History of Dallas (1856–1873)

The history of Dallas, Texas, United States, from 1856 to 1873 charts the period from the grant of the town's charter to the convergence of the railroads.

Freedmen's towns were scattered throughout Dallas and many whites became fearful — the Ku Klux Klan first appeared in the city in 1868.

Dallas continued to grow during the Reconstruction years, unlike many Southern towns that still had the task of major rebuilding at hand.

In 1872, Edmund J. Davis, then governor of Texas, ordered Henry Ervay, then mayor of Dallas, to be removed from office.

The state supreme court ruled that the governor did not have the power to remove officials from office, and Ervay was released.

[2] In 1871, railroads were beginning to approach the area and Dallas city leaders did not intend to stand idly and be left out.

They paid the Houston and Central Texas Railroad US$5,000 to shift its route 20 miles (32 km) to the west and build its north–south tracks through Dallas, rather than through Corsicana as planned.

A year later, Dallas leaders could not pay the Texas and Pacific Railway to locate there, so they devised a way to trick the Railroad—Dallas had a rider attached to a state law which required the railroad to build its tracks through Browder Springs—which turned out to be just south of Main Street.

The major north–south and east-west Texas railroad routes intersected in Dallas in 1873, thus ensuring its future as a commercial center.