CHAPTER Central Expressway 3 The Original To McKinney September 1958 he freeway era in North Texas began on August Dates: original opening Campbell T19, 1949, when a crowd estimated at 7000 Collins Radio Expressway. Just three years earlier the path of the original building freewaycelebrated was the the opening Houston of &the Texas first Centralsection Railroad,of Central the ArapahoArap - bolic moment of triumph for the private automobile as March 5, 1955 75 itfirst displaced railroad the to berailroad built throughfor personal Dallas. transportation. It was a sym Richardson Widespread ownership of automobiles and newly built Spring Valley Rd freeways were poised to transform cities all across Texas Instruments Interstate 635 the United States. In North Texas, Central Expressway Campus interchange: Jan 1968 would lead the way into the freeway era, becoming 635 Semiconductor Building developing into the modern-day main street of Dallas. Spring 1954 the focus of freeway-inspired innovations and quickly North Texas were pioneered along Central Expressway. ForestForest LaneLane Hamilton Park The ManyMeadows of the Building, defining opened attributes in 1955 of modern-day alongside Cen - subdivision EDS headquarters c1975-1993 fortral the Expressway expansion near of business Lovers Lane, into the was suburbs. the first The large ex - plosiveoffice building growth outside of high-tech downtown industry and and paved the risethe wayof the June 1953 suburban technology campus began along the Central Expressway corridor in 1958 when Texas Instruments Walnut Hill (former H&TC) Northpark DART Red Line campus and Collins Radio opened a microwave engi- Mall opened the first building of its Central Expressway Northwest Highway new upscale suburban neighborhoods along Central Expresswayneering center and in young Richardson. singles Families congregated flocked in theto the large April 15, 1953 12 apartment complexes alongside the freeway near Lov- Lovers Lane Meadows Building SMU SMU Blvd (formerly Yale) experienceers Lane. While freeway-related it was influential problems, in shaping including modern traf- MKT Railroad Mockingbird Dallas, Central Expressway also became the first to (now the 1980s, tremendous controversy over how to improve Katy Trail) McCommas thefic congestion freeway. starting in 1953 and, in the 1970s and The original Central Expressway remained virtu- January 1950 75 ally unchanged in Dallas all the way into the early Fitzhugh day freeway. Anyone who experienced the original Aug 20, 1949 Haskell Central1990s when Expressway construction is certain finally to alwaysbegan on remember the modern- it. askel Its substandard 1940s design was a time capsule from l Roseland MKT Homes Dallas’ freeway past. With photographs we can return back in time to relive the era of the original Central San JJacinto 30 Expressway—a time when the possibilities for the new Original freeway future seemed limitless. EDS office Downtownn 77 78 Dallas-Fort Worth Freeways Chapter 3 The housTon & Texas CenTral railroad Degolyer Library, Southern Methodist University10 This photo dated 1940 shows the Texas Special passenger train cruising north on the Houston & 75 Texas Central tracks just south of Lovers Lane. Central Expressway was built just beyond the tracks. Northwest The buildings of SMU are visible in the background, including Ownby Stadium (now Ford Stadium) Highway 12 at the far left and campus buildings on the right. The Texas Special was a popular service between San Antonio and St. Louis operated jointly by the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (also known as H&TC the MKT or Katy) and St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (also known as the Frisco) between 1915 and Lovers Lane 1964. University The era of railroad transportation in North Texas began line, in 1873, Dallas became a SMU on July 16, 1872, when the first train rolled into Dallas railroad junction and the rise Mockingbird from the south on the tracks of the Houston & Texas of North Texas into a major Central (H&TC) Railroad. A huge celebration was held for urban center began. the arrival with an estimated crowd of 5000 to 6000 in The H&TC was extended north of downtown on attendance, quite impressive since Dallas had only 900 the alignment of the present-day Central Expressway to residents at the time.11 Mockingbird. North of Mockingbird, the present-day DART The railroad nearly bypassed Dallas since preliminary red line is built on the alignment of the H&TC. The rail- plans aligned the H&TC about halfway between Dallas and road was completed to McKinney in November 1872 and Fort Worth and later about eight miles east of present- Denison on the Texas-Oklahoma border in 1873. H&TC was day downtown. Dallas lured the railroad to be a mile east acquired by Southern Pacific in 1883 but continued to op- of the city business district with an offer of $5000 and erate under the Houston & Texas Central name until 1927 115 acres of land. Immediately, railroad transportation when Southern Pacific consolidated its operations into the allowed cotton and grain farmers to ship freight to distant Texas and New Orleans Railroad.12 markets, prompting a boom in the local economy. With The first proposal to remove the railroad was the the arrival of the Texas & Pacific railroad, an east-to-west Kessler Plan of 1911 which recommended building Central Central Expressway: The Original 79 DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University10 Houston & Texas Central locomotive #245 was built by Schenectady Locomotive Works in 1895 and was scrapped in 1938. Boulevard on the railroad alignment. Southern Pacific Central Expressway is named for the Houston & Texas Railways proved to be a tough negotiator and Dallas offi- Central Railway. When the name Central Expressway was cials spent the next thirty years trying to reach an agree- adopted, “expressway” was the term used for a freeway. ment for the purchase of the railroad. On June 4, 1941, a In 1951 TxDOT began to differentiate the terms freeway contract was signed for the purchase of the H&TC railroad and expressway, educating public officials that the term right-of-way for Central Expressway. Plans for the freeway freeway was correct for a limited-access highway such as were placed on hold due to World War II, but in 1947 work Central Expressway. So, the name of Central Expressway was underway and the H&TC tracks north of downtown pays tribute to its railroad past and also is an artifact of the were dismantled.13 era when freeways were called expressways.14 This photograph dated 1947 shows the Hous- ton & Texas Central railroad corridor near present-day Woodall Rodgers Freeway just prior to the removal of tracks for construction of Central Expressway. The area along the tracks near downtown was decayed and run-down, certainly helping to contribute to the strong community support for conversion of the corridor into a boulevard or freeway. Dallas Public Library15 80 Dallas-Fort Worth Freeways Chapter 3 Starting in 1911, virtually everyone in Dallas agreed that the Houston & Texas Central (H&TC) railroad tracks should be removed so the corridor could be converted into a parkway or boulevard. Everyone, that is, except the railway. Ef- forts to relocate the H&TC tracks and clear the way for Central Expressway continued for the next thirty years. - In 1936 the railroad was willing to sell the north sec- dation of the railroads converging on downtown Dallas tion of the H&TC tracks, from downtown to Mockingbird, wasThe firstthe City plan Plan to recommend For Dallas, authored the realignment by George and Kessler consoli for $250,000. But without the south section of tracks, a in 1911. deal could not be reached. architect and planning expert from Kansas City, recom- Dallas City Council, which had become annoyed and mended theKessler construction (1862-1923), of a belt a highly loop regardedof railroads landscape around irritated with the lack of progress, passed an ordinance in downtown Dallas, allowing for the removal of numerous - railroads including the H&TC which would be converted into Central Boulevard, a six-lane parkway on a 200-foot- theSeptember railway 1936could requiring comply would the railway be to remove to remove the alltracks. cross wide corridor. A comprehensive engineering study of ings with city streets within five months. The only way - Dallas railroads in 1915 concluded that the ultimate solu- sue reached trial, the Dallas Chamber of Commerce acted tion for relieving downtown railroad congestion was the asSouthern a mediator Pacific and responded an arbitration with committeea lawsuit. Before was formed the is construction of the belt loop around downtown and the to continue negotiation. By July 1937 a tentative agree- removal of tracks within the belt loop, including the H&TC. ment had been reached for the removal of tracks north of In the following years substantial progress was made Commerce Street, allowing the tracks to remain south of to implement parts of the railroad improvement plan, downtown with a plan to build parallel roadways alongside including the construction of Union Station in 1916, grade the tracks. South Dallas interests who wanted the tracks separating the removed strongly opposed this plan, so it was not able to in 1919, and the removal of the move forward.4 Missouri, Kansas and Texas (MKT) Railway Demands to move the Central Boulevard project on the H&TC relocation was elusive.Texas1 & Pacific tracks from forward were building to a crescendo in the late 1930s PacificIn 1921Avenue removal in downtown of the H&TC Dallas tracks in 1921. from But downtown progress to as civic groups, City Hall and the planning commission all the MKT tracks at Mockingbird Lane was at the top of the designated it as their top priority for civic improvement. A list of proposed track removals and Mayor Frank Wozen- new round of negotiation was launched in the summer of craft appointed a committee to negotiate with the railway.