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- Click here for the TSHA entry on East Dallas.
On this day in 1882, East Dallas was incorporated. In 1872 William H. Gaston had begun promoting settlement in the area and had persuaded the railroads to go through East Dallas. In the 1870s East Dallas became a popular recreation destination on the streetcar lines that ran from Dallas to the state fairs and the horse-racing track. East Dallas was considered the most luxurious place to live in Dallas County; 90 percent of its houses had running water by 1889. The main thoroughfares were well maintained, and a speed limit of eighteen miles an hour was set to slow down swift horses. In 1886 the first all-brick schoolhouse in Dallas County was built in East Dallas. In 1887 another boom occurred there when the Texas State Fair and Dallas Exposition at Fair Park opened. In 1889 the legislature revoked the charter of East Dallas so it could become part of Dallas. Some claimed that those who revoked the charter did so to make Dallas the largest town in Texas. The city of Dallas took over all the debt of East Dallas in addition to its streets, schools, and public buildings. On December 31, 1889, the day before East Dallas officially became part of Dallas, the city council of East Dallas passed $45,000 in street improvements, which Dallas was forced to finance.
