COMMUNITY STORIES

Proud Heritage Vol. III contains all the following stories plus more. This hardcover book contains over 350 pages with over 100 photos. Order online by clicking "Publications" on left. Other volumes are also available.

Stories Follow Index
Accurate Machine Works-002
Barrow-Parker Gang-006
Bishop Arts Building-022
Bryan's Smokehouse & Barbeque-019
Burkes Variety Store-013
City Yet Country-001
Clark, Ormwell Family-027
Cullum Companies-010
Early Local Doctors-021
Electricity Came To Dallas-004
Ervay Street Car-003
Flag Man of Dallas-014
Herbert M. Greene, F I A-007
Katy Railroad-012
Last "Manhattan Project" Member-024
Neiman Marcus: Employee's Story-009
Nelson Blacksmith Shop-020
Old City Park-011
Old City Park Print Shop-026
Oriental Oil Company-018
Parkland Hospital, 1898.-008
Potter Art Metal Studio-016
Revolutionary War Widow-023
Texas' First Country Club-015
Treading The Boards In Dallas-005
Trinity River Developments-017
Whatever Happened to Pig Stands-025
White Rock Creek-021

001
City Yet Country
"The Street That Never Was"
By G. Eugene Marshall
There was a lot of open land around the old Canal Street homeplace. Only on the east side did any house butt against the property. Directly north, across "The Street That Never Was," was a goat farm. On the old part of Fritz's garden, across the south fence, were mules and horses. Looking across Spring Avenue was nothing but farmland. One could see about six houses on the other side of Lagow.

Our house was level with the street about seventy-five feet from Lagow. Next was an area 100 feet wide that ran north and south across the property. To me this was a virtual forest. A creek ran down the middle of giant willow trees, and all kinds of underbrush grew there. It was a great place to play and explore. From the forest, the land sloped up to the house, which was on a big sandhill, and continued to slope upward to the east end of the property.

The house was in the middle of the property. The city and the utility companies refused to provide utilities. The family had to provide for the connections at Lagow Street. Grandpa, with help, dug a trench all the way, about 300 feet, and laid down his own water line. The power company did run a line up "The Street That Never Was" to provide service to the house. Grandpa and the boys also strung from Lagow to the house a phone wire on the top of tall skinny poles like you used to see in the country.

There was one water faucet just off the back porch. We got all our water from there. Some winters the water pipe would freeze.

Since the family had to provide for the utility connections, they decided to forego the sewer connection. Once a month, a guy with a horse-drawn special type of wagon came to empty the outhouse. In the winter, it was cold getting up at night and going all the way to the outhouse. Since I was a young boy, you can bet I didn't make it all the way-BRRR!

Horse-drawn wagons with wheels made of iron rings weren't unusual in the early 40s. Later in the 40s the wheels were usually pneumatic. That was certainly helpful for the horses that had to be pulling something every day. Those old milk wagons came by the house two or three times a week.

I remember long wires in the middle of the rooms with a single light bulb dangling from very high ceilings. We had someone come out to put big blocks of ice into the top of an "ice box" to keep food from spoiling. Later we got a pretty, brand new refrigerator.

All of the stoves in the house were woodburning, with a big iron "cooking stove" in the kitchen, which had four cooking plates and two ovens. You could usually see on the back corner of the stove an iron with a removable handle. That was the iron that was used for ironing clothes. The living room had a big wood stove, and one of the two front bedrooms had a smaller stove. It was part of my job to help keep the house supplied with wood that Grandpa had cut. I slept in a room on the northwest side of the house. It had no stove. Boy, was it cold in the wintertime. The oldest son, Joe, got the room with the stove in it. The younger two of Fred's sons, Ben and Allen, who were home, (and the other two, Bab and John, when they came home for a visit) slept in what was really a part of a closed-in porch. There was nothing but windows on three sides. That room was really cold in the wintertime. In the summer it was great! We got any moving air that came from many directions.

Later in our stay on Canal Street, Grandpa closed in the east side of the back porch. He made sort of a bathroom. When I say bathroom, I mean bathroom. There may have been a sink. I know there was a bathtub with only cold running water. In cooler times of the year, if we wanted a bath, we had to heat water on the stove and add it to the cold water that was in the tub. I do know that water from the bathroom went somewhere into the ground. I don't know if I ever used it. Once, maybe twice a week, I would go with grandpa to the laundry, American Laundry, at which Grandpa was chief engineer. There I had a nice hot shower.

There was no air-conditioning in those days. When the local movie house got air-conditioning, it was really great! Although, sometimes at first, because we weren't used to it, it did seem terribly cold. All the places of business had signs on their doors saying, "COOLED TO 78 DEGREES."

A one-car dirt path ran from Lagow Street, in about the middle of the property, across the flats, through the forest and up the hill to the house. Lagow was a graveled dirt road. After I started to school, the city made Lagow a hard-surfaced street. Later they put in a storm sewer. I remember it was awfully hot crossing the street barefooted. I don't remember the mode of transportation I had, be it a tricycle, scooter or skates, but when they had the street blocked off for surfacing, I remember sailing downhill for blocks.

002
Accurate Machine Works
1929 - 2000
By Mae B., George, and F.B. Riek Jr
Ferdinand Benjamin Riek was named for his father and grandfather-two early Dallas pioneers. His father, Ferdinand, came to Dallas with his family in 1875 and became an outstanding musician like his father, Constance. Constance and Ferdinand are proudly listed in The Encyclopedia of Texas. The name "Benjamin" came from his mother's father, the renowned Benjamin Long, an early settler in Dallas who came with the second group to La Reunion in 1855. He became sheriff of Dallas County, a two-term mayor of the City of Dallas, and a distinguished United States Commissioner.

Now it was Ferdinand Benjamin Riek's turn to make his mark in Dallas.

In 1929, the year of the stock market crash, he left his steady-paying job to fulfill a dream of having his own business. His dream was realized with the birth of Accurate Machine Works, (A.M.W.) a company that rebuilt and repaired all types of industrial equipment. What a chance he took at that time! Nevertheless, the business flourished and continued for seventy-one years.

The business opened in small quarters at 2516 Main Street, but by 1934, in the depth of the Depression, more room was needed. He moved to 2506 Main Street, a thirty-foot-wide building heated by two cokeburning stoves, and featuring an unusual front door that opened flat against one wall. Both locations are now under Central Expressway at Main Street.

Some Dallas area firms, not mentioned elsewhere, doing business with Accurate Machine Works were Interstate Theaters, the Adolphus Hotel, Dallas City Meat Packing Company, Morrison Milling Company, Morton Milling Company, Oak Farms Dairy, Southland Ice, Southern Ice, Kimble Milling Company, and cotton gins all over Northeast Texas. During the early years, the company knew if they delivered a job on Friday to Crystal Ice and Quality Ice, owners Ryneman, McAvoy and Sims would pay immediately; this often helped with the payroll.

When Radio Station WFAA opened its first office to broadcast, Riek built the tower and precariously installed it on the top of the Santa Fe Building. His family heard him remark, "I never want to do that again."

Early employees of Accurate Machine Works included Mr. Shoemaker, who ran the cylinder grinder and the Landis piston grinder. Because of the grinding, his glasses would constantly become pitted and scratched and Riek would send him to Woolworth's to get new ones. Mr. Hartman ran the Monarch and the Davis & Egan lathes and made most of the tooling needed in those days. Other valuable employees who helped make the shop a successful business were Bud McCarty, Henry Hanes, Kirby Hanes, Robert Rowe, Amos Hart, who commuted every day from Sherman, John Wright, Atley Cook, George Andrews, and "Shortie" Alexander, who helped with the clean-up and cleverly camouflaged the metal chips in paint boxes so the trash man would not cut his hands when he took them. Dorothy Nethery ran the office for over twenty-five years and her husband, Robert, looked after legal matters.

Mae B. Riek, wife of F.B., gave support that was important to the business. Money from a small trust fund in her name came to the rescue when business was bad. She worked in the office, keeping books and making regular trips to the First National Bank to borrow money for new machinery and sometimes for the payroll. Since she was one of the few women in those days who drove a car, she also ran errands to get supplies for various jobs.

Years later, Mae B. Riek would tell her children about starting the business during the Depression when money was tight. At the time the Shop was doing business for Metzger's Milk and Mrs. Baird's Bread. She was comforted to know that if these two customers could not pay their bills in cash, at least her children would have milk and bread on the table. She also told how F.B., during those difficult years, would pay the company bills and then divide equally what was left between him and each of the employees.

One of the early big jobs for Accurate Machine Works was to rebuild the engines in the Dallas Railway and Terminal Company's buses. These buses had Dodge Senior Six engines in them. They held twenty-five people and were added when the city was growing. The main transportation then was the streetcar, but it was easier to add buses than to lay tracks for more streetcars. When the bus engines had to be rebuilt, the Accurate Machine Works did the job, and each engine that was rebuilt got one hundred thousand additional miles. Some years later the Dallas Railway & Terminal Company put in their own rebuilding shop. To begin with, they were able to get only thirty-five thousand miles out of a rebuild.

It takes a lot of supplies to fill the needs of a machine shop. There was no alloy steel available in Texas; so it had to be ordered from Joseph T. Ryerson in St Louis. Other suppliers included Briggs-Weaver Machinery Company, The Murray Company, Trinity Brass & Copper, The Linde Air Products Company, (where Accurate Machine Works had the third oldest contract within the city), National Cylinder Gas Company, Dallas Gasket & Packing Company, McMurry Metals, Acme Foundry & Machine Company in Oklahoma, McCormick Steel Company, and DoAll Company.

Accurate Machine Works maintained the machinery for Armstrong Cork Company on Hines Boulevard; they made the cork-sealed caps that were used on cold drink bottles such as Coca Cola, Dr. Pepper and Pepsi Cola.

In May 1935, son F.B. Riek, Jr., answered an ad his dad had placed in the newspaper. He wrote, "In reply to your advertisement for a boy to help around the shop in today's Times Herald, I wish to apply for this position. I am thirteen years of age and soon will be a graduate of Vickery Place School." He got the job! However, he had to wait until fall when he was fourteen and attending Dallas Technical High School. After classes Jr. would walk to the shop and work until closing time, when he rode home with his father. He remembers his first job was to clean the lathes and sweep the floor; in a machine shop this is a dirty job. Soon he was operating the Weaver Press, which pressed the ring gear on the differential and riveted them together.

A year or so later, Riek's second son, George (Buddy), joined the staff at Accurate Machine Works He followed in his brother's footsteps, cleaning lathes and sweeping floors. Both boys were serving in World War II in April 1945 when the shop moved to 2626 Main Street, a building twice as large as the previous one. They wanted so much to be there for that move and the enlargement of the family company. Their cousin, Bill Underhill, Jr., helped his uncle with the move and wrote all the details to F.B. and Buddy serving in Europe.

When Carol Burnett came in 1962 to perform at Fair Park Music Hall, the air-conditioning system failed. Riek was called and with his staff worked around the clock to complete the job for the opening. He was thrilled to receive tickets to see his favorite television comedienne, Carol Burnett.

Accurate Machine Works had a small part in the beginning of the space age, when the Space Corporation of Garland gave the company a contract to machine the actuator blocks, which lifted the Titan missile to the launching pad. These blocks weighed from thirty-five thousand to fifty thousand pounds each.

Both of the sons stayed for many years with the company. F.B. left in 1962 to start his own business that later took him to Cleveland, Ohio, while Buddy stayed on. Their father loved his shop and his work, and near the end of his life, when too weak to drive, George Andrews, a loyal employee drove him to the shop for a few hours each day. He was happy just to be there. Ferdinand Benjamin Riek, Sr. died two months short of his seventieth birthday in March 1966. Accurate Machine Works, which started as a dream in 1929, continued operation until the fall of 2000, when his son George (Buddy) retired.

003
Ervay Street Car
By Carolyn Selzer
We grew up in a big white house at 1721 Marburg Street in South Dallas. I lived there from 1928 until 1949, when I married. Four houses to the left of us were Southern Pacific Railroad tracks for freight trains and steam engines. There was an embankment at the end of the block by the tracks; so neighbors put up a white picket fence and hedges to hide the embankment and tracks. My "Dad," my uncle Walter F. Fannin, who raised us, was one of the railroad engineers. We ran to the track to wave at him. We loved living there because it gave the kids a private street in which to play, since very few people had cars.

To the right of us, there were three houses, and at that end of the block the Ervay streetcar ran on a track. The end of the line was just a few blocks south, so the motorman reversed the seats and moved his moneybox and other equipment in order to go in the opposite direction.

We often dressed in our best clothes and rode the streetcar downtown to shop at all the great department stores. Students could purchase a card good for 20 rides at a cost of 60¢, 3¢ a ride! We started from Sanger Bros. at Lamar and walked all the way to Titche-Goettinger at St. Paul. Mama even purchased her largest supply of groceries at Sanger Bros., and they delivered them to our home. My favorite visit was to the dime stores to pick out new coloring books and paper dolls.

On special occasions Dad put on his best suit and we rode downtown to see the latest movies, usually Mae West, W.C. Fields, Shirley Temple, or Will Rogers.

Our most exciting ride was when Mama took us to see our favorite cowboy movie star, Gene Autry, in person. There were so many screaming kids, they had to put them in two different theaters. My heart was pounding like crazy!

When we were in the seventh grade, in 1939, we rode the streetcar for the first time without an adult. Such maturity!

We even rode the streetcar on one of my first dates to a formal dance at the Masonic Temple for the Rainbow Girls. Can you imagine wearing a long evening dress and velvet cape on a streetcar?

After the War in 1945, there were very few automobiles to purchase and they had long waiting lists, so again we rode the streetcar to go swimming, to visit friends across town, to eat out at what few restaurants there were, and to go to the Fair Park Summer Musicals. We never gave it a thought, even though many times our destination required transferring to a second streetcar.

In 1944, when my twin sister and, I were seventeen, we went to Wee Saint Andrew's Miniature Golf-Course in Oak Cliff-on the streetcar, of course. We had just started playing when I hit a golf ball right into the eye of a boy who was playing in front of us. It was awful! He was with two boy friends, and they had come to Dallas from Wichita Falls to spend the weekend. Since there were three of them and three of us, including our friend Jean, they wanted us to go out together. We said absolutely NOT! When we got on the streetcar to come home, we were amazed to see their old Model T Ford on the tracks behind us. They followed us all the way home. When we got off the streetcar, we ran to Jean's front porch, and her mother came out to see what was going on. The guys stayed all evening, and we let them come back the next weekend, and actually dated them off and on for several years.

I loved the roar of the streetcar, and always felt fortunate because we knew we had a ride we could count on. I never understood why they did away with the wonderful old streetcar.

004
When Electricity Came To Dallas
By Frances James
The site that was chosen for the new American Airlines Center Arena is a portion of the Grigsby League. It is difficult to discuss the history of Dallas and not mention the Grigsby League. The patent for the Grigsby League and Labor of land, composed of over 4500 acres, was signed by Sam Houston on January 20, 1842. The deed mentions a league and labor of 26,000,000 square varas on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River. There is a very long complicated story about the division of all this land, but the portion under discussion at this time was inherited by one of the Grigsby sons, James.

The first electric lights were shining in Dallas by 1882. There were three locations hooked up, burning a total of twelve light bulbs. The most well-lit spot was Mayer's Gardens, one of the larger, better-known saloons in downtown Dallas on Elm Street. The plant that supplied electricity was located on Carondolet (now Ross Avenue) and Austin Street in a small wooden building. At the time, this illumination of old arc-light types was described in the 1883 City Directory as being pale, ghostly with weird rays. This plant was built with private funds only four years after Thomas Edison announced the invention of the incandescent lamp and one year after he installed the dynamos to begin operation of New York City's Pearl Street Station, the first electric light plant in the world.

The first generating plant, constructed on the Arena site, was built in 1890. Old maps show that the Trinity River was nearby and the MKT railroad tracks served that area after the 1870s.

By the turn of the century, electricity was widely used in Dallas, and it became necessary to build more and larger plants. In 1900 the Dallas Street Railway Company substituted electric power for mules. In 1904 the interurban electric service was inaugurated between Dallas and Fort Worth, but in April 1908, when the Trinity River reached a height of 37.8 feet, the power plants were under water. Weeks went by, and by the time the flood was over, the river had crested at 51.3 feet in May. The city was dark, without water, other than from artesian wells, and with no fire protection.

While Dallas was struggling to provide electric power for its citizens, there were eleven different companies that vied for control of the city. W.H. Gaston was president of the first electric light company. Finally, in 1917, Colonel J. F. Strickland was able to call a halt to the confusion by buying out and consolidating the competitors. Strickland had been involved in one of the transportation companies providing streetcars for the city. Those businesses were some of the heaviest users of power at that time.

The "new" plant replaced the original old plant with the 370-feet-tall smokestacks in the 1920s. The smokestacks were declared dangerous a few years ago and were being dismantled. One had been hit by lightning. A spokesperson for Texas Utility stated they had been built to last 40 years and were dangerous now. At the time of demolition, the two generating units in the power plant could be switched on in case of extreme emergency. White ducks still play in the now desolate spray pond, which was built to keep the generators running. When it was filled with water in the 1920s, it was said to be the world's largest such pond.

David Dillon, architectural reporter for The Dallas Morning News, wrote an article that stated, "The immediate beneficiary of the site is TU Electric, which gets to unload a dinosaur power plant and possibly receive federal money to clean up the toxic mess around it."

In the area between what we now know as the West End and the land under discussion, there was a neighborhood of small houses, some shacks, with few basic facilities like sewer, water or fire and police protection. The railroad company had even moved in empty cars and allowed their workers to live in them. There are people currently living in West Dallas who lived as children in those rail cars. Some of the so-called movers and shakers of the small town of Dallas built cheap shacks and rented them out to the newly-arrived immigrants. Ancestors of current members of Dallas Jewish families first lived in this area when they arrived from Europe. As soon as they were able to move "out and up," Mexicans who came to Dallas to find work took over the poor housing. There was even an area set aside for the "red-light district." Rumor had it that there was a tunnel between the Courthouse and those houses to serve the elected officials.

When the Kessler Plan for the City of Dallas was completed in 1911, the plan suggested a large park in the vicinity. The park we now know as Pike Park started in this area on a small piece of land. At that time the Dallas Park Department designed a structure to provide shower facilities for the residents of these neighborhoods. The Park Department kept a count of how many people took showers there. In other park sites around the city, in neighborhoods that did not have basic necessities, structures were also constructed with shower facilities.

Magnolia Petroleum Company had a storage unit near this land. A few years ago, one of Dallas' "best recyclers" of old buildings remodeled and rehabilitated those structures for housing. He was so successful with those lofts, he started on another like-project soon after. That was truly in-town housing!

The site, which now contains the American Airlines Center and was once near the Trinity River, has been used to generate power for Dallas citizens for over 100 years.

005
Treading The Boards In Dallas
By Frances James
There have been theater groups in Dallas from early days. By 1873, when two railroads finally arrived in Dallas, the change in transportation facilities encouraged the building of a theater and the arrival of actors by train, with all their paraphernalia, rather than by wagons.

As early as 1873 the Thompson's Variety Theater advertised, "Open Every Night, Songs, Dances, Jigs, Farces, etc. Best of Wines and Liquors Always on Hand." J.Y. and Thomas Field built the town's first legitimate theater, the Field Opera House, on Main Street in 1873. That facility had a slight problem, as there were no dressing rooms. To remedy the situation, the actors dressed in one unit of the hotel across the street, used the covered bridge to another unit of the hotel, climbed out a window, crossed the roof, and entered the opera house by another window that opened onto the back of the stage.

The Dallas Opera House was built in 1883 and thrived. In 1887, Edmond Booth appeared in Hamlet; it was a sellout, even with the tickets at $15, and with several hundred members of the audience from out of town. In February 1891, the Opera House burned to the ground, but before the end of the year, a second facility had been completed with two balconies and seating for 1,700.

Dallas had minstrel companies, vaudeville, Shakespeare, Bernard Shaw plays, Ibsen, and many of those plays had runs out of proportion to the city's population. The first Majestic Theater built by Karl Hoblitzelle in 1905 and later destroyed by fire, was replaced by the beautiful Majestic constructed in 1921. The first theater had two shows a day for seventy-five cents admission and brought a variety of artists. Stock companies also came and brought standard offerings.

Students in the Speech Department of SMU organized the Arden Club in 1916. Seven plays, including Shakespearean dramas, were presented each season under the direction of instructors in the Drama Department.

Little Theater in Dallas was nationally famous from its inception by the Dallas Woman's Forum in 1920. The increasing audience appeal brought about the construction of its first home, a frame building that cost $25,000, with a seating capacity of 242, a twenty-two-foot stage and four dressing rooms. When that facility was no longer adequate, a new and larger facility was built on Maple Avenue in 1928.

Civic Theater was organized in 1937 and took over the Globe Theater in Fair Park, a replica of the famed old London house, constructed for the presentation of Elizabethan drama in 1936 during the Texas Centennial Exhibition.

The first producer and director to establish a highly-acclaimed professional theater company in Texas was Margo Jones, who chose Dallas in 1945. The philosophy for her dream theater-in-the-round was successful, and although Margo died only ten years later, her vision of a small intimate theater to present plays by both established writers and new talent was still viable. She wanted to work with actors intent on developing their abilities, rather than playing to talent scouts.

Shortly before the tragic death of Margo Jones, another person of vision had arrived in Dallas from Cleveland. Bea Handel had been director of development with the Cleveland Playhouse, a civic-operated nonprofit community theater. With a permanent professional staff, the Playhouse offered every level of the community an opportunity in some phase of theater activity. Mrs. Handel approached her friend, John Rosenfield, with the idea for Dallas.

Rosenfield had been the drama and music critic for The Dallas Morning News since George Bannerman Dealey had asked him to develop an amusements department for the paper in 1924. Through his column "The Passing Show," he had fostered the arts in Dallas. His influence, while centered in Dallas, was national in scope. He was instrumental in bringing the Metropolitan Opera to Dallas annually, in reorganizing the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the creation of the Dallas Civic Music Association, and now the Dallas Theater Center.

And that is another story of its own.

The Dallas Theater Center, known as Kalita Humphreys Theater, is a very special site in Dallas. As the only public theater designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, it is truly a masterpiece of his innovative creation.

The first meeting of the small group of organizers has been called the "back porch meeting" because it was held on the terrace of Mrs. Handel's home. Bea Handel, Claire and John Rosenfield, and Mrs. Ralph Howell then contacted others, including Waldo Stewart and Paul Raigorodsky, and the idea started to take shape. When Margo Jones was approached, she is quoted as saying, "Glory to Betsy! I second the motion! Let's get started!" Sanger Brothers Department Store executive Robert Stecker, who came to the second meeting of the group, was elected president of the proposed Center. In February 1955 it was chartered in the State of Texas as a nonprofit corporation for the purpose of establishing and maintaining an educational theater.

The first order of business for this new group was a search for a managing director. Paul Baker was selected because he had earned a national reputation for the innovative work he was doing at Baylor University. Baker accepted and brought his entire staff, moving Baylor's graduate theater program to Dallas.

A theater must have a site, and earlier efforts to find a building suitable for remodeling into a theater turned up nothing. Henry S. Miller, Jr., a Dallas realtor, headed up the committee to find a location and Stanley Marcus, who was on the original executive committee, suggested a perfect wooded site on Turtle Creek Boulevard, of which he was aware. Sylvan T. Baer, who had previously offered the site to such groups as Margo Jones' 55 and SMU, and to Temple Emanu-El for their new facility, as they had outgrown the Temple built in 1917 on South Boulevard, owned this property.

The Temple had returned the property to Baer because of the troubling contingency with the donor's demand that no mortgage be attached to a new building, the impossible parking situation, and a disagreement with the architect that air-conditioning was an absolute necessity. Baer then offered the one-acre site to the Dallas Theater Center as a living memorial to his parents. There were two conditions: (1) That $100,000 be raised within two years, and (2) that construction begin within three years.

The land along Turtle Creek was part of the Grigsby League (Sylvester Survey). William Grigsby had inherited this portion after his father's accidental drowning in the Trinity River in 1841. The property on the creek was settled by Polly and John Cole, who came with their seven sons and four daughters and a Peters Colony grant in 1843. The adult children also received land, and they all purchased any additional acres someone had to sell. The Coles enjoyed horse racing, raised fast horses and built a racetrack in the area. Near the turn of the century, one of the first golf courses in Dallas was on Cole land near the creek. This has always been a desirable site.

Now they needed an outstanding architect, who would do justice to the rustic setting. Frank Lloyd Wright was known by his Theory of Architecture for harmonizing a building with its natural setting. When Wright was called to see if he would be interested in the project, he told the committee that he was busy, and would be available only if they would accept the basic plan he had created for a theater in Hollywood Hills that was never built. A theater group in Hartford, Connecticut, had purchased the plan, but a zoning dispute there shelved the project. Baker told Wright that he was most concerned with the basic plan and that the technical details could be worked out later.

The details were daunting. Baker drew up a list of what he considered essential changes and Wright agreed to the ones that would accommodate the technical needs, but would not agree to alter the basic architecture of the building. One of the major problems for Baker was the lack of adequate facilities for lighting; another major problem was the revolving stage, which was dangerous for the actors as designed; and another was how to get the scenery to and from the stage. After a great deal of discussion Wright agreed to make certain changes, but was adamant that his two narrow ramps curving into the basement from either side backstage be retained, instead of the scenery elevator suggested by Baker. The architect and the managing director tangled repeatedly over such practical matters as lighting and backstage ramps. Theater Center historian Joyce (Burke) Cory expresses the source of their differences neatly: "Frank Lloyd Wright was an architect with a very definite idea of how a theater should look. Paul Baker was a director with equally firm convictions about how a theater should work."

Once Baker was summoned to Taliesin East Studio in Wisconsin and waited thirty minutes for Wright to appear. When he arrived Wright said, "Mr. Baker, it's all off. No one has ever said to me that something that I know would work would not work. I do not want to have anything more to do with you or your theater. Good day, Mr. Baker." Driving him to the airport, a Taliesin engineer told Baker that he believed Baker's criticism was justified. He suggested that he put a lift on stage left, but that under no circumstances was Wright to be told. Several months later when Wright planned a trip to Dallas to inspect the building the entire left stage was boarded up so that he would not discover the change in plans. The architect became ill, however, and the trip was never made. Students at the Theater Center renamed the stage directions "stage right " and "stage left" to "stage Wright" and "stage Baker."

It appeared that the building would never be completed, as costs kept rising. About that time, Baker received a call from Mrs. R. W. Humphreys. Her daughter, Kalita Humphreys, who had worked with Baker as a guest artist in a play in Waco, had been killed in a plane crash in 1954. Mrs. Humphreys wanted to build a fine arts colony near Liberty, her hometown, and was seeking the advice of Baker. He suggested that she donate to the already famous Frank Lloyd Wright Theater. She gave $100,000, and later, when there was no money for seats, she gave another $20,000; thus the lovely name for a lovely theater.

Despite the many difficulties in construction, in raising over $1,000,000, and in putting together a production under such adverse circumstances, the Kalita Humphreys Theater opened on December 27, 1959-a truly amazing accomplishment by extremely dedicated people.

The DTC Board conveyed ownership of the original theater building and the land on which it sits to the City of Dallas in 1973. Subsequently, it was leased back to the Theater for a term of twenty years with an additional twenty-year option to renew the lease. In March 1974, the City purchased an additional 8.67 acres for future expansion; a porte-cochere was added, and a second entrance from Lemmon Avenue.

In 1984 other renovations took place, this time to increase the rake (slant) of the floor so that the audience could better view the stage. New seats replaced Wright's Lazy-Boy versions and the expansive banquettes at the rear of the Theater were eliminated to create an aisle for standees and late arrivals. That renovation also included a major change in the lighting, a problem that had been noted when the original plans were discussed. Eugene Lee headed this project, which cost between $250,000 and $300,000, with the collaboration of Dallas architect Arthur Rogers.

The Kalita Humphreys Theater was enhanced even more by the renovation completed in 1990, which enlarged the lobby and "renovated Wright's claustrophobic staircase, down which more than one patron has plummeted." David Dillon continues, "Other parts of the $1.5 million project-a new administration building, two additional parking lots, and two sweeping ceremonial entrances-are mediocre and the Theater still looks like a forlorn ammonite in a sea of asphalt."

006
The Barrow-Parker Gang In Dallas County
By Earl O. Cullum
Through the years, outlaws have been prominent in western history, and books have been written about hundreds of them. But two names still stand out in the history of the Dallas area - Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker - two "no goods" who will not be forgotten.

They emerged in the early 1930s, when the new V-8 Fords provided fast transportation for bank robbers, and law enforcement agencies were not equipped to cope with them. "Clyde and Bonnie" led the outlaws of that era, robbing and killing, and leaving law enforcement officers helpless in their wake. They originated in West Dallas, and operated mostly in Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Outlaws came and went, but these two seemed to bear charmed lives.

Finally, Texas Rangers and Dallas County deputies traced them into Louisiana, and set up an elaborate trap for them. As they drove into the well-set ambush, they tried to flee once again, but the determined officers sent a hail of gunfire, riddling their V-8 Ford and their bodies. Later Dallas citizens gathered to view the results, and to celebrate the end of the "Clyde Barrow Era."

Other outlaws came and went, but never again would ill-equipped law enforcement agencies in this area be at the mercy of "hit and run" outlaws such as these two in the early 1930s.

007
Herbert M. Greene F.A.I.A
By Peter Flagg Maxson
Herbert Miller Greene (1871-1932) was one of Texas' foremost architects of the early twentieth century. A native of Huntington, Pennsylvania, he was descended from Revolutionary War Lt. Col. Henry Miller of Pennsylvania. The Greene family moved to Peoria, Illinois, and he received a degree in architecture from the University of Illinois in 1893.

Greene and his wife, née Annie E. Williams, moved to Dallas in 1897. Reportedly, his first commission was The Dallas Morning News Building, followed shortly thereafter by a mansion for the publisher, Alfred H. Belo, on Ross Avenue. Over the next three decades, alone or with others, he designed some of Dallas' best-known landmarks.

His ecclesiastical buildings included First Church of Christ Scientist (1910), the First Methodist Church (1924), Westminster and Oak Cliff Presbyterian Churches, and Temple Emanu-El (1917). Among his commercial commissions were Neiman-Marcus (1914), Titche-Goettinger (1929) and Volk's (1930).

Greene was a thirty-third degree Mason and designed Scottish Rite Temples in Dallas (1909), El Paso (1921), San Antonio (1924) and Joplin, Missouri, as well as the Scottish Rite Dormitory in Austin. His firm designed at least eight buildings for the University of Texas at Austin, and another for the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Civic commissions were the No. 4 Hook & Ladder Co. (1909) on Cedar Springs, Parkland (later Woodlawn) Hospital (1913) and the Textile & Fine Arts Building (razed) on the State Fair grounds. He designed few residences, but the villa facing Exall Lake on Beverly Drive built for Mrs. Rose Youree Lloyd (1912) was one of the most opulent homes in the city. The Owens-DeGolyer-Mosley House (1929), a Norman manor at 6701 Turtle Creek Blvd., was another.

Greene was most comfortable in Classical Revival architectural styles, but he worked ably in Mediterranean-inspired buildings at the University of Texas and Gothic idioms, when required, for churches. In the 1910s, Greene took James P. Hubbell as his partner. In the later 1920s, he went into partnership with Edwin Bruce LaRoche and George Leighton Dahl. The latter became a celebrated architect in his own right. Greene was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and for two years president of its Texas Chapter.

Greene died suddenly in Chicago in 1932, and was buried in Grove Hill Cemetery. He was survived by his widow and daughter, Florence (Mrs. Roy) Taylor. He resided at 4511 Highland Drive.

008
Parkland Hospital At Dallas
By Earl O. Cullum
The oldest hospital in Dallas, Parkland Hospital was opened May 19, 1894, in a group of wooden buildings on a seventeen-acre wooded tract called Parkland, at Oak Lawn and Maple Avenues. An ambulance was purchased, but it was two years before a horse was acquired to pull it. A meningitis epidemic in 1911 underscored the need for larger and better hospital facilities, and the first unit of the present brick building was built in 1913, the same year the city-county hospital system was created. (In 1940 a small downtown Dallas hotel burned and fire trapped many fleeing residents. Dallas Police Officer, Earl O. Cullum drove an emergency ambulance from the scene, loaded with bodies in canvas slings, some living, some already dead. Parkland received them all, and quickly cared for those still living.)

In 1954 the new seven-story Parkland was opened on Harry Hines Blvd., admitting nearly 15,000 patients in its first year. Following a tornado in 1957, Parkland received 175 emergency patients in two hours; then in 1963 came its most famous patients: President John F. Kennedy was shot in downtown Dallas and died soon after he arrived at Parkland; Texas Governor John Connally was severely wounded, but survived at Parkland. Two days later the assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, was shot in the basement of the Dallas Police station, and died at Parkland while being treated.

In 1962, the Parkland burn center was established, and in 1964 air-conditioning was installed. In 1965, Parkland handled 130,000 emergency cases, and 180,000 in 1966. (Earl O. Cullum's wife, Louise, was taken to Parkland after a severe brain injury following a car accident in 1973, and died there.) Parkland added a new emergency room in 1977 and modernized it in the early 1980s. It now has become the largest burn-treatment center in the United States, developing new methods for treating burns. Twenty-one emergency patients were treated at Parkland following a Delta flight crash in 1985.

Parkland's first branch clinic was opened in 1989, with other branches and mobile clinics to follow in eight Dallas neighborhoods. In 1993 Parkland handled over a half-million emergency cases, and admitted 47,000 patients on a $315-million budget. It now has 940 beds, and is considered one of the best public hospitals in the nation.

009
Neiman Marcus: An Employee's Story
By Mae Riek
Herbert Marcus, Sr., his sister Carrie Neiman, and her husband A. L. Neiman, opened a fine apparel store in Dallas in 1907. When the Neimans divorced in 1926, the family bought his interest. The store became famous for its fine apparel and related merchandise. After Herbert's death in 1950 and Carrie's in 1952, Neiman Marcus was headed by the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Marcus, Sr. Under the leadership of Stanley Marcus, his brothers, Herbert, Jr., Edward, and Lawrence, they continued the tradition of offering the best to their customers. Neiman Marcus became known around the world for fine merchandise, inventive promotions, the annual Fall Fortnight which spotlighted various countries, and the Christmas Catalog. The full story is told in Stanley Marcus' book Minding the Store. As a long-time employee, I am sharing stories I experienced at Neiman Marcus.

In the fall of 1948, my mother read a Neiman Marcus ad for a Christmas gift-wrapper. Since I did all the gift-wrapping for the family, she thought I might enjoy a couple of months of getting paid for my efforts. Little did I know this temporary job would last forty-five years and I would never wrap a single gift. Instead, I started as a stock person in the Younger Set World and in two months was promoted to an office job. I shall never forget receiving a $10.00 Christmas bonus with a letter signed by Herbert Marcus, Sr. I could not believe someone was giving me money, and at that time $10.00 was a big sum to me.

It was tradition in the Younger Set World that each staff member drew a name and purchased a gift for fifty cents to one dollar and wrote a poem to be read by the person opening the gift at the Christmas party. Mrs. Said Goldberg, a buyer, drew my name. She purchased a celluloid doll and had the sewing lady dress it in a Neiman Marcus stock uniform. Being short, all uniforms issued me were too long. Said's note read, "How long shall a hemline be? Mae and I cannot agree. I'm for Fath, she is for Dior and insists on wearing her skirts sweeping the floor."

On January 1, 1949, I started in the office, working on the "Cut-Make & Trim" operation. This was a big business during World War II and the years following, as everything had a price ceiling. To get more profit, Neiman Marcus purchased fabric from Europe, sent it to vendors to make up into designs selected by the buyer. I contacted the vendor for yardage needed per garment and the cost of making each; with this information I added the government's allotted markup to arrive at the retail price.

Soon I went to the Women's Shop on second floor, where Couture Designer Clothes were carried. Mrs. Carrie Neiman greeted many customers and sat on the coffee table in front of the person, telling her what was happening in the fashion world. She suggested specific dresses for the saleslady to bring out. Mrs. Neiman knew the customers, and usually they purchased what she suggested.

Most visitors to Neiman Marcus came to the Women's Shop. I was on the selling floor one day when the elevator opened and out walked President Truman's daughter, Margaret, surrounded by Secret Service agents - what a sight!

We always tried to do the right thing, but sometimes we missed. When Dwight Eisenhower was to be inaugurated President of the United States, Mrs. Mamie Eisenhower was helped by our New York office in selecting her inaugural gown. I was sent the invoice so the vendor could be paid and received a note advising me to charge the gown to the Eisenhowers at the White House. It was not long before I was writing a credit for the same amount. The Marcus family wanted the gown to be a gift.

My friend, Betty Stockton, and I worked together for many years in the Couture Dress Office. We often came in early to unpack and list each garment, hat, handbag, shoes, gloves and jewelry that a designer sent for a fashion show. One day in 1960 Betty asked me to bring in my camera so we could take pictures of each other in the designer's samples. Betty looked great as she was tall and thin, but being short, I did not fare so well. However, in 1970 Neiman Marcus had the Ruritania Fortnight, an imaginary country. The display department put a "queen's throne" among the flowers in the Women's Shop. Again I was asked to bring my camera as many of the salesladies wanted their pictures sitting on the throne. After I took everyone's picture, one lady said, "Mae, now it is your turn. Go put on the red and gold formal in stock and I will take your picture." After a little coaching, I put on the gown, and that is one of my favorite pictures.

The day President John F. Kennedy came to Dallas in 1963, both Betty Stockton and I brought our movie cameras. She planned to take pictures from the street and I would shoot from the second floor window. So many people crowded the window to see the President; I was crushed by the group and missed getting his picture but did get one of Vice-President Lyndon Johnson and Lady Bird. I went back to my office, but a strange feeling came over me and I could not settle down to work. I left for lunch and there heard on the radio that President Kennedy had been shot. The Store closed immediately; Betty and I drove to the School Book Depository and parked on a back street. We walked down the street alongside the Book Depository, where both sides were lined with policemen with drawn shotguns. We had our cameras in hand but were too frightened to take pictures. It was amazing we were allowed to walk so close to where the shooting took place. Soon the police did move everyone back to clear the area.

In 1964, Neiman Marcus had a devastating fire just before Christmas. I was dressing for work when my brother heard the story on the radio. He said no one was to come in to work unless called. Soon the phone rang, and once at the Store we gathered around Lawrence Marcus in the Women's Shop to get our assignments. I was asked to check each fitting room, the Cashier's Room and the basement where merchandise from our department was being held to go into one of Neiman Marcus' famous gift-wraps, the Treasure Chest. I was told to call the customers and advise them that their selections did not leave the Store before the fire and we were very sorry to disappoint them for Christmas. The only telephone working was in the Cashier's Room, which was standing in water left by the firemen. In those days, we needed permission for each long distance call. Here I was standing on two telephone books stacked on top of each other to be above the water when the telephone operator asked, "Do you have permission to make this call?"

Little did I know when I used to walk through the Gift Galleries, admiring the antique silver, that one day I would be the Silver Buyer. I had not been there long when a package arrived from Baccarat Crystal in France containing a beautiful crystal and gold liqueur set. A few days later Liberace visited Neiman Marcus, saw the liqueur set and purchased it.

I received a telephone call from a local businessman who was unable to locate his wife's silver pattern. He said she loved soup and served it often, but with only one soupspoon he was wearing out using a teaspoon and trying to keep up with her. He sent a picture of her pattern, which I identified as an Old Newbury Crafter's handmade pattern. Soon he received his soupspoons and was so happy he sent me a box of candy.

In 1977 the U.S.S. Texas, a nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser, was delivered to the U. S. Navy. Bentley Potts, the Oriental antique buyer and a former Navy man, and I selected the sterling tableware to be used on the cruiser. Each of the twenty-two pieces was monogrammed U.S.S. Texas. The large tea tray and the punch bowl had the Seal of Texas.

When the Tex Schramm group started the Cowboy Ring of Honor, they selected a bowl from the Silver Department. Each inductee was given a bowl with his name engraved on it along with those who were presently in the Ring of Honor. In 1993, when Jerry Jones added Coach Tom Landry to the Ring of Honor, I ordered the bowl. Later, I saw the front-page newspaper picture of Coach Landry with his Ring of Honor bowl.

These are only a few of the stories that filled my life during my forty-five years as an employee of Neiman Marcus, a very special business started in the City of Dallas in 1907.

010
The Cullum Companies
ByEloise Cullum
In 1903, Ashley W. Cullum had a small retail grocery store in downtown Dallas, and deliveries were made by horse and wagon. Then in 1919, Ashley and son Marvin organized the A. W. Cullum Wholesale Grocery Company, and it prospered through the "Great Depression" and World War II. In the late 1940s Ashley's younger sons, Robert and Charles, took over the management during the "Supermarket Revolution," and purchased a small struggling chain of Dallas stores, which they named "Tom Thumb." Thus they plunged into the fray with giants such as A & P, and Tom Thumb became a giant itself.

In the 1960s Jack Evans joined the Cullums, and the company went public with its stock to finance a major expansion. The Cullum Companies acquired food and drug chains, a meat packing plant, and an advertising company. These were then in Austin, Omaha and California.

In the 1970s a huge combination of food and pharmacy stores replaced the supermarkets, and Tom Thumb was a leader in the developments in Texas. Charles Cullum became CEO in 1976, and Robert Cullum died in 1981. Jack Evans became Mayor of Dallas, then returned to become the Company CEO, with Charles Cullum, Chairman of the Executive Committee.

At the 50th Anniversary in 1988, a controlling interest was sold to Morgan-Stanley, New York Investment Bankers. In 1993 Randolph Food Markets of Houston bought the Cullum Companies. Then in 1999 Randolph sold its interests to Safeway Stores, and Tom Thumb now operates as a division of Safeway. Current directories list 35 of its stores in the Dallas area.

A. W. Cullum raised eight children and died in 1950. He was Sunday School Superintendent at Oak Lawn Methodist Church 1916-42. This church was founded in 1874 by his father, Rev. M. H. Cullum of Dallas. Robert B. Cullum was president of the State Fair of Texas, and Charles G. Cullum a Dallas City Councilman. Their brother, Jim Cullum, founded the Happy Jazz Band of San Antonio, now operated by his son, Jim Cullum, Jr., and known nationwide. A. W. Cullum's daughter, Mary C. Nash, operated a clothing business in Dallas, and daughter Eloise Cullum operates a business at Rockwall, Texas. Both Charles and Eloise remain active in 2001.

011
Old City Park
By Michael V. Hazel
Old City Park: The Historical Village of Dallas occupies the site of Dallas' oldest park, established in 1876 as City Park. That year James J. Eakins gave the city ten acres of land south of downtown Dallas, which were set-aside as a public park. In 1881 the city acquired eight additional acres originally owned by the pioneer Browder family. This land included Browder Springs, the city's first public water supply, as well as Mill Creek. Extensive landscaping made City Park a favorite place for family outings, flower shows, and band concerts in the late nineteenth century. The Dallas County Pioneer Association held its annual meetings in a pavilion on the grounds in 1886 and 1887. The first city zoo was located here in the 1890s, before being moved first to Fair Park and then to Marsalis Park in Oak Cliff.

Recreational facilities, including a swimming pool, tennis courts, and a baseball diamond were added in the twentieth century. The Park Department also maintained several greenhouses on the grounds to supply plants for all the parks in the city. Construction of R.L. Thornton Freeway in the early 1960s had a major impact on City Park, taking nearly five acres from its northern end and forcing the removal of the Confederate Memorial, which had been erected in the park in 1897, to Pioneer Cemetery.

In 1966, a group of concerned citizens led by Mrs. Sawnie Aldredge organized the Dallas County Heritage Society in order to save Millermore, the largest remaining antebellum mansion in Dallas. The Society negotiated an agreement with the City of Dallas, allowing it to move Millermore into City Park. The house was reconstructed and opened to the public in 1969. Two years later, the Heritage Society began working with the city to bring additional buildings of historic value to the park and develop a museum of architectural and cultural history, reflecting life in North Central Texas between 1840 and 1910. This became Dallas' first official bicentennial project, and the park was renamed Old City Park in 1976.

In the past thirty years, the Heritage Society has brought nearly forty buildings and structures to the park, restored them to their original appearance, and furnished them appropriately for their time period. In 1982 Old City Park received accreditation from the American Association of Museums, making it one of only four museums in Dallas so honored by this national, professional organization. Through the use of costumed interpreters and interactive programs, the museum provides a rich educational experience to some 20,000 school children and 80,000 adults each year.

012
Katy Railroad
By Rose-Mary Rumbley
The beloved Katy Railroad engine with passenger and Pullman cars left the Union Station in downtown Dallas, ran north through the eastern part of Oak Lawn, continued running by the east edge of Highland Park, and then took off through the cotton fields of north Dallas County. This was in the early 1900s, when there was nothing north of Dallas Hall at Southern Methodist University. The mighty engine with passengers and some freight sped on northward to St. Louis.

Depending on the schedule the train would make stops along the way, but there was one stop it never missed. Fifteen minutes out of that Union Terminal the train would stop at Highland Park. Yes, the favored child of the Metroplex, Highland Park, had its own railroad station and a stationmaster who served there for over forty years, Frank Wakefield.

In June of 1965, passenger service came to an end. The Dallas Morning News headline read - "No more 'Cornettes' A 'Cornette' was a dainty, tasty little cornbread muffin that was served to all the passengers. They were also served Mountain Valley Spring water. Rest assured there was no creek water given to the Katy patrons. Only the best!

The Katy Railroad in the early days was dominated by Jay Gould. In 1865, it started as a branch of the Union Pacific-the southern branch. Later, it was called the Missouri Kansas Texas Railroad. It went through Oklahoma, but Oklahoma was Indian Territory then and the name couldn't be included in the title. It was called the MKT and later shortened to the KT-the Katy.

When Highland Park got its own station, the ad read, "Drive right up to the station. Worlds of space to park. No maddening traffic. No surging crowds. No frantic hurry, noise, or tiresome steps to climb." The station was on Abbott just a little north of Knox Street.

In the 1960s, the Union Pacific took over the Katy and there were no more trains running on the Katy track. The track, along with the overhead trestles, just sat in its place for years.

Then the Union Pacific gave the land to the Dallas Park Foundation, and a jogging and bike trail was created for all to enjoy. And believe me, it's being used. One can walk, jog, or bike from Knox Street to the back door of Baby Doe's Mine (Steak House), which is on Stemmons Expressway. It's a terrific asset for the city.

But the jogging trail didn't just happen without a skirmish or two. It seems that DART was interested in the rails for passenger service. The Oak Lawn and Highland Park neighborhoods protested. One irate Highland Park resident shouted at a meeting, "No trains! There are houses backing up to that track!" That statement really brought back memories.

When I was a kid, I took expression lessons. Students learned to "express" themselves. The course was once titled elocution. Then it was expression. Then it was public speaking. And now it's called communication! Same thing! Students learn to enunciate and project!

Well, sir, I had two expression teachers and they both lived and taught in homes which backed up to the Katy Railroad. Teacher number one, Mrs. O.D. Woodrow, lived in an old Victorian home on the corner of Abbott and Knox. She would sit at one end of the living room and I would stand at the other end and give "readings"-all by memory, of course.

Later, when Mrs. Woodrow went to the great podium in the sky, I took lessons from Mrs. Chester Howard, who lived in the last house on Princeton-by the Katy track! Mrs. Howard was extremely talented. She could do all the dialects, and I learned to do them all from her!

Both of my teachers were wonderful and insisted that I enunciate and project! I learned to do just that, because when the Katy came by, no one could hear anything but a roar for at least two minutes! That's why I project so well today, I had to shout over the trains!

I would hear that whistle blow in the SMU area, and I would begin to raise my volume and then when the train got to Princeton, I was in full voice!

I thought of Mrs. Howard the first time I ever saw that Lucy show where Lucy and Ricky were spending the night in a mountain cabin. They didn't know they were next to a train track until the train came by and their bed danced across the floor from the vibration. I thought of Mrs. Howard's living room! The same thing happened.

All trains stopped running in the 80s, the property value rose, and million dollar homes were built on the lots there at the end of those Highland Park streets that run across Abbott and Airline. So, I can easily understand why there was such a furor over the trains! No one wants a train in their backyard unless they're learning to enunciate and project!

013
E.L. Burks Variety Stores
By Barbara Cotten
E.Logan Burks (born 1902-died 1991) came to Dallas in 1920 from his parents' farm near Bullard, Texas, after attending Toby's Business College in Waco, Texas. He found a place to live at the Y.M.C.A., as many young men did in that day. After a stint as a bookkeeper for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company and other businesses, he began work for Love Field Potteries as a bookkeeper, then as a salesman. While there, in about 1925, he established a retail shop on Denton Drive at Factory Street, not far from Love Field, for the sale of pottery. His most profitable business days were on Sunday afternoons when families would take a "Sunday drive out in the country." He and his small family lived for a short while in the tiny living quarters in the rear part of the building, separated only by a curtain in the doorway.

They soon moved to a home on Model Street, just a couple of blocks away. The shop expanded into a brick building at 7700 Denton Drive and sold drygoods and hardware as well as pottery. In the absence of air-conditioning, the store had many ceiling fans that were turned on and off individually by inserting a yardstick (which had a v-shaped slot in the end) around the switch at the bottom of the fan and rotating the stick. Fresh air was provided by open transoms on one side of the building and open front doors. Some years later, "washed air" units were installed which made the store more comfortable on summer days. Refrigerated air-conditioning would come when the whole store was "modernized." The concrete floors were swept clean using a broad broom and "sweeping compound." The counters were divided into bins by 4-inch-wide ribbons of glass, joined together with metal clips, to hold merchandise. Each bin had its own price tag that clipped onto the glass. At the rear of the counter, larger signs announced the type of items in the bins. All these components could be moved around as needed to fit the merchandise on the counter. Extra merchandise was stored behind and beneath counters, where the public did not go, and also in a storeroom in the rear of the building. Each customer was "waited on" by a sales clerk who located all the right sizes and colors the buyer needed. The clerk then collected payment and counted out change to the customer from one of the several ornate National Cash Registers located throughout the store.

Although small sacks were used, larger packages were wrapped with brown paper pulled from a large wrought iron holder mounted on the counter top. Sturdy string was used to secure the package. Years later, the store became self-serve and joined the coming fashion of having registers only at checkout stands near the door. The large enclosed windows facing Denton Drive were decorated according to the season and displayed appropriate seasonal merchandise currently for sale. Some weekends, circulars were distributed to the neighboring homes boasting of special prices on selected items. When the Dallas Morning News began their weekly TV Guide insert, it included an ad for E.L. Burks 5c to $5 Store.

As the region became more populous, the small shopping area along Denton Drive grew to include an A & P Store, Sparks Cleaners, Love Field State Bank, Airway Drug, Airway Theatre, a Masonic Lodge Hall, an office for Dr. Shelton (the company doctor for the textile mill nearby), Askew's Café, Turner's Barber Shop, Blassingame Hardware, a beauty shop and a Ben Franklin Store. The center became a busy one as World War II loomed. Industries such as the textile mill, Tex-Lite Neon Signs, aircraft parts factories and other war related factories sprang up close by, as Love Field became more active. Saturdays were especially busy as farmers from Farmers Branch came to town to do their weekly shopping.

Other customers were teachers and students from nearby Obadiah Knight Elementary School on Anson Road, factory workers and housewives. A P.O.W. camp for German soldiers could be seen during the war years behind the store, but it is doubtful any shopped there! The store no longer sold pottery, but "E.L. Burks 5c to $5 Store" carried a wide variety of merchandise to meet the needs of its customers. The store had school supplies, household necessities, hardware, clothing (such as work clothes,) housedresses, socks, underwear, ladies' hosiery, baby clothes and cloth diapers, toiletries and make-up, "Big Little Books," a book rental library, fabrics (also known as piece goods), Simplicity Patterns, sewing notions, ice cream cones and candy. Shoes for the whole family were also available. However, during wartime, the number of pairs of shoes in stock was frozen, and ration coupons were required by the government from shoe buyers in order for the store to purchase more shoes to sell.

Shoes were the only rationed merchandise the store sold, but many other ordinary items were in very short supply during and immediately following the war. When new stock came in, customers were waiting to buy. Also, Christmas toys and Easter baskets were popular items. For 4th of July and New Year's celebrations, a fireworks stand was set up outside the front door and attended by Mr. Burks' young son, Bobby. Being on a city bus route before World War II made the store a handy place to shop.

Mr. Burks was a founding member of Texas Wholesale Distributors, Inc., which enabled small businesses such as his to join together to purchase merchandise in larger quantities, therefore at a smaller cost.

Logan Burks and his wife Pauline (Hill) Burks had six children. They were often teased that they were raising their own "workforce," as all the children worked at the store at some time. Mrs. Burks also worked at the store from time to time.

In the summer of 1947, Logan Burks opened another store on Lovers Lane at Inwood Road next to Skillern Drug. Lovers Lane was in the throes of reconstruction, and with the lack of modern air-conditioning, it was a very messy summer for the new store. By the next summer, however, AC was installed, which made both employees and customers happy. Bob Burks managed the store on Lovers Lane from 1952 to 1956. Around 1960, the Love Field expansion took over the Denton Drive property. About that time Skillern Drug needed to enlarge and took over the Burks store; so a new building was built on a side parking lot and E.L. Burks 5c to $5 store moved there. The new store had a rear parking lot and entrance as well as a front entrance on Inwood Road. Therefore, cash registers were at both entrances.

There was a balcony, used for office space and storage, which was accessed by a large freight elevator. Lovers Lane proved to be a popular location. The store carried a large assortment of merchandise and customers would say they liked coming in often because they never knew what new item they would find. The store thrived and remained open until 1969 when E.L. Burks retired and sold the store to Duke & Ayers.

014
The Flagman Of Dallas
By Bobby White Harville
My granddad, J. Hugh Campbell, was born February 6, 1886, in Kansas City, Missouri. He came to Dallas in 1909 to represent the American Optical Company and worked there until 1917, when he moved back to Kansas City and married Louise Lynn White. Louise was a widow with two children: Robert, 7 and Roberta, 3.

Hugh and Louise had one daughter, Margaret, in 1919. The family moved several times before settling in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas. All the children grew up and graduated from Sunset High in Oak Cliff.

Hugh left the optical company after training at Camp Bowie and being assigned to the 36th division regiment infantry during World War I, but returned and continued working there after the war. By 1929, Hugh was earning an annual salary of $5,000. He resigned as company branch manager that same year and began investing in and promoting an asbestos mine in Arizona.

Some months later the wind of prosperity stilled, and no one wanted an asbestos mine. By 1932 Campbell was $5,000 in debt, had three children, was without a job and did not own a home.

It was the depression era and, on less than a shoestring budget, he opened an advertising novelty commission business in the Allen building. He rented a desk, ordered a typewriter on the installment plan and set out to sell calendars, pencils and yardsticks when few people wanted them.

He made $80 the first month and even less the next month. He moved from a $40 per month house to one costing $20 per month. Some days went without a single sale. His lunch consisted of a candy bar, a cup of coffee and the belief that a man's wits are sharper when he is a little hungry.

His friend, James K. Wilson, called one day and asked where he could get a large flag by February 22nd for the George Washington bi-centennial. Hugh was delighted at the promise of an order, but soon found that flags were very difficult to find in the Dallas area; so he air mailed for a catalog and took the order for $25. Campbell reasoned that others might be interested in flags; so he canvassed the town and sold $150 worth. Business was better in 1933 with $500 in flag sales. He hit $800 in 1934, and sales reached $5,000 for the Texas Centennial.

Sales continued as his reputation spread. World War II seemed to bring a renewed interest in flags and J. Hugh Campbell became known as the "Flag Man" of Dallas.

015
Texas' First Country Club
By Clare G. Weakley, Jr.
Researching the history of Dallas County leads to many surprises. One such surprise is the discovery of The Dallas Hunting and Fishing Club, chartered February 10, 1885, as Texas' first Country Club. The Club still exists, located on the east bank of the Trinity River in south Dallas County. Established by leading Dallas businessmen, the Club attracted the young city's mercantile elite to its membership rolls.

Having over six hundred acres and two large man-made lakes, the Club was a country retreat where Dallas' leaders went to think big, hunt and fish, play poker, and have a nip or two. Described by John P. Worley in 1900, the "Property consists of about 600 acres on which is situated five clubhouses, two lakes, one of 160 acres open water and one of 300 acres, located two and a half miles east of Hutchins in Dallas County."

The Club was envisioned by insurance pioneer and Confederate war veteran Colonel John T. Trezevant, friend and confidant of Jefferson Davis. Joining him from the beginning was another famous warrior of the South, Dallas entrepreneur and banker, Captain William H. (Billy) Gaston.

Trezevant found a private lake, owned by the Dowdy Family and Albert Vining, located on the east bank of the Trinity at Dowdy's ferry landing. The two rounded up twenty-three more charter members who contributed two hundred dollars each to complete the five thousand dollar initial stock subscription.

The first members were John Trezevant, William Gaston, J.B. Hereford, J.C. O'Connor, Paul Jamison, R.V. Tomkins, Alfred Davis, John H. Simpson, James T. Dargan, W.E. Hughes, Robert Gibson, W.H. Flippen, Samuel J. Adams, D.H. Morrow, William G. Sterett, Frank A. Austin, Edwin W. Reardon, J.W. Webb, Robert Cockrell, W.J. Campbell, Tom L. Marsalis, William J. Kain, Jules E. Schneider, and Andrew J. Porter.

Although the Club is the oldest of its kind in Texas, it was not the first such Club in America. Prototype country clubs first appeared as early as 1800. In each case the pattern was much the same. Business and industrial leaders from larger cities incorporated hunting and fishing clubs in rural and secluded areas that were accessible by railroad. Often founders of these clubs were Civil War veterans who wanted an unspoiled place to enjoy their camaraderie and to engage in outdoor sports and relaxation.

The Dallas Hunting and Fishing Club was of that pattern, but different in its own way. It was different because it attracted many of Dallas' most important leaders. It is different because out of it developed the "Dallas Spirit" that energized the important economic complex, the City of Dallas.

Access to the Club was by riding mule-drawn streetcars from downtown to the East Dallas Houston and Texas Central Depot. From there it was a fifteen-mile train ride to Hutchins, followed by a two-and-a-half mile wagon trip to the Club property.

Hutchins was an important trading post town brought into existence by land seekers traveling east to west, crossing the Trinity at Dowdy's Ferry. It was well-known and well traveled even before the H & T C railroad came through in 1872. The Dallas County Pioneer Association scheduled its first annual picnic in Hutchins for July 1876.

This first Club was not for women, tennis or golf. It was just what it claimed to be, a hunting and fishing club on a working farm. Accommodations were dormitory sleeping in the three-room Clubhouse and three farm houses that were razed in 1915. Food was prepared in the keeper's farmhouse kitchen by the keeper's wife.

Members endured cold water washes from well water, long treks to outhouses, and nights lit only by kerosene lanterns and candles. Fish and game were dressed there. Some, no doubt, was cooked by the keeper's wife and consumed on the premises. Any game they brought back to Dallas was wrapped in newspapers and carried in baskets without ice. Bathing facilities were restricted, if they existed at all. So, these leading Dallas businessmen would return from their outings dirty and smelly, carrying their limp game.

While the Club was not incorporated until February 1895, it was operating informally as early as October 29, 1884. For the first fifteen years a fish and game log was kept. Each member's catch and kill was recorded by date with species taken. The first hunter recorded was A.W., Campbell, who bagged three mallards on December 13, 1884.

As a farm, the Club produced hogs for food and sale. Stocked also were horses for transportation and plowing. There were milk cows, pens of chickens for eggs and food and beef cattle for market. The garden extended for five acres and included an orchard of peach and apple trees. Rough fish were netted and sold in the Dallas fish markets. Two dozen mallards were kept in special pens for use as live decoys.

Hunting and fishing were excellent, with the long nights spelled by poker games at the Clubhouse round table. A hand-wound, oak framed Linz clock noisily ticked off the time for those who might care. Few lakes existed in Texas in those early days; so migrating ducks and geese rafted on the lakes, continuing through the nineteen forties. Large waterfowl kills were regular confirmations of the members' hunting skills. The lakes were kept stocked, and fish takes were limitless. Large catfish were caught regularly. The record one taken weighed one hundred and fifteen pounds.

Automobiles first arrived in Dallas in 1899. By 1901 they were so plentiful the City of Dallas enacted its first traffic law that placed a seven-mile per hour limit on Elm Street. Better roads and better cars made the Club more easily accessible to Dallas leaders, who enjoyed its unique seclusion and outdoor activities.

The result was that, over the years, its membership rolls continued to name many of Dallas' most illustrious business leaders. Included were four mayors, editors of the leading newspapers, bankers, lawyers, insurance pioneers, business owners and executives. These were the men who maintained the "Dallas Spirit" that made the city great and famous.

Though not intended, The Dallas Hunting and Fishing Club was the seedbed and hothouse of this "Dallas Spirit." John Trezevant and Billy Gaston would not be surprised to know this. They always knew Dallas would grow into a great and prosperous city. They dedicated their time, talents, and fortunes to making it happen. As Dallas endures and grows, the Club also endures, and still is one of Dallas' best-kept historical secrets. It remains where it has always been, secluded on the east bank of the Trinity River, somewhere in south Dallas County.

016
The Potter Art Metal Studio Of Dallas
By Eva (Potter) Morgan
The Potter Art Metal Studio of Dallas fashioned lighting fixtures, furniture and other items, primarily in iron, for North Texas businesses, institutions, churches, and private residences from the 1920s through the 1960s. Clients included Southern Methodist University, Highland Park Shopping Village, Highland Park United Methodist Church and Highland Park Presbyterian Church, Christ the King Catholic Church and Highland Park Town Hall.

The firm's founder, Henry Cornwell Potter (1892-1971), started his business career as a salesman of tires, Maxwell automobiles, and Sampson motor trucks in Fort Worth, Texas. During World War I, Potter served as a civilian flight instructor and became so intrigued with aviation that he built a biplane. However, such interests were mere offshoots of his first love, that of working with iron and other metals. In 1905, when electric lighting was supplanting gaslights, twelve-year-old Henry Potter started making small metal lanterns. Two years later, he began to work under the tutelage of German craftsman Alfred Tetze, his only formal instruction in metal work. Not until he turned thirty years old, however, did he begin to pursue his hobby as a craft. In 1922, Potter set up a workshop in his Dallas garage with a nine-dollar forge and a ten-dollar anvil. The small, ornate wrought iron lanterns that he turned out in his garage, one of which was hung on the front porch of his home, soon attracted the attention of friends and neighbors, who commissioned Potter to make lanterns for them. His "big break" occurred when his wife showed one of the lanterns to a buyer at Sanger Brothers Department Store in Dallas. Impressed, the buyer placed an order for one hundred lanterns. Mr. Potter protested to his wife that he could not produce that many lanterns. She insisted that he could, and as their daughter recalls, "urged him to get some help and turn them out as fast as possible." This commission began the business that in due course became known as Potter Art Iron Studios, later Potter Art Metal Studios.

By 1924, the business's growth necessitated that Potter move it from his garage. He settled on a location a short distance from his home, 2927 North Henderson Avenue, a forty-foot by one hundred-foot steel shed with a stucco front. He executed his original designs in that studio shop, assisted by some fifteen craftsmen, most of whom he had trained himself. In addition to outside lanterns, they produced a complete line of lighting fixtures, balconies, grills, stair rails, andirons, fire screens, weather vanes, fences, gates and doors, using ornamental iron or bronze. Potter also taught metal work at the Dallas Art Institute from 1924 to 1928. From the 1930s through the 1950s, he worked with many of the architectural firms that shaped some of Dallas' oldest and best-known residential areas: Lakewood, Preston Hollow, and the Park Cities. The firms included those of Fooshee and Cheek, C.D. Hutsell, and David Williams and George Dahl.

Potter Art Metal Studios was, in great measure, a family business. "Mr. Henry," as he was affectionately known to friends and colleagues, was the principal designer of the products, but his father, brother, son, daughter, and cousin also worked in the studio. Too, his wife's role in launching the business was indispensable, and she continued throughout her life as an advisor and enthusiastic promoter. Today, "Mr. Henry's" grandson, Richard Joseph Potter, having inherited his grandfather's gift of creative work with his hands, is carrying on the family tradition of finely crafted metal work at a location adjacent to the original shop location on North Henderson.

017
Developments On The Trinity River
By Frances James
It depends on which early map of Dallas County is used, but one shows a settlement called "Warwick" in 1840. Warren Angus Ferris, surveyor for Nacogdoches County, who laid out the boundaries of Dallas County in 1850, was involved in that plan. It was thought to be one the Southern Land Company of San Augustine drew up with a proposed plan to have a city on the Trinity River by that name. Warwick did not ever exist except on that map. It was thought to be the site that later became Dallas.

The Peters Colony map was another early one which showed townships, range east and west, and base lines. The map also names a few creeks (it even shows Turtle Creek on the east side of the settlement of Dallas) and only a few of the surveys. Some of the surveys shown were on the west side of the Trinity, which was formerly in Robertson County. Dated 1852, the original of this map is in the General Land Office in the Stephen F. Austin Building in Austin. The town of Trinity City is shown near the bend in the River where the Dowdy Ferry crossing was twenty years later, and is depicted as being larger than Cedar Springs and Dallas together. The town of Trinity City also was a settlement which never materialized.

Trinity Farms was one of several large farms in the Trinity flood plain before the levees were built. A farm of over 3,000 acres, it was owned by a consortium: E.P. Harwell of Tulsa, Oklahoma; C.H. Clark of Wichita Falls and T.H. Harbin of Waxahachie, and operated from 1916 to 1941 in the general vicinity of the La Reunion colony. The West Fork and the Elm Fork of the Trinity joined just below this land, and a large segment of Trinity Farms can be identified on Sam Street's map as Turner's Ranch. An agricultural levee was built to protect the crops, and a community consisting of houses, schools, a store, and farm offices was in the flood plain. There was a school for black children and one for others, which included the children of Mexican workers. A complete history of Trinity Farms and the cemetery for the workers is available.

The Dallas Hunting and Fishing Club was incorporated in 1885, some on Alanson Dawdy's land. Part of the Club land was purchased from Albert Vining, who had built a mill and gin in Hutchins and had built a dam, perhaps to have Dallas County's first private lake, called Hutchins Lake and used for recreational purposes. Nearby was another facility called the Fin and Feather Club, organized in 1893. The 1900 City Directory describes the Dallas Hunting and Fishing Club as having about six hundred acres, on which were situated five clubhouses and two lakes, one of 160 acres and one of 300 acres, and forty-three members. The members were the movers and shakers of Dallas. In the same vicinity was a wedge-shaped piece of property called Bois d'Arc Island, which was the favorite hunting spot of W.H. Gaston, who said the deer were "as numerous as sparrows," even in the 1870s. (See story on the Dallas Hunting & Fishing Club.)

The name of the community of Joppa is derived from a port on the Mediterranean, the chief port in the Holy Land. Material from Lebanon was floated down to this port for the building of Solomon's Temple; the cedars of Lebanon were mentioned in several early sources as having magnificent wood for building. Joppa is south of the City of Dallas, on the west side in a bend of the Trinity River. The Houston and Texas Central Railroad bypassed this area in 1872, isolating the community from further expansion. On Sam Street's map ca. 1900 there are several owners listed: N. Allison, W.A. Harrell, J. Goerman, A. Henry West, and F. Pierce. All of these names are followed by (c) denoting black owners in this small area. Although the area is now included in the boundaries of the city of Dallas, the children go to school in Wilmer/Hutchins.

There is a story concerning one early farmer of Joppa who owned ten acres of land: Ben King had been born in Kentucky before the close of the Civil War. His family was separated when his mother was sold to another plantation and Ben was given to a family named Shoziers, who came to Texas and settled in Clarksville. At the age of fourteen he had completed the fifth grade, which was considered high school for blacks at that time.

In September 1882 Ben rode to Dallas with a farmer who came to sell his cotton. Seeing the tall buildings, all of three stories high, Ben decided to stay in Dallas. He immediately found work with the E.M. Kahn family in south Dallas taking care of the horses and yard. This proved to be a good job, for more than one reason: Laurence Kahn, son of the founder of the store which was to bear his name for ninety-eight years, noted Ben's eagerness to learn and started spending evenings working with him, acquainting Ben with books and studies of which he had never heard.

Another good thing for Ben came from his job: Ben became friends with Hattie, the cook for the Kahn family, who told him about her younger sister, Mary, who still lived at home in Fallis, Oklahoma. Ben eventually met Mary and they married on December 24, 1897, and their first home was on the ten acres of land in Joppa.

In 1955 the City of Dallas needed additional land for garbage disposal and acres of land were bought near Joppa. The site was called the McCommas Landfill. It seems that when the project was designed, there was not adequate study as to what should be done if the dump caught fire (which it has several times). There was no thought given as to what height the legal landfill could attain, nor what would happen to the property owners of land on the other side of the river, which stands in water for months at a time.

In the 1950s land was assembled for the Riverlake Country Club. Since the area was in the flood plain, the golf course and clubhouse have suffered severe damage several times. Eventually, a small levee protecting the clubhouse was built on the grounds. The chain of lakes currently proposed by the Corps of Engineers will be on that property.

Floral Farms was an addition of small lots sold in the 1960s. It developed slowly, being prone to periodic floods, and finally was partially bought out by the City of Dallas. The original plan was to have the people in the addition grow flowers and garden produce to sell in the City. It may become the site of an A & M facility. On a section of the vacant land previously known as Floral Farms is a rodeo that attracts a lot of attention by modern day cowboys.

018
The Oriental Oil Company
By Robert Mayrant Robinson, Sr
In 1904 the Oriental Oil Company was organized. It was named from a meeting in the Oriental Hotel (later named the Baker Hotel). First office was in Room 305 Wilson Building at 1621 Main Street. Phone number was 3673. This was the first business in the Wilson Building. In 1908 the Oriental Oil Company expanded to room 304. In 1921 it expanded to rooms 401, 407 and 439. In 1923 it built its own General Office at 1911 1/2 Pacific Avenue, phone number Central 8151. The location is now Aston Park bounded by Live Oak and Pacific Streets.

The Company slogan was "Hurry Back." Stations were located at:

No. 1 St. Paul & Jackson
No. 2 Davis & Vernon
No. 3 Jefferson & Marsalis
No. 4 1909 Eagle Ford Road
No. 5 Ervay & Sanger
No. 6 Cedar Springs & Maple Avenue
No. 7 Main Street & Houston Street
No. 8 Haskell & East Side Avenue
No. 9 McKinney Avenue & Hall Street
No. 10 Main Street & Walton
No. 11 Knox Street & Cole Avenue
No. 12 4100 Oak Lawn Avenue
No. 13 Greenville Avenue & Alta
No. 14 5001 Columbia Avenue
No. 15 Fitzhugh & East Grand Avenue
No. 17 Pacific Avenue & Live Oak
No. 18 9th Street & Beckley Avenue

The officers were:
William R. Smith - President - He always said the "R." (initial only) was for "reliable."
Claude D. Cain - Vice-President
Franklin Mayrant Smith - Secretary and Treasurer
Douglas G. White - Secretary and Assistant Treasurer

The Company products were greases, illuminating oil, kerosene, purple gasoline. The Company was a producer, refiner, distributor and retailer. The Company closed in 1934 due to the depression. William R. Smith also owned the Lakeview Dairy on the site of what is now "The Cloisters" homes at West Lawther Drive and Mockingbird Lane.

W.R. Smith also owned the W.R. Ranch in Denton County at Highway 377 and Smoot 22 Roads. He sold the ranch in 1939 to Dallas former Mayor Robert L. Thornton. Today, under different ownership, the ranch still uses the "W R" cattle brand.

Mr. Smith built the first home on Forest Avenue, now Martin Luther King Blvd. He later built a home at 5505 Gaston Avenue - one of the few remaining homes on that part of Gaston Avenue.

018
Bryan's Smokehouse Barbecue Story
By W.J. Bryan III
Dallas Morning News columnist Steve Blow wrote early in the twenty-first century that Bryan's Smokehouse was the oldest restaurant still operating in Dallas. With a wink to Vincent's (1898) this might be true.

Elias and Sadie Bryan moved to Oak Cliff from Cincinnati, Ohio in the beginning of the twentieth century. On February 13, 1910 Elias opened his Smokehouse on Centre Street. His smoked meats established the family secret of cooking untrimmed fat meats with the lean side down. The beef stayed moist because the fat cooked through it and was caught in a pan before it could flare up in the fire.

Elias experimented with sauces to complement his meat. He tried thin sweet and sour sauces like the southern tradition of barbecue and thick, spicy sauces like the southwest tradition. In each case the meat drippings flavored the sauce rather than the reverse. He settled upon the thick spicy recipe, which is still served today.

Another early Dallas settler entered Elias Bryan's Smokehouse and invited the proprietor to try his new invention. Mr. Morton had thinly sliced potatoes and crisply fried them. He called them potato chips and was peddling them as a side dish to sandwiches. Elias tried one, frowned, and then threw the potatoes, the rack, and Mr. Morton out the door. In the opinion of Elias and all subsequent generations of Bryans, being a gentleman or a lady begins with eating without making smacking or other sounds from one's mouth. Elias knew that there was no future for so crudely loud a food as potato chips. Crunching sounds would never be heard from his diners. The future of Morton's Potato Chips, now Frito Lay, has proven Elias in error.

Both of Elias' sons grew up in the restaurant and followed him into the barbecue business. The younger son, Fred, moved to Los Angeles and opened a restaurant in the Farmer's Market. The Texas Bryans never got over how much money people in California would pay for barbecue.

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The Bryans' elder son, named William Jennings Bryan after the presidential candidate in 1900, was called Red. He established the tradition of Bryan men growing up in the barbecue business and trying to leave it for greener pastures. After playing football at Oak Cliff High School, Red wanted to be a florist. He operated the florist shop over Lamar and Smith Funeral Home on Jefferson Street. He was so engaged in the floral business at Easter in 1924, that he forgot all about getting a wedding license until the holiday had come. A friendly judge opened the courthouse on Easter to help him get married. He married Catharin Willis who grew up across the river on Swiss Avenue. She was not from the historic district above Fitzhugh, but from the prehistoric district below Haskell.

Oak Cliff was growing, and there was more demand for barbecue and beer for the living than for dead flowers for the dead. On February 13, 1930 Red Bryan opened his Smokehouse on Jefferson Street. It was a retired interurban car nicknamed "The Tin Shack." Hamburgers were 5 cents, and barbecue sandwiches cost 10 cents. The Smokehouse was a great success.

During the Great Depression, Red sold the crispy fat scraps from the barbecue in oilcloth bags. These "brownies" sold for a nickel. Many families would eat in the restaurant and buy a bag of brownies when they paid their tab. For the next days, the scraps would be their meat. As late as 1975, several Dallas leaders in Cadillacs and silk suits would order their Bryan's barbecue "fat and brown." They and the Bryans knew that this meant that they had grown up eating the scraps.

The Tin Shack was replaced by a grand edifice. At Jefferson and Llewellyn, Red commissioned the most famous architect in Dallas, Dilbeck, to build the first and last restaurant of his career. The large ranch style building, which opened on February 13, 1947, is still a landmark in Oak Cliff. The exterior stone was recycled from a county court house in East Texas. The upholstery on the booths was unborn calf. Above the door was a giant tuna, which cost Red two broken ribs in his Hemmingway days.

Sunset and Adamson High Schools converged to fill the restaurant. Eighty-five employees served them. The homemade fruit tarts completed the menu. Red instructed his employees to "Ride 'em in on the fender," meaning that his carhops should be handy before the cars stopped rolling.

Red and Catharin's son, William Jennings Bryan Jr. called "Sonny" because an invalid uncle in the home was already called "Bill," had begun working in the Tin Shack changing the sawdust on Saturday mornings. The spent sawdust yielded plenty of lost change for movie money each week. Sonny grew up in the business and dreamed of going to Southern Methodist University and becoming a stockbroker. He married the Oak Cliff girl who won the Miss Dallas beauty pageant in 1947. Sonny and Joanne (Chapman) Bryan moved into the apartment above the big Smokehouse. Sonny had returned to the family kitchen as manager of Red Bryan's Smokehouse. Red Bryan was becoming a prominent citizen and serving on the Dallas City Council.

Red and Catharin's daughters, Brenda and Shirley married the center and place kicker from the championship 1960 Texas Aggie football team. Eventually both of their husbands entered the barbecue business. Shirley's husband, Larry Broaddus, managed Red Bryan's Smokehouse on Lombardy Lane. Brenda's husband, Randy Sims, sold barbecue at his own Smokehouse on Highway 6 between Bryan and College Station. Counting cousin David Harris in Arlington, at one moment in the 1960s every adult male in the Bryan family sold barbecue. Red Bryan alone had five establishments.

In 1973 Red Bryan died in true Texas style. He had a fatal stroke in his bondholder seats at a Dallas Cowboys football game. He was carried from the stadium and never regained consciousness. Catharin operated Red Bryan's Smokehouse relocated to Lombardy in Northwest Dallas. She demonstrated that the women of her generation who were prohibited from business for many decades were certainly creative and capable entrepreneurs when the opportunity arose.

Dallas history resulted in the Bryans selling barbecue across the river from Oak Cliff. Cliff Temple Baptist Church and Tyler Street Methodist Church united in 1957 to vote Oak Cliff dry. No more Budweiser beer with Bryan's barbecue. This plus the expense of the large operation was the end of the big Smokehouse at Jefferson and Llewellyn. Red Bryan expanded elsewhere and eventually stayed in business on Lombardy.

Sonny and Joanne Bryan saw this as the opportunity to gain independence and their own stake in Dallas. They sold their home, their 1955 porthole continental kit Thunderbird, and a collection of antique Colt firearms. With $6500 capital and the help of an old master carpenter, Don Hoenstein, Sonny built his Smokehouse at Inwood and Harry Hines-across the river in "wet" Dallas. Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse first served barbecue on February 13, 1958. Luckily smoking meat does not require electricity because the wiring was not in place on opening day.

Sonny worked seven days a week for the first twenty-five years. His wisdom handed on to his sons was, "The only smart thing I ever did was to find something I could do, and decide to be happy doing it." Whistling and chopping in his paper hat (to cover the sweatband), Sonny is remembered by Dallas as one of the happiest people in Texas. Having observed his father's greater success in the Tin Shack rather than the Big Place, Sonny never expanded beyond the one place he could operate himself. His fairness and humor made him an excellent employer. Virginia "Big Jerry" Young who first "rode 'em in on the fender" when she was 14 years old, retired from Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse after serving barbecue for 60 years.

By 1970 Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse was attracting the most diverse crowd anywhere in Dallas. Two stories illustrate this point. First, during the Picadilly Cafeteria civil rights demonstrations, a carload of African American customers came into the barbecue house and militantly ate their lunch in the armchairs of the little dining room. When they returned to their car, several daily customers who were African American followed them to explain that their grievance did not apply here. Second, Sonny said that he could read the Dallas economy by his lunch crowd. The blue-collar workers were always there; they required a hearty lunch. When the economy turned down, the white-collar workers would pack the Smokehouse rather than eating the buffet atop the bank building. When things picked up, they returned to the shrimp bowl.

In 1973 Griffin Smith wrote an article for the start-up magazine Texas Monthly, about barbecue. It featured a full-page photograph of Sonny Bryan and hyperbolic prose about the beef. The Dallas story of Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse had statewide attention. Smith's reporting was confirmed by twenty leading magazines and cookbooks over the years. Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse sold all the barbecue, which it could cook. When the 800 to 1000 pounds were gone for the day, the restaurant closed. On a slow day this might happen at 4:00 p.m. On a busy Friday or Saturday, Sonny Bryan's often closed before 1:00p.m. It became legendary.

Sonny and Joanne's two sons began washing dishes before they were ten years old. They learned that the restaurant business was more about people than it was about food. Following the tradition established in 1920, they wanted to do something besides barbecue. The twenty-first century has begun with Dr. William Jennings Bryan III as a United Methodist minister on the faculty of SMU and Dr. Burt Chapman Bryan as a dentist in Coppell. Will they make it?

Sonny Bryan died of cancer in 1989. Before he died, he sold his legendary name and recipe to four of the customers. In 2001 they operate fourteen Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse barbecue restaurants across North Texas. The new owners have cloned the barbecue sauce (to gain shelf life) and sell it nationally at Macy's.

Dallas and Bryan's barbecue have been good to each other. Let's decide to be happy.

020
Nelson's Blacksmith And Woodwork Shop
By Paul J. Nelson
Fay Nelson, standing, with son Paul J. "Pete" kneeling, welded hub inserts, so that Mr. and Mrs. Rogers of Rowlett could use balloon tires on their Model T instead of the factory-equipped solid rubber tires.

Garland City Hall now stands in the exact spot once occupied by the Nelson's Blacksmith Shop. The business was operated by E.F. Nelson and father G.W. Nelson.

Ernest Fay Nelson, my father, was born in Liberty Grove community of northeast Dallas County on March 21, 1902. He received a fifth grade education and then worked in his father's blacksmith shop at Liberty Grove until he started his own business in Garland.

The business was opened in 1927 by Fay Nelson. The following year, his father, George Washington Nelson joined him, adding a woodwork shop at the rear of the building. This partnership lasted until 1941 when "Uncle George," as he was called by many, retired.

In 1928, the Garland Bank asked Fay to purchase one of five new houses they had unwisely financed on Avenue D at Third Street. Fay knew that five dollars per month was hard to come by during the depression, but he reluctantly agreed. The bank always received its money.

Fay was a strong, versatile, easy-going workaholic. His workdays were often sixteen hours or more. He spent most of this time over the hot coal-fired forge and large anvil, hammering an edge on plows or other items used in farming communities around Garland. Business grew and he purchased an additional forge and anvil in 1937. He would select one person at a time to whom to teach his profession. Some of these apprentices moved to other communities and opened businesses of their own.

On Sundays, he would load his farrier equipment and apply his other trade: shoeing horses in surrounding communities. B.B. Owen, who lived on Northwest Highway, always had several head to be shod and one Sunday each month was spent there. The money made on Sundays not only kept Fay Nelson in business, but also kept many area farmers, ranchers and the local dairy in business. Money was scarce back then, but credit was never refused at the Nelsons' shop. Most payments were in the form of essentials, such as eggs, chickens, butter, hams, fruit and garden produce. On one occasion, a live hog was even delivered to his home.

Nelson's shop was a focal point of Garland during the terrible 30s. People would come to town, drop off their various jobs and visit while their repairs were being made.

In 1936 Fay purchased the first electric welding machine ever seen around the Garland area. This machine revolutionized the blacksmithing trade. Most folks couldn't afford anti-freeze during the depression era and Fay could frequently be seen welding their cast iron engine blocks.

Uncle George concentrated on woodworking. He built wagons, trailers, buggies, chairs, benches, cabinets and almost anything that could be made of wood until he retired to his front porch swing at Liberty Grove in 1941.

Fay closed his shop in 1942 as Garland area residents began working in defense plants, and spent the next eighteen months working as a welder in the Norfolk, Virginia, shipyards. Later he signed a contract with a construction company and spent two years working on the Alcan Highway in Alaska.

Fay returned to Garland and again opened his shop for a brief period, but the changing times had brought an end to the art of blacksmithing.

Fay sold his shop, along with most of his tools, to sisters Lutie and Lettie Buchanan in 1952. He promptly cleaned out his old desk, started a fire at the rear of the building, and burned all the old ledgers. The uncollected bad debts, some left over from Depression days, totaled over $50,000.

At a friend's request, Fay moved to the Midland-Odessa area to work in the oil fields. He purchased a new truck, along with welding equipment, and spent the next ten years traveling to different oilrigs, where he made friends and enjoyed life.

Fay retired to Canton, Texas, for several years, but moved back to Garland in 1980. After spending a few months close to his family, Fay died August 20, 1982, and is buried at Restland Cemetery.

021
Early Local Doctors
Doctored Sans MD'S
By Dr. William D. Baird
John Barnet Baird was my great-grandfather. He was a doctor. He practiced medicine here and there around north Texas. He was not an M.D. He went to medical school for two sessions and did a preceptorship in Kentucky, but he neglected to write a thesis; so he did not qualify as an M.D. In his day and time it was not necessary to have a degree in order to practice medicine.

His younger brother was James Monroe Baird, M.D. They practiced together in Little Elm, Texas, until my great-grandfather moved to Breckenridge (which later became Richardson). Dr. James M. wrote his thesis on "The Use of Cold Water in Medicine," so he got his degree.

Anybody could practice medicine. In fact, Dr. John B. married a lady whose father practiced medicine in Kentucky and had never gone to medical school at all. He practiced what was called medicine from the Thompsonian school: a blend of Indian herbal medications and superstition. He died trying to treat folks in a yellow fever epidemic.

Those two sessions of medical school that my grandfather and his brother attended lasted only from harvest time to planting time-that is-during the winter months. The rest of the time the students were needed on the farm. If a preceptorship with a practicing physician was done, the student needed to attend only two sessions of school in order to complete the requirements. It was not essential that the preceptor be an M.D.: Uncle James did his preceptorship with my great-grandfather.

In those days a man could not make a living practicing medicine; so most doctors were also farmers. They also sold medicine. Since there were no drugstores out in the boondocks, doctors did double duty as prescribers and suppliers. They bought the essentials and mixed their own prescriptions. The medicine was then folded up in individual doses in brown papers.

A lot of their business was done by barter. My grandfather would attend a farmer's wife for childbirth and take a hog in payment. One patient's husband built two barn doors for a delivery.

Around the time of the Civil War, folks in this part of the country were hurting for money; so they bartered or wrote IOUs. Most of them settled up on their IOUs, but some of my grandfather's are still in his old canvas billfold among my memorabilia.

My grandfather ended up practicing in Breckenridge (Richardson), and he and his immediate family are buried out there just off Central Expressway in the old cemetery on the Routh farmplace. His cemetery site includes his entire family-himself, his wife, his son, his two daughters and one grandson. The old cemetery is now officially a historical site

022
White Rock Creek
By Frances James
The beautiful waterway named White Rock Creek begins in Collin County north of Highway 121 near Hillcrest and passes near what we now recognize as the town of Addison. It cuts through the Preston Witt survey, about where Belt Line Road and Preston Road intersect. (Preston Witt spoke at the first meeting of the DCPA in 1875; he was an active pioneer, serving in the Indian and Mexican wars, and his family operated the steam mill on Trinity Mill Road.)

This land in Dallas County was sold to Samuel McGregor Scott, and when his large family group with their slaves arrived, it was said that the population of Dallas doubled. After the Civil War some of the land was purchased by freed slaves, who settled in and organized their own church and cemetery, and their White Rock Celestial Cemetery is on the banks of the Creek. The land sold to the former slaves was the less desirable for farming; however, descendants of some of those black pioneers became millionaires when Dallas grew in their direction.

The unique Cemetery is one of only a few where blacks and Anglos are buried mixed together; other arrangements were usually made to have the two cemeteries separated by a fence. It is applying for a Texas Historical Marker.

White Rock Creek then cuts toward what is now Coit Road. When the right-of-way for the Houston & Texas Central Railroad was purchased in 1872, the owner of the property on the Creek made a deal with the Railroad to sell water rights. Water was important, as the early trains were pulled by steam engines.

Medical City Hospital on Forest Lane is just across the street from the Creek, which has been controlled in this area with concrete sides. The park that borders the Creek in this area is called Anderson Bonner Park. Bonner was another pioneer black entrepreneur; he could not read or write, but was able to purchase small pieces of property as they became available before the turn of the century. His first purchase was made in 1874; also land not particularly good for raising cotton. His descendants still live in and around Dallas, and they are not poor.

As the Creek meanders toward what we now know as White Rock Lake, it passes the community called Fisher, about where Mockingbird Lane crosses the Railroad. Another pioneer cemetery in the area, the Cox Cemetery, named for the man who maintained it for many years, still has headstones of the McCommas family (Elder Amon McCommas, first chaplain of the DCPA, was also at that formative meeting).

After the great flood in 1908, when the City of Dallas realized they needed a better water supply than surface wells and the Trinity River, a hydraulic engineer named Chester Davis recommended that White Rock Creek be damned. The spillway was completed by the Fred Jones Company in 1911 for $260,000, on 2,291.9 acres of land the City had acquired along the Creek for $178,420. The location required only one lift of the water to enter the City's mains. The Pump Station built in 1911 was renovated in 1990 and is used by Dallas Water Utilities as an operations center, and the Filter Building constructed in 1923 next to the Pump Station is still used by the Water Department.

White Rock Creek begins again at the spillway of White Rock Lake and continues on until it meets the Trinity River in southeast Dallas County. Starting about where the spillway is now one of the C.A. Lovejoy Surveys. Lovejoy was a half-brother of Warren Ferris, a young self-taught surveyor who surveyed the boundaries of Dallas County. Some sort of law said that the surveyors could not claim the property they surveyed, but Ferris recognized the most choice land along the Creek, and even back in the 1800s there was "more than one way to skin a cat"; he just put the land he wanted for himself in his half-brother's name!

The next owner on the map is Jacob Buhrer, on a spot noted as a dairy, of which there were many in the wide flood plain. Anna Hinterman and Jacob Buhrer came to Dallas County in 1879, and their first dairy was near the confluence of Fitzhugh-Carroll and Junius. When they needed to expand, they chose a 200-acre site on the west side of White Rock Creek. The family continued to operate the dairy until they were forced to sell the land for the spillway and dam in 1911. In 1985 there were eighty-five direct living descendants of the family still in Dallas, including our late Louise Buhrer.

The Creek next passed land which is now nearly all within Tenison Park and the Golf Courses. Early families who lived on that Survey were the W.J. Rupard, T.I. Wood, Mrs. M. Cobb, and J.L. Ferguson, who had a road named for him. Much of that land had been in the possession of Dr. W.W. Samuell until the 1920s, and he sold part of it to the E.O. Tenisons, who donated it to the Dallas Park Department as a memorial to their son who had died as a young man in the influenza epidemic.

When the Texas & Pacific Railroad came to Dallas in 1873, the look of wide-open spaces had changed. It crossed the East Fork of the Trinity east of Dallas and White Rock Creek near what is now the confluence of Forney Road, Dolphin Road, and Military Parkway. Some of the right-of-way was purchased from the Becker family dairy, then about where the Fire Department Training Facility is now. They had purchased their land from the John Beemans. The Beemans, a large family of children, men and women, settled on a 640-acre site they thought to be free, only to find that it had already been surveyed and assigned to Thomas Lagow. Rather than move, they purchased the land for $1 an acre from the widow of Thomas Lagow. Beeman set aside what he said was the prettiest place on the farm for the cemetery.

A description of what Scyene Road was before finally being improved early in the twentieth century, was given by a local citizen: "Going to Dallas was impossible when it rained because you could not get across the creek. The sides were steep and the white chalky dirt was slick when wet. The wagon trail consisted of a low water crossing of logs that had been laid crosswise. I was so afraid we would slide off." Another local citizen told about delivering milk from the Sanger Brothers' farm his father had rented: "We covered the milk cans with wet sheets to keep them cool in the summer time. If it rained while we were in town we just had to stay at the wagon yard and sleep in our wagon until the creek went down so that we could cross and get back home."

The Creek is a natural state below Scyene Road, a wetland area that has never been developed. It has flooded in the past, but provides a beautiful open space with grand old trees. Dallas Power & Light built a lake in the early 1950s, which is one of the few sites designed to produce electricity by natural gas! Another site in the vicinity is the Dallas Park and Recreation center, on land donated by the late Mayor Annette Strauss and her husband. Adjacent to the facility is a high bluff looking across the flood plain, where the late Congressman Hatton W. Summers had a large farm. From his vantage point he could see downtown Dallas.

The Grover Keeton Golf Course was built in the 1970s with money procured through Community Development Funds. (Grover Keeton was a past Parks and Recreation Director.) At times the Golf Course has been closed due to high water; some method of preventing expensive flooding could be arranged without damaging the natural flood plain.

On the east side of the Creek, below Highway 175, the flood plain has been owned by the Pemberton family for over one hundred years. It is the source of the big spring which has never gone dry. John Neely Bryan and his wife lived there in a cabin until he had to be sent to the Insane Asylum in Austin.

That area is near the confluence with the Trinity River, and those of us on our canoe trips down the Trinity were able to see the meeting of waters

023
The Bishop Arts Building
By David Spence
On August 4, 1928, E.B. Burll pulled a permit to build a 9,000 square foot building for "stores and apartments" at 408 W. Eighth Street in Oak Cliff, on the Tyler-Polk streetcar line. With construction completed the next year Joseph Tiner, who lived two blocks away, opened Tiner's Café on the first floor and served as the building manager. He collected $35 each month in rent from the tenants, which at that time were a beauty salon and an appliance store. The second floor was divided into apartments.

With the rise of the automobile after World War II, trolley use declined and, retail business in the district fell into decline. During the 1960s a prominent Oak Cliff minister, Albert Ott of Bethel Temple, owned the building, and continued to rent space for retail storefronts and apartments. After he sold it, the spacious first floor was rented to businesses for storage purposes only.

In the early 1980s Spanish sculptor Javier Corbero, who had settled in Dallas, purchased the building, recognizing the big, open first floor as good studio space. While working out of 408 W. Eighth Street he sold some of his massive metal works to Dallas developer and art collector Ray Nasher for his private collection. Corbero eventually returned to Spain and leased the building to pseudo-artists, who used maintenance money sent by the owner for drugs and wild parties. Local code enforcement forced the closure of the building in 1993 because of unsafe conditions, and it remained vacant and unsecured.

In September 1998 Corbero sold 408 W. Eighth to developer and historic building restorer David Spence, who put the building through a thorough restoration and gave the building its current name (taken from the Bishop Arts District, where it stands). Fortunately, the building had never been remodeled, and the rugged original finishes had not deteriorated.

The building was reopened in January 2000 as primarily office space, but with two apartments retained with all original fixtures. Among the current tenants is DCPA member Suellen Thompson, (Thompson Landscape Architects) and several other design-related professionals, including David Spence.

The whole neighborhood around Bishop and Eighth is undergoing revival..

024
Revolutionary War Widow
Catherine Reed
By Linda S. Hart
Catherine Reed was born in 1781 in Surry County, North Carolina. Her father was William Reed. Her mother's name is unknown. She married at age 15 to a widower with eight children, George Parks George lived in Wilkes County, North Carolina. He was a decorated veteran of the American Revolutionary War. George and his parents and siblings had moved to Wilkes County, N.C. around 1767 from Amhurst County, Va., where the Parks family had lived since before the 1730s. There is little record of the Reed family prior to 1780.

Catherine and George moved to Burkes Co., N.C. after their marriage. Their farm was located on the Yadkin River. They had seven children born to their marriage: Hannah, born 1797; Meredith, born 1800; Alfred, born 1802; Carrollton, born 1807; Curtis, born 1809; Sally, born 1811; and Rebecca, born 1813. They were all born in Burkes County, North Carolina.

After the War of 1812, new territories began to open and the Parks family began to think of relocation. They heard of the promise of acquiring new lands just for the settling in Indiana and they, along with many other family members and friends, made the long journey from North Carolina to Indiana. They arrived in October 1815. The group made camp that day on the east bank of the White River in, what is now known as, Lawrence County. They sang hymns and offered a prayer of thanksgiving. The next morning, the men of each family chose their lands and readied them for survey. They lived on those lands, improved them, planted and harvested. The next fall, the men prepared to go to Jeffersonville for the land sale. But a man named Bullit had more money and he outbid the colonists and was able to acquire the whole settlement! It is said that, after hearing what Bullit had done, George Parks told his wife, "Well, I guess his Pole was longer than ours." A whole year's work was for nothing. Blue days followed, but the group pulled together, moved on further north and began again. They settled in Monroe County, picked new lands, cleared them, built new cabins, working the lands, and at the next land sale held at Vincennes, were successful in acquiring titles to their farms.

The family is fortunate to have several handwritten accounts of their time in both North Carolina and Indiana. George's brother Samuel wrote a lot of information for George's Pension application; so the family's history is well documented. One of George's older sons, James, lived to an advanced age and wrote a pioneers article for their local newspaper giving wonderful historical facts.

George and Catherine lived near Elletsville and farmed and raised their children until 1837, when George died. He is buried in Elletsville, Indiana, in the churchyard of the Richland Baptist Church, and the Daughters of the American Revolution has marked his grave. George was 78 when he died. Catherine was left a widow at 56. She lived with her married children. When they decided to move to Texas after the Mexican War, she decided to come with them. They arrived in 1847 and settled in Dallas County between what is now Lancaster and DeSoto. All of Catherine's sons received head rights. One son, Meredith, died the year after they arrived leaving a widow, Malinda Sharp, and 14 children. His original land grant was kept in the family for 100 years.

Catherine applied for and received a Widow's Pension after she arrived in Texas. She lived until April, 1863. She is buried at Rawlins Cemetery next to her son, Meredith, and her grave was marked by the Lancaster Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, honoring her as the widow of a revolutionary soldier. George Parks and Catherine Reed had MANY descendants who helped to populate Dallas County in the earliest years of its existence, and there are still many of this family here today

025
Last "Manhattan Project" Member
By Shearer Huffhines
In 1987 my husband, Don, his cousin, Frances Bell, and I hosted the first Huffhines family reunion in over thirty years. With over eight hundred in attendance we weren't able to meet everyone, but one particular family member and his family, stand out in our memory - Robert Huffhines, his wife Lena, and one of their sons, David, and his family. What a pleasure to have the opportunity to visit with this wonderful gentleman, who, after having survived so much in his life, had such a good sense of humor.

Robert was born in Richardson in 1911. After graduating from Adamson High School, he continued his education at North Texas Agricultural College at Arlington in pursuit of his life-long interest, electronics and radio communications. While employed at SMU as an instructor in radio communications to soldiers in training, in 1942 he was contacted by the U.S. government and asked to participate in a "hush hush" project in Los Alamos, New Mexico, which was later named "The Manhattan Project." Robert was one of the first 150 men on the project and his contributions included development of electronics used in nuclear physics research. He also was responsible for building the first radio broadcast station at Los Alamos.

After World War II Robert made the decision to stay on in Los Alamos and continue his work and research. A tragic accident on August 2, 1946, changed his life forever. Working with partners Bill Bibbs from Mississippi and Josh Schwartz from New York, they were preparing to check a valley for contamination. He had just taken eight pounds of explosive mixture from his smock pocket, prepared it for detonation, and set it on the ground, anticipating a thirty-minute wait. The mixture ignited prematurely causing flames to flash up Robert's right side. At the same time the huge flame reached both Bill and Josh. MPs rushed all three to the hospital and all suffered serious burns, eye injuries, and other complications. Robert was literally put back together - with doctors repairing a hand (he lost the thumb on his right hand), leg and arm. Scarring from the explosion was significant and after weeks in the hospital a noted eye surgeon from New York helped Robert face the reality that he had lost his right eye and would not regain the vision in the left.

Through the weeks of painful recovery and after, Robert never lost his sense of humor or love and zest for life. Not one to sit around, feel sorry for himself, or blame anyone for the accident, he went back to school to learn Braille and charged ahead full tilt. He went on to build an extremely successful company, Dallas Radionics. He was instrumental in setting up the first radio isotope laboratory in Texas at Lisbon V.A. Hospital (in Dallas): he worked for the U.S. Surgeon General on researching carcinogenic agents; and went on to join the North American lecture circuit, speaking about biophysics, respiratory and inhalation therapy. He was included in the 1973 volume of "Who's Who in America."

After the family reunion Robert continued to stay in contact (Don and Robert were fifth cousins). He would telephone Don and begin the conversation speaking perfect German - completely fooling Don, who did not speak or understand German and thought it was a relative from Germany calling. After a few minutes Robert would identify himself and they would share a robust laugh over the joke.

Robert was the last surviving atomic physicist of the original Los Alamos group. He passed away on August 25, 1998. Old John and Elizabeth Huffhines (Dallas County, 1851) would be proud of their descendant.

026
Whatever Happened To Pig Stands
By Bill Baird
There was once a Pig Stand in every part of town. Before the War, the Woodrow kids congregated at the Gaston Avenue Pig Stand out on Garland Road where Gaston ended. That is, when they decided not to go congregate at Sammy's on Greenville Avenue. The kids from North Dallas had their Pig Stand on Oak Lawn, and I'm sure the kids from Oak Cliff had Pig Stands in that part of town, but I didn't get over that way very often.

There was a Pig Stand out on Greenville Avenue, and that was what put me in mind of the Pig Stands. We went to the Kirby's steak house there the other night. It is in the same location where the Pig Stand once was. The house salad dressing at Kirby's is like the dressing that was served at Brockles' Restaurant in downtown Dallas. I often wonder if it is the same. Once upon a time you could buy Brockles' dressing in the restaurant to take home in quart jars. As I recall, it even sold in grocery stores. I don't remember much about the food, but the dressing was very good.

Anyway, on Saturday nights once a month there would be a dance at the Lakewood Country Club for high school kids and on different Friday nights there would be a dance at the Dallas Athletic Club downtown. It was pretty inexpensive - a buck or two for admission. Those who paid would get a little lapel button gadget. We collected the gadgets and would go to the dances equipped with an assortment of gadgets. Whatever one was being used that night we would put on our lapel and march in.

I'm talking about those of us who went stag, of course. Those who had dates would pay.

I never had a date.

After the dance was over, we would congregate at Sammy's or the Pig Stand and sit around telling lies and drinking beer until time to carry the Dallas Morning News. Most of us had routes. Some guys had a Times Herald route, but we looked down our noses at them. Real carriers carried the morning paper.

We always ordered a basket of French fries to go with our beer. We got the catsup bottle and used copious quantities on the fries. Carlos Messina ran the joint at Sammy's. He would come over and take the catsup bottle away; said we cost him money eating all that catsup on ten cents' worth of fries. Carlos was a big guy who had played football for Adamson. If anybody got rowdy, Carlos would take his huge finger and raise a frog on their arm. He kept us in line.

When came time for the paper to be delivered, we would jump in someone's car and go "throw" the routes. One would be driving, two folding, and two throwing-one on each side. We could carry several routes in jig time that way.

Then we would all go home to bed.

Whatever happened to Pig Stands and Brockles' Dressing? Oh yes, and Rockefeller's - the little stands that sold hamburgers???? After World War II they all disappeared.

027
The Old City Park Print Shop
By Michael V. Hazel
It began life as a dry goods store, evolved into a grocery store, then a post office, and finally a cafe, before it became the Print Shop at Old City Park.

It is a single-tenant, one-story building containing approximately 1700 square feet, built in 1906 in Savoy, Texas, to house the W.T. Carter Dry Goods Store, and has survived the years almost completely intact. Although the building never housed a print shop, such a use is not inappropriate. In his memoirs, Peregrinations of a Pioneer Printer, Marvin Hunter, who worked as a printer in numerous Texas towns after 1890, recalled that he and his father set up their presses in old store buildings, a blacksmith's shop, and even in rooms of private homes. A sturdy, spacious structure like the Savoy building would have been ideal for a small town printer.

The Print Shop is furnished as a turn-of-the-century newspaper and job printing plant. The owner of the shop would have functioned as editor of the weekly paper, collecting the news and writing most of the articles, perhaps with contributions from one or two local citizens with writing aspirations. The editor's wife might help sell ads and keep the books. Working in the rear of the shop would be a hired printer, probably one of the many young journeymen printers who spent several years moving from one small town to another perfecting their craft before settling down to open a shop of their own.

The printer would set the type and do most of the composing work, with some help from the "printer's devil," a teenage boy employed to run errands and do odd jobs around the shop. A Dallas resident who worked as a devil in a Midwestern shop in 1915 recalled that he did everything except empty the cuspidor; when the editor asked him to do that task, he refused. He did, however, make trips to the neighboring saloon to fetch beer (which cost five cents a bucket) for the printers.

The staff would spend three or four days getting the weekly paper ready for the press, working through the night before publication day. All hands would be involved in feeding paper to the press, folding the newspaper, and addressing it. With one edition out, the editor would begin collecting news for the next week, while the printer caught up on the "job work" (stationery, business cards, etc.) which represented an important source of the print shop's income. There was seldom an idle moment in a small town print shop.

The equipment in the Old City Park Print Shop was collected and donated to the Dallas County Heritage Society by Robert Olmsted, Sr., of Olmsted-Kirk Paper Co., and J. Ridley Lewis, of J. Ridley Lewis Co., graphic consultants. Mr. Lewis, who collects antique printing and bindery equipment, restored the equipment to working order. All of the pieces came from North Texas print shops.
* Linotype Machine: Made by Mergenthaler Linotyope Co., New York; Model #8, pat. 1911. Invented in 1890 by Ottmar Mergenthaler of Baltimore, the linotype machine freed printers from the laborious task of setting type by hand.
* Proof Press: Made by Chandler and Price, Cleveland, Ohio. After the printer set his type on the linotype machine, he needed to check for errors. He arranged the lines of type in a long, narrow tray called a "galley" and placed the galley on a small proof press. He inked the type, placed a piece of paper over it, and rolled the cylinder across to make an impression. As he "proofread" the paper, he marked any mistakes and then re-set those lines on the linotype machine. This proof press was used in the offices of the Mart Herald in Mart, Texas.

* Wooden Type Stand: Made by Hamilton Mfg. Co., Two Rivers, Wisconsin. The shallow drawers in the type stand were specially designed to hold type. This stand is filled with type in a variety of sizes and styles. The type could be used in any handset work and for headlines in the newspaper.

* Slate Top Composing Table: Made by Hamilton Mfg. Co., Two Rivers, Wisconsin. The printer "made up" the newspaper page on a slate top composing table (commonly called a "stone"), taking the type from the galleys and arranging it in metal forms called chases. Not only was the slate sturdy, but it was relatively impervious to nicks and scratches and to spilled ink and oil. This composing table was used in the plant of the old Waco News Tribune.

* Newspaper Press: Made by Campbell Printing Press and Mfg. Co., New York and Chicago. In 1866 Andrew Campbell set up a factory in Brooklyn and within ten years had built a web-perfecting press with a capacity of 12,000 papers an hour. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century Campbell Printing Press and Mfg. Co. was one of the leading producers of printing equipment in the United States. It was later absorbed by the Babcock Printing Co. and produced no more presses after 1905. This model was known as "Campbell's Complete Press" and could produce 800 to 1200 papers an hour. Made about 1875-1885, this press was in use until a few years ago in the shop of the Valley Mills Tribune, Valley Mills, Texas.

* Folder: Made by Mentges Folder Co., Sidney, Ohio. Before the invention of the folder, newspapers had to be folded by hand, a slow and laborious task. This Mentges folder was advertised in 1905 as "A High Grade Folder at a Medium Price" -$175-$200. It also came from the Valley Mills Tribune.

* Job Press: Made by Chandler and Price, Cleveland, Ohio; pat. May 26, 1885. Printers seldom made much money by publishing a weekly newspaper. They depended on "job printing" to supplement their income. They printed stationery, business cards, office forms, notices, and pamphlets. For such work they normally used a small job press, operated by a foot lever or hooked up to power. Chandler and Price called this model their "Old Style Gordon Press" (modeled on a popular press invented by George Phineas Gordon in the 1850s) and claimed in their advertisements, "We never have had to take a Press back! Every one is giving Entire Satisfaction." This job press came from Davis Bros. Publishing Co. in Waco.

* Paper Cutter: Made by Chandler and Price, Cleveland, Ohio: pat. December 14, 1909. This hand-operated paper cutter was convenient whenever a printer needed to trim the size of paper for a printing job. This cutter came from Central Texas Printing Co. in Waco.

* Perforator: Made by F.P. Rosback Co., Benton Harbor, Michigan: pat. August 7, 1888. This hand-operated machine was designed for perforating pieces of paper. It came from Paul Quinn College in Waco.

* Rosco Punching Machine: Made by F.P. Rosback Co., Benton Harbor, Michigan. This hand-operated machine was designed to punch holes in pieces of paper. It came from Paul Quinn College in Waco.

* Two Staplers: Made by Boston Wire Stitcher Co., East Greenwich, R.I.: pat. April 16, 1906. The printer used the staplers in order to staple several sheets of paper together in the middle or at the edge to form a pamphlet or booklet.

* Embossing or Stamping Machine: Made by Gane Bros. And Lane, Chicago and St. Louis. This heat press was used for stamping or embossing gold lettering or designs on the leather cover of a book.

* Small stapler: Made by G.L. Pfouts and Co., Philadelphia: pat. September 13, 1887. This small stapler is similar in design and function to the larger pedestal models in the shop.

* Mustang Mailer: Made by Pavyer Printing Machine Works, St. Louis. The Mustang Mailer was designed to imprint addresses on the newspaper before mailing. An advertisement in 1905 states, "Prints direct on the paper. It uses type. No loose slips. No lost paper. For sale by all dealers."

* Punch: Made by Booram and Pease L.L.B: pat. January 12, 1904. This model is the #2 Standard, single-hole punch.

* Slug Cutter: Made by H.B. Rouse and Co., Chicago: the "American" model. A slug is a piece of metal, usually one-half inch high (less than a line of type), used to space between lines when the printer needs to fill out a column.

This is a working print shop. Richard Mauk, who has been in the printing business since 1946, is the printer at Old City Park. He uses the old-fashioned letterpress and hand sets the type on the antique presses to print all kinds of invitations, programs, notices, etc.-all proceeds going to OCP. He interrupts this work to welcome and educate tours about the antique equipment. He takes special pains for groups of school children, having each child print a card on a small press.

Richard knows his Craft: he started with The Independence Examiner in Independence, Missouri, after serving with the occupation forces in Japan at the end of World War II.

Ormwell Clark, Family History
By Raymond L. Story
O
rmwell Clark (born 1803) married Jane McAlister, and they lived on a plantation in Atlanta, Georgia during the Civil War. They were slave-holders and their children were cared for by Negro mammies. Three boys and two girls were born to them: Adolphus (1845), Florence (1848), Columbus O. (1850), Helen L. (1853), and Lafayette “Charlie” in 1856.

When Atlanta was seized by the northern army the Clarks sold everything, freed the slaves, and started west in covered wagons. Unfortunately, they had accepted Confederate money, and when they arrived in Texas, the War was over and the money worthless. They were broke and had to sell a team to have money to live. They settled in Erath County southwest of Fort Worth and there Ormwell died of pneumonia, leaving Jane a widow with five children in a wilderness with marauding Indians still about. The family dug his grave at night beside the house: the Indians must not know that the man of the house had died.

Adolphus married in Erath County and lived there many years before moving to the Dallas area. Jane and four children moved to Dallas County about a mile and a half north of present-day downtown Ir-ving. This site is the southwest corner of present-day Highway 183 and Britain Road, and consisted of seventy-five acres of land.

Jane and the children built a two-room house on the farmland, a large room with a fireplace and a smaller shed room on the back, with a porch in front. The foun-dation was split logs laid flat, with flooring later laid on the logs. The homeplace was just west of the nursing home currently on Shoaf Drive, with the entrance through a wooden gate on Lane Street. The original old road wandered across the property be-fore fences were built, and it was impassable in wet weather. Once fences were required, the property owners aligned the roads from Lane to Colonial, Colonial to Highway 183, west to Toler Lane, and then to Metker, with each bordering property-owner giving his portion of the right-of-way.

Oldest daughter Florence married a Mr. Lively, who was associated with the first school. Helen mar-ried Thomas Story, son of pioneer Jonathon Story, and they became my grandparents. When Columbus (C.O.) married Mary Ellen, sister of Thomas, in 1877, Jane and son Charlie moved to land they had secured to the north and left C.O. and his bride the homeplace, where he and Mary lived until 1912. Seven children were born there, and some died there of what is now called tuberculosis, contracted from a visitor. The children were Alfred (1878), Rosa (1879), Cora Belle (1882), August Ormwell (1884), Carrie Jewel (1887), Mary Jannette (1890), and Mable Pearl (1903).

As the family grew, rooms were added to the house: first, two on the east and later, two rooms and a small porch on the west. It was rented in the early 1930s when it burned down from a fire caused by children left alone. The founda-tion logs burned for several days and the loss was a terrible shock to C.O., for whom many precious memories of love, work, birth, marriage, and death, went up in flames. He had retired from farm-ing and moved closer to Irving and the schools, to six acres where he gardened, and where he died in 1938. Adolphus, another Clark son, also stayed his life-time in the Irving vicinity.

Of the children of C.O. and Mary, Alfred married Pearl Michell; Rosa, N.J. Lanotte; Cora Belle, Gustave Voirin (a descendant of the La Reunion settlement); Mary J., Clarence Bowland; and Mable, James H. Crockett. Mary died in 1909, Carrie in 1910, and Cora in 1912. Cora and husband Gus were living in Telluride, Colorado when she died, leaving him with five children, one an infant and one a two-year-old. Gus brought these two youngest back to Ir-ving, where the baby soon died and the other child grew up under the care of her grandparents and Aunt Mable.

Ormwell Clark, Family History
By Raymond L. Story
O
rmwell Clark (born 1803) married Jane McAlister, and they lived on a plantation in Atlanta, Georgia during the Civil War. They were slave-holders and their children were cared for by Negro mammies. Three boys and two girls were born to them: Adolphus (1845), Florence (1848), Columbus O. (1850), Helen L. (1853), and Lafayette “Charlie” in 1856.

When Atlanta was seized by the northern army the Clarks sold everything, freed the slaves, and started west in covered wagons. Unfortunately, they had accepted Confederate money, and when they arrived in Texas, the War was over and the money worthless. They were broke and had to sell a team to have money to live. They settled in Erath County southwest of Fort Worth and there Ormwell died of pneumonia, leaving Jane a widow with five children in a wilderness with marauding Indians still about. The family dug his grave at night beside the house: the Indians must not know that the man of the house had died.

Adolphus married in Erath County and lived there many years before moving to the Dallas area. Jane and four children moved to Dallas County about a mile and a half north of present-day downtown Irving. This site is the southwest corner of present-day Highway 183 and Britain Road, and consisted of seventy-five acres of land.

Jane and the children built a two-room house on the farmland, a large room with a fireplace and a smaller shed room on the back, with a porch in front. The foundation was split logs laid flat, with flooring later laid on the logs. The homeplace was just west of the nursing home currently on Shoaf Drive, with the entrance through a wooden gate on Lane Street. The original old road wandered across the property before fences were built, and it was impassable in wet weather. Once fences were required, the property owners aligned the roads from Lane to Colonial, Colonial to Highway 183, west to Toler Lane, and then to Metker, with each bordering property-owner giving his portion of the right-of-way.

Oldest daughter Florence married a Mr. Lively, who was associated with the first school. Helen married Thomas Story, son of pioneer Jonathon Story, and they became my grandparents. When Columbus (C.O.) married Mary Ellen, sister of Thomas, in 1877, Jane and son Charlie moved to land they had secured to the north and left C.O. and his bride the homeplace, where he and Mary lived until 1912. Seven children were born there, and some died there of what is now called tuberculosis, contracted from a visitor. The children were Alfred (1878), Rosa (1879), Cora Belle (1882), August Ormwell (1884), Carrie Jewel (1887), Mary Jannette (1890), and Mable Pearl (1903).

As the family grew, rooms were added to the house: first, two on the east and later, two rooms and a small porch on the west. It was rented in the early 1930s when it burned down from a fire caused by children left alone. The foundation logs burned for several days and the loss was a terrible shock to C.O., for whom many precious memories of love, work, birth, marriage, and death, went up in flames. He had retired from farming and moved closer to Irving and the schools, to six acres where he gardened, and where he died in 1938. Adolphus, another Clark son, also stayed his lifetime in the Irving vicinity.

Of the children of C.O. and Mary, Alfred married Pearl Michell; Rosa, N.J. Lanotte; Cora Belle, Gustave Voirin (a descendant of the La Reunion settlement); Mary J., Clarence Bowland; and Mable, James H. Crockett. Mary died in 1909, Carrie in 1910, and Cora in 1912. Cora and husband Gus were living in Telluride, Colorado when she died, leaving him with five children, one an infant and one a two-year-old. Gus brought these two youngest back to Irving, where the baby soon died and the other child grew up under the care of her grandparents and Aunt Mable.