The Dallas Boneyard is a mecca for those with architectural salvage inclinations—not to mention a delightful collection of curiosities from the city's architectural past.
Marc Ramirez brings readers inside the Boneyard, the city's "pantry of hoarded history"—a collection of almost-discarded remnants of renovated or demolished buildings.
The warehouse is located near Military Parkway east of Fair Park in Dallas, and the work in stashing away the site's artifacts is credited to Willis Winters and his predecessors and colleagues at Dallas Parks and Recreation.
"The whole thing started humbly. A set of Corinthian column capitals came first, salvaged in the 1990s from Tenison Memorial Park on Samuell Boulevard. The ornate column crowns built in 1918 had gone neglected for too long to be restored; they were dumped in a facility corner."
"Eventually, a few pieces would turn into many: Stone parapets, chunks of smooth terra cotta, blocks lined with sculpted orbs reflecting Prairie School-style architecture. There’s even two rows of seats salvaged from the Cotton Bowl when it converted to bleacher seating in 2009."
The article by Ramirez also details some of the collection's most treasured objects, including one with a connection to the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
FULL STORY: Here lies what was almost lost from Dallas’ architectural past
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