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In the 1920s, Dallas' inventive genius, Henry "Dad" Garrett (pictured, left), installed Dallas' first traffic lights and founded city-owned radio station WRR.
1921 - WRR becomes first municipally owned radio station in the U.S. to feature scheduled entertainment programs. Majestic Theater is completed -- the first of the Elm Street vaudeville and movie palaces. Magnolia Building is completed; at 29 stories, it remains the tallest building west of the Mississippi for 20 years.
1922 - A new high-school for African-American students, Booker T. Washington, is completed; it will remain the only black high school for another 17 years. 101 civic leaders found the Dallas Historical Society.
1923 - Henry Garrett installs the first automatic traffic signal in the U.S. in Dalas. The last train runs down Pacific Avenue before tracks are removed. Newspaperman G.B. Dealey, Rabbi David Lefkowitz, and politician M.M. Crane work to defeat the political and social influence of the Ku Klux Klan in Dallas.
1925 - Dallas Negro Chamber of Commerce (later re-named the Dallas Black Chamber) is organized.
1926 - Streecar fares increase to seven cents. Air mail service is inaugurated from Dallas' Love Field to Chicago and New York. Performing in "Deep Ellum," Blind Lemon Jefferson is the biggest selling black blues singer in the U.S. for three years. Metropolitan Opera soprano Leonora Corona, a Dallas native, begins a series of five annual "homecoming recitals" in Dallas.
1927 - Dallas Methodist Hospital opens. Charles Lindbergh visits Dallas. Dallas teacher Portia Washington Pittman, daughter of Booker T. Washington, leads a 600-voice chorus in a concert featuring her own music for the National Education Association's annual meeting, held in Dallas. City of Dallas purchases Love Field as a municipal airport.
1930 - Trinity Canal Association is formed. Citizens' Charter Association is organized to persuade voters to approve the Council-Manager form of municipal government. Population of Dallas is 260,475.
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