue).

Greater Macedonia Baptist Church, corner of Good and Bryan (902 Good Street). This building later became home to Good Street Baptist Church.

ca. 1932, via DeGolyer Library, SMU

Metropolitan Tabernacle (Baptist), Thomas and Boll streets (this was apparently never built — a Metropolitan Tabernacle was listed in 1930 at 2202 Thomas, but it was not this building.)

New Hope Baptist Church, southwest corner of San Jacinto and Bogle (sometimes spelled “Bogel”) — see it on a 1921 Sanborn map here).

ca. 1932, via DeGolyer Library, SMU

New Salem Baptist Church/Salem Missionary Baptist Church, 1110 S. Preston Street (see it on a 1921 Sanborn map here).

New Zion Primitive Baptist Church, 2215 Wheeler (address is incorrect in caption; the street name “Wheeler” soon changed to “Lowery”).

Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, 5006 McKinney Avenue, between what is now Monticello and McCommas. (This is not to be confused with the church of the same name designed by James Flanders which was located at McKinney and Pearl.)

And, lastly, the two buildings which are still standing. First, St. James A.M.E. Church (African Methodist Episcopal), Good and Florence streets (620 Good Street, now 624 N. Good-Latimer Expressway). Designed by noted black architect William Sidney Pittman (who was also the son-in-law of Booker T. Washington), the building is currently home to several non-profit groups. Read the history of the building in the landmark nomination form here, and see what it looks like now — with its historical marker in front of it — on Google Street View here.

ca. 1932, DeGolyer Library, SMU

Dallas Morning News, Oct. 18, 1919

And, finally, the only one of these churches still standing, and still functioning as a church, St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church (now St. Paul United Methodist Church), corner of Burford and Juliette streets (1820 Burford, now 1816 Routh Street), also designed by architect William Sidney Pittman. See it on a 1921 Sanborn map here as “Juliette M.E. Church” (it wasn’t completed until 1922 and seems to have been given a place-holder name). Read about its history here, and see it today on Google Street View here.

ca. 1932, via DeGolyer Library, SMU

***

Sources & Notes

Photos from Official Directory: Dallas Negro Churches, Schools and Other Activities; Civic, Business, Fraternal, Social, Etc. compiled by James H. Smith, 1930; from the Tarrant County Black Historical and Genealogical Society, via the Portal to Texas History. This fantastic resource is scanned in its entirety here (the full list of churches begins on p. 10).

The five “ca. 1932” photos are from a scrapbook/photo album of amateur photos called “Graphic History of Negro Dallas” which was compiled by the Priscilla Art Club in 1932; the scrapbook is from the George W. Cook Dallas/Texas Image Collection, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University; links to the individual photos are in the photo captions.

randolph-free-will-baptist-church_dallas-negro-directory_1930_portal_sm

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Category: African American Dallas

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