History of Deep Ellum

The railroads created Deep Elm. The Houston and Texas Central (H&TC) Railroad arrived in Dallas in 1872, followed by the Texas and Pacific (T&P) Railroad in 1873. The crossing of the two lines is considered the birth of a community on the outer edge of downtown Dallas that people called Deep Elm.

The name Deep Ellum derives from the dialects of the people who worked there. At its heart, Deep Ellum was a place where the cultures of the world converged — Blacks, Jews, Greeks, Italians, Mexicans, Czechs, and others, fleeing the oppression of their homelands, looking for a better life.

The district boasts
over 20 historically recognized buildings.

Over the years Deep Ellum became a crossroads, a nexus, where just about anyone might interact and impact each other in relative freedom. 

In its heyday Deep Ellum attracted a mix of people, from the architect William Sydney Pittman who designed the Pythian Temple which opened in 1916 on this site, to Jewish pawnbrokers, such as Rubin Goldstein, known as Honest Joe, who operated across the street, and countless numbers of aspiring musicians, including Lillian Glinn, Alex Moore, Bobbie Cadillac, Lead Belly, Hattie Hudson, Bob Wills, and Lolo Cavazos, as well as Blind Willie Johnson, Ida May Mack, the Shelton Brothers, and the Light Crust Doughboys. Most notably, in the mid-1920s, Blind Lemon Jefferson, who played for tips near the corner of Elm Street and Central Avenue, became the biggest selling downhome bluesman of his generation. 

Deep Ellum was named a Cultural District by the State of Texas in 2020. The Deep Ellum Historic District encompasses the area bounded by the DART Green line to the north, South Hall Street to the south, I-345 to the west, and I-30 to the east. In 2023, the Deep Ellum Historic District joined the National Register of Historic Places in celebration of Deep Ellum’s 150th anniversary.