History of Dallas, Texas (1839-1855)
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Dallas Portal |
This article traces the history of Dallas, Texas (USA) during the city's original settlement from 1839 to 1855.
Contents |
[edit] Settlement
John Neely Bryan, looking for a good trading post to serve Native Americans and settlers, first surveyed the Dallas area in 1839.[1] Bryan, who shared Sam Houston's insight into the wisdom of Native American customs, must have realized that Caddo trails he came across intersected at one of the few natural fords for hundreds of kilometers along the wide Trinity floodplain. At what became known as "Bryan's Bluff", the river, which was an impassable barrier of mud and water between late fall and early spring, narrowed like an hourglass where it crossed a ridge of Austin chalk, providing a hard rock ford that became the natural north-south route between Republic of Texas settlements and those of the expanding United States.[2] Bryan also knew that the planned Preston Trail was to run near the ford — the north-south route and the ford at Bryan's Bluff became more important when the United States annexed Texas in 1845.
After Bryan surveyed the area, he returned home to Arkansas. While there, a treaty was signed removing all Native Americans from Northern Texas. When he returned in November 1841, half of his customers, the Native Americans, were gone. He decided that instead of creating a trading post, he would create a permanent settlement, which he founded the same month. About 22 miles (35 km) to the northwest of his settlement was a community called Bird's Foot — Bryan invited the settlers there to live in Dallas at his proposed city. John Beeman arrived in April 1842 and he planted the first corn. Other families soon followed suit, including members of the Peter's Colony settlement nearby.[1]
John Neely Bryan was originally almost everything to Dallas: He was the postmaster, a storeowner, a ferry operator (he operated a ferry where Commerce Street crosses the Trinity River today), and his home served as the courthouse. In 1843, the first doctor arrived in Dallas; in 1845, the first lawyer made his home there. In 1845, the first election was held in Dallas over Texas' annexation into the United States. Of the 32 citizens eligible to vote, 29 voted for annexation and 3 voted against it.[1]
[edit] Establishment
In 1844, John Neely Bryan convinced J. P. Dumas to survey and lay out a 0.5 square miles (1.3 km²) section of blocks and streets near present downtown.[1] The establishment was named Dallas, and though it is largely assumed that it was named after the then Vice President George Mifflin Dallas, there are at least six theories as to the origin of the name:
- Named after George Mifflin Dallas;
- Named after George Mifflin Dallas's brother Alexander James Dallas, a U.S. Navy commodore who was stationed in the Gulf of Mexico;
- Named after George and sailor Alexander's father, Alexander James Dallas, who was the United States Secretary of the Treasury around the end of the War of 1812;
- Named in a town-naming contest in 1842;
- Named after the friend of founder John Neely Bryan's son, who later stated that his father had said he had named the town "after my friend Dallas" (a person whose identity is not certain).
- Named after Joseph Dallas, who settled near Dallas in 1843[2]
Dallas County was established in 1846 and the city of Dallas was set as the temporary county seat. In 1850, Dallas became the permanent seat over Cedar Springs and Hord's Ridge (Oak Cliff), both of which now lie within the city's limits.
[edit] La Reunion
- Main article: La Reunion
In 1855, a group of European artists and musicians set up a utopian community west of Dallas called "La Reunion". When that venture collapsed in 1857 many of the artists moved to Dallas, where they established the base of a culture which, a century and a half later, is reflected in creative neighborhoods like Deep Ellum (east of downtown), and lower Greenville Ave. In the 1970s, developers built Reunion Arena and Reunion Tower (a trademark of the skyline) in the Reunion district of western downtown, all named in honor of the La Reunion colony.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Dallas Historical Society - Dallas History. Retrieved 20 April 2006.
- ^ a b Handbook of Texas Online - DALLAS, TX. By Jackie McElhaney and Michael V. Hazel. Retrieved 20 April 2006
[edit] External links
- Dallas, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online
- Dallas History from the Dallas Historical Society
