Dallas City Directory, 1955 Page: 15
This book is part of the collection entitled: City Directories and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Dallas Public Library.
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The gourmet will find Swedish, Italian, German, Greek, Chinese and Mexican
foods, as well as plenty of Texas barbecue.
Dallas, closer to Mexico City than to New York City, has a substantial Mexican
population centered in an area known as "Little Mexico." Restaurants feature
Mexican food, and gift shops display all kinds of Mexican merchandise.
Dallas' many-sided economic structure also has influenced its cosmopolitan out-
look. Dallas is dependent upon no single resource or industry. It excels among South-
western cities in retail and wholesale business, in banking, in insurance, in manu.
facturing," and as a cotton market and an oil center. Yet no one of these sections of
Dallas business and industry dominates the others. The result is that Dallas has
attracted leaders in many lines of business and industry and in the professions.
Dallas' high percentage of leaders in all lines of activity has contributed greatly to
its metropolitan outlook.
Dallas' love of sport, and its position as the sports center of the Southwest, are
reflected in five stadia, ranging in seating capacity from 5,000 to 75,347. The Cotton
Bowl, largest of the three, is the site of the annual New Year's Day gridiron spectacle,
conducted under the sponsorship of the Southwest Conference. Numerous baseball
and softball fields, swimming beaches and pools, tennis courts, and bridle trails
provide facilities for other amateur and professional sports.
Medical and hospital facilities enter into a city's residential advantages, Dallas
excels in these fields. It has 26 A. M. A. registered hospitals with a total of 3,160 beds
and 302 bassinets, and is the home of the Southwestern Medical School of the Uni-
versity of Texas. Its medical profession is outstanding, including professional leaders
of national and international fame.
There are two daily newspapers and the Southwest edition of The Wall Street
Journal; eight broadcasting stations, two of which have maximum power of 50,000
watts each, and two television stations. Dallas is one of four cities in the U. S.-
New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas-which have two maximum power
broadcasting stations.
Dallas' religious interests naturally are well developed. Its 450 churches represent
virtually every denomination, and many of the buildings are considered examples of
the best in church architecture. The city also has produced. numerous religious
leaders in several faiths.
Living costs in Dallas are lower than in most cities of comparable size, particularly
those of the North and East. Climate makes the cost of housing, fuel and clothing
less; food costs are relatively lower; utilities are reasonable, and rentals are less than
in average cities of similar size.
The Dallas climate is temperate and healthful. There is a difference of only three
degrees in the annual temperature normals of Dallas and Los Angeles. The annual
average hours of sunshine in Dallas is 2,980 (67% of the total possible, one of the
highest averages of any major city in the country). The annual normal temperature
is 66.5 degrees; the annual normal maximum is 76.6 degrees, and the annual minimum
56.4 degrees.
Other data on Dallas' climate, taken from the records of the U. S. Weather
Bureau, show: Dallas has average relative humidity of 79 at 6:30 a.m., 53 at noon,
and 54 at 6:30 p.m. (and the relative humidity in Dallas is even lower in the summer
months). The average hourly wind velocity is 10.4 miles. The average period between
killing frosts is 246 days. The annual average snowfall is 2.4 inches. The annual
average number of days with minimum temperature of 32 degrees or less is 30, the
average number of days of rain is 83, the average number of cloudy days is 108 and
the average number of days of dense fog is six.
Fuel costs, building costs and clothing costs are relatively low in Dallas because
of its temperate climate. Natural gas is the principal fuel, with an almost inexhaustible
supply from the vast gas fields of the Southwest. It is a smokeless fuel, accounting for
Dallas' sparkling, white skyline and the general cleanliness of the city. Fortunate
Magazine, in an article on the smoke menance in big cities, described Dallas as the
most nearly smokeless big city in America.
LEFT TOP: TYPICAL SCENE showing the daily crowds using air travel in, through and out of Dallas.
RIGHT TOP: CENTRAL EXPRESSWAY stretches through the heart of Dallas, giving a direct north-
soth thorough-fare. No traffic crosses the ten-lane $21,000,000 super highway.
LEFT 2ND: SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY in Dallas-one of the Southwest's finest universities-
has schools of Theology, Business Administration, Law, Music, and Engineering, in addition to its Graduate
School and College of Arts and Science. S.M.U.'s campus boasts 50 modern buildings in colonial red bric.
RIGHT 2ND: DALLAS' COTTON BOWL FOOTBALL draws the biggest crowds in the Southwest. The Dallas
bowl was named to emphasize the fact that Dallas is the nation's leading export cotton market and the
world's largest spot cotton market.
LEFT 3RD: The Texas Hall of State is a shrine honoring the heroes of the Lone Star State. Located on
the grounds of the State Fair of Texas at Dallas, it is open the year round.RIGHT 3RD: THE ROBERT E. LEE STATUE is in one of Dallas' 80 different parks, boasting more than
6,000 acres of developed recreational facilities. The largest park is White Rock Park, a park containing 2,400
acres.
LEFT BOTTOM: The entrance to the State Fair of Texas at Dallas leads to 195 acres of fair grounds,
the home of the world's largest annual exhibition. In addition to numerous permanent exhibit buildings,
the grounds' facilities include a year-round Midway, the five museums of the Civic Center, the Cotton Bowl,
and Fair Park Auditorium.
RIGHT BOTTOM: AIR-CONDITIONED State Fair Auditorium is home of the State Fair Musicals, productions
that equal Broadway in calibre, scope and stars.INTRODUCTION
15
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John F. Worley Directory Co. Dallas City Directory, 1955, book, 1955; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth806917/m1/13/?q=waco+tornado: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Public Library.