Remembering the Compton Citadel, 1500 Corinth Street
by Susan Chance-Rainwater
DGS 2021 Writing Contest Submission
As landmarks go, 1500 Corinth Street is not much to look at, but when it was built, it made the news and changed lives.
On March 7, 1937, The Salvation Army announced plans to build a large community center, The Compton Citadel, at 1500 Corinth Street, in the neighborhood now known as The Cedars. The plans included an auditorium, gymnasium, wood shop, library, laundry, sewing room, music room, children’s playroom, showering facilities, classrooms, and sports activities. The purpose was to serve the low income families in the neighborhood. [f] [l]
The Cedars, if you know the area by name, was a fashionable residential neighborhood of the gilded age. By the 1930s, much of the area had declined into shabby housing, warehouses, and industrial businesses. [k]
A search of Worley’s 1934 Dallas City Directory reveals a few of the businesses within two miles of Compton Citadel whose workers might have made use of the facility: The Sears Complex (now South Side on Lamar), Armstrong Packing, Dallas Cotton Mills, and Stanard Tilton Flour Milling (now American Beauty Mill condos). There were numerous others. [i]
The Compton Citadel was named for the man who funded the project – C. V. Compton. His parents saddled him with Volantus Green Compton, but in adulthood he ditched his countrified name for the more dignified Charles Volantus Compton. [a] In most public mentions, he was simply C. V.
Born in rural Pulaski County, Kentucky, C. V. Compton grew up in Taylor, Texas. [e] As a very young man, he put together the financing to build 500 homes in the Oklahoma Addition in Williamson County. [b] [e] Eventually, Taylor was just too limiting for a man of his talent and ambition, so in 1912, he moved to Dallas. From an office in the Republic Bank building, Compton worked as a developer and private mortgage lender.[t] He was active in numerous civic groups and was admitted to the bar in 1896. In 1930, he ran for governor, unsuccessfully, on the Prohibition Party ticket. [c] [d] [e] [r]
The dollar amount of the gift to The Salvation Army is not listed in the newspaper articles, but one can make a reasoned guess. If you take the present day value of the building from the Dallas Central Appraisal District database and convert it to 1937 dollars, it’s approximately $46,000. [m] [n]
By comparison, Compton’s home at 4900 Lakeside Drive, built in the midst of the Depression was, using the same calculations, worth half a million. [m] [n] Generous as his gift to the Salvation Army was, it’s clear that he could afford it.
Compton’s work with the Salvation Army brought him into contact with both the Texas Pardons and Probations Board, and the prison system itself. Unhappy with the conditions he saw, Compton headed a campaign for prison reform in Texas. [r]
The target of Compton’s ire was “the bat” – picture the bat from a game of cricket – used to beat prisoners at the state penitentiary. Believing this punishment to be inhumane, Compton offered $200 (about a 10th of the average prison official’s salary) to any prison official who would submit to a beating with their own bat. [s] The publicity had the desired affect of raising public outcry, and in 1941, prison officials retired “the bat.” [c] [d] [g] [h]
In 1959, The Salvation Army awarded Compton the Order of Distinguished Auxiliary Service, specifically citing his devotion to humanitarian causes and prison reform. [q]
C. V. Compton married Jessie Sally Shapard in 1902. [o] They were the parents of three daughters. The family is buried in Hillcrest Memorial Cemetery in Dallas. [q]
A quick search on Google returns a number of obituaries where the family mentioned their deceased loved ones’ participation in sports teams at the Citadel as a particularly cherished memory. It’s clear that in its 41 years of service, Compton Citadel touched many lives. [j]
The Compton Citadel was decommissioned in 1978 and the building purchased by Regis Manufacturing in about 1979, which owns it to this day. [p]
ABOUT THE ADDRESS
While Regis Manufacturing uses the address 1500 Corinth Street, as did Compton Citadel in the 1937 newspaper article, some of the city directories use 2100 Browder Street. According to Google Maps, these two addresses refer to the same property, which is at the intersection of the two streets.
SOURCES
[a] Zelva Compton Laird, daughter, personal conversation, May 1997, now deceased
[b] Direct, General and Reverse Indexes to Deeds of Williamson Co., TX, Williamson County Courthouse, Georgetown TX, reviewed 27 May 1997
[c] Obituary; C. V. Compton, Dallas Times Herald, Dallas, TX, 13 Jul 1960, section A, page 12
[d] Obituary; C. V. Compton, Dallas Morning News, Dallas, TX, 13 Jun 1960, section 4, page 13
[e] “Comptons Early Kentucky Family,” 23 Nov 1956, Taylor Press, Taylor, Williamson Co., TX
[f] “Salvation Army Plans South Dallas Citadel,” 7 Mar 1937, and “Citadel Sponsor Will Be Honored,” 23 Mar 1937, page 5, Dallas Morning News, Dallas, TX
[g] “$200 Offered Prison Officials to Take Whippings They Inflict,” 29 Dec 1940, pages 1 & 14, Dallas Morning News, Dallas, TX
[h] “House, Prison Board Vote to Abolish Bat” and “Compton is Happy,” page 6, 12 Feb 1941, Dallas Morning News, Dallas, TX
[i] Worley’s 1934 Dallas City Directory, U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, Ancestry.com
[j] Polk’s Greater Dallas Volume II City Directory, 1978, Ancestry.com. This is the last year that Compton Citadel is listed as a Salvation Army facility.
[k] Cedars, Dallas. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedars,_Dallas
[l] Seven WBAP-TV news scripts from the 1950s mention the Compton Citadel sponsoring Pee‑Wee football, a Pop Warner baseball team, and Junior Gloves boxing. Digitized at The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu/.
[m] US Inflation Calculator, 2020 to 1937 dollars: https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/
[n] Dallas Central Appraisal District website, Find a Property by Street Address, https://www.dallascad.org/searchaddr.aspx
[o] Texas, Select County Marriage Index, 1837-1977, Ancestry.com
[p] Regis Manufacturing website, https://regismanufacturing.com/about-us/. Regis’ website says they purchased the building in 1959. I suspect that they mean 1979, since Compton Citadel continues to be listed in the city directory at that address until 1978.
[q] Compton plot, Hillcrest Memorial Park, Monument Garden section, Dallas, TX
[r] “House always bustling,” (C. V. Compton home) Dianne Galloway, Dallas Morning News, Section J, Park Cities Photo History, Dallas, TX, 3 Jun 1992
[s] According to the 1949 edition of the Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average law enforcement officer, which would include prison guards, made about $2000/year. 1949 is the earliest edition I could find, so the 1941 numbers would probably be a little lower, but not by much. Via Hathi Trust Digital Library, https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000046071
[t] Kofile, Deeds–Individual, Direct Index to Deeds–Grantors, Dallas Co, Texas, lists 35 transactions on the just first page of 1925-1935, with C. V. Compton as the grantor, https://kofilequicklinks.com
IMAGE CREDITS
Photo of 1500 Corinth Street, CC BY-NC-SA 2021, R. Steven Rainwater, https://www.flickr.com/photos/steevithak
Copyright ©2021 Susan Chance-Rainwater
Published by Dallas Genealogical Society with the author’s permission
