In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Progressive reformers attacked the problem of corruption and lack of efficiency in city government. Reform groups in individual cities banded together in the National Municipal League and, because they believed that partisan politics were the root of the problem, attempted to devise a system which would remove politics from municipal government. Their work culminated in the introduction of the city manager, or as it is often called council-manager, form of city government. Under this plan, which closely resembles the organization of a business corporation, the elected council would serve as a board of directors and the city manager as the operating head of city government. Reformers hoped that by taking the day-to-day decisions out of the hands of elected officials and placing them in the hands of a professionally trained manager they might remove the stigma of corruption and partisanship from city government and promote efficiency. Whether this plan as it was originally conceived was or was not successful in Dallas is the subject of this thesis.

This study traces the history of debutante presentations in Dallas, Texas, from 1884 to 1976. Manuscript materials, organizational collections, interviews, and published sources were used to document and establish past and present information. The problem is organized topically and treated in chronological order within each subject. The role of four bachelors' clubs, Idlewild, Terpsichorean, Calyx, and Dervish, is emphasized and the influence of a business known as Party Service is considered. The evidence gathered for this work suggests the following conclusions: that a complicated and lavish process has evolved, that the influence of heritage and family prominence has gradually eroded, that emphasis centers now on the recently financially successful families, and that despite these changes, the ritual of debutante presentations in Dallas remains strong.

By the early 1900s, ambitious business leaders were transforming Dallas, Texas into a rising commercial metropolis. However, the problems created by rapid urban growth spawned demands from all classes of citizens upon local government for more public improvements and services. When city government failed to meet these demands, many citizens began to seek a more responsive governmental system. Their search led to the establishment of a commission government which, like the modern business corporation, delegated authority to competent, well-paid administrators. Civic reformers hoped that the new system would represent overall community interests. However, Dallas business leaders, believing that continued urban expansion depended upon a city government attuned to business interests, organized a political movement which won them control of the city commission.

The American Dream promised success to Americans in the nineteenth century. This study analyzes the possibilities for average individuals to succeed in rapidly growing Dallas, Texas from 1880 to 1910. Success is measured in terms of occupational, property, and geographical mobility. Available materials dealing with average persons from Dallas: tax rolls, city directories, and the manuscript census for 1880 are evaluated, The focus of this study is primarily on the black population, but for comparison whites and immigrants were also studied. A sample of 216 whites, 212 immigrants, 210 blacks, and 81 mulattoes was randomly drawn from the 1880 census schedules. These men were traced through directories and tax rolls for the period from 1880 to 1910. Information was also tabulated on the female heads of household in Dallas in 1880.

City planning in Dallas, Texas, gives insight into various aspects of the early planning movement in the United States. Dallas city planning offers an opportunity to study the initial work for a plan; citizens' involvement in the pre-planning campaign and later in the workings of the plan itself; the conception of the plan; its implementation; and the differences between the proposed and the implemented plan. Specifically, the 1911 plan for Dallas, Texas affords a chance to examine Kansas City landscape architect George E. Kessler's ideas on urban areas. He believed that planning for an adequate boulevard system would enhance the beauty of a city as well as improving the business climate.

On 13 November 1942, Thelma E. Page, a black high school teacher in Dallas, Texas, brought suit against the Dallas Board of Education in order to bring about the equalization of black and white teachers' salaries. This suit was part of a national movement of blacks, under the direction of the NAACP, and was an indirect attack upon segregation. Most of these suits were filed against large city school systems, in the South, in order to effect the greatest possible number of black teachers. This suit was won by the plaintiff and brought about equalization.