Tyler in the 1920s11 cards: 4 firsts and 7 beginnings
- Emmett Scott High School is completedNamed for Booker T. Washington’s private secretary; closed by court order in 1970.
- Spanish surnames multiply in the city directoriesMost lived south of the Cotton Belt tracks, east of The Levee.
- The Dixie Highway, the county’s first hard-surface roadTyler to Winona, of iron ore, gravel, asphalt and limestone.
- Citizens National Bank builds Tyler’s first “skyscraper”In 1924 Citizens National Bank built Tyler’s first “skyscraper,” an eight-story building.
- Martin Hall goes up at Texas CollegeThe oldest intact building on the campus.
- The Tyler Trojans join the East Texas LeagueThey played on and off until 1955.
- Tyler Junior College opens at Tyler High SchoolOpens with 93 students and nine faculty members.
- Wood T. Brookshire opens a grocery on the squareA 2,500-square-foot store on the courthouse square.
- The fair’s first “Colored Day,” after a petitionAt the request of African American residents, who presented a petition, the East Texas Fair Association added a “Colored Day” to the fair in 1928.
- Maurice Shamburger plants the first azaleas along Lindsey LaneThe start of Tyler’s azalea tradition, in a test garden.
- The Tyler Morning Telegraph debutsIt traces its roots to the weekly Courier, founded in 1877.