Early address confusion

Today, Dallas street naming and numbering standards are codified in Division 51A-9.300 of the Dallas City Code.  In the early days of Dallas, names and numbers wrought confusion.  Street names and addresses in 1800s Dallas overlapped, repeated, and haphazardly started and stopped.  With few exceptions, no street signs existed in the city to provide basic information.  The 1889 City Code required that buildings had visible numbers but identified no street naming rules.

​Gaining consistency

In April 1905, aldermen agreed that streets, new or re-named, could not be named after a city official or any living person.  They also renamed Oak Cliff streets, the town having recently been annexed by the City of Dallas. On December 16, 1909, city commissioners passed an ordinance requiring all houses to be officially numbered.  Street addresses were completely overhauled, with most buildings receiving a new number.  The 1911 Worley's Street Directory managed the change by including both the old and the new numbers for each address.