Tyler Firsts
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Tyler in the 1930s19 cards: 7 firsts, 1 claimed first and 11 beginnings

  1. Tyler adopts its first city planJust as the oil boom began; it was updated in 1945.First1931Civic and government
  2. Radio station KGKB moves to TylerNow KYZS 1490, the oldest AM license in town, Scott Fybush says.Beginning1931Media, stage and fair
  3. The first producing oil well in Smith CountyBrought in near Arp by Guy Vernon Lewis.FirstMarch 1931Business and work
  4. Tyler’s airport opens on Highway 64Named Rhodes Field in 1934, then Pounds Field in World War II.BeginningMay 1931, sources differRails and roads
  5. People’s Bank raises a 15-story towerArt Deco, at North College and West Erwin.Beginning1932, sources differBusiness and workPhotograph
  6. Texas College is accredited as a four-year collegeRenamed Phillips University in 1909, then Texas College again.Beginning1932Schools and colleges
  7. The Woman’s Building is completedMeeting rooms, an auditorium and a library for the Woman’s Forum.Beginning1932Civic and governmentPhotograph
  8. Margaret Copeland is crowned the first Rose QueenCrowned in 1933, the year of the first rose festival.First1933, sources differRoses and gardens
  9. The first rose festival opens in TylerOrganized in six weeks, with a parade and a Rose Queen.FirstOctober 11, 1933, sources differRoses and gardens
  10. Tyler Barber College, called the country’s first for African AmericansHenry Miller Morgan, born in Tyler’s St. Louis community in 1895, opened Tyler Barber College at 212 East Erwin Street.Claimed first per the downtown nomination1934, sources differSchools and collegesPhotograph
  11. Dr. Archie S. Senate moves his practice to East ErwinOn the 200 block, where Black entrepreneurs bought buildings.BeginningBy 1934Health and medicine
  12. Tyler Pipe, an iron foundry, dates to 1935Cast iron soil pipe and fittings, made in Tyler.Beginning1935Business and work
  13. Church women start a day care for low-income familiesProtestant, Catholic and Jewish women, working together.Beginning1936Churches and faith
  14. Sam Greenberg’s smokehouse, the start of Greenberg TurkeysBuilt to prepare kosher geese for his family.Beginning1937Business and work
  15. Mother Frances Hospital opens a day earlyMother Frances Hospital opened in Tyler on March 18, 1937, a day earlier than planned, to care for victims of the New London School explosion.BeginningMarch 18, 1937Health and medicinePhotograph
  16. The Mayfair Club opens for the Queen’s BallA building at the fairgrounds, leased by promoter Max Gilfillan.Beginning1938Media, stage and fair
  17. Live rose bushes fill the Rose Show for the first timeA formal “colonial garden” of more than 1,000 growing bushes.First1938Roses and gardens
  18. City Hall, the first building to hold all the city’s offices212 North Bonner Avenue, completed in 1938.First1938, sources differCivic and governmentPhotograph
  19. The Blackstone Building holds Tyler’s first union bus terminalArt Deco on North Broadway, with oil companies upstairs.FirstFebruary 1938Rails and roadsPhotograph