Join Preservation Dallas for our 2023 Summer Sizzler about the Bankhead Highway and its legacy in Dallas.
Dinner is included in the ticket cost of $25 per person.
Co-Presented in partnership with our friends at
Heritage Oak Cliff.
The Bankhead Highway—which was numbered Texas Highway 1—was the first all-weather highway across the United States, and the first paved road across Texas. Named after Alabama Senator John Hollis Bankhead, a proponent of the “Good Roads” movement, the Bankhead’s route stretched from Washington, DC to San Diego, avoiding major mountain ranges for most of the route. Roughly the middle third traversed Texas, from Texarkana to El Paso, and the Bankhead was the main thoroughfare bringing travelers through dozens of Texas cities and towns, including Dallas.
Our program will feature two speakers:
Matt Weinstein, Director of Programs at Preservation Dallas, will speak about the national and statewide context for the Bankhead. As a Legislative Aide to State Representative Carol Kent at the Texas Capitol in 2009, Matt was responsible for stewarding the legislation that created the THC’s Texas Historic Highways program, and that designated the Bankhead Highway as a historic Texas highway.
Marcel Quimby, a prominent Dallas preservation architect and former President of Preservation Dallas, will speak about the local routes, historical context, and legacy of the Bankhead Highway in Dallas, where the highway played a major role in shaping several neighborhoods, and the city’s commercial landscape. Marcel researched and wrote an article about the Bankhead Highway for AIA Dallas’ Columns Magazine in 2018, which can be viewed at aiadallas.org
Another high point of the program will be the venue, El Ranchito, located at 610 West Jefferson in Oak Cliff, along the Bankhead route. The restaurant was designed by iconic Dallas architect Charles Dilbeck, and opened as Red Bryan’s Smokehouse in 1947
All photos, except for headshots, courtesy of the State of Texas, c/o the Texas Historical Commission. Used with THC permission.