Dallas TX | Flashback : Dallas

December 18, 2023

“This Month In Dallas” — Aug./Sept. 1962: The Clubs

Club Dallas, Browder Street

by Paula Bosse

Downtown Dallas was a cool place for entertainment and dining in the early 1960s, from high-class clubs and lounges to famous and infamous strip joints (some of which were higher-class than others). A few months ago on eBay, someone scanned a bunch of pages of a magazine called This Month in Dallas (“Where to Go, What to Do”), which seems to have been aimed at the conventioneer or out-of-town visitor. (I’ve never heard of this publication, but I would LOVE to see more!)

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As far as image quality, I’m at the mercy of the person doing the scanning, but here are several of the ads featured in the eBay listing. All appeared in the Aug./Sept. 1962 issue of This Month in Dallas. (At the top, a detail from an ad for Club Dallas — the full ad is below.)

Let’s just do them alphabetically.

ARAGON BALLROOM, 1011 S. Industrial Blvd. (now S. Riverfront). Featuring the Aragon Red Jackets Western Swing Band, the “Over 30” Club Dance, and Chuck Arlington and His Orchestra.

CAROUSEL CLUB (or “New” Carousel Club), 1312½ Commerce, at Field. Jack Ruby, proprietor. “Dallas’ Newest and Most Intimate Burlesque Nite Club.” This ad (the first of several) features stripper Peggy Steele, “America’s Suzie Wong.”

More CAROUSEL. “Dallas’ only burlesque nite club with a continuous girl and comedy show. No stopping, 9:00 PM ’til 2:00 AM.” “America’s Suzie Wong” is back, now spelled Peggy Steel. MC’d by comic Wally Weston.

More CAROUSEL. Here’s Mili Perele, “the Little French Miss.”

More CAROUSEL. Heck, let’s throw in another Peggy Steel/e mention.

More CAROUSEL (Jack’s advertising budget was impressive). Tammi True, then in the midst of a pinching brouhaha.

Pat Morgan’s CLUB DALLAS, 206½ Browder (just south of Commerce). I love this ad, but I’m not familiar with the establishment or Mr. Morgan. Looks like it opened in the summer of 1962 (“Owner Pat Morgan has eliminated the semi-nude waitresses and aims for the family trade” — Dallas Morning News, July 27, 1962), changed its name in September 1962 to simply “Pat Morgan’s,” and finally closed in February 1963. I bet he rued the day he dumped those semi-nude waitresses….

CLUB VEGAS, 3505 Oak Lawn. Yes, there was swinging nightlife beyond downtown. Club Vegas was famously owned by Jack Ruby’s sister, Eva Rubenstein. This club booked a lot of Black and Hispanic bands (for mixed audiences), including Joe Johnson and Trini Lopez. (I’ve been meaning to write about this place for the past 10 years!)

CLUB VILLAGE / ITALIAN VILLAGE RESTAURANT, 3211 Oak Lawn. Another happening place in Oak Lawn. I wrote and wrote and wrote about Sam Ventura’s Italian Village here.

COLONY CLUB, 1322½ Commerce. Abe Weinstein, proprietor. The “high-class” strip joint. Also featured acts like Deacon & Co., King and Queen of the Limbo.

More COLONY CLUB. An unnamed exotic.

GUTHREY’S CLUB, 214 Corinth, at Industrial (now Riverfront). Very popular back in the day. “Girls! Girls! Girls! Set-ups, beer, wine.” This ad features Dave Martin’s Tom Toms (James McCleeng, Glenn Keener, Gene Summers — vocalist, Charlie Mendian, Melvin Robinson, and Dave Martin).

THE SPOT, 4906 Military Parkway. This ad features Joe Wilson & The Sabers.

THE SPOT, the “other” location, 10635 Harry Hines. House band The Spotters.

THEATER LOUNGE, 1326 Jackson, at Akard. Barney Weinstein, proprietor. “Glamour Girls Galore.”

TOWN PUMP, 5021 Lovers Lane. “Dallas’ Original and Largest ‘Sing Along’ Piano Bar.” That is one scary sentence.

***

Sources & Notes

All ads from the Aug./Sept. 1962 issue of This Month in Dallas.

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4 Comments

December 4, 2023

Oak Cliff Schools — 1916

Oak Cliff High School

by Paula Bosse

Here are a few photos and drawings of Oak Cliff schools from the 1916 inaugural yearbook of OAK CLIFF HIGH SCHOOL, seen above, which opened in 1915 at 9th & Beckley (it was later renamed Adamson High School). The previous school — the Oak Cliff Central School/Central High School (10th & St. George) — is seen below, obscured by trees. Most of the students in the new school would have also attended the old school.

JOHN H. REAGAN SCHOOL, 9th & Llewellyn — built in 1905. The caption to this photo is: “Nine temporary rooms nestled behind this mother building.” (I wrote about this school previously in the post “John H. Reagan Elementary, Oak Cliff’s ‘West End School’ — 1905.”)

JAMES BOWIE SCHOOL, Lancaster & 7th — built in 1907.

The photo of Bowie below appeared in The Dallas Morning News in November 1915.

JAMES STEPHEN HOGG SCHOOL, 1135 Ballard — built in 1911.

Below, a photo of the new school, as it appeared in The Dallas Morning News in September 1911.

(NEW) WINNETKA SCHOOL, S. Edgefield & Ruxton (later Page) — built in 1916 (under construction when the 1916 OCHS yearbook was published).

Back to Oak Cliff High School. When the school opened in 1915, its first principal was William Hardin Adamson. He was principal for 19 years. Soon after his death in 1935, the school was renamed in his honor. He had been an educator in the state of Texas for 50 years and was apparently very popular with students.

UPDATED: Thanks to the person who commented below to identify the old Oak Cliff High School. Here are a few “candid” photos from this 1916 yearbook which show the old school as well as the new one under construction.

Goodbye, old school — hello, new school.

***

Sources & Notes

All images (except the two Dallas Morning News photos) are from the 1915-1916 edition of The Oak, the yearbook of Oak Cliff High School. (Incidentally, if you are an Ancestry subscriber and are unable to find this yearbook, it’s because it is listed there as being “South Oak Cliff High School.” A lot of the OCHS yearbooks are mislabeled as SOC.)

More info on the history of this school can be found on p. 43 of Education in Dallas: Ninety-Two Years of History, 1874-1966 by Walter J. E. Schiebel.

8 Comments

December 1, 2023

Flashback Dallas Side Hustle

Majestic Theatre construction, 1920

by Paula Bosse

Another quick commercial for my Flashback Dallas Patreon page, where I upload exclusive short Dallas history posts daily. If you would like to support what I do for as little as $5 a month (subscription is cancellable at any time — no long-term commitment!) check things out here. (There are occasional “free” posts, which are visible to non-subscribers, but the vast majority are accessible only by paid subscribers.)

Patreon posts from October and November are listed below.

NOVEMBER 2023

Texas Instruments, From the Air
Police Property Room Wall o’ Guns – 1940
Art Club, Oak Cliff High School (Adamson High School) – 1916
“I’m Going Back To Dallas,” A Fox Trot
Hotel Rodessia, Elm Street
Camp Dick Cadet, WWI
Dal-Kliff Roller Rink – “Just For Fun”
Zoo Bar: Commerce Street in Mourning – Nov. 22, 1963
Record Street Streetcars – 1946
Pre-Peg Mag (Pre-Pegasus Magnolia Bldg.)
Trinity Heights Fire Department
Aerial View of Downtown Dallas, Texas
Texas Stadium’s “Let ’em Eat Cake” Box
Ultra-Modern Love Field
The Texas Bank at One Main Place – 1973
Phil’s Delicatessen, 3531 Oak Lawn
Excel-Sure, 4310-12 Elm – 1916
Turn-of-the-Century Ostrich Farm
Alma & Cockrell (2008) [“Little Baghdad”]
On the Line at Coca-Cola – 1964
Mystery Bryan Adams High School Celebrity Alum
Fair Park’s Police HQ/Lost Children’s Shelter – 1971
State-Thomas Homes
Caruth Homeplace – Bazillion-Dollar Real Estate
Neely’s Brown Pig Barbecue – Arcadia Park
Jerry Bywaters: Farmers Branch
Majestic, Under Construction – 1920

OCTOBER 2023

A Movie So Horrifying You Will Need a “Stomach Distress Bag” – 1972
19th-Century Fairgrounds Race Track
A Pegasus-Dominated Skyline
Logo: Dallas Transit Company – 1959
The Pierian Club (and One Interloper) – 1899
City Messenger Service, Cramped Quarters – 1930s
Dallas’ Drive-In for African American Patrons – 1953
Dallas Ice Kings, Big D’s First Hockey Team – 1927-32
Kidd Springs Lake – 1908
Three Film Exchanges, Cheek by Jowl – 1925
Walter B. Jones Walked from Dallas to Alaska and Back Again – 1909-10
A Gaggle of Astronauts in Downtown Dallas – 1971
H. L. Green’s Basement Record Dept. — 1950
WFAA “Superpower” Transmitter – 1930
Maid of Cotton – 1964
Elm Street – Summer of ’49
Harry Bertoia: “Textured Screen” – 1955
A Mansion on Turtle Creek
White Rock Pump Station – 1910/1911
Land All Over Texas and Mexico – 1912
State Fair Parking Lot (Roller Coaster Cameo) – 1951
Texas-OU, Y’all
MKT – SMU (1940s)
Central Research Library – 1982
Get In the Groove at the Grove (Cocoanut Grove) – 1946
N-M Fashion Show

***

Sources & Notes

Top photo shows the Majestic Theatre on Elm Street, under construction in 1920; photo from the book Street of Dreams: A History of Dallas’ Theatre Row by Jeanette Howeth Crumpler.

If you’d like to peruse other topics I’ve covered on Patreon since April, titles are listed in these previous posts:

Wrapping the commercial up, if you’d like to check out my Patreon page, please do! Thank you!

1 Comment

November 26, 2023

Jerry Bywaters: A Quick Trip to Farmers Branch

Bywaters Special Collections, Hamon Arts Library, SMU

by Paula Bosse

One of the joys of being a fan of an artist is discovering works you’ve never seen before. And here are two, both by a favorite of mine, Dallas artist Jerry Bywaters — and both are watercolors of the very nearby Farmers Branch. Bywaters must have been quite taken with the picturesque little depot there, because it snuck into at least two of his paintings. The one above is untitled, and the one below is “Farmers Branch In the Early Days.”

I can’t find dates for either of these, but the top work appears to have debuted at an exhibition at the Lawrence Art Galleries in November 1937 (it is mentioned in a review of the show by Frances Folsom in The Dallas Morning News — “Exhibition of Art Works by Jerry Bywaters Opening,” DMN, Oct. 31, 1937).

The depot is still standing — it was restored and relocated to the Farmers Branch Historical Park in 1985. Read a great history of the depot here.

The photo below is from the City of Farmers Branch site. Who wouldn’t want to spend a day with those girls?

I think I need to explore Farmers Branch.

***

Sources & Notes

Top painting (“Untitled [Farmers Branch Train Depot]”) is an undated watercolor by Jerry Bywaters, from the Bywaters Special Collections, Hamon Arts Library, SMU Libraries — more info on this can be found at the SMU site here.

The second painting, “Farmers Branch In the Early Days,” is an undated watercolor by Jerry Bywaters; it was sold by Heritage Auctions in 2010. (A notation on the back of this framed piece indicates that it once belonged to the legendary Judge Sarah T. Hughes, or it was purchased by her to give to a very lucky friend.)

The photo of bobbed flappers loitering around the depot is from the City of Farmers Branch website, here.

Other Flashback Dallas posts with (very different) examples of Jerry Bywaters’ art:

A version of this post originally appeared on my Patreon page.

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3 Comments

November 23, 2023

Colony Club Billboard in Beautiful Kodachrome — Early 1960s

Downtown Dallas has it all…

by Paula Bosse

This. Is. A. Fantastic. Photo.

If only for the great, great, great Colony Club (“the best of the undressed”) billboard featuring Chris Colt (“the girl with the 45s”).

See this same view of the (one-time) intersection of Elm, Ervay, and Live Oak here and here. (The dazzling animated neon Coca-Cola sign was once where Chris Colt is showing off her 45s.)

I almost never post images with watermarks, but this photo is pretty spectacular. Look around the watermark!

I don’t know the seller of this color slide. I have no affiliation with the person. I get no cut in any sale. But I want someone reading this to BUY IT! Let’s keep this with someone who loves Dallas history! (And if you DO buy it and would like to send me a digital copy… well, I wouldn’t say no!) See this slide currently on eBay HERE. (HURRY!)

To see a naughty photo of Chris Colt, you can click on an antique collectors’ website here.

Colony Club ad, Nov. 22, 1962

And below is a photo of Colony Club owner Abe Weinstein in his younger years counting his moolah.

photo: Dallas Jewish Historical Society

***

Sources & Notes

Top image is from a color slide in a current eBay listing here. (Seller’s title: “Original Slide Dallas St Scene Colony Club Coca Cola Billboards Southland Life.”) There is no date, but Golden Steer Barbecue opened at 1713 Live Oak sometime in 1961.

Abe Weinstein photo — from his days as the co-owner of Abe’s and Pappy’s — is from the Facebook page of the Dallas Jewish Historical Society.

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7 Comments

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;

thanksgiving-card

4 Comments

November 21, 2023

JFK & Dallas — 60th Anniversary

by Paula Bosse

What more can be said about this subject? The city of Dallas and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy will, sadly, be tied together forever. I wonder how the city’s evolution would have been different had this horrible event never happened?

A few related Flashback Dallas posts from the past decade:

“Kennedy Memorial and the County Courthouses — Early 1970s” (2020)
“Jack Ruby, Boxing Fan — 1958” (2019)
“The JFK Assassination and Television Firsts — 1963” (2018)
“Newly Discovered Footage of Jack Ruby — 1960” (2017)
“Aerial View of the JFK Memorial — 1970” (2017)
“November 22, 1963: Will Fritz and the JFK Investigation” (2016)
“The Official Government Reenactment of the Kennedy Assassination — Nov. 27, 1963” (2016)
“HR Meeting at the Carousel Club” (2015)
“The First JFK Assassination Reenactment — 1963” (2015)
“Dealey Plaza, From Above — 1960s” (2015)
“The Southern Rock Island Plow Company” (AKA the Texas Schoolbook Depository) (2015)
“Old Red Goes Hollywood (sort of…) — 1964” (2014) (includes a link to “The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald,” the full made-in-Dallas film by Larry Buchanan)
“JFK Aftermath: Chaos at the City Desk — 1963” (2014)
“JFK’s ‘Last Hour In Dallas’ — 1963” (2014)
“The Sexton Foods Building and the Former Life of the School Book Depository” (2014)
“Nardis of Dallas: The Fashion Connection Between ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ and the Kennedy Assassination” (2014)
“Dear JFK: Welcome to Big “D” — Love, DP” (2014)
“Where to Put That JFK Memorial? — 1964” (2014)

***

Sources & Notes

Postcard sent to me many years ago by someone known only as “Amy from Dallas.” (Thank you, Amy!) The text from the back of the card is here.

This postcard — which carries the title “President Kennedy’s Assassination and Memorial Site, Dallas, Texas/Collector’s Photo,” ©1964, Joe C. Melton, Publisher, Dallas — comes in more than one version. A later version has the same image, but with a couple of exceptions: the later version has an inset of a Kennedy half-dollar coin in the upper left corner, and the three guys standing behind the “Men of St. Bernard’s Church” memorial wreath have been completely erased from postcard history (as have the words “Men of St. Bernard’s Church”). Unless I’ve stumbled upon new conspiracy fodder, the photographer probably failed to get the men to sign a release form.

Side note: regarding that wreath, this sentence appeared in a Dallas Morning News article the day after Oswald was killed (“‘Oh, My God — He’s Dead'” by Joe Thornton, Nov. 25, 1963): “People took pictures of their families standing behind the white-flowered cross erected in memory of President Kennedy by the Men of St. Bernard’s Catholic Church.” St. Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic Church is in East Dallas, at 1404 Old Gate Lane.

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3 Comments

November 20, 2023

Jack Walton’s Hot Barbecue

Restaurant No. 1, Haskell & San Jacinto…

by Paula Bosse

Arden Lee “Jack” Walton was born in Panola County (on his World War I registration card, he listed his home as Fairplay, Texas, which a town name I’m certainly glad to know exists). After the war, he moved to Dallas and opened his first restaurant — Walton’s Place — around 1925 or 1926. By the 1930s, he seems to have settled on barbecue as his primary specialty and had several of his self-named restaurants/drive-ins around town, branching out to Fort Worth in the early ’40s.

The photo above, from about 1946, is probably Walton’s first location, at Haskell and San Jacinto in Old East Dallas. The two photos below — showing a man working on the neon sign — were taken at the same time. (The photographer, James Bell, was a Dallas native back in town visiting — he took tons of unusual photos, often focusing on trucks, buses, cars, juke boxes, and various coin-operated machines. I’m sure he liked the look of the truck. They’re definitely amateur photos, but they’re great.)

The photo that crops up on places all over El Internet (the photo below) is one which has a variety of conflicting information attached to it, including photographer, date, and location. As far as I can tell, I think the photo was taken by Arthur Rothstein in Fort Worth, in the very early ’40s (the FW location, at 1900 E. Lancaster, opened around 1940). I think most of the locations had a similar design. (See a typical menu here.)

Here’s another photo (location unknown):

from the book Smokelore

Walton was very successful in his toasted sandwich endeavors (he also made some savvy real estate deals). When he died, he was described as “the barbecue baron of Dallas.”

…When he died. Jack Walton died on Feb. 19, 1960, at the age of 62. He was visiting one of his restaurants, at Tom Field Circle and Hwy. 183. The manager — Jack’s brother-in-law — had been drinking on the job, and Jack fired him on the spot. So the brother-in-law shot him, telling the police later that Walton “started fussing at me and told me to get out.” He shot him at close range, so inebriated that only two of the shots hit their target. He was DOA at Baylor. (Read the AP wire story here.)

At least one of Walton’s restaurants was taken over by the Semos family — the Haskell location lasted under non-Walton management for quite a while.

When I saw this matchbook cover several years ago, I was quite taken with the phrase “toasted chicken loaf.” What was a “chicken loaf”? I have to say, it didn’t sound that appetizing.

Chicken loaf was (apparently) a very popular food in days gone by, similar to meat loaf (it was made with chopped, shredded, or minced chicken, eggs, breadcrumbs/rice/some sort of cereal, etc., with the addition of hard-boiled eggs and/or pimentos and/or peas and/or whatever else was lying around). There are lots of ads in newspapers beginning around 1900 showing it as a “potted” meat, sold in cans alongside Underwood Deviled Ham and Vienna sausages, etc. I can understand this as a cost-saving meal during the Depression, but it was also very popular in restaurants (several local restaurants advertised that they sold entire take-out “loafs”), and it was a favorite of many as a Sunday dinner (or as a way to use leftover chicken in the pre- and post-casserole days). By the ’40s, recipes started adding the dreaded gelatin (“Jellied Chicken Loaf”). Um, yes. There was also … wait for it … MOCK chicken loaf! I’m not sure what that was, but it probably got people through WWII and food-rationing.

While searching for “chicken loaf” info in the Dallas Morning News archives, I saw a few delicacies listed in grocery ads which one might be hard pressed to find on the shelves of one’s local supermarket today: oyster loaf, liver loaf, and deviled tongue — all sold in cans. There was also a New Year’s Eve recipe in there for “Hot Sardine Canapes,” with toast “cut in fancy shapes.”

FYI.

***

Sources & Notes

First three photos were taken by James Bell in about 1946; they are from the James H. Bell Collection, Dallas Historical Society — they can be accessed here, here, and here. (I have straightened and cropped the photos.)

The photo which is probably by Arthur Rothstein is from the Traces of Texas Facebook page.

Menu detail art is from Worthpoint; matchbook scans from eBay.

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5 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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9 Comments

October 29, 2023

From the Vault: Yes, Virginia, Dallas Had a Greyhound Track (Briefly)

Oak Downs (photo courtesy Robert Hurst)

by Paula Bosse

Thanks to the great photographs shared with me by reader Robert Hurst, I learned about a long-forgotten bit of Dallas’ sporting history: the very, very brief time when greyhound racing was a thing in Big D. I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy looking into this, but it was incredibly interesting. And I sort of understood parimutuel betting for a tiny sliver of time. I really loved writing this! Check out the Flashback Dallas post from 2015, “Oak Downs: Dallas’ Brief Flirtation with Greyhound Racing.”

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Tag: Dallas TX

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