Deep Ellum

Where did Deep Ellum get it's name?

Deep Ellum (a corruption of "deep Elm Street") is an arts and entertainment district near downtown in east Dallas, Texas (USA). It lies directly east of the elevated I-45/US 75 (unsigned I-345) freeway and extends to Exposition Avenue, connected to downtown by, from north to south, Pacific, Elm, Main, Commerce, and Canton streets. The neighborhood is north of Exposition Park and south of Bryan Place.

The area got its start in 1884 when Robert S. Munger built his first factory, for the Munger Improved Cotton Machine Company, in what is now Deep Ellum. In 1913, Henry Ford opened an assembly plant here to supplement the manufacture of the Ford Model T at the Detroit plant. In 1916, the first building built for and by blacks in Dallas. "The Grand Temple of the Black Knights of Pythias" was built in Deep Ellum at Good-Latimer and Elm Street, later turned in to the Union Bankers Building.

 

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