{"id":2999,"date":"2023-09-05T13:41:17","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T18:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dallaska.com\/?p=2999"},"modified":"2023-09-05T13:41:19","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T18:41:19","slug":"sarah-cockrell-and-her-contribution-to-dallas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dallaska.com\/en\/eternal\/sarah-cockrell-and-her-contribution-to-dallas","title":{"rendered":"Sarah Cockrell and Her Contribution to Dallas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sarah Cockrell was an important figure in the formation and development of Dallas. Besides being a trailbreaker, she also played an active role in determining the future of the city and the region. Learn more about Sarah Cockrell’s entrepreneurial and philanthropic activities at dallaska<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the Cockrells developed local infrastructure
<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Horton Cockrell was born in Virginia on January 13, 1819. When she was an adult, her family moved to Dallas County in 1844, becoming one of the first settlers in the region who contributed to its development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1847, Sarah married a military officer and businessman, Alexander Cockrell. Her husband was the owner of the property in the Mountain Creek area. It was located south and west of the Trinity River, in the then small settlement of Dallas (which became a city in 1856). The population at that time reached around two hundred people. Alexander knew John Neely Bryan, who is known as the founder of Dallas. In the early 1950s, Alexander bought the plot of land with a ferry from Bryan, located in the upper Trinity River. Instead of a ferry, the couple decided to construct a timber bridge and charge a toll for its use. It was opened for traffic in 1858.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also erected a sawmill to construct a bridge, several grist mills and a brick factory. Being illiterate, Alexander could neither read nor write. That is why Sarah helped him with documentation, accounting and correspondence while also taking care of the children and household chores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Activities after the death of the husband<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Alexander tragically died in 1858 from a bullet fired by a local delegate who owed them money. Sarah was left alone with young children, but she did not abandon entrepreneurial activities. On the contrary, she began to develop her business, gradually expanding it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The construction of the three-story St. Nicholas Hotel, one of the tallest buildings in Dallas, was one of her successful projects. However, in 1860, it was destroyed by conflagration that engulfed the entire city. Instead, Sarah built the new Dallas Hotel and the St. Charles Hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After some time, the bridge built by Alexander collapsed, so it was necessary to go back to the ferry transportation. Sarah then founded the Dallas Bridge Company so the city could have a new, more rigid bridge. In 1872, the woman obtained permission from the local authorities to construct a new railway bridge over the Trinity River. It was the first iron bridge across a river in the city, connecting it to major trade routes and resulting in significant economic growth. The construction cost 65 thousand dollars. The new structure was three hundred feet long, six feet high and had a wooden road surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sarah continued to accumulate large real estate holdings and conclude agreements with various state and private entities regarding the sale or lease of land to railroads, commercial companies, churches, individuals and the city. According to archival records, in the early 1890s, she held about one-quarter of the city centre and thousands of acres in Dallas County. Today, Sarah is referred to as “the first capitalist of Dallas.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philanthropic activities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cockrell stood out not only as a successful entrepreneur but also as an outstanding philanthropist. The woman also donated the land for the construction of the First Methodist Church of Dallas. As a tribute to her contribution, a stained glass window was installed in the church in her memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Horton Cockrell passed away in 1892 and was buried at the old Greenwood Cemetery north of downtown Dallas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sarah Cockrell was an important figure in the formation and development of Dallas. Besides being a trailbreaker, she also played an active role in determining the future of the city and the region. Learn more about Sarah Cockrell’s entrepreneurial and philanthropic activities at dallaska. How the Cockrells developed local infrastructure Sarah Horton Cockrell was born […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":277,"featured_media":2726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1034],"tags":[1426,1425,1422,1423,1429,1421,1420,1424,1428,1427],"moimportance":[34,33],"motype":[1045],"moformat":[66],"class_list":{"0":"post-2999","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-life","8":"tag-activities-after-the-death-of-the-husband","9":"tag-churches","10":"tag-cockrell-stood-out-not-only-as-a-successful-entrepreneur-but-also-as-an-outstanding-philanthropist","11":"tag-commercial-companies","12":"tag-how-the-cockrells-developed-local-infrastructure","13":"tag-philanthropic-activities","14":"tag-sarah-cockrell-and-her-contribution-to-dallas","15":"tag-sarah-continued-to-accumulate-large-real-estate-holdings-and-conclude-agreements-with-various-state-and-private-entities-regarding-the-sale-or-lease-of-land-to-railroads","16":"tag-sarah-horton-cockrell-was-born-in-virginia-on-january-13","17":"tag-the-construction-of-the-three-story-st-nicholas-hotel","18":"moimportance-golovna-novina","19":"moimportance-retranslyacziya-v-agregatori","20":"motype-eternal","21":"moformat-vlasna"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dallaska.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dallaska.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dallaska.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dallaska.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/277"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dallaska.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dallaska.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3000,"href":"https:\/\/dallaska.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999\/revisions\/3000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dallaska.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dallaska.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dallaska.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dallaska.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2999"},{"taxonomy":"moimportance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dallaska.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moimportance?post=2999"},{"taxonomy":"motype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dallaska.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/motype?post=2999"},{"taxonomy":"moformat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dallaska.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moformat?post=2999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}