This article was originally published on March 4, 2024 in the March 2024 Newsletter of the Dallas Woman’s Forum.
A Thumbnail Sketch of Life at the Alexander Mansion was provided by Leonora Alexander McAllister. Mrs. McAllister was the daughter of Charles H. Alexander, the original owner of the Alexander Mansion. The excerpt below is from Leonora’s recollections of the Alexander Mansion in a Letter to the Dallas Woman’s Forum dated March 9, 1968.
[In this excerpt Leonora recalls the barn behind the Alexander Mansion]
“In the rear was a large barn (razed after the Forum bought the property). It was two storied, having above a hay and feed loft, and a room for the yardman. The lower floor held the harness room, the horses and carriages and other livestock. The fine matched black horses pulled the closed carriage and were used interchangeably with another horse on the surry and a high single seated affair called a “gig”. May I say facetiously that this must have taken the place of the present sports car! The single horse was of racing blood. The other livestock consisted of two Jersey cows who furnished the milk for the household. I have seen huge crocks of milk covered with cream so thick it was rolled off. In those days these “conveniences” were so necessary that there was never any city ordinance prohibiting the housing of animals in the residential areas.”
In today’s urban bustle, it’s hard to imagine a barn, with livestock, as part of the mansion. And what a wonder it must have been to behold the beautiful horse drawn carriages, filled with family and friends, pulling up to the carriage entrance!
About Leonora Alexander McAllister
Leonora Alexander was born on November 12, 1888 in Forney, Texas. By 1900, her father, Charles Henry Alexander, her mother, Elizabeth Leonora “Lizzie” Reagin Alexander, Leonora and her four younger siblings were living in Dallas, Texas on Gaston Avenue (1900 US Census). In 1904, when Leonora was 16 years old, the family moved into the newly finished Alexander Mansion on Ross Avenue. Over the years that her family lived in the home, the family had multiple generations of family members in residence. They also employed a “house girl” from Norway, a “cook,” and a “coachman” to look after the horses and livestock (1910 US Census).