Magnolia Petroleum Company City Sales and Warehouse
1607 Lyte St., Dallas, TXThe Magnolia Petroleum Company City Sales and Warehouse Historic District, the site of the Magnolia Petroleum Company's first sales and office, warehouse, and distribution facility in its North Texas Division, was established in Dallas in 1911. The collection of buildings and structures represents one of only two original business complexes built by Magnolia Petroleum Company as a new company. The other business complex was in Houston for the company's Southern Division but was sold or transferred to Humble Oil and Refining Company around 1918. Magnolia Petroleum Company grew to become a major oil company in Texas affecting business, resource development, judicial, and political history. The Magnolia Petroleum Company, identified with the pioneering development of the oil industry in Texas and the Southwest, has been a major contributor to the economic development of Dallas and the state. The ten district elements, built on the site between 1911 and 1918 while the Magnolia Petroleum Company was in its early, important developmental stages, represent functional industrial architecture, with limited decorative features. S.B. Scott and Childs and Lasell, both of Dallas, constructed most of the buildings within the district.
The Magnolia Petroleum Company complex is eligible in the area of Industry as one of the company's two original business sites in Texas. It is representative of the company's close association with the growth of the oil industry in Texas, the Southwest, and the United States during the first two decades of the 20th Century and was the first major oil business to successfully operate in Dallas. The district meets Criterion C in the area of Architecture as a local expression of functional and utilitarian form. The complex and company leaders are of major significance to the history of Dallas and thus the property is nominated at the local level of significance. The historic district reflects a period of significance from 1911 (the date of first construction) to 1945 (approximately 50 years before the date of nomination).
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.