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Deep Ellum Black Community

Also known as Central Track

Dallas, Dallas County, Texas · South Central

Black Business and Entertainment District

Black Wall StreetHighway

Categories: Black Business Districts Displaced · Urban Renewal & Highway Destruction · Communities Destroyed or Displaced by Government/Public Projects

What was built

Established or development period
1870s–1900s
Peak period
1920s–1930s
Who built the community
Freedmen's-town residents, Black musicians and merchants along Elm Street and Central Track, alongside Jewish immigrant merchants.
Black population
A commercial district serving Black Dallas.
Businesses
Black-owned pawn shops, cafés, barbershops, clubs and professional offices.
Financial institutions
The Knights of Pythias Temple, designed by William Sidney Pittman, the first Black architect registered in Texas.
Churches
Not yet documented
Schools
Not yet documented
Hospitals
Not yet documented
Newspapers
Not yet documented
Entertainment & cultural institutions
A blues cradle where Blind Lemon Jefferson and Lead Belly played.
Other community institutions
Not yet documented
Black land & property ownership
Black-owned commercial property including the Pythian Temple.
Economic significance
The entertainment and commercial center of Black Dallas in the 1920s and 1930s.

What happened

What happened?
Construction of Central Expressway in the late 1940s along the old Houston and Texas Central rail line destroyed Central Track and severed Deep Ellum from the Black neighborhoods it served. The district declined for decades and was later redeveloped as a largely white entertainment area.
Trigger or precipitating event
Central Expressway construction along the rail corridor.
Underlying historical context
Highway routing along the rail line that had defined the Black district, followed by disinvestment and later redevelopment.
Method of destruction / displacement
Highway · Economic Disruption · Eminent Domain
Date or period of destruction
Late 1940s–1950s
Confirmed / documented deaths
Not yet documented
Estimated deaths
Not yet documented
People displaced
Businesses and residents along Central Track.
Homes destroyed
Not yet documented
Businesses destroyed
The Central Track corridor's Black businesses.
Acres or property lost
Not yet documented

Afterward

What happened to the land?
Expressway right-of-way.
Was compensation paid?
Right-of-way payments.
Was the community rebuilt?
Yes, but as a different district with different ownership.
What was rebuilt?
Not yet documented
Destroyed or displaced again?
Not yet documented
Second displacement date
Not yet documented
Second displacement cause
Not yet documented
What exists there today?
A popular entertainment district; the restored Knights of Pythias Temple is one of the few Black-built landmarks remaining.
Descendant, reparation & restoration efforts
Pythian Temple preservation and Deep Ellum Black-history interpretation projects.
Historical significance
A Black cultural district erased by a highway and rebuilt for someone else.

Connected records

Sources

  • Primary record

    Dallas Public Library, Texas/Dallas History and Archives Division

    Find
  • Book or scholarly work

    Alan B. Govenar and Jay F. Brakefield, Deep Ellum and Central Track (University of North Texas Press, 1998)

    Find
  • Source lookup

    National Register of Historic Places, Knights of Pythias Temple listing

    Find

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Last verified: 2026-09-20. This is a living historical collection. Additional communities and documentation will be added as research and verification continue.