In the early 1950s several interior decorator shops, many gay-owned, opened along Cedar Springs Road in the Oak Lawn section of the city.ĭuring the next two decades, LGBT bars and gathering places remained concentrated primarily in the central business district, though a few began to open in the Oak Lawn area. Phil Johnson, whose recorded oral history recalls early gay social life in the city, stated that in the 1940s gay men in Dallas frequently met at the corner of Commerce and Akard streets, a spot referred to as “Maggie’s Corner,” due to its location at the base of the Magnolia Petroleum Building. A review of the musical burlesque 1492 said Stuart “works with graceful ease and without apparent effort.” A subsequent article reported that Stuart, who started as a chili stand operator in Dallas, had become a headliner “in the East and went to Europe, where he made a triumphal tour” and was described as “the best in the world.” Newspapers of the day rarely wrote about the subject, although in 1891, the Dallas Morning News frequently noted the performances of female impersonators, and one, Elliott Stuart, was frequently praised in the newspaper. There is little scholarly work on LGBT history in Dallas and few primary sources are known to exist.

Early documentation of gay and lesbian people in Dallas is virtually nonexistent.