The Mission Motel, 1944, via Library of Congress
Dallas Landmark Commission member Michael Amonett found this picture of the Mission motel from 1944. The Mission was one of many motor inns along what is now Fort Worth Avenue. The photo, titled “U.S. Highway 80, Texas, between Dallas and Fort Worth. Tourist court” was taken by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration Office of War Information.
Rothstein captured a series of photographs from January 1942 called “U.S. Highway 80 between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas,” which unfortunately are not digitized, but here is the description from the Library of Congress:
Photographs show trailer park, tourist court, cabins, stands, cafes, restaurants. Telephone truck and linemen. Abandoned buildings, auto graveyard, drive-in theatre, hatchery, bowling alley, entrance to Arlington Downs race track, gas stations. Signs. Dallas skyline.
The Mission has been closed for years (although it is not literally condemned). This past summer, a developer announced plans to redevelop the property into as many as 300 apartments. About 200 apartments are under construction a block away at Sylvan Thirty, the former site of the Alamo motel. Still more apartments are planned on the site of the Dallas West RV and Trailer Park.
