Dallas History

 V.  It was a time of change - especially in Dallas and Texas
 

1.  In times of change not unusual to see different reactions to
   that change.

  2.  In Texas we find a lot of denial; living in the past

  3.  Signs of this included:

   a.  1876 constitution revealed effort to hold on to the
    "Old Texas"

    (1)  favored rural, farmers
    (2)  emphasis on property ownership
    (3)  elimination of remnants of Reconstruction,
     decreased funding for education,  no
     protections for ex-slaves

   b.  In Texas, it had become something of an honor to
    be identified as an ex-Confederate, especially
    if running for public office

   c.  Though slaves gone, segregation spread; future of
    African-Americans in Texas uncertain in 1877

   d.  The future was also uncertain for Tejanos; many Texans
    were still fighting the Mexican War that had actually
    ended in 1848; violence and discrimination continued
    in 1877

  5.  There were some new things in Texas that Texans embraced

   a.  They liked the image of cowboys that cattle drives
    brought

    (1)  Brought good times to cowtowns like Ft. Worth
 

    b.  Texans also liked the railroads

    (1)  Dallas 1872; Ft. Worth 1876

   c.  Did not like all the results, though - brought crime

    (1)  1876 some 3,000 fugitives in Texas
    (2)  100,000 horses stolen 1875-8
    (3)  But Ft. Worth thrived in these conditions - part of
     today's downtown was known as "Hell's Half
     Acre"

  6.  Dallas also thrived but in a different way - more involved in
   the business environment stimulated by the Industrial
   Revolution

   a.  In 1877, Dallas was settling down

   b.  Most infamous had left like Belle Starr and Doc
    Holiday had left town in 1876

    (1)  BELLE STARR, the bandit queen
     (a)  born Myra Maybelle Shirley in
      Carthage, Mo., 1848
     (b)  an educated middle-class child,
      family hit hard times after Civil
      War and moved from Missouri
      to Texas (Scyene)
     (c)  she was bitter, life of "little rich girl"
      over
     (d)  became involved with various
      criminal types such as
      bank robber Thomas Younger
     (e)  married James C. Cole 1866
     (f) had daughter "Pearl" or Rosie Lee
          1868
     (g)  Cole got involved with criminal
      Cherokee by name of Tom Starr
     (h)  fled to California in 1869
     (i)  had second child, James in 1871
     (j)  she returned to Texas, left kids with
      parents, met Cole in Oklahoma,
      moved back to Texas
     (k)  Reed killed
     (l)  married Sam Starr in 1880, 3/4 Cherokee,
      moved to Arkansas
     (m)  1882 arrested, convicted larceny,
      served 9 months
     (n)  1886 arrested again & she surrendered,
      Sam on the run; she found not guilty
     (o)  Starr killed
     (p)  took up with Jack Sevier (a.k.a. Jack
      Spaniard), half Cherokee, hanged
      1889
     (q)  took up with Creek Indian Jim Judy
      (a.k.a. Jim Starr)
     (r)  Pearl became prostitute, Belle did not
      approve & even tried to get Pearl's
      daughter, Flossie
     (s)  Belle murdered mysteriously while
      on horse
     (t)  Epithet - "Shed not for her the bitter
      tear, Nor give the heart to vain
      regret, 'Tis but the casket that
      lies here, The gem that fills it
      sparkles yet." died 1889, two
      days before 41st birthday
 

    (2)  DOC HOLIDAY came to Texas for climate due
     to t.b., began practicing medicine but
     couldn't due to illness; turned to gambling
     (a) lst violent confrontation in Dallas with
      saloonkeeper, Jan. 2, 1875;
      arrested
     (b) then killed a prominent citizen, fled
 
     (c) became Faro dealer in Jacksboro near
      Ft. Richardson; killed soldier so fled to
      Colorado, Wyoming, N. Mexico and
      back to Texas
     (d) at Ft. Griffin, Texas, met "Big Nose" Kate
      Elder, a prostitute/dancehall girl;
      tumultuous relationship
     (e) also met WYATT EARP - legendary
      lawman of Dodge City, Kansas
      in 1870s
     (f) fled to Dodge City after killing another man
 
     (g)  helped Earp in a confrontation, became
      friends but continued to move around
     (h)  with Earp in 1881 at Gunfight at OK Corral,
      Tombstone, Arizona; no conviction
     (i)  died in 1887, Glenwood Springs, Co.
 

   c.  But, they had been replaced by a new breed of criminal -
    the train robbers

    (1)  in 1877, the talk of Dallas was the big
     Mesquite train robbery by Sam Bass
     (a)  illiterate, orphaned at 13, would up in
      Denton as cowpoke, herded cattle
      to Kansas & took pay to Deadwood
      where he lost it; began robbing
    (2)  but by 1878, he too had been killed at
     Round Rock, Tx, by lawmen

  8.  Dallas was a bustling city, and by 1890, the biggest
   city in Texas only to be surpassed by Houston and San
   Antonio in 1900

  9.  May show clip of "The Pioneer Spirit"

a. The Industrial Revolution was having a big impact on Dallas
b. Economic class more evident with opening of "poor farm" near Hutchins in 1870s
c. Trinity River Navigation Co. brough steamships to Dallas in 1890s
d. Commerce St. had a toll bridge
e. Railroads, fire engines, and first Texas city with phone - Here in the Sanger Brothers Department Store to Sander estate (Dept. Store now El Centro College)
f. Water ysstem began in 1881
g. Electric lights came in 1883
h. State Fair organized 1887
i. Oak Cliff founded 1887 - merged with Dallas in 1889
j. 1888 Dallas Hams Baseball and first skyscraper (N. Texas Bldg.)
k. Electric cars replaced mule drawn trolleys
l. 1891 football game - Dallas beat Ft. Worth
m. 1897 first movies

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