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Colorized Vintage Photos of Richardson, Texas

Recently, I subscribed to an online service which allows users to "colorize" old black and white photographs using AI technology. The results of this process varies in quality, depending largely upon the original quality of the photograph, but even when it doesn't come out perfectly, seeing an old print in color for the first time is quite an interesting experience, the color bringing it to life, so to speak, in a way that the black and white original didn't. So, I thought, why not use this service to colorize some old photos of Richardson? And I did, and here are the results, accompanied by some explanatory notes, to let you know a bit about each photo and what you are seeing. ENJOY! (Note: All original black and white photos courtesy Richardson Public Library, except Interurban car, courtesy Denver Public Library.)

This photo of four businesses arrayed along what is now called Texas Street, from Main (originally called Smith Street) toward Polk, was probably taken about 1892, after they had rebuilt following a disastrous fire earlier that year. Or, it might have been taken before the fire. No one knows for sure. Original photo courtesy Richardson Public Library.

This photo of E. Main Street (originally called Smith Street), looking west, was taken around 1910. Notice almost all the buildings are made of wood and the street is unpaved. The single brick building on the right-hand side (built in 1898) is still standing today at 111 E. Main Street. The wooden building on the left, that you can see the back of, just to the left of the X-shaped railroad crossing sign, is the same building you can see on the extreme left in the previous photo above this one. It was a general store. The cross street you see in the middle of the photo, about where the buildings end, is present-day McKinney Street.

Before technology companies defined the Richardson of today, this cotton gin was one of several that served Richardson area farmers from the end of the Civil War right up to the 1960s, when suburbanization erased the cotton fields that previously surrounded the city. Every summer, usually in late August or early September, farmers competed for who was going to bring in the first bale. A competing gin, still under construction, can be seen in the photo below. Both photos were taken around the turn of the twentieth century.

This view of E. Main Street, looking west, includes further proof of the importance of cotton production to early-day Richardson -- cotton wagons lined up along the street. Richardson's second Houston & Texas Central railroad depot (built in 1909 after the original 1873 depot was demolished) can also be seen, at the far end of the street, as well as the X-shaped crossing sign (on the left) and freight cars passing by. The brick building with overhang, across from the depot, is still standing today at 101 E. Main and being used as an auto body repair shop.

This photograph was almost certainly taken either on April 26, 1910, when the 1910 Glidden Tour pathfinder automobile made a test run through Texas, or on June 21, 1910, during the actual competition, which included a ten-minute refreshment stop in Richardson. The photo is also interesting in that it shows what the north side of present-day East Main Street looked like in 1910, including the town's only two brick buildings, starting on the far left with Thompson's Dry Goods Store, built in 1898, and then the 2-story-tall crenellated Odd Fellows Building, also constructed in 1898. Harben's wood-frame drugstore is to its right.

In this 1919 photo of the girls' basketball team in an automobile on East Main Street, the Poole/Ashby Hotel can clearly be seen in the background, right, next to a gas station at the corner of E. Main and Greenville Avenue. The hotel was torn down in the 1950s, but there's still a gas station at that location. You can also see the spire, in the background, of a church.

This distinctive building still standing at 107 East Main Street was originally built in 1916 as the Twentieth Century Garage. In 1920, it became the Stratton Brothers Brick Garage. Other businesses that have operated out of this building over the years include Blewett's Grocery, Browning's Barbecue, the Chick Appliance Store, and the Hamilton Photography Studio. Most recently did business as the Jasmine Café.

Built about 1898, this brick building, still standing at 101 E. Main, was originally Thompson & Sons dry goods store. In 1918, when his father died, Bob Thompson became sole owner. In 1923, Thompson sold this property to Sam P. Harben, who thereafter leased it to Milton Ingram, who turned it into an automobile repair garage. In 1946, it was sold to Ingram, who remained there until his death in 1969. Since then, several other auto repair businesses have owned or leased the premises, including E.& M. Automotive (1974), Roadrunner Paint & Body (1975), Pro's Auto Body Center (1977), Rolls Royce Upholstery Shop (1983), and Ellis Auto Sales (1983). Although 103 East Main was at one time a separate address from 101 East Main, the two are now conjoined and currently occupied by Collison Masters auto repair service.

Mrs. Sarah Allen (formerly Howser), sitting on the front porch of her post office house on Central Street (now Texas Street), sometime between 1909, when the church in the background was built, and 1911, when her appointment expired. The other people in the photograph are unidentified. This building was located where there is now a small parking lot just off Texas Street, behind the A-Z Printing building.

The distinctive little building, built by Clint Wallis in 1939, served as Richardson's post office until 1956. It is still standing today at 116 East Main Street. Following its abandonment as a post office, it was sold, and since then has been used for a variety of commercial purposes. Currently, Star Pipes & Hookah is doing business on this site.

The above photo of the Stansell Brothers Grocery store was taken on the ground floor of 111 E. Main Street, a brick building constructed in 1898 that is still standing today. This space was later used by the Citizens State Bank for many decades, and then later, the Richardson News, among other things!

For many years, the McKamy-Reddick grocery store (see above, interior) operated at what is now 100 East Main Street. This is also an important historic spot because it was here that the City of Richardson was born on Monday, June 22, 1925, when 125 out of an estimated 150 legal voters went to McKamy and Reddick's general store at the southeast corner of Smith (now Main) Street and present-day Texas Street, to approve a proposal for incorporation, 112 to 10, "or nearly 10 to 1 in favor of the incorporation," adopting a commission-style government. At the same time, the store's co-owner, Tom McKamy, was elected Richardson's first mayor, with Earl E. Huffhines and T. A. Berryman to serve as the first two city commissioners.

The barbershop owned by "Newt" (real name Thomas Newton) Harris, at present-day 112-114 East Main Street, was another long-term town institution. Opened in 1904 on the south side of Smith Street (Lot 13, Block 4), and then moved next door when Harris bought Lot 12, Block 4 in 1906. Newt and his assistants cut hair for a quarter and shaved chins for a dime (the prices went up a little over the years) in the same spot in Richardson, present-day 114 East Main (but not the present building), until Newt decided to retire in 1947-a total of 43 years, although Newt had actually worked as a barber long before he owned his own shop.

Henry and Katie Pistole purchased this lot from the Houston & Texas Central Railway in 1906. That same year, Sam P. Harben acquired it from the Pistoles. The following year, he sold this lot and also no. 15 to J. E. Day, who thereafter operated a grocery store on the site. In 1924, the newly-formed Harben-Spotts printing company moved into this specially-constructed two-story-tall brick building at 117 E. Main, where the Richardson Echo, the town's only newspaper for five decades, was printed. That's Sam with hands on hips in the middle of the photo. This building is now part of the Tavern on Main Street.

Harben's Drugstore (seen above, interior) actually began doing business on Central Street (now Texas Street) in 1896. In 1901, the Harbens--Dr. R. P. and sons Sam and Jess--moved into a one-story wood frame building on Lot 17, Block 5, next door to the Odd Fellows Building, which had been built by Rucker. In 1911, they built the present brick structure and there the business remained until 1955, when it was sold to James Nevins, who changed the name to "City Drug." Still standing today, this building at 115 E. Main, is now part of the Tavern on Main Street.

A rear room of Harben's Drug Store was used by the exchange of the Richardson Telephone Company during the early years of the company.

In the spring of 1914, the thirty-member Richardson Concert Band, a genuine brass band consisting entirely of wind instruments and drums, was formed, with donations from local residents and businesses. This is what they looked like in 1918.

Richardson's Volunteer Fire Department, posing by the pump house, 1934.

The 1902 graduating class of the Richardson School, which stood near the site of the present-day RISD administration building. That's the Mt. Calvary Baptist Church on Greenville Avenue in the background.

The Interurban, operated by the Texas Electric Railway, reached Richardson in 1908 and in 1909, this small brick depot was built at the corner of W. Main and Interurban Street. After the Interurban stopped running in the late 1940s, the building housed a variety of businesses until it was demolished in the late 1960s.

This photo of an Interurban car in Richardson was taken sometime in the 1940s.

Tom McKamy, first Mayor of Richardson, elected 1925.

A birds-eye view of downtown Richardson, taken in 1927 from the top of the city's first water tower.

Main Street, looking east, in the 1950s. The first six buildings on the left-hand side of the photo are still standing, including 105 E. Main, which used to be the RITZ movie theater (later, the ELECTRA).

Built in 1898, the Odd Fellows Building, as it was originally called, has housed a grocery store, the city's first bank (Citizens State Bank), and the Richardson News, among other businesses. The second floor was the first city hall for a brief period in the 1930s. Still standing today at 111 E. Main.

This gas station stood where a new city hall was built in the 1950s. Both are gone. The city's first water tower and pump house can be seen in the background.

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