Neighborhoods | Flashback : Dallas

McKell Street’s Golden Age

Veranda-life, Old East Dallas

by Paula Bosse

This does not look like Dallas. But it is. I had never heard of McKell Street, but it’s in Old East Dallas and is only two blocks long (it’s actually one long block), between Bryan and San Jacinto. This house stood until 2021 or 2022 at the corner of McKell and San Jacinto (see it in a 2021 Google Street View image here, when it was the very last remaining house on the street).

The address was 1520 McKell (the address written on the card looks like “1620,” but there was never a 1600 block of the street). When the house was built, sometime before 1903, its address was 136 McKell — you can see it and its curved wraparound porch on a 1905 Sanborn map here and on a 1922 Sanborn map here. And the sad empty lot in 2022 is here.

I love stumbling across unexpected photos like this. This was such a lovely little street. I can absolutely imagine Andy and Barney and Aunt Bee on that porch, rocking and chatting on a hot Sunday afternoon, enjoying a bowl of homemade peach ice cream and waving to neighbors as they walk by.

And now it’s nothing but an ugly stretch of parking lots and the powerfully unattractive AT&T building.

***

Sources and Notes

Real photo postcard found on eBay in 2024.

This post appeared in a slightly different version on the Flashback Dallas Patreon page (subscribe for as little as $5 a month!).

1 Comment

July 21, 2025

“The Miracle Mile” and the Utterly Confusing Lovers Lane(s) — 1954

4500 block and/or 5800 block of Lovers and/or W. Lovers Lane

by Paula Bosse

The photo above is a detail from an ad for some of the businesses along the Miracle Mile (Lovers Lane, between about Douglas and what is now the toll road). The caption is: “The fabulous Miracle Mile looking west toward Douglas Ave.” (Surely this is a view to the east?) The same view today can be seen on Google Street View here. The ad appeared in a March 1954 magazine. At that time, the photographer would have been standing in front of Roscoe White’s Easy Way restaurant (5806 W. Lovers Lane). Here’s the ad (click to see a larger image):

Shop on the MIRACLE MILE!
On Lovers Lane from Douglas Ave. to Cotton Belt Railroad tracks
PLENTY OF PARKING!!!
The following merchants invite you to shop with them:

Beef ‘N Bun No. 1, 4500 Lovers Lane
Bernard’s Carpets, 4445 Lovers Lane
The Book Shelf, 4354 Lovers Lane
Choice Cleaners, 4530 Lovers Lane
Ernstrom’s Record Shop, 4356 Lovers Lane
Florentine Shop, 4437 Lovers Lane
Guildcraft Furniture Studio, 4433 Lovers Lane
Hodges Photographer, 4514 Lovers Lane
House of Carpets, 4408 Lovers Lane
House of Lamps, 5812 W. Lovers Lane
Jean & Morry’s, 4437 Lovers Lane
Margie’s Dress Shop, 4508 Lovers Lane
Miracle Mile Pharmacy, 4400 Lovers Lane
Miracle Mile Stationers, 4506 Lovers Lane
New York Bakery & Delicatessen, 4412 Lovers Lane
Park Cities Hardware & Paint Co., 4338 Lovers Lane
Party Bazaar & Gift Shop, 4439 Lovers Lane
Peek’s Auto and Appliance Store, 4365 Lovers Lane
Rae Ann Shop, 4417 Lovers Lane
Seidel’s Boys’ and Girls’ Apparel, 4504 Lovers Lane
Squire — The Man’s Shop, 4441 Lovers Lane
Stone’s Buster Brown Shoe Store, 4449 Lovers Lane

Every day is shopping day on the Miracle Mile
Open Thursday night — open Thursday night — open Thursday night

So. Lovers Lane. What’s the deal, Lovers? Your numbering system is insane. For instance, in the photo above, Choice Cleaners (second business on the left) is at 4530 Lovers Lane. It is directly opposite House of Lamps, which is, inexplicably, at 5812 West Lovers Lane. Not only are the block numbers nowhere near the same, the numbers of addresses on both sides of the street are even. There are businesses on both sides of the street, but that block has no odd-numbered addresses. …But only until you pass Beck’s Fried Chicken at 5820 West Lovers (you can see it on the photo at the far right, next door to AAA Liquor at 5814 W. Lovers Lane). Once you cross Lomo Alto, heading east, the numbering suddenly starts at 4455 Lovers Lane (Brady’s Texaco Service Station). West Lovers Lane is no more. You’ve just lost West Lovers Lane and 14 blocks. You might be in the Twilight Zone. I’m pretty sure the whole University Park-thing is the reason, but, oh my god. My brain melts down every time I try to make sense of this! Imagine not knowing your way around this part of town and seeing this confusing collection of signs after getting off the toll road:

For future reference, here is some even more confusing guidance, from the 1953 city directory. “WEST LOVERS LANE”:

PLAIN OL’ “LOVERS LANE”:

“EAST LOVERS LANE”:

Good luck keeping track of that. There will be a quiz. You might need a slide rule, a compass, and a bottle of aspirin.

***

Sources & Notes

Ad is from the March 1954 issue of Town North magazine, a publication by and for super-boosters of the Park-Cities-and-Preston-Hollow area, which they were trying to get people to call “Town North.” It makes about as much sense as Lovers Lane’s numbering system, but it’s a cool magazine that lasted a few years and can be found in the Periodicals Collection of the Dallas History and Archives at the Dallas Public Library.

More on The Miracle Mile (with a handy map, if you’ve ever wondered what its “official” boundaries are) can be found in this Flashback Dallas post: “Stacy’s Lounge on The Miracle Mile — 1950.”

And, heck, here’s a post on Lovers Lane: “Dallas Is For Lovers.”

11 Comments

May 12, 2025

Whimsy on Main Street — ca. 1906

by Paula Bosse

I’ve seen a lot of postcards with views of “Main St. looking West,” usually taken from about Ervay, with the Wilson Building as the architecturally impressive centerpiece. But I don’t think I’ve seen this one. I don’t know when the photo was taken, but it was mailed at the very end of 1906. It looks like the new Wilson Building (which opened in 1904) may still have construction work going on, at least on the ground floor.

But “whimsical”? Take a look at the horse-drawn dry-cleaning-company delivery wagon on the lower right side of the card. It’s got a GREAT BIG TOP HAT on it! Maybe this sort of thing was popular in the early years of the 20th century, but I’ve never seen anything like this on the streets of Dallas in photographs or postcards of this period. Until now. I love it!

The postcard — written and mailed on December 27, 1906 — was addressed to “Master Phillip Wyman” in Yonkers, New York. The sender — identified only as “Harry” — sent this message to Phil, probably a young family member:

Dear Phil, Enjoyed your letter so much. Can hardly find time to write much so will send you an occasional postcard. It is very warm down here, to[o] warm for even gloves. About July weather. Must get to business. Love to all, Harry

Too warm for gloves — in December! Imagine! I bet Master Wyman — who was no doubt shivering up in Yonkers — had his young mind blown. (I wonder if he noticed the big top hat?)

***

Sources & Notes

Postcard from eBay.

4 Comments

April 22, 2025

Commerce & Market, Where the Air Was Made Blue

Kinder, gentler times…

by Paula Bosse

The photo above shows a small, fairly nondescript building at the southwest corner of Market and Commerce, with retail stores and a cafe at street level and, I think, a hotel on the second floor. My car-make-and-model knowledge is bad, but I’ll guess that this photo might be from the early ’20s (a 1921 Sanborn map of the area is here). If you go back even further — like to 1891 — this corner was a hangout for unsavory types, as reported below in The Dallas Morning News in 1891.

Dallas Morning News, Sept. 7, 1891

It’s no surprise there was “indecent and profane language” in the air in 1891 (“particularly on Saturdays”), seeing as that corner was a mere hop, skip, and a jump from Dallas’ premier red-light district.

This corner is currently occupied by the George Allen Courts Building.

***

Sources & Notes

Photo, titled “Building at SW corner of Market and Commerce Streets, formerly occupied by City National Bank Dallas, 1872,” is from the Collection of Dallas Morning News negatives and copy photographs, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University; more information is here.

This post appeared in a slightly different version on the Flashback Dallas Patreon page.

8 Comments

April 14, 2025

Lake Highlands Village — 1951

Buckner and Northcliff, 1951

by Paula Bosse

This is an interesting photo from an ad for J. M. Tuttle Jr. Real Estate/Tuttle Development Company. Jack Tuttle was one of the most prominent developers of Lake Highlands, near White Rock Lake, east of Buckner Blvd. Tuttle began buying land in this far-flung, undeveloped area around 1939 and eventually owned pretty much everything in the area, including Lake Highlands Village, a shopping area a mere stone’s throw from White Rock Lake and not far from Casa Linda. The map below (from another Tuttle ad) shows where much of Tuttle’s property was at the time, including LHV, which was (and still is) at 720 N. Buckner Blvd. It looks a lot different now, but it’s interesting to see how it started out.

Here is the text that accompanied the photo in the ad from 1951:

Lake Highlands Village

Distinctively individual design plus surrounding natural beauty makes the Lake Highlands Estates an ideal homesite for the discriminating home-owner. And you will like the convenience of your own shopping center in the Lake Highlands Village, just minutes from downtown Dallas and seconds from cool White Rock Lake.

1952

***

Sources & Notes

Photo and map are from ads that appeared in Dallas magazine in Feb. 1951 and Feb. 1952.

More on Lake Highlands from Flashback Dallas in “Old Lake Highlands.”

This post appeared previously on the Flashback Dallas Patreon page.

4 Comments

January 10, 2025

Snow in Irwindell — 1940

Snow day in Irwindell…

by Paula Bosse

We have snow in Dallas! It’s always exciting for those of us who have grown up here and haven’t really experienced snow that many times in our lives. It’s pretty and magical and, unless you have to drive or walk in it, a welcome treat.

I came across this artwork back in 2018 and have been meaning to post it on a snow day. We’ve had snow since then, but I never got around to it until now. Better late than never.

“My Dallas Home, 1940” (pastel on paper) is by Dallas artist Inez Staub Elder (1894-1991). It shows a snowy scene, with children playing, one of them on a sled. A house is in the background. One would assume from the title that the house was Inez’s house. Her address in 1940 — and for years before and after — was 3339 Gibsondell, in the Irwindell neighborhood of Oak Cliff. Looking at the house on Google Street View, it is apparent that 3339 is not the house seen in the drawing. I figured that if Inez was sketching a winter scene of her neighborhood, she might have done it inside, looking out a window. So I reversed the view from her home, and the house seen in the drawing is one across the street, at 3334 Gibsondell. The brick house has been painted gray, but the image below shows what it looked like when I was originally researching this, back in 2018 — still red brick.

The pictured house is here (Google Street View image from May 2018).

Inez Staub Elder, born in Ohio, lived in Dallas for decades. She regularly exhibited and also taught art. Below is an application she filled out for a show at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts in 1943.

From a 1957 publication:

The geranium in color:

The only image I’ve been able to find of Inez Staub Elder, taken around the time of “My Dallas Home, 1940” is below.

***

Sources & Notes

Top image of painting by Inez Staub Elder titled “My Dallas Home, 1940” (pastel on paper) is from the David Dike Gallery catalog of the October 27, 2018 auction — this was lot 323.

The Dallas Museum of Fine Arts 1943 “Application for One-Man Exhibit” is from the Dallas Museum of Art Exhibition Records, Portal to Texas History, here.

The black-and-white image of the geranium is from the catalog “La Fiesta of Art, 1957,” Bill and Mary Cheek Collection, Portal to Texas History, here.

Color image of the geranium still life is from AskArt.

Read more about Irwindell/The Dells District at the Heritage Oak Cliff website.

2 Comments

December 11, 2024

Downtown Mesquite — 1925

Meet you under the water tower… (photo: Dallas Public Library)

by Paula Bosse

How about a little love for Mesquite, our neighbor friend to the east. I came across this great photo of Mesquite’s old downtown area in the library archives the other day. The full photo from 1925 — by Dallas photographer Frank Rogers — is below. A detail of the photo (which looks a perfect little photo all on its own) is above.

The building on the right side of the photo is the Snyder Bank Building (1915). It still stands at 201 West Main — see it today on Google Street View here.

Too bad that water tower is gone. But thanks for keeping the Snyder building, Mesquite!

***

Sources & Notes

This photo, “[Downtown Mesquite, Texas],” was taken by Frank Rogers in 1925. It is from the Frank Rogers Collection, Dallas History and Archives, Dallas Public Library; its call number is PA78-2/334.

3 Comments

November 11, 2024

A Somber Armistice Day Observance — 1922

Veterans march in Dallas (Dallas Public Library)

by Paula Bosse

On November 11, 1922, Dallas observed the 4th anniversary of the end of World War I. The photo above, taken by Dallas photographer Frank Rogers, shows veterans of the devastating war marching north on Masten (N. St. Paul) from Main Street — they are headed to First Baptist Church for a special remembrance service.

The crowd is somber, with the war still fresh in their memories. From The Dallas Morning News:

Soberly and without show of emotion Dallas celebrated Saturday, the fourth anniversary of the stilling of the guns of the World War. Their faces mirroring no more than idle curiosity, tens of thousands of men, women and children flowed lazily along the Main Street waiting for the parade of men who had been part of the glorious adventure, but there was no evidence of that high-racing blood that filled the hearts of Americans on Nov. 11, 1918. (Dallas Morning News, Nov. 12, 1922)

More details of the scene can be seen when zooming in on the photo and on the faces of the participants and the spectators (images are larger when clicked).

by John Knott, DMN, Nov. 11, 1922

***

Notes and Sources

Photo of the Nov. 11, 1922 Armistice Day parade is from the Frank Rogers Collection, Dallas History and Archives, Dallas Public Library (photo accession number is PA78-2-1003).

The address of the Cecil V. Rogers drug store was 1814 Elm Street. The movie posters for the silent films “Rags To Riches” (playing at the Old Mill) and “To Have and To Hold” (playing at the Palace) are posted on the back of the old Majestic Theatre (its second “temporary” location, which, I believe, had once been the old opera house — see the 1921 Sanborn map here). The cartoon is by Dallas Morning News cartoonist John Knott.

See other Flashback Dallas posts on Dallas and World War I here.

November 4, 2024

Tooling Around Munger Place — ca. 1913

Snazzy motor car parked in front of 5109 Swiss Avenue

by Paula Bosse

This arresting photo shows a woman in the driver’s seat of what appears to be a “ladies'” electric car (possibly a Detroit Electric, although I can find no models that look like this one…), parked in front of an unusual-looking Swiss Avenue home, complete with a second-story sleeping porch and virtually no landscaping. The photo — taken by notable Dallas photographer Charles Erwin Arnold — is currently offered on eBay.

Here’s a view of the entrance to the house which, as noted on the reverse, is at 5109 Swiss Avenue.

The house was built in 1911/12 and was designed by Lang & Witchell (architects to the rich and richer), who were busy drawing up house plans for people up and down Swiss (they were so prolific that it seems like most of the buildings built in Dallas at the time came from their drafting tables!). This house was commissioned by James P. Griffin (president of the Texas Electric Railway Co.) and his new wife, May Burford Griffin (daughter of Dallas pioneer Judge Nat Burford).

Dallas Morning News, Sept. 13, 1911

The house is still standing but has been remodeled, as is mentioned in various real estate ads over the years. (At one point, there was a reference to a kitchen with marble floors, which… I’m not sure I’ve ever seen marble floors in a kitchen. I don’t know if they were original to the house — or are still there — but, whatever the case, that is très élégant.)

The house can be seen in recent years in an Ebby Halliday listing from 1982, in an undated photo on Douglas Newby’s Architecturally Significant Homes website, and on the Swiss Avenue Historic District website. The image below is a Google Street View from Feb. 2023.

I assume that the woman in the car is Mrs. Griffin, seen below in later years. In the photo, she would have been about 32.

I love that car. And I love that house, which looked very modern 112 years ago!

***

Sources & Notes

The circa-1913 photos are from a current listing on eBay. I posted the top photo on my Patreon page less than a week ago, and reader Tom R. identified the house. I think the second photo has been added in the past couple of days, because I’m pretty sure it wasn’t there when I wrote that post! Someone might have contacted the seller to ask if it might be a house on Swiss Avenue, and they realized they had another photo of the house, which they added to the listing. …And increased the price significantly! These are such cool photos. If I were the current owners of this Swiss Ave. house, I would be all over this!

Thanks to Tom and William for their helpful comments on my original Patreon post (“Super-Cool Car, Super-Cool House”).

6 Comments

October 31, 2024

Halloween Looked a Lot Different in Highland Park in 1924

Trick or treat!

by Paula Bosse

It’s Halloween! Let’s see how kids dressed up for the occasion 100 years ago.

The caption for the above photo:

A group of the little folks of John S. Armstrong School who will enjoy the Hallowe’en Celebration at Davis Park on Friday evening, October 31.

Yeah, some of those children are scary. I wouldn’t want to meet a couple of them in a dark alley.

But none of them can hold a candle to this kid, who, for some reason, is holding a hammer. Did the studio provide it as a prop? (If so, why?) Maybe he brought it with him, (Again… why?) It appears that this was taken in Dallas — just to keep things local. I’m not frivolously posting non-Dallas content here! So, rest assured, this is a scary local kid. …With a hammer. And he does not look happy. Avoid!

I’m just going to believe this photo was taken to memorialize a unique Halloween costume and is not simply a portrait of a future serial killer.

Happy Halloween!

***

Sources & Notes

Top photo appeared in the pages of an interesting little magazine called Highland Park, which was published by developers Flippen-Prather from about 1923 to at least 1928; this photo is from the October 1924 issue; from the Periodicals Collection, Dallas History and Archives, Dallas Public Library.

The photo of the boy with the hammer is a Real Photo Post Card (RPPC), found on eBay in 2021; details on the back of the card indicate it might have been taken in Dallas.

I came across a couple of other creepy photos of children, which I posted on another (non-Dallas) blog (these contain frivolous non-local content):

See previous Flashback Dallas posts with a spooky Halloween theme here.

3 Comments

Flashback : Dallas

Category: Neighborhoods

July 25, 2025

McKell Street’s Golden Age

Sources and Notes

July 21, 2025

“The Miracle Mile” and the Utterly Confusing Lovers Lane(s) — 1954

Sources & Notes

May 12, 2025

Whimsy on Main Street — ca. 1906

Sources & Notes

April 22, 2025

Commerce & Market, Where the Air Was Made Blue

Sources & Notes

April 14, 2025

Lake Highlands Village — 1951

Sources & Notes

January 10, 2025

Snow in Irwindell — 1940

Sources & Notes

December 11, 2024

Downtown Mesquite — 1925

Sources & Notes

November 11, 2024

A Somber Armistice Day Observance — 1922

Notes and Sources

November 4, 2024

Tooling Around Munger Place — ca. 1913

Sources & Notes

October 31, 2024

Halloween Looked a Lot Different in Highland Park in 1924

Sources & Notes

Category: Neighborhoods

Sources and Notes

Share this:

Sources & Notes

Share this:

Sources & Notes

Share this:

Sources & Notes

Share this:

Sources & Notes

Share this:

Sources & Notes

Share this:

Sources & Notes

Share this:

Notes and Sources

Share this:

Sources & Notes

Share this:

Sources & Notes

Share this: