The history of Dallas, Texas, United States from 1874 to 1929 documents the city's rapid growth and emergence as a major center for transportation, trade and finance. Originally a small community built around agriculture, the convergence of several railroads made the city a strategic location for several expanding industries. During the time, Dallas prospered and grew to become the most populous city in Texas, lavish steel and masonry structures replaced timber constructions, Dallas Zoo, Southern Methodist University, and an airport were established. Conversely, the city suffered multiple setbacks with a recession from a series of failing markets (the "Panic of 1893") and the disastrous flooding of the Trinity River in the spring of 1908.
Shift to industry
The shift towards manufacturing and heavy industry in Dallas formed partially out of problems hurting Dallas area cotton farmers. After purchasing supplies on credit during the year, farmers owed merchants most of their crop, whose price was lowered by the high shipping costs to the port of Galveston. Worldwide cotton prices were low, due to overproduction. The Farmers' Alliance, created in 1877, hoped to help farmers by setting up a Dallas warehouse to ship cotton to St. Louis. However, bankers refused to finance the warehouse, and the venture failed within twenty months.
There was little manufacturing in Dallas. The city began to light its streets with gas lamps in 1874 and began to brick over dirt lanes. In 1880, the first telephone switchboard came to Dallas, linking the water company and the fire station. In 1885, the Main Street was lit with electricity. In 1888, the Dallas Zoo opened as the first zoo in the state. In 1890, Dallas annexed the geographically-larger city of East Dallas, making it the most populous city in Texas.
Panic of 1893
Following the national financial "Panic of 1893", numerous business failed, including five local banks. Cotton prices dipped below five cents a pound, and the lumber and flour markets weakened.
By 1898 however, the city began to recover and grow again. Restored growth invigorated the skilled workers, who joined trade unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, which granted a charter to the Trades Assembly of Dallas in 1899 to coordinate local activity and prevent jurisdictional disputes.
In 1894, Parkland Memorial Hospital opened just west of Oak Lawn. In 1903, Oak Cliff, a city across the Trinity River, was annexed. The same year, the Wilson Building, patterned after Paris' Grand Opera House, opened on Main Street in downtown.
By the turn of the century, Dallas was the leading wholesale market in the entire Southwestern United States for many products. More important it became the world center for the cotton trade. It led the world in the manufacturing of saddlery and cotton gin machinery. As it further entered the 20th century, Dallas built up a major presence in banking and insurance.
Progressive reform
Progressive Era reformers sought to improve municipal government by such changes as the commission system, city planning, and zoning controls. The interests of white business and residential districts were protected, but sometimes at the expense of blacks who lived in segregated neighborhoods. Fairbanks (1999) explores the changing assumptions about city planning and government among the city's leaders. Dissatisfied with its haphazard development they endorsed centralized planning and wrote and secured the adoption of a new charter and set up a board of commissioners. The commission structure, however, caused government officials to view the city in separate parts rather than as a whole. By the 1920s supporters of comprehensive planning were calling for a program that included adoption of council-manager government, a citywide zoning policy, and public funds for improvements in parks, sewers, schools, and city streets. Voters approved the bond proposals and charter amendments in 1927 and 1930. Dallas thus achieved a more coordinated government which was theoretically more aware of the city's needs and more able to treat those needs equally for the benefit of the city as a whole.