In the third installment (of four) of Jerry Flook's research on the Bankhead Highway in Garland, Mr Flook details the symbiotic relationship of how autos led to highways and how highways led to more autos. Locally, both led to an economic boom centered along the Bankhead Hwy that, as we will learn in the final installment, extended blocks away from the highway as more people moved to Garland and built new homes.
 
The first installment was posted here and the second here.
 

By Jerry Flook:

HISTORY OF THE BANKHEAD HIGHWAY

PRESENTED IN THE CONTEXT OF EXPERIENCE OF GARLAND, TEXAS, A CITY ON ITS ROUTE

 

The Bankhead Highway Fulfills Economic Expectations

 

From the Garland Landmark Society: Scogins Cafe, owned by Fulton and Ollie Scogin, about the time of it's opening in October, 1945. Formerly Boyd's Cafe, the redecorated eatery was located on the north side of Bankhead Ave., now Main Street, between 1st and 3rd Sts. and advertised "Garland's Finest Foods." [Photo is not a part of Mr Flook's narrative.]

Not surprisingly, the belief of the Garland News editor that the Bankhead Highway promised “fine opportunities” for Garland and other towns on its route proved to be accurate. The automobile had been the primary stimulus for the development of highways such as the Bankhead, but the improved highways in turn stimulated the evolution of motor transportation. The impact on auto traffic was almost immediate. For 19 hours one Sunday in June 1923 the Garland Chamber of Commerce counted autos passing through the Square on the Bankhead Highway. They counted 2,585 and estimated that 75% of them stopped for service, drinks, and food. Later that summer the paper declared: “People are moving to Garland so fast lately that what few gossips we have are being worked overtime to circulate their peculiarities and shortcomings.” In the same issue the paper noted that the iron hitching rack on the Square had been moved to a side street since there were so many autos it was dangerous to have teams on the Square.
 
Among the more visible improvements which the county bonds and the development of the Bankhead brought to Garland besides a paved and curbed main street were a new concrete bridge over Duck Creek on the west side of town. The Garland Square was landscaped with flowers and grass and a World War I memorial fountain erected there, presumably at least in part to make Garland’s downtown a more appealing stop for travelers on the Bankhead.
 
In 1923 Lake Garland, an impoundment of Duck Creek under the Bankhead Highway bridge, was purchased by a local entrepreneur, who dredged it and renovated the existing bath houses with an eye to creating an “auto tourist camp” there. A tourist cottage park, Anderson Park, was developed on the Highway east of town in 1931 and a second such operation, Crenshaw Tourist Park, eventually opened on the Highway at the west side of town. About that same time Garland’s first miniature golf course was opened on the Highway near Lake Garland Park.
 
Besides lodging and recreation for travelers on the Bankhead Highway various other businesses to serve them sprang up along the route through Garland. Although Garland’s Bankhead route extended through only 12 commercial blocks, by the mid-1940s auto travel-related businesses with Bankhead addresses included 5 auto dealerships, 3 auto repair garages, 3 auto supply stores, 9 restaurants, and 11 service stations. Although none of these is now in operation, several of the buildings that housed them still survive, adapted to other uses.
 
Parenthetically, it should be noted that apparently the Bankhead Highway was never officially designated by the War Department as a military highway, despite early predictions. It is, however, true that on 14 June 1920 the War Department launched an Army convoy over the route, thus giving the Bankhead Highway implied government recognition as the most important southern transcontinental route. The convoy consisted of 44 trucks, 7 automobiles, 4 motorcycles, 20 officers, 160 enlisted men, and the secretary of the Bankhead National Highway Association. The convoy stopped in every community on the way, presenting promotional programs. It finally reached Los Angeles on 6 October 1920. There is no report in the Garland News of the convoy coming through Garland, so it may have bypassed this part of its main route following one of its branch routes.
 
It is interesting to note that in 1924 Garland businessmen exulted over the completion of a paved route connecting Terrell on the Dixie Overland Highway to Rockwall on the Bankhead east of Garland. The Dixie Overland Highway at the time included an unpaved swampy section between Forney and the Dallas County line known as the “Forney Gap.” Since the “Gap” was impassable in rainy weather, the new connection would allow diversion of DOH traffic at those times through Garland on the Bankhead. The “Forney Gap” was not closed until 1931.
 
First Installment: The Good Roads Movement
Second Installment: Developing the Bankhead Highway
Fourth Installment: The Bankhead Highway Gets Name Changes

Posted with permission of Jerry Flook