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mikedsjr
17 September 2003, 03:05 PM
A letter (http://www.zfwartcc.jccbi.gov/Time%20Capsule/dallas.jpg) by Mayor R.L. Thorton states:

To the citizens of Dallas in the year 2,000:

Dallas has of this day , as reported by the Bureau of Census, a population of approximately 672,000 people. Forty years from now, into the year 2,000, the population within the city limits of the City of Dallas will be a million and a half to two million people, and by that time i think we will have subways under our main streets to assist in carrying the increased traffic, particularly in the downtown areas. Dallas will through this period continue to be a great medical university and church-going city, and it's these essential elements that will produce the city i am dreaming of by the year 2,000. At this time, I have lived in the city over half a century and have seen it grow and develop during this period of time, and it is my forecast that it will continue to grow and develop and become one of the great cities of the nation, and by that time, it's my opinion that the Trinity River will be canalized and become a very important asset to the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, and that the two cities by the year of 2,000 will have completely grown together. I think that aviation with its great progress up to this time will play a big part in the development of these areas, and it's advancement and progress will be more essential then than it is today because there will be so many moer people to serve, and Dallas and Ft. Worth will continue to be the aviation hub of this part of the United States.

It is my prayer that all of these things will come true.

Very truly,


R. L. Thornton

gc
17 September 2003, 03:46 PM
That is awesome. Thanks for posting it. How did you come across that?

mikedsjr
17 September 2003, 04:30 PM
I was doing a search for dallas on the image tab of google. Its a jpg. The site (http://www.zfwartcc.jccbi.gov/Time%20Capsule/contents.htm) this came from has several more articles from back in 1960, all surrounding the topic of aviation since this is what the site is about.

Gen5Dallas
18 September 2003, 03:39 AM
Mayor R.L. Thornton on...

... meetings:

"If it's a DO meeting, I'm goin'. If it's a DON'T meeting, I'm stayin' home."
__________

... the Citizens' Council:

"If you don't come, you ain't there."
__________

... problems:

"Hell, it's easy -- you got big business, you got traffic. You got traffic, you got a problem. If you don't want a problem, go to Forney, Texas. In Forney, Texas, they got no problem, no traffic, and no business."
__________

... the State Fair:

"The State Fair of Texas has greener grass, bluer lagoons and higher skyrockets than any other fair in the world. It's got a cash register under every bush, and we're plantin' more bushes."
__________

"The prime mover in forming the [Dallas] Citizens' Council, intended to be a fund-raising vehicle [for the 1936 Centennial Exhibition], was R.L. ("Bob") Thornton, chairman of the Mercantile National Bank. Thornton's rough-and-tumble, call-and-raise-you-fifty bluff approach to business and life formed what is still the archetype for the Dallas Business hero, quiche Lorraine and a fine symphony notwithstanding.
Born in a dugout in Hico County, Thornton and his brother debated which one was older all their lives. He mispronounced English badly and was glad to let people think they were smarter than he, as long as he won... He liked business, not art, unless the art helped business. His approach to the need for a symphony was to say he would raise money for it only on the guarantee that he would not be required to attend.

His hale and roaring manner assaulted life with the passion of a man who sees an absolutely irresistible goal inches from his grasp and feels the mouth of the void at his heel. There was only one thing that could be wrong with Dallas -- not enough business."

-- all the above from "The Accommodation", by Jim Schutze, pp. 59-60.

(Published by Citadel Press, 1986.)
__________

When asked by a reporter what the official motto of the City of Dallas was, Thornton answered...

"Keep the dirt flyin'!"

... and the official bird?

"The Construction Crane."

TexasStar
19 September 2003, 10:38 AM
Perhaps what we need today is a R.L.Thorton or two.