Dallas History Timeline: The 1870s

1872 - Houston & Texas Central Railroad reaches Dallas; telegraph lines link Dallas with towns along the railroad route. Sarah Cockrell opens an iron toll bridge across the Trinity River. Mule-drawn street cars link the railroad depot with downtown Dallas. New Hope Baptist Church is established as the first African-American church in Dallas. Terminus merchants such as E.M. Kahn and the Sanger Brothers open dry goods stores, which will later become department stores. Volunteers organize a Dallas Fire Department.

1873 - Texas & Pacific Railroad crosses the H & TC at Dallas. First Jewish congregation, Temple Emanu-El, is established. J.Y. and Thomas Field build Dallas' first opera house. Roller skating is introduced to Dallas.

1874 - Ursuline nuns open an academy for girls of all faiths and found a new convent.

1875 - "Martha" is the first opera presented in Dallas, at Field's Theater. J.H. "Doc" Holliday, after practicing dentistry in Dallas for three years, is "invited" to leave town after a shooting in a local saloon. Seventy-year-old Elizabeth Cady Stanton lectures in Dallas on women's rights.

1876 - City acquires land near Browder's Springs to create the first public park, City Park.

1878 - H.C. Blakeney purchases first bicycle, with iron tires.

1879 - R.C. Buckner founds a home for orphans.

1880 - A Board of Trade is organized to promote industry and manufacturing in Dallas. The Pearl Street Reading Club, the first "culture club" for women, is organized by Mary Mitchell (Mrs. John Henry) Brown. Population of Dallas is 10,358.