New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 17

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416

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CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

The New Home of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce

Main Street "Canyon." Dallas Looking East from the Top of the Southland Hotel

Other Public Utilities

Dallas has more miles of direct service telephone and telegraph lines than any other city in the southwest and has the greatest telephone develop- ment per capita of any city in the world. 296 telephone toll and long distance circuits lead out of the city to nearly 2,500 cities and towns. This places Dallas with the three leading metropolitan centers of the United States in the matter of tele- phone development and service. Dallas is the head- quarters of the entire Southwest in the telegraph business. All the large telegraph companies have southwestern headquarters here, and there are only five cities in the Nation that do more telegraph business than Dallas. 351 telegraph circuits ter- minate here. Dallas has 160 miles of improved streets, many miles of boulevards, a million dollar concrete viaduct one and one-eighth miles long con- necting the city proper with Oak Cliff residential section, a big water filtration plant supplied thru a series of dams in the forks of the Trinity River and a reserve supply in the great White Rock Lake which forever dispell danger of water shortage or drought.

In educational and religious advantages, Dallas is second to none. The Southern Methodist University with its magnificent buildings is situated north of town on 2,660 acre tract. To this seat of learning come hundreds of young men and women from all parts of the south. The University of Dallas, a pre- mier College in this section, Baylor Medical College and the Baylor Dental College, and three nurses' schools, besides many vocational, music and fine arts schools give to the youths of Dallas as choice opportunities as are afforded by any locality.

DALLAS BANKING HISTORY By E. M. REARDON

Former President American Exchange National Bank

F ROM the standpoint of Banking, Dallas has en- joyed an era of con- servative, yet continual pro- gress. The history of Dallas banks extends over a period of half a century and in the memory of a number of citi- zens still active in Dallas circles, the banking business of Dallas was born.

Among the Beacon Lights of the banking history, who have been identified with the financial institutions of this city, is the venerable Royal A. Ferris, pioneer banker, who for half a century was actively associated with the banking business of the State, nearly forty years of which was with the Dallas Banking Institutions, having come to this city to live in 1884. Another pioneer banker still living is, William H. Gaston, who has been connected with the banking business here since 1870.

The T. C. Jourdan & Companys institution was superseded by the firm of Gaston & Camp, a private concern also, in 1870. Three years later, 1873, marked the beginning of Dallas' oldest Bank now operating-the City National Bank. In 1884 the Exchange Bank, a State Bank in its affiliation, was chartered and began business. In 1887 it was nationalized by Royal A. Ferris, then its Vice-Presi- dent, with Col. John A. Simpson, President, and was then known as the National Exchange Bank. In 1898, Mr. Ferris was called to succeed Col. Simp- son as president of the institution which in 1905 was consolidated with the American National Bank and the new name was taken by which it is now known to the public, The American Exchange National Bank. This is one of the most solid banks

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City National Bank Building, Devoted Exclusively to the Uses of the Bank

of the South. Mr. Ferris continued as its president until 1920, the year of his retirement. E. M. Reardon was chosen as his successor. Mr. Ferris had rounded

out fifty years in active banking service at the date of his resignation, the longest term of active service enjoyed by any living banker in Texas.

The American Exchange National Bank Building, Dallas, Home of Texas' Largest Banking Institution

The third oldest Dallas Bank is the National Bank of Commerce, chartered in 1889. As present charters run, next came the Dallas Trust & Savings Bank in 1903. In 1911 the Oak Cliff State Bank & Trust Company was organized. The Central State Bank and the Security National Bank in 1914 and the Dallas County State Bank in 1917. The year 1920 marked the beginning of two banks, one in its present form-The Dallas National Bank and the Guaranty Bank & Trust Company. The Dallas National Bank had enjoyed a splendid previous history as The Banking House of E. O. Tennison. The Guaranty Bank & Trust Company marked a new departure in banking hours, being popularly known as the "Day and Night Bank,"-the only one of its kind in the city. In 1919, the Liberty State Bank was organized. In 1919, the Security National Bank absorbed the First State Bank of this city and in 1921 this institution took the name of the Southwest National Bank. It is now North Texas National and has quarters in the Magnolia Building.

DALLAS, MEDICAL CENTER OF THE SOUTHWEST By EDWIN H. CARY, M. D., F. A. C. S.

Chairman, Staff Faculty and Advisory Board of Baylor University School of Medicine Ex-President, Southern Medical Association

I N this article, I shall not take up the personnel of the Medical Profession here, altogether their his- tories would no doubt prove interesting, for while some of our great men have already passed to their reward, many are yet living and laboring for us. So it is the movement and not the men back of it, that I shall review.

In 1900, Dallas was a city of approximately 40,000 people; she had a very ener- getic Medical Profession, and some members of whom were ambitious enough to dream of a medical school here, thinking they could establish as good a one as were existing elsewhere. Dr.Abraham Flexner had not at that time, investigated medical education, he had not written his book. And the people at large had not become alive to the fact that medical schools as such, were with few exceptions in the United States. owned by medical men, and were necessarily open to the charge of being run for professional aggrand- izement. This condition was entirely inconsistent with the high ideals of medical education now, which standards have been considerably raised.

When we stop to think that in 1994 there were approximately 160 medical schools in the United States with some 28,000 students, and know that at this time there are only about 75 medical schools and 13,000 students, some idea is gathered as to what had been happening to the schools in the past fifteen years. During this time of course, some 20,000,000 people have been added to the popula- tion of the United States, yet the number of medi- cal schools and students have steadily decreased. In Dallas, in 1904, there were four so-called medical schools, and the population had not materially in- creased beyond the figures given in the 1900 cen- sus.

It is not the purpose of the article to show just what were the influences that rid the country of so many aspiring institutions which seemed to have the interest of the public at heart; but we CAN say that it was brought about by the expression of the great body of medical men, through their society, the American Medical Association, advocating pub- licity, improvement of standards and adherence to ideals. There was no pressure brought to bear from outside; the medical men themselves have led the fight, and eliminated those medical schools which needed to be done away with.

The growth of Dallas in its population and wealth, with the gradual elimination of all medical schools except Baylor University School of Medicine, brought about two things: first, the members of the pro- fession found, with an enlarged clientele, that the personal element in the practice of medicine was being eliminated, and next that the profession seri- ously became interested in having a first class med- ical school in Dallas, regardless of whether or not

the individual had any part in it, because he was made a better doctor by working in the medical center with all its advantages. In 1916, the med- ical department of Baylor was formally put in class "A" by the Council on Medical Education of the American Medical Association, and its graduates be- came recognized by every medical examining board throughout the United States. This classification, with the ever-growing requirements for entrance in to medical schools, made it difficult for the school in Ft. Worth to continue, and in 1918 that schcol was absorbed by Baylor University School of Medi- cine. This leaves but two medical colleges in Texas, this one at Dallas and the medical department of the University of Texas, which is situated in Galves- ton. Both colleges exact two years of University work, as a minimum entrance requirement, and both adhere to as high ideals in medical education as is found in any school in the country.

The friends of Baylor University realizing more and more the great value of the medical department to the citizenship of Dallas, the great possibilities of service to humanity which this department gives to the parent University, a campaign was launched to bring about improvements, which campaign has

The New Medical Arts Building, Dallas, the Medical Center of the Southwest

proven successful. The medical school having al- ways been closely affiliated with the Baptist Sani- tarium and being housed in a building on the same grounds, these two institutions entered into a cam-

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

paign wherein $1,600,000 worth of buildings would be built, and $500,000 would be set aside as a mini mum endowment for the medical department. When you understand that after this campaign was en- tered upon, a governmental appraisement of the property occupied by the sanitarium and medical school, placed their value at $1,300,000, you can see that the addition of $1,600,000 worth of buildings will make a formidable showing, and create in Dal. las one of the few really great medical centers of the country.

The clinical possibilities presented by a population of some 225,000 people such as Dallas has, are con- stantly being augmented by thousands who come to Dallas for treatment each year, as it is a center of a densely populated section. The medical students have the advantage of all this, and the environment is the very best, inasmuch as there is a disposition of all the population of Dallas to encourage such students. A notable indication of this being a re- quest on the part of the medical profession here, that the City Hospital, the great charity institution of Dallas, should from the time of the school session, be entirely in the hands of the men who teach medi- cine and surgery in Baylor University School of Med- icine.

At the present time Baylor University has three departments in the city, with the following number of students: medical, 146; dental, 75; pharmacy, 55. The Texas Baptist Memorial Sanitarium School of Nursing utilizes the teachers of the medical depart- ment, there being some hundred students in nursing in the school. It is expected these various depart- ments will from now on, have enlarged enrollment; this will be due in part to the fact that the pres- ent requirements have been in force long enough for there to be accumulated in the Universities a larger number of students ready for entrance, than here- tofore.

Medical education opens a broad field for scien tific work, social welfare work and properly ap- plied charity, in ministering to the sick, and the care of those who need help which they can not pay for. It creates in this section a training-school for all the various scientific departments, and makes it possible for us to meet the crying demand for doc- tors, dentists, pharmacists and nurses. The hard work of building up Dallas as a medical center, is now over; the start is made, and large endowments will now flow into the coffers of the Medical Depart- ment; the scientific work and Humanitarian possi- bilities which only broaden as the years go by.

HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF DALLAS By F. M. ETHERIDGE

T HE history of the bench and bar of Dallas can be written within the I'mits of this paper only in general terms. It is a history of achievement and distinc- tion. The bar of Dallas has maintained the best tradi- tions. In trying cases from New York to Los Angeles and from St. Paul to New Orleans I have been asso- ciated with and opposed by some of the best lawyers of various states, with the re- sult that I can truthfully say I have found my best sup- port, as well as my most formidable adversaries, among the members of the Dallas bar. The Dallas bar has furnished the Supreme Court with a num- ber of distinguished members, among them Sawnie Robertson, John L. Henry and Nelson Phillips. Judge Sawnie Robertson was an accomplished lawyer and one of the most likable men I ever knew. Judge John L. Henry was a prince among good men and bore the merited and distinctive designation of "the grand old man." Judge Nelson Phillips, ex- Chief Justice, has proved himself a worthy successor of a long line of the illustrious chief justices that preceded him.

The Dallas bar has furnished the Court of Civil Appeals for the Fifth District two distinguished members, Judge John Bookhout, now deceased, and Judge Charles A. Rasbury, who recently resigned ;o re-enter the practice. It furnished to the nation Judge Seth Shepard who, under appointment of President Cleveland, was for many years Associate Justice, and later and until his death Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia.

Judge Shepard became a close and scientific student of the law and his opinions are comparable with those of the most illustrious of our judges.

The Dallas bar has furnished the university a num- ber of distinguished members that immolated them- selves upon the altar of the noble profession of teaching. It contributed to the university Thomas Scott Miller, now deceased, a Harvard graduate, a genial gentleman and a profound lawyer. Judges W. S. Simkins and Lauch McLauren are now and for years past have been, each at a great personal sacrifice, rendering distinguished service as teachers in the university.

The Dallas bar has had an illustrious membership. It comprised, among others, such distinguished

The Dallas County Court House

names as those of Colonel John C. McCoy, Judges Zimri Hunt, H. Barksdale, Nat M. Buford, E. G. Bower, Alex White, Olin Wellborn, N. W. Finley, M. L. Crawford and John M. Stemmons, A. H.

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

Field, Major B. H. Bassett, Colonel W. W. Leake, Major Jerome C. Kearby, J. L. Harris, Colonel W. L. Crawford, General A. P. Wozencraft, W. B. Gano, George H. Plowman and many others of enduring reputation.

Colonel John C. McCoy was the most noted of the pioneers. His life, character and services at the bar were such as won him enduring fame. Judges Hunt, Barksdale and Buford were pioneer district judges. They were cast in large mold and left their impress upon our jurisprudence. Judge White was originally from Alabama. He was of counsel in many important cases in the Supreme Court of the United States that went up from that state. After- wards he was on the Supreme bench of Utah and later came to Dallas. He was possessed of a vast wealth of learning and was a lawyer of exceptional ability. Judge Olin Wellborn for a long time repre- sented this district in congress, and afterwards re- moved to Los Angeles, where for many years he served with distinction as a judge of the United States District Court. Judge M. L. Crawford had been a district judge prior to his removal to Dallas. He was an accomplished lawyer, an indefatigable worker and one of the acknowledged leaders of the bar. John M. Stemmons and Judge A. H. Field were partners and their firm deservedly enjoyed an en- viable reputation. Major Bassett was one of the foremost lawyers of his time. He was ambitious to round out his career by becoming a professor of law in the university. He was unanimously elected to a chair in that institution, but unfortunately died before occupying it. Colonel Leake, in his time, was the nestor of the Dallas bar. He was a pro- found lawyer and a man of rare culture and refine- ment. His example at the bar was worthy of emula- tion. Major Jerome C. Kearby possessed a keen intellect and was easily in the front rank of the greatest of the Texas advocates. Judge Finley was for many years a member of the Court of Civil Appeals for the Fifth District and his many opinions attest his industry, acumen and capacity. General A. P. Wozencraft became a specialist in the law of corporations and was an acknowledged authority upon that subject. J. L. Harris was a prodigious worker, a close and constant student and was aston- ishingly resourceful. W. B. Gano was ornate and scholarly and as a practitioner he had no superior and but few equals. George H. Plowman was a Harvard graduate and one of the most indefatigable workers I have ever known. Judge E. G. Bower possessed an indomitable spirit, and our present court house constitutes a memorial to his untiring effort. Whilst that court house has practically sur- vived the period of its usefulness, it was, neverthe- less, a gigantic undertaking in Judge Bower's time. Colonel W. L. Crawford, recently deceased, was a man of transcendent ability and personal magnetism. He was a power before the court, as well as with the jury. He was the greatest forensic orator within the range of my acquaintance.

The mention of the foregoing names is not de- signed to be exclusive and, would the limits of this paper permit, many others equally conspicuous would be added.

The Dallas bar has contributed to the bar of New York a number of distinguished lawyers, among them and notably Isaac R. Oeland and Martin W. Littleton. The judges who have occupied the vari- ous benches of Dallas have all been distinguished

by their learning and probity. Many distinguished men in public life are numbered among the members of the Dallas bar, notably Charles A. Culberson, deceased, Thomas B. Love, formerly assistant secre- tary of the treasury, Hatton W. Sumners, congress- man, as well as many others.

The Dallas bar, from small beginnings and ir- regular and inefficient organization, emerged some years since into a corporate body of which there were one hundred charter members, and since its or-

DALLAS COUNTY

FERIMINAL COURTS

Dallas County Criminal Court Building and County Jail

ganization nearly every reputable member of the Dallas bar has become a member of the Dallas Bar Association. Many of the members of the associa- tion have given generously of their time to the work of furthering the administration of justice and of inculcating the highest professional ethics and of teaching the younger members of the bar.

I do not hesitate to say, that the standard of prac- tice of the members of the Dallas Bar ranks very high in comparison with the lawyers of other cities, her membership will rank very favorably with the best. With the passing of many of the most able representatives, there are many young and possibly just as capable young lawyers growing up to take their places and the standards are no doubt being raised rather than lowered.

The young lawyers club composed of many of the most capable and progressive young attorneys, has done much toward the progress of the young men of the profession and is worthy of commendation.

I cannot particularize among the existing mem- bers of the bench and bar of Dallas, but I can truth- fully say, having before me the criterion of contact with the best legal talent of other states, that the bench and bar of Dallas is today the equal of any.

I may add that the Dallas bar comprises very many younger members that give full promise to maintain its standards of excellence when the elder ones shall have retired or passed away.

DALLAS MUNICIPAL ACTIVITIES By SAWNIE ALDREDGE

F ROM year unto year in Dallas' Municipal life there is being realized a remarkable record of pro- gress, not only in material things for which the public looks to its municipality, but in the ever widening scope of a less material but none the less necessary activity which tends to make a city more livable and to give to it a "soul." Two operations are found essential in the building of every worth- while garden, or worth-while life or a great city-and these operations are the same throughout: uproot the ugly and plant deep and well the beautiful. While sensa- tionalism plays up the former, yet how much more does the latter abound! Not only have the results achieved helped to fill the needs of Dallas, but they have also attracted widespread attention from other cities wrestling with the same problems, and again and again letters have been received, even from the great metropolitan centers, asking just how Dallas has solved these problems. Not only has stress been laid upon the paving of streets, the supplying of the physical needs of the citizenship and the better development of the public utilities in recent years, but also upon better sanitation and health conditions, welfare work, development of Dallas ac- cording to the Kessler Plan, and upon provision of more extensive and better equipped parks and other public amusements for the people.

By municipal action important changes have been brought about in the city's Emergency Hospital which include the employment of graduate and hos-

Carnegie Public Library at Commerce and Harwood Streets, Dallas

pital-trained physicians and surgeons only, to handle all work instead of a staff of "student doctors," and the placing on duty of a graduate doctor on every ambulance call so as to insure first aid to the in-

jured; there has been effected an improvement in the sick-visiting service of the city, and a city-county clinic established, while the City Hospital has been given a larger and better trained staff, additional and needed equipment of the latest type, and for the first time brought into first class recognition by the American College of Surgeons. This latter in- stitution has received a $500,000 bond issue, is jointly owned by city and county and is placed under a committee system at present governed by a Hos- pital Board appointed by the mayor.

Municipal Building, Dallas

Welfare work of recent years worthy of note are the establishment of a working mothers' home, im- provement of working girls' lodge, relief in Mexican housing, extension in negro welfare work and an employment service recognized by the government.

Nothing is more fundamentally necessary to the proper development of a city than an adequate sys- tem of beautiful and well equipped parks. Dallas has twenty-two parks covering 3,500 acres. They include playground equipment, wading and swim- ming pools, free moving pictures and band concerts in the evenings of summer for both children and adults. "Swimming holes" have been provided at the City, Oak Lawn, Buckner, Exall, Garrett, Alamo and Colonial Parks. More than 150 free moving picture shows have been given at each park and band concerts and public sing-songs have been inaugu- rated. Athletic activities in parks have been ex- tended and the summer playground system placed under paid leaders. As a result of such park system, Dallas has the largest park attendance in proportion to population of any city in the United States. In the summer of 1920, there came to Dallas parks 1,689,865 visitors while 53,150 children used the swimming and wading pools and 17,620 persons had free baths furnished by the city parks. Besides these improvements, the municipality has added new parks to its list. The Ferris Plaza, a sunken garden beauty spot, greets the Dallas visitor as he steps out of the Terminal Station; Booker T. Washington Park, as its name indicates, is a new park for ne- groes; Parkview has been donated to the city, a strip of land has been added to Forest Park and other tracts added to park properties.

THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF DALLAS By JUSTIN F. KIMBALL Superintendent

O NE of the significant characteristics in the history of the growth of Dallas as a city in the last decade is the development of its sys- tem of public schools. From an attendance ten years ago of less than 15,000, the attendance in the schools has increased to more than 35,000 for the present school year. During the last scholastic year prac- tically every child of school age in Dallas was in attendance in school, either in private or public schools. The most remarkable growth in the schools has been in the high schools and in the night schools, both of which minister to the educational needs of the young manhood and womanhood of Dallas. From an attendance in the white high schools of 1,300 ten years ago, taken care of in one high school building, Dallas has grown until it has four magnifi-

school rooms, 40 being the standard maximum class in the elementary schools and 30 in the high schools. Likewise the permanent buildings that have been erected have all been fireproof, modern in their plan- ning, beautiful in architecture, economical of space and efficient in administration. The city of Dallas maintains a special public day school for deaf chil- dren and three special day schools for children whose mentality is so different from that of the other children that they cannot be taught to the highest advantage in the usual school. The courses in the high schools afford an unusual range of opportunity for the young people of the city, giving instruction in many courses that train for practical lines of work in the business world on leaving school. More than 60 per cent of the graduates of the Dallas

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 17

Author: Davis, Ellis A. Publication date: 1926 Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?] Number of Pages: 1416

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416