Overv​iew​

Scope and Content

​Collection documents early trolley and interurban railway lines in Dallas.  Until personal automobiles became a preferred mode of travel, electric railways filled the need for frequent passenger service between urban centers that could not be met by existing steam-railroad service.  About 70 percent of the entire state of Texas’ mileage was in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where electric lines connected Fort Worth and Cleburne, Fort Worth and Dallas, and Denison, Dallas, Corsicana, and Waco.  Seven companies are represented in the collection; short descriptions of the companies follow.

According to local researcher James Barnes, the West Dallas Railway Company existed between about 1890 and 1893 and was an uncompleted project of Oak Cliff developer Thomas L. Marsalis and others.  The company consisted of two lines, one extending Marsalis' 1887 Dallas & Oak Cliff railroad and a second line branching off near the Texas & Pacific track and going out to Mountain Creek through the districts known today as Western Heights and Beverly Hills.

The North Dallas Circuit Railway Company was incorporated in 1898; although, a company bearing the same name existed as early as 1889.  The line ran from an undetermined source to Exall Lake and through several transactions was absorbed into the Dallas Consolidated Electric Street Railway in 1902.

The Dallas Electric Railway was incorporated in 1890 and operated a line running down Elm Street and through East Dallas.

The Northern Texas Traction Company was an interurban line starting in 1902 and ran thirty-five miles between Dallas and Fort Worth. Operations ceased in 1934.

Dallas Railway & Terminal Company was the largest and longest-running streetcar and bus system, beginning in 1917. Streetcar lines were abandoned in 1956, and the company changed its name to the Dallas Transit Company.

The Texas Interurban Railway had two lines, a twenty-nine-mile run between Dallas and Terrell from 1923 to 1932 and a thirty-eight-mile run from Dallas to Denton from 1924 to 1932.

Dallas Consolidated Electric Street Railway was incorporated in 1887 and merged four companies into one in 1902.

Organization​

The collection is arranged chronologically.

Access​

Permission to publish, reproduce, distribute, or use by any and all other current or future developed methods or procedures must be obtained in writing from the Dallas Municipal Archives. All rights are reserved and retained regardless of current or future development or laws that may apply to fair use standards.  It is the responsibility of the user to obtain copyright authorization for any images.

Citation​

Dallas Railway Company, Interurbans, and Electric Railway, 1890-1933 (Box <x>, Folder <y>), Dallas Municipal Archives

Related Materials​

Collection 1991-033—Railroads and the Union Terminal Company, 1890-1917
Collection 1994-002—Texas and Pacific Railroad, 1915-1920

Index Terms​

Dallas -- Texas -- History
Dallas Electric Railway
Dallas Railway & Terminal Company
North Dallas Circuit Railway Company
Northern Texas Traction Company
Texas Interurban Railway
Trains -- Texas – Dallas

Container List