Directory-related Articles, Dallas County, Texas
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(Updated December 6, 2004)

 

1891
The New City Directory.

     The publishers of the city directory, having completed their canvass, request all persons that have made changes in their firms, business or residence locations, also all new residents who have located since the names were taken, to notify them at once, in order that the proper address may appear in the directory. Address: Morrison & Fourmy, box 124, city.

- June 19, 1891, Dallas Daily Times Herald, p. 5, col. 5.
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1893
THE CITY DIRECTORY.

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Dallas Has a Population of 64,000 with
255 Smiths.

     Morrison & Fourmy's new directory for Dallas for 1893 is a most valuable book of reference and should be found in every business house of the metropolis. It is a complete and classified business directory and many improvements have been added, not found in its predecessors. It gives the population of Dallas at 64,337, and the publishers are gentlemen who are very accurate in their estimates. The study of names is a delightful one to many people who have nothing else to do. The Smith family carry off the palm in Dallas. There are 255 Smiths in the directory, without counting the Smythes, Schmidtzs or Schmids. The Johnsons come next. They number 192 without going behind the returns. The Williams family are not slow. One hundred and sixty-nine of the family of that name dwells in the metropolis that rests upon the banks of the placid Trinity. And then comes "a party by the name of Jones." He is 156 strong. The Browns, the hereditary rivals of the Smiths, take fifth place. It was nip and tuck between them in by-gone days. There are 123 Browns in the city who were counted. The Thomas family have 85 representative and the Thompsons, 69. The new directory is a valuable book. For other information, see the book.

- January 7, 1893, Dallas Daily Times Herald, p. 8, col. 3.
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1904
PUBLISHING
A DIRECTORY

_______

The Care Taken to Compile City's
List of Residents.

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EVERY HOME VISITED
_______

Twenty Persons are Employed in Pre-
paring the Dallas Directory.
80,000 Names in it.

     The publishers of the Dallas City Directory have been as busy as bees for the past several months, compiling data for the edition which will soon be ready for distribution. The Dallas directory contains more names than any other in the state. The Houston directory is, in appearance, very much larger, but this increase in bulk and size is due to the heavy paper used and the large amount of advertising matter distributed throughout the book.
     A Times Herald representative visited the printing establishment where the directory is compiled and published for the purpose of learning of the detail and method used in preparing a work of this magnitude and necessary accuracy.
     The directory is published annually and requires the services of about twenty people for three to four months to complete it. The books are sold by subscription only and about two thousand of them are printed in each edition.
     The canvass of the city is conducted in the following way: The city is divided up into districts and each district is in charge of a chief, whose duty it is to see that the men working under his direction make a thorough and systematic canvass of every house in his district. Each canvasser is supplied with a tablet of small slips of paper about six inches long and three inches wide, upon which, he writes the name and occupation, together with the address of every man and woman, if employed or engaged in any business, in the district to which he may be assigned. A street is selected, and every house upon it is visited until the end is reached, and then the opposite side is worked in the same way, until every street and alley in the various [districts] have been canvassed.
     This completes the actual field work, and the result of the canvassers' labors is then taken in hand by compilers who assort them alphabetically, and also according to streets. After this, the names are next assorted according to their proper position under each letter.
     If a house is vacant or there is no one at home, a form for such purposes is filled out and a record kept of the circumstance and a second visit is made after the canvass has been completed. Just before the book goes to press, a visit is made to every house which has been listed as vacant in order to get the names of the late occupants, if possible.
     The Dallas directory, in point of completeness and typographical neatness and beauty, has no superior in America. Mr. Worley has a directory exchange in which the directories of the leading cities of the country are kept, and none of them compare to the Dallas directory.
     There are many people who are doubtless sincere in what they say, but who simply don't know, who contend that once in four or five years is often enough to publish a directory. The fact is, however, that in order to keep a city directory in anything like an accurate condition, it should be published semi-annually, according to experts in the business.
     The directory in this city is published once a year, and notwithstanding the fact that four months are required for its preparation, leaving only eight months for its use, the changes that must be made are surprising. Even in the most prominent business streets, hundreds of changes must be made, and in some instances, an entire street is wiped out, not a single name or address remaining the same.
     The advertising in a directory is, of course, a very remunerative feature, and in some places, affords sufficient revenue to pay for the expense of publication.
     There are three classifications in the Dallas directory: first, the street; second, the names arranged alphabetically and third, the classified business directory. There is also much information, such as is required in offices and business houses constantly, and in a business way, fulfills the place of an encyclopaedia in its field of usefulness.
     There will be names enough in the directory shortly to be issued to show that Dallas has a population of 85,000 inhabitants; by far, the largest city in the city.

- January 31, 1904, Dallas Daily Times Herald, p. 14, col. 4.
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1909
WORLEY COMPILES
NEW DALLAS GUIDE

_______

Includes Every Available Kind of
Information.

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WILL SUPPLY THE POLICE
_______

City Makes Order for Its Blue-Coat De-
partment -- Some Interesting
Features.

     A long-felt want has been filled by the John F. Worley Directory company of this city, in the publishing of an information guide for Dallas. Its official name, "Worley's Information Guide," and below the words "Ask Me About Dallas and Texas," is self-explanatory. The new guide contains about seventy-five pages, contains a street map of Dallas, including all the street railway systems, and information of value to the stranger, and is a book that every citizen should possess.
     To illustrate the practicability of this booklet in its map of the Akard street line, the following information is given: Staring point corner Lamar and Main. Route, Lamar to Commerce, to Akard, to Corinth, to Cockrell avenue. Cars run every ten minutes, round trip 30 minutes for 3.55 miles. Cars pass Cotton Belt and Santa Fe depots, Sherman Interurban station, Southland, Oriental and St. George hotels, city hall and within one block of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas and Texas and Pacific depots, Imperial hotel and county court house and within two blocks of postoffice.
     There is not a line of advertising between the covers of the guide. The city of Dallas put a copy in the hands of every policeman, and the street car company will supply its conductors. It is just one of those little things that go to build up Dallas. It contains an up-to-date and correct map of the city, showing the Dallas-Fort Worth and Sherman-Dallas Interurban lines. It will be a permanent feature and every year will be added to in information.
     "Look at Dallas and See Her Grow" is made a prominent feature of the book. It contains a list of streets of the city and their location. It tells of the opportunities of Dallas and of Texas, their resources, population and wealth. Under the head of "Dallas the Metropolis," it gives a list of the many reasons why Dallas is the leading city of the South. Following is a list of baggage transfers, banks, benevolent and fraternal organizations, public and office buildings, cemeteries, churches, clubs, depots and fire alarm boxes. In addition, is given a list of emergency calls, express companies, hack and taxicab rates, hospitals and homes, hotels, military organizations, newspapers and publications, parks, location of police telegraph boxes, postoffice and branches, railroads, etc. There is a list, also, of Texas holidays, theaters and United States government offices.
     Mr. Worley intends putting these guides on all Texas trains. Several large business firms have placed orders for the convenience of their patrons.

- April 4, 1909, Dallas Daily Times Herald, Sec. II, p. 5, col. 4.
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DIRECTORY FOR 1909
READY NEXT MONTH

     John F. Worley announced this morning that the Dallas directory for 1909 will be ready for distribution by May 1. It is now on the press and will be in the hands of the citizens of Dallas not later than May 10. Asked as to the probable showing from a population standpoint, Mr. Worley stated that he did not believe it a wise measure to give fictitious figures. "However, you can safely say for me," he said, "that the directory will how a population of 100,000. This is a very conservative estimate and is bona fide. The city, during the last year, has shown an unusual and an unprecedented growth. There has been practically a new city built within the corporate limits during the last year in the resident district, in addition to the remarkable growth in the downtown business section."

- April 4, 1909, Dallas Daily Times Herald, Sec. II, p. 12, col. 2.
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1911
NEW DIRECTORY
ISSUED MONDAY

_______

TELEPHONE GUIDE WILL CONTAIN
19,873 NAMES, AN INCREASE OF
1,040 OVER LAST DIRECTORY.

________

SOME CHANGES NOTED
_______

All Rural Subscribers Will Be Served
From Haskel Exchange -- There
Are 22,000 Books in New
Issue.

     The new Dallas telephone directory will be distributed Monday. In it, are listed 19,873 names, representing 18,800 subscribers, an increase of 1,040 since the previous directory.
     As the new book is delivered, the old books will be collected. They will be destroyed by the company. Heretofore, the use of antiquated telephone directories has been a continued source of annoyance to subscribers who do not get the person with whom they desire to communicate.
     Many numbers are changed during the summer months by reason of the number of telephones ordered out by subscribers leaving the city for the vacation. Many others have moved from one section of the city to another, and so, in a different exchange radius, they are listed differently. Over 1,500 such changes are recorded. All rural or farmer line subscribers will, hereafter, be served from the Haskell exchange, instead of from Cliff or Edgewood, as before, and so, those listings have been altered.
     The new issue of the Southwestern directory for Dallas is of 22,000. The books, piled on top of another, would make a monument over 800 feet high, taller than any office building in the world. The ink required for printing, if used as a pigment for paint, would be sufficient to color the outside walls of every building in the down town section of the city. More than a carload of white paper was required for this edition of the directory, in which are listed all business men and firms and 90 per cent of the residences which would rent for more than $25 a month.
     These directories are issued three times each year. The new book lists all telephone users whose names were on the company books September 15. In the interest of good service, it is requested that subscribers invariably refer to the directory before calling, that numbers may be verified.

- October 5, 1911, Dallas Daily Times Herald, p. 3, col. 1.
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1921

 - May 25, 1921, Dallas Daily Times Herald, p. 9, col. 6-7.


RURAL DIRECTORY TO
BE COMPLETED SOON

________

     A complete record of every resident of rural delivery routes out of Dallas will be completed soon and alphabetically listed, according to Hamilton W. Wills, who, with Emmett W. Marshall, is preparing a volume to be known as Marshall's Parcel Post Rural Route Directory. The volume will give the name of every resident on the 11 rural route out of Dallas and an approximate location of residence. Rural routes extend about 30 miles from Dallas and the directory will include more than 3,000 names. Copies will be given to each person listed.
     The directory will be completed about June 15, according to Mr. Wills.

- May 25, 1921, Dallas Daily Times Herald, p. 7, col. 2.
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1923
SPENDS 46 YEARS
IN TEXAS PRINTING
CITY DIRECTORIES

_________

J. W. FOURMY KNEW
EARLY JOURNALISTS

_________

BESET WITH ALL THE TRIALS
AND TRIBULATIONS OF A
YOUNG PRINTER.

Special to the News.
   W
ACO, Texas, Dec. 22.-- Long before the advent of the typesetting machine or the perfecting press in Texas, J. V. Fourmy of Houston was engaged in the business of compiling and publishing city directories in this and adjoining States. Forty-six of the fifty-one years he has spent in Texas have been devoted to this work. The Waco 1923-24 city directory is being issued by his firm.
    Since he started his career as a printer or compositor, it was only natural that the publishing business should have had a strong appeal for him. Born in Franklin, La., June 17, 1849, his first visit to Texas was made in 1861, when his father brought the family to Brazoria County as Civil War refugees. After leaving a military academy in Louisiana, Mr. Fourmy began serving his apprenticeship in his native town in 1863. During a part of 1868 and in 1869, he worked on the Sugar Bowl and Cotton Boll, a weekly paper printed at New Iberia, La., half in French, the other half in English. In 1870, he journeyed to New Orleans, and there he worked as a printer on three of the daily papers then in existence in the Crescent City, the Bee, Picayune and Courier. It was in 1870 that he joined the New Orleans Typographical Union.

Works on Republican Daily.
     Two years later, Mr. Fourmy located in Houston and his first work in that city was on the old Union and Mercury, the only Republican daily then printed in Texas. He continued with that paper until it suspended publication in 1873. Then, he went into the job office of the Telegraph, a Houston morning paper. It was in 1874 that Mr. Fourmy took over the Houston Age, his first venture as a publisher. The Age, at that time, was a weekly and Mr. Fourmy converted it into an afternoon paper and published by him as such for a year. He became a traveling solicitor for the Telegraph in 1875 and early in 1876, he acquired a half interest in the East Texas Patron, published at Crockett, with an agreement to purchase at the end of six months. He severed his connection with the paper before the time limit of his option had expired.
    Later in 1876, with four others, Mr. Fourmy founded his first paper, the Morning Telegram of Houston. Associated with him in this enterprise were A. C. Gray, Ernest Pfeifer, Bill Black and Theodore Bering. This paper existed for three years, when it was merged with another daily in Houston.

Faces Tribulations.
     All of the trials and tribulations that came in the early days in Texas to the youth who had determined to be a printer, or the young man who assayed the role of newspaper publisher and owner, beset Mr. Fourmy. His own recital of these is best:
    "I had an agreement," he said, "that my apprenticeship as a compositor should continue for six months without any salary attached while I was learning the trade. At the end of that period, my employer refused to allow me any compensation unless I should remain with him for a year, and, coupled with this, was his declination to pay me anything until the twelve months should expire. I left his employ as soon as he made known his intention toward me.
    "I had made good in the publication of an afternoon paper in Houston, the material used belonging to another party and leased to me, and the prospects were the best that my imagination could conjure, when one afternoon, just after I had 'put the paper to bed,' the owner of the material very coolly, and without the slightest formality, informed me that the paper had been sold to other parties. I had no chance to buy, the paper was just taken away from me.
    "My interest in the morning paper I had in Houston was disposed of without my [knowledge] or consent. I had promised the party who was most active in his efforts to secure the stock of myself and several of my associates that I would make it cost him $50,000 before he could secure a controlling interest; later on, after he had outwitted me, he reminded me of what I had told him, and then he volunteered the information that it had cost him $119,000. This party, after he had bought the stock, attempted to prevent us from issuing our paper, but we kept the paper going for three months, when we were forced to succumb to the inevitable.
    "I can recall one squally period that we had while trying to issue our paper. Two policemen had been sent to the office to prevent us from getting out the paper, but we outgeneraled them; we led them to the door, hastily closed and locked it; then we printed the paper."

Still Honorary Member.
     Mr. Fourmy, whose card was "deposited" with the Houston Typographical Union in 1872, and who is still an honorary member of that union, began his career as a compiler and publisher of city directories in 1877. He has remained with it continuously since that time, and he has been identified with this industry longer than anyone else in the Southwest, and probably in the South. He became associated in 1877 with the late C. D. Morrison, the firm being known as Morrison & Fourmy, Mr. Morrison, a native of Oswego, N. Y., came to Houston from Topeka, Kan., in 1876, and Mr. Fourmy set type on the first Houston directory, which was published in 1876.
    The first city directory issued jointly by Messrs. Morrison and Fourmy was for the city of San Antonio and it was printed in the office of the Galveston News in 1877. All of the compiling and soliciting was done by Messrs. Morrison and Fourmy, without any assistance.
    The first city directory of Dallas, published by Morrison & Fourmy, was for the years, 1878-79.
    It was in 1902 that the firm was chartered and known as the Morrison & Fourmy Directory Company, Inc. The partnership between Messrs. Morrison and Fourmy continued for thirty-eight years, or until the death of Mr. Morrison, eight years ago. Since the death of Mr. Morrison, the business has been carried on under the name of the Morrison & Fourmy Directory Company, Inc., R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers and Compilers. With the exception of the first few years of the more than four and a half decades that Mr. Fourmy has given to the directory publishing business, he has devoted all of his time to the soliciting end of the enterprise.

Compiles Directories.
     At one time, Morrison & Fourmy were compiling and printing directories for fourteen cities, as follows: Galveston, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, Fort Worth, Waco, Austin, Shreveport, Sherman, Denison, Gainesville, Corsicana, Paris and Beaumont. Mr. Fourmy's firm now issues directories for Galveston, Houston, Fort Worth, Waco, Austin and Beaumont.
    The only directory ever compiled and published by Morrison & Fourmy for other than a Southern city was the one issued by them in 1881 for Keokuk, Iowa, which was done by them in response to a special request from the city authorities of Keokuk in that year.
     Like files of old newspapers, an unbroken chain of city directories extending over a period of nearly fifty years, is frequently of great value, as was demonstrated recently. In his office in Houston, Mr. Fourmy has a copy of every directory published by Morrison & Fourmy, beginning with the year 1877.
     Just a short time ago, a prominent law firm in Fort Worth was engaged in the trial of an important civil case, and it was essentially necessary that copies of the city directory of Fort Worth for three consecutive years of the period, including the early days of that city, should be obtained.
     "I received a letter from this firm, long patrons of our firm, and each member of the firm a personal friend of mine," said Mr. Fourmy, "offering $100 apiece for the books if they could be had. I wired back that the books were in my office; that money could not buy them, but that the books would be loaned to the firm if they would guarantee to protect them and return them to me when the trial of the case was ended. This assurance was readily given, the books were promptly forwarded, and they were a material factor in the case, which was won by the Fort Worth law firm. This case is now on appeal.
    For one so long a resident of Texas as Mr. Fourmy has been, and having been so intimately connected with the printing and publishing business, it is only natural that he should have a clear recollection of some of the most noted early-day journalists in this State. He first became acquainted with the late Col. A. H. Belo in 1877. "I recall Colonel Belo," said Mr. Fourmy, "as a man who had one of the most attractive personalities of any man I ever came in contact with. Colonel Belo, then a resident of Galveston and at the head of The Galveston News, owned for so many years by the Belo interests, always manifested the keenest interest in the welfare of his employes, whom he treated with the most marked courtesy.
    "I was well acquainted with the late Tom W. Dealey, for so many years the business manager and secretary of the corporation. I first knew him at a time when George B. Dealey, the present president of A. H. Belo & Co., Inc., was with the Galveston News. I remember on one occasion that George Dealey and I were busily engaged in dissecting a large watermelon in Dallas, this being shortly after he had been sent to Dallas to assist in establishing The Dallas Morning News, and I recall a part of our conversation at that time, when I remarked to him: 'George, Tom has given you the opportunity to make The Dallas Morning News the greatest newspaper in the South, and I expect to live to see you do it. And I have," said Mr. Fourmy. The late Major R. G. Lowe, for so many years one of the chiefs of The News; John Hand, mechanical superintendent, and one of the owners, and others connected with the Galveston News of nearly half a century ago, are easily recalled by Mr. Fourmy. "Uncle Charlie" Martin, on the staff of The Dallas News for many years, was an editorial writer on the Houston Telegraph when Mr. Fourmy was one of the owners of that paper.

Resident of Galveston.
     Though Houston has been Mr. Fourmy's home for many years, he was a resident of Galveston for about thirty-five years. His home on Ninth and Church streets, Galveston, was the only one in forty-two blocks that was not carried away by the storm that swept over the Island City on Sept. 8, 1900. The same house was also in the storms of 1919 and 1915. Mr. Fourmy is still the owner of this property.
    His grandfather, the late Colonel James Campbell, of Brazoria County, and with whom the Fourmys made their home, when they were forced to leave Louisiana, in 1861, is easily recalled by Mr. Fourmy. Colonel Campbell was the owner of a large plantation in Brazoria County, near Columbia, and an intimate friend of Gail Borden I., who was then also a resident of Brazoria County, more than half a century ago.
    Even before the Civil War, Mr. Borden was experimenting with methods of preserving sweet milk, to the extent of where it might be kept indefinitely. Colonel Campbell was always dubious of the success that might attend the efforts of his friend Borden, and had no hesitancy in so expressing himself. Mr. Borden had only the crudest utensils with which to pursue his experiments, but he was never disconcerted by the criticism of his friend Campbell, his invariable reply being: "I'll make a success of it, Jim, before I quit." After he had perfected the process for producing condensed milk, he moved to New York, where he acquired great wealth and a national reputation.
    Today, four years beyond the allotted three-score and ten, Mr. Fourmy appears as active as ever in his work as directory compiler. He puts in a full day's work with the same ease and ability manifested by many men his junior, and he has a large acquaintanceship in practically every large city in the State.

- December 23, 1923, The Dallas Morning News,
Pt. 6, p. 5, col. 1-2.
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1925
Added December 5, 2004:

C. E. Gillespie of Dallas, who compiled one of the first city directories ever made in Dallas and who lost $250 on the venture.


Lost $250, But Got
Railroad Pass

______

In 1881 C. B. Gillespie of Dallas
Compiled Second City Directory
and Got Little for His Trouble

By Fred Ball

     Six months' work for a railroad pass and a loss of $250 would be considered mighty small pay for the average white-collared worker of today. But, C. B. Gillespie of Dallas took this remuneration for his work in organizing one of the first city directories of the city and county of Dallas, way back in 1881, and was glad to get it.
     "Well, it wasn't such a hard job," he said, as he turned the time worn copy of his handiwork over in his hand and looked at its yellowed pages.
     "In those days, I was Assistant County Tax Collector and had access to the tax rolls of the county. To make a list of the people who owned property was a simple matter from these rolls. We worked pretty faithfully for a while, compiling the material that went into that directory, and had visions of rich returns from our labor. The sum total of our recompense amounted to a $250 deficit and a railroad pass over the H. & T. C. Railroad, that saved my wife from being honeymoonless."
     The particular city directory in question is the property of Charles Rohner Jr., and has, aside from its age, some interesting history connected with it. Mr. Rohner found the book in a trash pile in 1892, where it had been thrown as rubbish. Sensing the possibility of its future value and interest, he salvaged it, and has kept it carefully in his personal files. The book shows clearly its age, but not so clearly as one that came to light sometime after the Rohner directory was produced.

The directory of 1877 -- so far as is known the first city directory ever published in Dallas. It antedated the one published by Mr. Gillespie some years.

Directory of 1877.
     The older book was published in 1877, and is probably the first directory published in the city of Dallas. It is so old, that its pages can scarcely be handled for fear that they will crumble into dust. Its leather back has long ago worn out.
     In comparison with a directory of the city of 1923, the directory of 1877 looks like a child's story book, being only about one-tenth as thick and containing only about 15,000 names, as compared with the 116,078 names that appear in the 1923 edition. In the 1881 directory, it is stated that there were between 17,000 and 19,000 people in the county at that time.

The Jones Family.
     There is one family in the county that has showed a surprising growth during the time that has elapsed between the publication of the 1877 directory and the 1923 directory. That is the Jones family. In 1877, there were only twenty members of this illustrious family in the entire county, but this number had increased to thirty-one in 1881, and by the time that the 1923 directory had been published, there were 1,178 Joneses in the city of Dallas alone.

And the Smiths.
     There is another old family, equally prominent, that, while it started with a slight advantage over the Jones family, has kept up the family tradition, and is now numbered among the largest in the entire city. In 1877, there were thirty-four Smiths in the entire county. In 1881, there were forty-six, and in 1923, there were thirty-two and a half columns in the directory that contained nothing but the names of the Smith family. Figuring roughly 56 names to the columns, there should be about 1,720 Smiths in Dallas alone. Not so bad for a single family.

Suggestive Names.
     It is with a little hesitancy that the writer attempts the next paragraph. For fear that the tears will gush too freely at the mere mention of a now dead institution, the news will be broken as gently as possible. Mechanics' Hall, the Wine Hall, the Morning Star, the New Idea, the Grange, the Health Office, the Little House Around the Corner, the Texas Exchange, the Mint, Tivoli Hall, the Centennial Saloon (there, the cat is out of the bag!) the Senate, the Ocean Sample Room, Tidal Wave -- the writer must stop. It is too much to ask that any one read further and still restrain themselves. Simply, this is a list of saloons that were in existence in Dallas in 1877. The sore spot will be pressed no more.

Earliest Booster.
     Apparently, Dallas, even from its earliest beginnings, has been populated by boosters, for in the directory of 1877, the publishers go to some length to point out to prospective citizens the advantages of the city. Going back even to the first settler, history shows him to have been one of the biggest boosters of all time. Let the historical preface of the book speak for itself:
     "Every great town must have its first man -- some original locator. We are content, with others, not to try to antedate November, 1841, and attribute the honor to Colonel John Neeley Bryan -- the Nimrod of our little Babylon. Solitary and alone in that year, the Colonel took up his abode in what is now the city of Dallas. He was rich and did not know it -- unconscious, of course, that his name was to be handed down to posterity as the founder of a great city.

Colonel John Neely Bryan.
     "The hardy pioneer came in advance of his people, endeavoring to persuade civilization to follow his footsteps. Here he remained, as we are told, for the space of six months, with no one to share his sorrows and his confidences, nor to disturb him of his rest. He built for himself such a cabin as is common to pioneers, and it requires no great exercise of the imagination for the hardy frontiersman to picture to himself the Colonel, seated in his cabin, resting from the labors of the chase, his rifle, ready for instant use, leaning against the corner of the house, and his trusty watchdog keeping vigilant guard over a quarter of buffalo that hangs dripping from the outer corner of his humble hut, and watching the sun sink to rest in that wonderful West, which seems to have been the objective of American civilization from the birth of the Nation, little dreaming, that in the near future, the tide of immigration, of which he was the "Avant Courier," would surge up, around and beyond his present location, and substituting, in their stead, cultivated fields, thriving towns, schools and churches, and a prosperous and contented population."
     There, you see it for yourself -- Col. Bryan's optimism about the future prospects of the county, and the spot that he had picked for his home may have been the start of the move that has made Dallas "The City of the Hour," but each succeeding generation has kept up his good work, as is reflected in the words of the writer of this rhapsodical preface to Dallas' first directory.

Coming of the Railroads.
     The preface goes on to recount the coming of the railroads -- how, in 1870, the Houston & Texas Central "was approaching;" how Col. Thomas A. Scott, "the railroad king of the United States," had decided to make Dallas the point of intersection for the Texas Pacific, and how a narrow-gauge line would reach from Cleburne, Southwest to the Rio Grande. Other roads were also mentioned as "possibilities."

Early Churches.
     Following the historical preface comes a list of the churches of the city. There were, in 1877, only seven listed as organized congregations. They were: The First Baptist Church, organized July 30, 1868, "by a presbytery of ministers composed of Elders W. W. Harris, J. T. Pinson, W. B. Long and W. J. Brown." The church began its activities without a church home, holding its meetings in the old Masonic Hall. In the year 1873, a church building was erected at the corner of Patterson and Sycamore streets.
     The second in the list of churches was the German Presbyterian Church that was organized Jan. 7, 1877, and held meetings at "the Market House."
     The Lamar Street Methodist Church South, the Rev. H. H. Neeley, pastor, was erected in 1867 and dedicated by Bishop D. S. Doggett in November, 1876. In 1877, it had a membership of 342.
     The Tabernacle Methodist Church, the Rev. L. H. Carhart, was organized by the pastor in April, 1874, and held meetings in the Odd Fellows' Hall until June of that year, when a temporary structure was built on Elm street. The congregation numbered about 100.
     The Cumberland Presbyterian Church, located on Jefferson street, two blocks north of Pacific avenue in 1865; the Congregation Emanuel, with its "Temple," located on Commerce, near Akard, was founded in 1875; the German Methodist Episcopal Church, located at the corner of Live Oak and Divine streets, was organized in 1873 and worshipped in the Market House until 1874, when a church building was constructed "on the present site."

Volunteer Fire Department.
     The city of Dallas was fairly modern, even in those "ancient" days, for W. C. Connor, Alex Sanger, W. J. Allen, and a number of men, whose names have figured prominently in the development of Dallas, and some of whom have since gone to their rest, gallantly led the fire "laddies" in the saving of homes and property.
     The Mail, the Dallas Herald and the Commercial told the people of the community, the happenings of the day, and were the forerunners of two of the great papers in Dallas at present.

Population in 1877.
     From a table that appears at the back of the book, it is gathered that there were 15,630 people living within the city in 1877, divided as follows: Males over 21, 4,097; females over 21 years, 3,299 (old maids were probably scarce); males over 14 years and under 21 years, 580; females over 14 years and under 21 years, 586; males over 7 years and under 14, 729; females over 7 years and under 14 years, 781; males under 7 years, 1,056; females under 7 years, 1,019. The remainder of the people were negroes.

Old Beer Gardens.
     Many amusing advertisements appear on the pages of the 1881 directory, and, in this day of national drouth, some will bring many happy recollections to the minds of the older citizens who used to enjoy "the largest beer hall this side of St. Louis, a handsome structure, centrally located, with best arranged hall in the land, a lovely garden filled with the choicest flowers and the rarest plants," where there were "none but proper characters admitted -- Mayer's beer garden."

"Only Democratic Paper."
     The Dallas Times, edited and owned by the late Col. William G. (Bill) Sterrett, is advertised as the only Democratic paper published in Dallas. This daily and weekly publication was the forerunner of The Dallas News, being absorbed by the A. H. Belo interests shortly after this advertisement appeared.

Interesting Comparison.
     In the entire county of Dallas, including the city of Dallas, there were recorded, in 1881, between 17,000 and 19,000 inhabitants. The floating debt of the county was approximately $100,000, which was later reduced to $25,535. The bonded indebtedness was $36,500, the average annual expenses, $47,500, the income for the preceding year, $75,000, and the present assessed value in 1881, was $9,663,000.
     Compare this with the 1923 figures: The population today, 232,156, within the city limits of Dallas, the bonded indebtedness in excess of $5,000,000, the estimated expense for 1923-24, $2,263,947.99, appropriated, leaving a balance unappropriated of $29,280.22; the total tax income of the city, $4,573,109.34, and the assessed value of Dallas city property, $188,193,800.

Reminiscences.
     "The men whose names that appear in the 1881 directory have, for the most part, passed on, Mr. Gillespie said. "Their sons and daughters are now the leading citizens of Dallas and occupy the places of their fathers with equal ability. Many of the old names recorded there are prominent, not only in this immediate vicinity, but they are known throughout the entire Nation.
     "I came here with my people when Dallas was just a village. The town was mostly located down around what is now the courthouse. Most of the stores were located on that square, and there was a grove of cedars just a few blocks up Main street, where I remember, very distinctly, attending a picnic with my parents.
     "Dallas County then had more than 12,000 acres in school lands yet unsold, with only 4,455 sold. It seems hardly possible that such a change has been affected in a short forty-two years.
     "The town, in 1882, did not extend much farther east than the H. & T. C. tracks, nor north, farther than Ross avenue. There was a great colony of Swiss people who had settled east of town, and many of their descendants still reside here.
     "The directory you have in your possession is the property of Mr. Rohner?" he asked. "His father was one of those early Swiss settlers. I remember him well.

Early Building Boom.
     "There was always a number of changes in location being made in the days when this directory came out. Old established firms were moving up toward what is now Ervay and Akard streets. The railroads were bringing in hundreds of homeseekers and building could scarcely keep up with the demands. We had gas lights that had to be turned on every night to light the streets, and a horse car line ran from about the courthouse, east up Main street.

First Electric Car Lines.
     "It was about 1882, that the street railway company decided to lay a cable line up Main street and dug a great trench right up the middle of it. About this time, electric street cars made their appearance and the cable line was abandoned. For many years, the great iron channels, through which the cable was to have run, lay rusting along Main street, even after the street had been graded off and the electric lines laid."
     In appearance, the directory of 1882 resembles that of 1923, with the exception of size. It did not carry any advertising down the side or middle of the page, but it had a classified advertisers' list in the back and a compilation of interesting facts about the city and county in the front.
     One of the different things about the 1882 book is that tenant farmers are listed apart from farmers.

"Duck Creek."
     The name Duck Creek appears for a town located fifteen miles northeast of Dallas on the Greenville Road. This is the present town of Garland. Mr. Gillespie recounts of how certain citizens of Duck Creek could not agree with certain others, and they decided that they could not live in peace in the same community. A new settlement was established along the railroad and it was called Embry [Embree]. Later, the warring factions made peace and joined the two settlements into the town of Garland.

Too Highbrow for Him.
     The street numbers running east and west did not correspond with those of today. For instance, 734 Commerce street was the corner of Commerce and Akard. A blacksmith shop was located at that number, and Mr. Gillespie tells that he just escaped a severe quarrel with the owner, one John Hermann, on account of the wording of the advertisement that appeared in the directory about his business.
     The argument arose over the wording of the following sentence: "Horseshoeing done scientifically and in accordance with the conformation of the hoof."
     An advertising man of the day, who wrote the copy for that ad, considered that he had turned out a piece of work of a very high order, but Hermann thought that he would lose customers because they would think that he was trying to "put on airs" and use language that they did not understand.
     The Dallas city directory of 1923 is nearly ten times as thick as that of 1882, and it is hard to estimate how much larger it is than that of 1877, on account of the condition of the older book. But, the comparison shows more clearly than anything else, just how rapid has been the growth of this city from a village to the largest city in North Texas.

Military Organizations.
     As an outgrowth of the Civil War and other troubles that had, from time to time, called for more complete protection, Dallas boasted of three military organizations in 1877 that were the pride of their home community.
     One was the Lamar Rifles, whose officers were Captain W. S. Odell, First Lieut. G. E. Felton, Second Lieut. S. D. Thruston and Third Lieut. G. C. Rivers.
     The Custer Light Horse, officered by Captain E. D. Groves, First Lieut. E. C. Ellis, Second Lieut. W. H. Anderson and Third Lieut. J. C. Bigger, was the second organization. It was, as the name implies, a mounted organization.
     The third and last organization was the Stonewall Grays, a rifle company, that had for its officer, E. G. Bowers, Captain; June Peak, First Lieutenant; Alex Scott, Second Lieutenant, and W. M. C. Hill, Third Lieutenant.
     These military organizations competed among themselves, and other similar companies over the State, for prizes offered for the best drilled company. Time after time, Dallas outfits carried off the prizes.
     The Lamar Rifles was the only company to survive until 1881, but there was a new organization that had made its appearance in the interim. This company was known as the Queen City Guards, and was organized in 1879, having a membership, in 1881, of forty-five. Captain George E. Felton commanded the company, and had for his subordinate officers, J. B. Marshal, First Lieutenant; S. Y. Trice, Second Lieutenant and J. H. McCabe, first sergeant.

- January 18, 1925, The Dallas Morning News, Part VII, p. 3.
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