Dallas

Dallas

(Severin)

Biographies Alf. L. Scott and T. J. Westerberg

Dallas County was organized in 1846 and in 1850 it only had 2,953 inhabitants. No great improvements were made within the first twenty years. The reason was the lack of communications because there were no railroad within several hundred miles. At the beginning of the 1870’s railroads were built and Dallas entered a new era. Dallas County and its rich soil is now the most densely populated in the state and the city of Dallas is first in economic resources, trade and industry. In 1870 Dallas had a population of 13,314, and 135,784 in 1910. The taxable value in 1880 was $3,493,577 compared to $129.550,350 in 1913.

The first settlement in Dallas County was created by the Trinity River in 1841 in the same place where the city of Dallas is now situated. The first pioneer was John Neely Bryan; in the following year two other families, John Beeman and Captain Gilbert arrived. The settlement grew slowly and in the spring of 1846 there were only six families. During this time two other settlements had begun. Cedar Springs and Hord’ s Ridge (now Oak Cliff). When the County was organized in 1846, there was competition between these places about which one was to be the county seat. At the election Dallas won over Hord’s Ridge with a few votes and the future of the small settlement was secured.

The first City Hall was built by the communal square and it was a small block-house with split beams as benches. After ten years there were only two stores in Dallas and in 1850, only about fifty inhabitants. Transportation was difficult. All goods had to be carried by ox-cart from Houston and Jefferson at a cost of three to five dollars per hundred pounds. When the roads were good, you could travel to and from Houston in four weeks. Life it was reported was simple and unpretentious. They mostly eat corn-bread. An old hand-driven mill, that one of the settlers had brought with him to the community was so often used that if you wanted to use it you had to reserve it in advance and then only used it for one day. One single sewing machine was use in the settlement for several years. For meat they used chicken, partridge and wild turkey. Wild boar was slaughtered in the winter. There was an abundance of deer. They moved in great herds and were easily caught in large numbers, sometimes in nets. Wild honey was abundant and it was valuable to the pioneers because of its nutritional value and because of the beeswax which they used for candles. Most of the settlers had come from Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. These people were particularly law-abiding and good neighbors. The first manufacturing company that was created in north Texas, was a wagon factory in Dallas around 1850. The newspaper ,the Dallas Herald, was established in the fall of 1849. The Dallas State Fair, the exhibition, dates back to early days or 1859. At this time mills had been built and Dallas had a good flour and wool-market. Mexican vehicles came all the way from San Antonio, three hundred miles way, to Dallas to get flour for the southern market.

Economic conditions during the war in the 60’s can be understood by data published by the Dallas Herald in June 1861 and September 1863. In 1861 the price of sugar was 12 cents to 15 cents per pound, and wheat was 60 cents per bushel. In 1863, the price of sugar was 20 to 35 cents per pound and the wheat was $2.50 per bushel.

The day June 17, 1872 was important for Dallas, when the Houston & Texas Central Line, Dallas’ first railroad was finished and the first train arrived in Dallas. Half a century has passed and Dallas is now one of the state’s largest railroad centers and as mentioned above, it was first in trade and industry, and with a population of over 120,000.

Products from Dallas factories are estimated to have a worth of $26,959,000 with salaries totalling 4,435,000 in 1909. Dallas sells farm equipment for $35,000,000 to $37,000,000 yearly and that does not include other businesses. Almost every large manufacturer in the United States has a branch in Dallas. Dallas also considered itself to be the world’s largest inland market for cotton (spot cotton). The Dallas Cotton Exchange bought and sold no less than 1,500,000 bales of cotton of the 1912-1913 harvest.

Many of the famous schools in the state are located here. In 1913, Dallas had thirty-three public schools with 400 teachers and property worth $1,600,000. There are private schools, like St. Mary’s College, the Ursuline Academy of the Southern Methodist University, and many medical schools. During the war some large United States Army camps and military schools were established there.

Swedes arrived in Dallas as early as in the 1870’ s. Among the first were John Tomson in 1871, John Peterson and Oscar Peterson in 1872. John Levlon arrived in 1873. John and Oscar Peterson soon bought land and settled near Keller, north of Fort Worth, where they are still living. John Levlon still lives in Dallas. John Tomson lived to become a famous businessman in Dallas. He died in 1918. Among those who arrived in the early 80’s were Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Holmquist, and Sven Johnson in 1880. E. W. Erikson came in 1881; August Hagg and his parents, 1882; Lars Johnson and Fred Meren, 1883; Lars Larson, 1884 and A. W. Swanson, 1886. J. D. Johnson and Carl Nelson arrived in 1887. In the 1890’s the settlement grew more but here and in Fort Worth, as well as many other Texas cities, there are comparatively few Swedes. Lutherans and Methodists each have their own church here.

Extracted from: Swedes In Texas In Words and Pictures,

English Translation, 1838 - 1918