Dallas: Sanger Brothers Department Store

Dallas: Sanger Brothers Department Store

  • <p>Sanger's Department Store, downtown Dallas, now El Centro College.</p> <p>Tall commercial building with round entrance on one side and named El Centro College</p>
  • <p>Sanger's ca. 1940s (UT-Arlington Special Collections Library)</p> <p>Eight storey commerical building with tall neon sign saying Sangers on one side, dated to 1940s</p>
  • <p>Isaac Sanger (Dallas Public Library)</p> <p>Portrait of Isaac Sanger</p>
  • <p>Sanger Brothers Store, 1871 (Dallas Public Library)</p> <p>Group of men in front of a small store with a covered porch and a cart in front. Named Sanger Brothers, wholesale and retail dealers in dry good, clothing, boots, shoes, hats</p>
  • <p>Carriages in front of Sanger Brothers, 1915 (Dallas Public Library)</p> <p>Long row of horse drawn carriages and group of people in front of a large commercial building in 1915. Trolley rail tracks are visible in the street</p>
  • <p>The Sangers department store, Hotel Maurice and Bogan's Market, downtown Dallas (UT-Arlington Special Collections Library)</p> <p>Commercial area with building signs saying Sangers, Hotel Maurice, and Bogan’s Market</p>
  • <p>Inside Sanger Brothers’ store in Waco, 1910. (The Texas Collection, Baylor University)</p> <p>Overhead photo of sales people standing in the aisles of a department store</p>

At just 16, Isaac Sanger left Germany for the United States. His first stop was New Haven, CT, where he worked in his uncle’s clothing store, followed by a stint as a bookkeeper at a New York City clothing manufacturer. From there, Sanger took his industry knowledge to McKinney, TX, where he pooled his merchandise with Eli Baum and opened a dry goods store.

Soon, Isaac’s four brothers joined him in Texas, where they opened stores in Weatherford, Bryan, and then Dallas – earning international renown for their innovative marketing techniques and playing a major role in the city’s commercial development.

The Sanger Brothers building in Dallas is now part of El Centro College campus.

El Centro College