Superlatively Rare Dallas Directory
With a History of the City
African American Residents Noted
Among the rarest Texas city directories, Butterfield & Rundlett's 1875 Directory of the City of Dallas. The present example is bound in the original publisher's printed boards and has the lithograph portrait frontispiece of Jonathan C. McCoy present. While several pages of the text are supplied in neat facsimile, our example likely represents the only opportunity for acquiring this Texas rarity. The volume goes beyond a mere directory of names and includes a nice early of Dallas as well as a biographical section.
The directory contains detailed biographies of the following Dallas pioneers:
- Col. Jonathan C. McCoy
- Judge Nat. M. Burford
- Judge Jonathan J. Good
- Jonathan D. Kerfoot
- Major James E. Barkley
- Edwin G. Bower
- Jonathan M. Laws
- S. J. Adams
- J. L. Leonard
- Sanger Brothers
- John Henry Brown
- Col. Jonathan M. Stemmons
- William M. Johnson
African American Residents
This directory is important for the history of African Americans in Dallas, with the names of black residents indicated with "(col.)" following their name. These entries include residential addresses as well as employment, which would allow a modern-day historian to construct a map of the African American community in Dallas in 1875. The text also mentions (p. 8) that an enslaved man named Old Allen, a blacksmith, was "the first negro brought to Dallas County, was the property of Mr. John Huitt, [and] still lives in Dallas County, a venerable and respected citizen."
Here follows a selection of African American people listed herein:
- Levissa Drake, cook, r. 311 Cochran
- G. Edmonson, lab r. N. Broadway
- M. Engledore r 929 Elm
- Mrs. F. Kennard, laundress, r 607 s Lamar
- C. Kirkpatrick, lab, Compress, r 412 Columbia
- W.H. Littimer, barber, r 906 Elm
- A.V. Mallory, blacksmith, 612 main
- N. McCane, newsboy, 116 Juliette
- G. Mason, servant, 88 Bryan
- A. Miller, barber r 316 s Market
- A. M. Scott, preacher r 521 Ervay
- Kate Webster, servant 88 Bryan
- Lucy Wilhite, laundress, r 539 Cochran
- J. Winn, waiter, r 511 s Austin
The directory entries, history, and biographies, along with the profusion of interesting advertisements for Dallas businesses, make this volume a most valuable primary source.
Rarity
Original examples of this Dallas directory are extraordinarily rare in the market. This is the first example we have handled. No examples in RBH. OCLC locates four examples, those at SMU's DeGolyer Library, Baylor, Newberry, and Yale. Winkler cites another example at Houston Public Library.