History of Dallas - Industrial Period (1874-1929)

Industrial Period (1874-1929)

The Industrial Period saw Dallas grow from a center of farming and ranching into a major, self-sustaining industrial city. The industrial growth in Dallas formed partially out of problems hurting Dallas area farmers: After buying supplies on credit during the year, farmers owed merchants the majority of their crop. Costs to ship to the coast were very high, and the price of cotton was dropping.

By 1880, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, under the leadership of Jay Gould, reached Dallas. In 1888, the Dallas Zoo opened making it the first zoological garden in the state. In 1890, Dallas annexed the city of East Dallas, which was larger geographically than Dallas. The annexation made Dallas the most populous city in Texas. In 1893, following the national financial panic, numerous industries and five Dallas banks failed. Cotton prices dipped below five cents a pound, and the lumber and flour markets had all but vanished, so many people began leaving the city. By 1898, the city began to recover and grow again. In 1894, Parkland Memorial Hospital opened just west of Oak Lawn. In 1903, Oak Cliff, a city across the Trinity River, was annexed.

By the turn of the 20th century Dallas was the leading drug, book, jewelry, and wholesale liquor market in the Southwestern United States. It also quickly became the center of trade in cotton, grain, and even buffalo. It was the world's leading inland cotton market, and it still led the world in manufacture of saddlery and cotton gin machinery. As it further entered the 20th century, Dallas transformed from an agricultural center to a center of banking, insurance, fashion retailing and other businesses, including the founding of Neiman Marcus and the now-defunct A. Harris and Sanger Brothers ready-to-wear stores.

In 1908, the Trinity River reached a depth of 52.6 feet (16.03 m) and a width of 1.5 miles (2.4 km). Five people died, 4,000 were left homeless, and property damages were estimated at US$2.5 million. After the flood, the city wanted to find a way to control the reckless Trinity and to build a bridge linking Oak Cliff and Dallas. In 1911, George Kessler, a city planner, created a plan for both the Trinity and the city. His plans were initially ignored but ultimately brought back, updated, in the 1920s and by the 1930s many of his plans had been realized.

An important neighborhood for the birth of the Mexican American communinty in Dallas began around 1910. Little Mexico began as a Polish Jewish neighborhood at the turn of the 20th century, Mexicans began coming to the area after the defeat of President Porfirio Diaz and his government and the start of the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920). Mexicans from all walks of life came to the Dallas area to take jobs in factories, agriculture and the railroads. As the local population of mostly Jews moved out, Mexicans replaced them and grew in numbers. It encompassed the area bordered by Maple Avenue, McKinney Avenue and the MKT (Missouri, Kansas, Texas) Railroad.

In 1911, Dallas became the location of the eleventh regional branch of the Federal Reserve Bank and millionaire Dr. William Worthington Samuell, purchased the first ambulance for the city of Dallas and later donated thousands to expand Parkland Hospital. Aviation became a major issue in the city in World War I. Love Field was established as an aviation training ground, and Fair Park was the home of Camp Dick, a training facility as well. The city purchased Love Field in 1927 to use as a municipal airport. and in 1915, Southern Methodist University opened.