West Dallas Environmental History

Lone Star Cement Co. built a com- munity called Cement City. It provid- ed segregated housing for its Anglo, African American and Mexican Amer- ican workers as well as a company store, infirmary, and restaurant. There was even a bus line that brought in workers who lived offsite.

In the 1920s, the company employ- ed 250 workers and processed 1,250 tons of rock and shale per day. Its oil-fired kilns heated slurry to 4,000¼F and released untold tons of airborne particulate into the West Dallas sky.

Courtesy of Dallas Archives and History Collection, Dallas Public Library

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