Sanger’s

Sanger Bros.’ Department Store – now the home of El Centro Community College campus, opened in downtown Dallas (Main & Lamar Sts.) in 1872 by several of the Sanger brothers who had decided to make North Texas the home of their commercial efforts. The first store opened in McKinney, Texas in 1857. After the Civil War, in which two of the Sanger brothers fought for the Confederacy, they began building dry goods store, following the Houston & Central Texas railroad line, which eventually led them to Dallas and Fort Worth.

Below, among two historic photographs, are a historical marker currently present outside of El Centrol College, and two images that show the site in its current iteration.