The Twenties were good years for Americans if you were a part of the mainstream and that would be the case of the well-to-do white people in Munger Place.  Actually, there was a downturn in 1921 and 1922 serious enough to be called a depression but the rest of the decade was great for many until the last months in 1929.  Even during the hard first years of the decade Dallas saw the Majestic Theater completed in 1921.  It was a part of the Grand Parade of movie houses on Elm Street.  The Majestic was majestic in its renaissance glory with both a mezzanine and a balcony with side loges and boxes as well.  Movies and department stores were air-conditioned when little else was and therefore most popular.  In 1922 the 29 story Magnolia Building was finished and at that time the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River.

Munger Place was enjoying good times.  After more than ten years the trees had grown to maturity, the shopping areas were forming and new businesses were planned.  In 1978 I was fortunate to have interviewed Clara Murray for two or three times; Clara had  lived in Munger Place most of her long life. Clara was a young woman in the Twenties and related much to me of the Munger Place of that era.

In 1978 Clara lived at 5105 Victor where she had lived most of her adult life.

I’m sure she was in her 80s but in her many remembrances she never even remotely indicated her age and in interviewing her I avoided even a subtle effort to inquire.  She had married at 18, whenever that was, and had two children.  At some time when she was still young she divorced her husband.  Divorce was not uncommon in the twenties but it was new and a stigma to many at that time.  She was active in the Munger Place community and from our conversations it was obvious she loved the neighborhood and was proud of it.

Her priest was Bishop Lynch who lived on the south side of Swiss by Collett.  In the cool of the early evening just before sunset the Bishop would walk in the shade of the boulevard on Swiss to its intersection with Munger then walk down that boulevard and back.

On the way he would meet and often walk with his parishioners.  Clara would often join him; the Bishop was a close friend of her family when they were in Chicago and the Bishop felt protective of her not only as her priest but also because of the family ties.  She said he told her he joined the priesthood when his fiancée ran off and married someone else.  She described him as a very handsome and intelligent man whose advice she always followed.  He would often caution Clara that she could never marry again.  She said she always replied ‘yes’ but noted she would have remarried in a minute if the opportunity came.

Clara was an attractive woman and either she and /or one of her daughters modeled for photographers.  I am confused on this.  The Munger boys had a car that Steve Munger, Edgar Padgitt and others often teased her.

They would honk and chase her on streets that had few vehicles at that time.  She said teens would get together at her father-in-law’s, T. V. Murray, house and play records.

By 1923 more development brought more activities to the neighborhood.  The Columbia Theater had been around since 1914, the Eagle Pharmacy offered ice cream and the streetcar offered transportation to downtown.  When the Munger Café opened in 1923 at Collett and Centre it was the beginning of a growth spurt and more developments were underway.

Probably the most important building was a structure at the back of S. G. Lett’s house on Reiger and Collett.  Lett’s side yard faced Collett and was adjacent to the brick structure on Collett that housed the Piggly Wiggly and the very popular Eagle Pharmacy.  Where most people built garages with apartments above, Lett built a large two-story restaurant with a second floor balcony.  There was an entrance with French paneled doors and a tile floor.  On the ground floor there was a covered porch and shaded area for tables.

Clara Murray spoke well of  S. G. Lett.  She said his building was a work of craftsmanship and the yard that surrounded the building was beautifully landscaped.  His son, Sam, who was seven when it was built, was often around and was a very charming child.

Shortly after completion of Lett’s building, Mrs. George Myers rented the restaurant for ninety dollars a month.  Clara always referred to married women by their husband’s name instead of their own first name.  Although I greatly dislike the custom I suppose it was proper at that time. Clara said the restaurant was popular from the start.  Mrs. Myers set up the restaurant which drew many people from downtown, Highland Park and other places in Dallas.  The name she gave it was:   The Munger Place Ladies’ Exchange and Tea Room.

According to Clara Murray’s description and the aid of a picture of the building in much lesser times, I think it may have looked something like this. After walking past the building many times in my youth it is hard for me to envision it looking this nice but it also difficult to realize the wealth in Munger Place in those early years.

Mrs. Myers, who lived on the south side of Victor near Collett, was a graduate of The University of Texas and had written a cookbook. With help from Mrs. Van Noy she set up the Restaurant that was open from 11:00 until 2:00; this brought many business men from town that would stay much longer and talk. There were eight large tables in a room with beautiful curtains amid flowers and potted plants.

The Women’s Exchange in Munger Place brought pies, cakes, pastries, fudge and divinity. The ladies in the neighborhood brought in the cakes and the profits went to their churches since they were all quite wealthy. Three young African-American women worked at the tea room and were especially popular with the customers and the neighborhood. Janie was the main cook and prepared a 25 pound ham and baked bread and hot rolls among other things. Lucy was a charming young girl and very attractive; she waited tables and was a favorite with the customers.

The Hockaday girls that often came by would continually rave about how pretty little Lucy was and that always embarrassed her. Aunt Nettie, the older of the three, washed dishes but she also took care of Collett and Robert Munger.

At that time Munger Place was one of the more wealthy areas of town and the tea room attracted prominent people in the city.  Clara Murray mentioned Hugh Prather, who managed the new Highland Park Estates, Mr. Titche of the big department store and Mr Olmstead of the paper company who also lived on Junius St.  .E. R. Brown, who lived on Swiss and was the President of Magnolia Oil Company in Dallas, and several men in the cotton business would stay and talk into the afternoon.  She said they all would tip quite well.

The tea room often had birthday parties and bridal showers. Some of the women in Munger Place that patronized the tea room and exchange were Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Greer, Mrs. Pittman and Jessie Schoellkopf.  Mrs. Schoellkopf had a birthday party in 1928 for her ten year old daughter Agnes.  Quite often well dressed young girls in the neighborhood would spend time at the tea room.

The tea room only had seven good years before the stock market crash in October of 1929.  Although it hung on for several more years, it was never the same after the crash.  By the mid-thirties it began to change owners often who were unable to keep it up.  It must have slowly declined until sometime in the ’50’s when it was left vacant.  For years it sat as an empty ruin as people, including me, passed by without knowledge of what it once had been.

Two doors up from the Tea Room was The Eagle Pharmacy at 315 Collett; a place almost as popular as the Tea Room.  The Pharmacy had been around since 1919.  A man named Holsombeck was the owner and he was well respected in the area.  There was a soda fountain as well as tables and booths where people would gather for ice cream, malts or sundaes.  People came from the Park Cities, Oak Lawn and South Dallas.

There were groups of friends that would often come together.  Clara Murray said the Schoellkopf’s would usually arrive with a Dr. and Mrs. White who lived on Swiss, Ward Gannor and Mr. Olmstead.  Clara remembered Mr. Olmstesd as a very nice man.  Like the other patrons they spent time sitting and talking at the tables or booths.

The Eagle Pharmacy must have lasted until the end of World War II.  I recall the pharmacy in existence in the early forties when I was a young boy and have a vague memory of coming in at times.  Norman Miller was instrumental in developing businesses in Munger Place.  In 1922 he opened Miller’s Cleaners at 205 Collett.  In 1923 he was listed as living at 5011 Centre in a new row of brick buildings on that street.  In 1923 Miller began construction of an interesting unit of unique apartments at the end of Centre.  These were the Miller Courts built in a horseshoe arrangement that added much to the now developing Columbia Collett intersection.

The Miller Courts were two floors of sixteen nice but small apartments that received a lot of attention in the neighborhood.  In the late twenties, there was a likable kid, Sonny Plausche, about six years of age that was always around. Little Sonny was rather expressive and had a crush on Clara’s daughter, Jane.  Jane was in her mid-teens and rather pretty.  Sonny once said “I’m going to be a policeman when I grow up, marry Jane and live in the Miller Courts.” Clara Murray said some of the Dallas business men that frequented the Tea Room keep their mistresses at the Miller Courts.

In the thirties and many years following Verbie Miller ran the Miller Cleaners at 205 Collett.  One would think he was related to Norman Miller.  Norman Miller had two sons, Morris and Duncan.  The 1920 city directory lists Verbie Miller working at a retail store.  In 1978 I talked to Verbie Miller who must have been in his eighties.  He lived on Victor Street in the three story red brick building.  He was rather popular with the new neighbors who were restoring the homes.  I was not aware of Norman Miller at that time to ask him about any relationship.  Instead I asked him if he had any pictures that I could copy and he replied.  “Boy, we didn’t have time for pictures back then, we were working all the time!”

The prosperity of the twenties was still growing. Beyond the Tea Room, the row of specialty shops on Centre and the Miller Courts a shopping area emerged on Columbia and Fitzhugh. By 1924 the 5300 block of Junius was functioning with many businesses just across from Munger Park. The service station was not like the common ones with a driveway; there was just a gas pump on the sidewalk that ran in front of the row of stores. At some later time, an ice house was added on the east side of the stores with a drive between them.

Munger Place was surrounded with stores within walking distance. The number of grocery stores seems excessive but people visited the store daily at that time. Soon more commercial building came to the Fitzhugh and Gaston corner and also to Beacon and Columbia. Small stores soon were at Tremont at Augusta and Henderson just south of Columbia. By the late twenties there was a small grocery store on the southeast corner of Junius and Fulton.

Also in 1924 ‘Doc’ Harrell opened a drug store at Gaston and Abrams that later became a landmark to the people of Lakewood and the students at Woodrow Wilson High School.  Nothing else was there but a restaurant next door and a gas station across the street.  At that time it was accessible only by muddy roads.  Gaston was soon paved but Abrams was not.  Work started on Lakewood Boulevard in 1925 so one would think Abrams would have been paved by then.

Lakewood Boulevard had wide parkways that were lined with sycamore trees and extended to White Rock Lake.

By 1924 the commercial area of Munger Place was almost complete. An Oriental Oil Station soon was later added on the northeast corner of Columbia and Collett that was to change hands often but would be a gas station there for years.  These building were new and were kept nice during the good economic times in the twenties.

The commercial area had a few changes during the rest of the twenties. The shoe shop that shared the foyer of the cleaners at 205-7 Collett became Annie’s Flowers and Hat Shop by 1927.  Hunts Grocery at 314-316 Collett became The Motor Service Garage for a while and later it was replaced by a Safeway store.  Sellers Radio was added to the row of shops on the east side of the 200 block of Collett.

In 1926 the Arcadia Theater was built on Greenville Ave. The Arcadia was much larger than the local Columbia in Munger Place and not too far away.  This was the largest movie house near Munger Place until the Lakewood Theater came along in the late thirties.

Also in 1926 The Bagdad Club was constructed between Dallas and Ft. Worth.  This was a $150,000 supper club in a Moorish style that that could be seen from the highway.

It was an awesome site- nothing like one would expect to see on a Texas plain.  It was still there in the forties; I remember seeing it, as a child, in trips to Ft. Worth to visit my brother Sam his wife, Virginia, and their kids, Skip and Betty.  I believe it sat vacant for years.

The trolley on Collett was a real luxury that enabled one to never walk any more than the length of a block to visit any store near Munger Place.  It may well have been more important in its function as a social mixer.  The car was open and easy to access enabling people to visit with their friends almost daily.  With the many wraparound porches along its route on Collett, the patrons could wave at neighbors on their porch.

In 1926 the Dallas Steers won the Texas League pennant and the games could be heard on the radio.

In 1927 WRR became the first municipally owned radio station in the U.S. to feature scheduled entertainment programs. Also, in 1927 Dallas Methodist Hospital opens. Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic and be came a great American hero. He even visited Dallas. We decided to soon name a street after him. Dallas teacher, Portia Washington Pittman, daughter of Booker T. Washington, led a 600-voice chorus in a concert featuring her own music for the National Education Association’s annual meeting held in Dallas.  The city purchased Love Field as a municipal airport.

While Dallas was more like Sinclair Lewis’ Main Street rather than like Scott Fitzgerald’s carefree moderns in The Great Gatsby, it was influenced by the Jazz age to some extent in its fashion. The people in Munger Place were well off and dressed fashionably.

While at that time all shopping and department stores were downtown, Munger Place had some small shops and beauty parlors on Centre St. Centre St. east of Collett was considered more prominent than other retail streets in Munger Place.

In 1928 the long promised east Dallas high school was completed and was named Woodrow Wilson.  In the summer prior to the opening of school, Glasgow Street was not yet paved.  The new Woodrow Wilson P.T.A. petitioned the city to pave the street and it was done soon but I have no information on exactly when it was done.

In 1928 my Aunt Florence lived on Swiss Avenue near Carroll Avenue.  Her sister, my Aunt Eunice Mitchell, and her daughter, Iola, lived with her.  Iola enrolled in the first class at the new Woodrow Wilson High School.  Years later, both Eunice and Iola lived with my family at the 5003 Tremont house.  At that time my parents lived in Oak Cliff but my Aunts Florence and Eunice and their daughters Opal and Iola were the first of my family to be familiar with Munger Place.

Both my Aunts, Florence and Eunice, were hairdressers at their beauty parlor at the Southland building that was then on Commerce St. near Akard St.

Students at Woodrow Wilson dressed well as many of them were from well-to-do families.  Few here dressed as flappers to the extreme as in Greenwich Village or Hollywood.  While many Munger Place students attended Woodrow Wilson many others went to prestigious private schools

The costume history image in our minds of a woman of the ‘Roaring Twenties’ is actually likely to be the image of a flapper. Flappers did not truly emerge until 1926.  Flapper fashion embraced all things and styles modern.  A fashionable flapper had short sleek hair, a shorter than average shapeless shift dress, a chest as flat as a board, exposed her limbs and epitomized the spirit of a reckless rebel who danced the nights away in the Jazz Age.  This was not the norm in Dallas.

It is often mistakenly assumed that all dresses day and evening were short in every year of the twenties and that flappers were the only fashion style of the twenties.  Dress and coat lengths were actually calf length and quite long for most of the decade.  Shortness is a popular misconception reinforced by the availability of movie films of the Charleston Dance which shows very visible knees and legs on the dancing flappers.

The arms were bared not only for evening but also for day and the legs were covered in beige stockings visible to the knee which gave an overall more naked look than ever before.  Feet, ankles and calves formerly hidden and encased in black stocking were suddenly on show.  Most young women wore black wool stockings until the end of World War I.

My Aunt Florence’s daughter, Opal, was quite talented and was on the radio in Dallas.

She later moved to Los Angeles and her son, Ronnie, was in a move or two as a young boy.  They later visited us when we lived in the Tremont house.  Aunt Florence was rather an independent spirit who only rented rooms in her Swiss Avenue house to musicians so she could have music for her parties.  My family was dreadfully traditional and was not pleased with Florence but she was a wonderful aunt to me when I was a child.

It was a difficult time for the former matrons of Edwardian society, the previous leaders of fashion whose style of dressing became as passé as their rounded figures and older faces.  More youthful women who could party all night and carry the boyish fashions well were all the rage.

Few pictures exist of Munger Place in the twenties but it would be a good guess that they dressed well.  As the decade came to an end so did prosperity and the once wealthy area would never be the same.

The twenties were good years for Munger Place and Dallas.  The tracks were removed from Pacific Avenue as Kessler had suggested ten years earlier; a park was proposed to soon be built around White Rock Lake that was again a proposal by Kessler.  Things looked good until October.

When the startling shock of the stock market crash in October of 1929 came, it did not affect everyone at once.  However, in scanning the real estate ads in the newspaper at that time one can see that immediately large, wealthy home were no longer built.  Homes were still built but were much smaller.  Clifford Hutsell, who built elaborate but smaller Mediterranean style homes, was still in business in Lakewood but the large stately houses were seldom built or bought.