Downtown | Flashback : Dallas

July 8, 2016

Dallas Police Department — 1914

On the steps of the Municipal Building (click for much larger image)

by Paula Bosse

***

“Officers & Members of Dallas Police Dept. Assembled on Steps of New City Hall, Opening Day, Oct. 17th 1914,” photo by Frank Rogers, from the George Cook Collection, DeGolyer Library, Central University Libraries, Southern Methodist University; more information here. I have edited the image.

All images very large when clicked.

1 Comment

June 30, 2016

“Melons on Ice” — 1890s

A sleepy little town…

by Paula Bosse

It looks hot in this photo from the 1890s. I bet those “Melons On Ice” in front of Wiley’s grocery store really hit the spot.

I love this photo. The Wiley Cash Grocery was in business for only a few years — from about 1892 to 1896. It was located at 153 Commerce, one block east of the brand-new county courthouse.

1893 Dallas directory

1893 map of Dallas, det.

The business was owned by Anna E. Wiley (~1862-1930) and her husband Jesse P. Wiley (~1863-1942). When they arrived in Dallas around 1887 their address in the city directory was simply “¾ mile w of river.”

Even though the store seems to have been in Anna’s name, Jesse was forced to file a deed of trust in 1896 when the store was faced with crippling debt. The Wileys owed approximately $1,545 to creditors (about $45,000 in today’s money), but their assets were only about $1,500, plus $800 of “good accounts.” Unsurprisingly, the store was gone by 1897. (Click article below to see a larger image.)

Dallas Morning News, Feb. 15, 1896

This photo captures such an odd view of downtown Dallas — it’s hard to believe that the site once occupied by the Wiley store is now the site of the John F. Kennedy Memorial. A present-day view can be seen here.

***

Sources & Notes

This photo is from the Squire Haskins Photography, Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries; additional info is here. See this great photo REALLY big here.

The map is a detail from an 1893 map of Dallas from the collection of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

6 Comments

May 29, 2016

Dallas Skyline at Night — ca. 1965

Goodnight, Pegasus…

by Paula Bosse

It might just be because this photo is so grainy, but it’s very dreamy-looking — a sort of soft-focus view of Dallas’ sophisticated nighttime skyline.

***

Sources & Notes

The photo is credited to the Dallas Chamber of Commerce. I’m pretty sure this came from a high school yearbook, but I’m afraid I neglected to note which one.

See another great photo from the same period in the Flashback Dallas post “Nighttime Skyline — 1965.”

10 Comments

May 26, 2016

On Top of the World: The Southland Center

Executive privilege…

by Paula Bosse

Here are a couple of cool, vertigo-inducing photos taken by Squire Haskins in 1958 or very early 1959 showing Southland Life Insurance executives and a crane operator perched atop the under-construction Southland Center, which included the Southland Life building (which was the tallest building in Dallas for a while) and the Sheraton Hotel. Once completed and opened in April, 1959, there was an observation deck at the top of the Southland Life building, offering an unequaled, unobstructed view of the city.

The building under construction in these photos is unidentified, but the familiar Sheraton logo seen elsewhere with the same men is a tip-off.

Here’s what it all looked like when it opened. Click to see a larger image.

April, 1959

***

Sources & Notes

Photos are by Squire Haskins, from the Squire Haskins Photography, Inc. Collection, Special Collections, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. Info on the top photo can be found here.

Some of the men in the photos are Dan C. Williams (President, Southland Life), Ben H. Carpenter (Executive Vice-President), William H. Oswalt, III (Vice-President, Director of Project Development for Southland Center), J. E. Herndon, and “A. B.”

A related Flashback Dallas post — “Sheraton Dallas, Original Version — 1959” — is here.

9 Comments

May 9, 2016

Elm Street — 1920s

by Paula Bosse

Above, a 1920s postcard showing Elm Street looking west from about where the Majestic Theatre is now. The lovely Melba Theatre can be seen at the right, with its sign partially visible. Originally opened as the Hope Theatre in 1922, it was renamed the Melba in October 1922 and became the Capri on Christmas Day 1959. West of the Melba is the tall red brick Dallas Athletic Club Building. Both of these buildings were demolished in 1981. (Also demolished about the same time were the Kress Building, the Volk Building, and the Baker Hotel. 1981 was a bad year to be an old building in Dallas. Read more in the Dallas Morning News article “Kress Building: Demolition Derby,” DMN, April 24, 1981.)

The same view today can be seen here.

Click for larger images.

1 Comment

May 1, 2016

900 Block of Main, South Side — 1950s

Take a stroll down Main… (click for larger image)

by Paula Bosse

I’m not terribly knowledgeable in photographic techniques, but this appears to be some sort of panoramic shot by noted Dallas photographer Squire Haskins — it looks as if several photos have been joined together. By magic!

UPDATE: No magic, afterall. Here’s the same block from a different view.

These photos show the south side of the 900 block of Main, between Poydras (on the left) and Lamar (on the right). I love this block. So of course it’s now a parking lot which faces the Bank of America behemoth. Times change.

The photos were taken 1952-ish.

1953 city directory

1952 Mapsco

***

Sources & Notes

Photos from the Squire Haskins Photography, Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington; more info on the top photo is here; more info on the second photo is here. Click the thumbnails on the UTA pages to see even larger images. (Thanks to Peter K. for posting the second photo in the Dallas History Guild Facebook group — I recognized that Do-Nut Merchant sign right away! One more Do-Nut Merchant view is here.)

That top photo is really, really big. Click it and scroll!

UPDATE: See a photo of the north side of Main, taken by Squire Haskins at the same time as the photos above in the Flashback Dallas post “900 Block of Main, North Side — 1952.” here.

8 Comments

April 12, 2016

The Moskovitz Cafe

A stool is waiting for you… (click for larger image)

by Paula Bosse

The Moskovitz Cafe was located at 2216 Elm Street, between S. Pearl and what is now Cesar Chavez Blvd., in an area of predominantly Jewish businesses. The restaurant served “Kosher and American cooking” and was owned and run by Lui Moskovitz, a Romanian immigrant, and his Polish-born wife, Eva. Eva, recently widowed, had arrived in Dallas in about 1928 with her three children and seems to have married Lui that same year. They had run another restaurant before the Moskovitz Cafe: the New York Kosher Dining Room on Commerce had been located across from the Adolphus Hotel for several years before it moved to 2011 Main, around the corner from City Hall. After that closed, they ran the Moskovitz Cafe between about 1937 and about 1944.

In 1945 there was no Lui or Eva Moskovitz in the Dallas directory. There was, however, an Eva Haberman — it appears that the Moskovitzes had split, Lui had left town, and Lui’s ex-wife had taken back the name of her late first husband. At this time she must have been about 60 years old, but she worked for the next few years as a department store seamstress and lived with one or more of her three sons from her marriage to Nathan Haberman. She died in April, 1961. Not only is there no trace of Lui after his time in Dallas, there is also no trace of 2216 Elm.

1936 ad

Elm St. businesses, 1943 Dallas directory (click for larger image)

Location of Moskovitz Cafe (det. of a 1919 map)

***

Sources & Notes

Photo appeared in the book Deep in the Heart: The Lives & Legends of Texas Jews, A Photographic History by Ruthe Winegarten and Cathy Schechter (Austin: Eakin Press, 1990); from the collection of the Dallas Jewish Historical Society.

I’m not sure who the people in the photo are. When the Moskovitz Cafe opened, Lui would have been in his mid-40s and Eva would have been in her early 50s. UPDATE: Per the comment below (from Eva’s grandson), the woman in the white apron is the proprietress, Eva Moskovitz, and the man at the cash register is her son, Jack Haberman.

More information about Mrs. Eva Haberman can be found in her obituary, published in The News on April 19, 1961.

All images larger when clicked.

3 Comments

March 29, 2016

Home Sweet Home at Commerce & Harwood

“Main Street Garden?”

by Paula Bosse

Quaint homes, mere steps from City Hall. Not sure of the exact date of this photo, but these homes and this service station were at the above location in 1920. Wonder when those homeowners finally decided to sell? Talk about your primo real estate!

Below is a similar photo, but this one shows more of Commerce looking east — I don’t come across a lot of photos of this era showing downtown past what was unofficially thought of as its eastern boundary.

***

Sources & Notes

Photo from Noah Jeppson’s Flickr page, here.

Second photo, titled “Dallas City Hall,” is from the George W. Cook Dallas/Texas Image Collection, DeGolyer Library, Central University Libraries, Southern Methodist University; more info on this photo can be found here.

More on the building of the City Hall/Municipal Building in the Flashback Dallas post “The Elegant Municipal Building — 1914,” here.

3 Comments

March 28, 2016

Signage Overload on Main Street — ca. 1925

I hope the photographer has a red light behind him…

by Paula Bosse

This photo makes me feel anxious. There’s just too much going on here: too many signs, too many overhead wires, too garish a light.

This is the 1800 block of Main Street, looking east. The photographer’s shadow can be seen at the bottom of the photo. A large hotel of some sort (the name of which escapes me at the moment) can be seen in the distance (in the 1900 block) at Harwood.

The businesses in this block, from the 1925 city directory (click for larger image):

I have no 1926 directory to reference, but the 1927 directory has the building at 1811 Main (occupied in the photo by the Rund-Humphrey Water Heater Co. and the Stevenson Printing Co.) listed as being vacant. And the Hilton opened in 1925, so the photo seems to have been taken in 1925 or 1926.

***

Sources & Notes

Photo from eBay.

See the Hilton (the first one, not the later Statler-Hilton on Commerce) from a different angle in the post “The Hilton Hotel, Main & Harwood,” here.

9 Comments

March 25, 2016

Main & Akard, Looking East

Watch your step, girls…

by Paula Bosse

Ah, Main Street. It’s so sad that the Praetorian Building — the tall white building in the distance on the left — has been demolished to be replaced by a giant eyeball, but it’s great to see that the Kirby Building — at the left — is still hanging in there and still looking great.

Check out the height of those curbs!

***

Sources & Notes

Photo from the WPA Dallas Guide and History ([Denton]: University of North Texas Press, 1992); photo from the collection of the Dallas Public Library. Two sources of this photo cite different dates: one 1935, the other 1930. My guess would be late ’20s — or, certainly closer to 1930 than 1935.

See what this view looks like today on Google Street View, here.

4 Comments

Flashback : Dallas

Category: Downtown

July 8, 2016

Dallas Police Department — 1914

Like this:

June 30, 2016

“Melons on Ice” — 1890s

Sources & Notes

Like this:

May 29, 2016

Dallas Skyline at Night — ca. 1965

Sources & Notes

Like this:

May 26, 2016

On Top of the World: The Southland Center

Sources & Notes

Like this:

May 9, 2016

Elm Street — 1920s

Like this:

May 1, 2016

900 Block of Main, South Side — 1950s

Sources & Notes

Like this:

April 12, 2016

The Moskovitz Cafe

Sources & Notes

Like this:

March 29, 2016

Home Sweet Home at Commerce & Harwood

Sources & Notes

Like this:

March 28, 2016

Signage Overload on Main Street — ca. 1925

Sources & Notes

Like this:

March 25, 2016

Main & Akard, Looking East

Sources & Notes

Like this:

Category: Downtown

Share this:

Like this:

Sources & Notes

Share this:

Like this:

Sources & Notes

Share this:

Like this:

Sources & Notes

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Sources & Notes

Share this:

Like this:

Sources & Notes

Share this:

Like this:

Sources & Notes

Share this:

Like this:

Sources & Notes

Share this:

Like this:

Sources & Notes

Share this:

Like this: