S1E3 Deep Ellum, Part I

Before Deep Ellum became the heart of Dallas music and nightlife, it was a gritty railroad crossroads where industry, innovation, opportunity, and injustice collided.In Part 1 of our Deep Ellum series, we trace the neighborhood's origins from the arrival of the railroads in the 1870s through the end of World War I. Discover how the Continental Gin Company helped make Dallas a manufacturing powerhouse, why Henry Ford chose Deep Ellum for one of his earliest assembly plants, and how waves of workers transformed the district into one of the city's most important communities. Along the way, we confront the racial tensions that shaped early Dallas—including the 1910 lynching of Allen Brooks—and explore how these difficult chapters laid the foundation for the extraordinary cultural explosion that would follow.Before the blues, before the jazz, and before Deep Ellum became legendary, there was another story. This is where it begins.Deep History explores the forgotten people, overlooked places, and untold stories that shaped our world. Learn more at deep-history.com.