Did you know that the City of Dallas moved city hall so that Adolphus Busch could build his hotel on the site he selected?...
This was one of several revelations that Harry Hall brought to us at our ZOOM meeting on December 16th. He has researched pictures and archives from around Dallas to compile his book "This Used To Be Dallas." Some of you may remember when Ray Perkins of "Blue Suede Shoes" fame played the Sportatorium which later became a venue for professional "rassling." The house that Ray Charles lived in in Oak Cliff is still standing as is Babe Didrickson Zaharias's home. She is remembered as one of the most outstanding female athletes, having excelled in basketball, track and field and as a founder of the LPGA.
In 1905 the amusement park named Lake Cliff Park, known as the "Coney Island of the Southwest", opened with rides and performances from the likes of Al Jolson. Unfortunately it was destroyed in the flood of 1908 although steps and walls remain to this day. Love Field, named for a young San Diego pilot who was never in Dallas, was the site for American pilots who fought in WW I. On a final note Winfrey Point on the shores of White Rock Lake housed German POW's in 1943-44. It appears that there was a consensus among the prisoners that they never had it so good.
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