We have 20 historic districts and 18 conservation districts in Dallas. Homebuyers are attracted to these neighborhoods for a reason. They want homes with character and, of course, a history. Realtors who sell in these neighborhoods owe it to their clients to do the research because it is often a selling factor. We all know the added cachet a sports or political figure brings to a historic home.
Even more riveting are the average, ordinary folks that owned your home and the fascinating things you can discover about them. So, before the relatives hit town this season to see your adorable new Craftsman cottage or quaint Tudor, find out some great history about your home at the Dallas Public Library and impress everyone at the holiday dinner.
Photographed by Aaron Dougherty www.aarondoughertyphoto.com
A Dig Through The Archives For Fascinating Stories
Digging through the library’s Dallas Morning News archives one day, I found an entire scheme in the 1940s for Dallas families to adopt children from Europe displaced by the war. I read about a tea being hosted, and a British child’s adoption secured during that tea.
I’ve uncovered information about owners connected to mobsters and politicians and discovered the iconic musician Liberace was a guest in a local historic home in Casa Linda. References point to Elvis Presley being a guest in Forest Hills. I can tell you which pool the famous stripper Candy Barr dove into in East Dallas. And I know all of this because of the Dallas Public Library and its Dallas Morning News archives collection.
So once you get that library card, here’s how you find out if your home hosted a scandalous stripper, a debutant tea, or an owner that was a mobster’s girlfriend.
The Dallas Public Library is, hands down, the fastest way to find out information on your home. If you don’t have a library card and are a resident of the City of Dallas it could not be easier to obtain one.
Just want to use our digital content? You can sign up for a library e-card by emailing [email protected] with a copy of your photo ID as well as proof of Dallas residency if your current address is not on your ID.
Do you have a smartphone? You can download the free Dallas Public Library app for Android or iOS to manage your account, request books, and if you forget your library card, the app has a barcode you can use to check out.
Dallas Public Library
Here’s a guide to finding out the inside skinny on your home.
Go to the top of the page and click My Account. Once you input your library access number and your pin, it will autofill the next time you log on.
The next page is this one:
Then you go to Databases and scroll down to “Dallas Morning News Archive.”
Enter the address you are searching for in the search bar. The secret here is to put the address in quotation marks. For instance, if you put in 4757 Main Street, the search engine would pull up every reference to 4757 and Main Street rather than the specific address.
I’m using the Aldredge House address of 5500 Swiss Avenue as an example.
Once I enter the address, look what pops up. Notice you can filter by best match, oldest and newest articles, as well as a specific date. If I filter for oldest, we have a treasure trove of history that includes weddings, funerals, parties, and promotions, and of course, you can piece together the lives of the people that lived in these homes.
I can tell you from a depth of experience it’s easy to go down the history rabbit hole because it’s fascinating.
If a home has a recognized name, like Aldredge House, you can also use that.
Now isn’t this going to be a lot more fun than talking about politics over your holiday dinner? Happy hunting!
