A tiny prairie town in Big D What a perfectly gorgeous day this past Saturday, April 29th as we all arrived at the Old Frankford Church for our in-town tour of the Church, Cemetery and surrounding Blackland Prairie. Matt Weinstein of Preservation Dallas, our host for the event, welcomed everyone and then handed it over…
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A pioneer Grigsby family figures into the early days of Dallas County, though none of the family appears to have ever resided in the county. The patriarch of that family was John Grigsby (1787 – 1841). John Grigsby was believed to have been born in Virginia. He married Hester Sharp (1799 – 1831) in 1817…
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For decades after the Civil War the African American community dealt with various forms of legal and social discrimination. Nevertheless, professionals and entrepreneurs began to emerge from the community with perhaps the greatest growth occurring after 1900. Like other states in America, Texas began to see practicing professionals and other new business owners come from…
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By John H. Cochran REALIZING the advantages to be gained by the successful navigation of the Trinity River, the early pioneers of Dallas County, in about 1852, built a raft, loaded it with cotton and placed Mr. Adam Haught in command, with instruction to take it to Galveston, as here-in-before stated, and prove the feasibility…
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(Used with permission) Willie Newbury Lewis was an author who became known for her work pertaining to the early days of Anglo settlement in North Texas and the Panhandle. Her biographical information has been recounted in numerous newspaper articles, which are the main sources for this brief sketch. Willie was born October 28, 1891 to…
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Walter Phillip Buhrer, my father, was born October 10, 1896 to Anna Hinterman and Jacob Buhrer at their home on the west bank of White Rock Creek, on land now under White Rock Lake. They came to Texas from West Virginia, following their immigration to the United States from Switzerland. The family later moved to…
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The subdivision known as Vickery Place is named for Richard Alfred Vickery and family. Richard Vickery was born in England and is likely best known in Fort Worth as having been a successful land developer. Many Fort Worth locations are named for him his family. Dallas’ Vickery Place is located about four miles north of…
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As another year of the State Fair is in the books, one of our members brought the great information below to us. It is based on an article attributed to the Dallas Morning News from back in 1960. The reporter relayed the recollections of several people at the 1960 fair who had also attended the…
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Julius C. Bourquin was born November 28, 1846 in Switzerland. He arrived at New York Harbor via the ship “Grahams Polly” on October 29, 1864. This ship sailed from La Havre, France carrying individuals from France, Switzerland and surrounding areas. Upon arriving in the United States, he first settled in Oakley, Macon County, Illinois where…
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The town of Addison is located at the very northern edge of Dallas County. It was once part of Peters Colony, as was much of North Texas, extending roughly from Dallas and Tarrant counties to the Red River. People of Anglo-European descent settled in the Addison area as early as the 1840’s. One of the…
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