Dallas Times Herald – Death of the Evening Newspaper

The Dallas Times Herald was a daily newspaper serving the Dallas, Texas area from 1888 to 1991. The Dallas Herald and the Dallas Times joined forces in 1888 to better compete with the Dallas Morning News. Eventually, the Times Herald’s position as an evening newspaper would contribute to its demise a century later.

Awards and a Famous Photo

The Times Herald won three photography Pulitzer Prizes, and awards for regional news. Robert Jackson worked for the Dallas Times Herald when he photographed the Lee Harvey Oswald shooting. He was on assignment to cover the Oswald transfer from the Dallas Police Department to the county jail. The photo shows Jack Ruby shooting Oswald in the basement of the jail. It is one of the most iconic news images of all time.

Tangle Towns

This writer Remembers playing the game Tangle Towns in the newspaper during the 1950s. The reader had to untangle a bunch of letters, which were tilted and intertwined randomly. If successful, they would spell the name of a Texas town. In the process of unraveling, the reader could also learn a little Texas geography.

I will never forget learning of Goldthwaite, because years later I had a college roommate from there. At any rate, once you solved the puzzle, you had to get your entry to the newspaper. Remember, there was no email, internet, or fax in those days. Savvy contestants learned fast that you needed to physically drop off your completed puzzle at the newspaper offices and not rely on the mail.

The Dallas Times Herald operated at 1954 Commerce Street in downtown Dallas in the 1950s. It was best to go the same evening as when the puzzle came out in order to have a snowball’s chance of being on the short list of winners. Of course, evening was better for downtown traffic too. The Dallas Times Herald remained at this location until 1991, when it ceased publication. Anyway, after getting our hands on a Texas Almanac, our family did win a couple of ten-dollar prizes over the course of the contest.

Struggles

The struggled financially early on, but it eventually became a successful and respected institution. In the 1960s, the Times Herald adopted a liberal editorial stance in its coverage of the civil rights movement. The paper also had a strong reputation for its investigative reporting, and its journalists won numerous awards for their work.

In the 1980s, the Times Herald faced increasing competition from the Dallas Morning News, which benefitted from a large media company as owner. Afternoon newspapers no longer resonated in the world of instant network TV and radio news updates. The Times Herald continued to have fiscal issues, and in 1988 it joined a group of investors led by John Buzzetta.

The Dallas Times Herald soldiered on for a few more years. However, the paper’s financial problems persisted. The paper eventually merged with the Dallas Morning News. The final edition of the Times Herald was published on December 9, 1991.

Legacy and Major Contributors

The Dallas Times Herald was a respected and influential newspaper that played an important role in the history of Dallas. The paper’s legacy lives on in the work of its journalists, who won numerous awards for their reporting. The Times Herald also helped to shape the city’s culture and identity, and its coverage of the civil rights movement helped to advance the cause of equality.

Here are some of the notable people who worked at the Dallas Times Herald:

Robert H. Jackson, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer
Molly Ivins, journalist and political commentator
Jim Lehrer, journalist and news anchor
Blackie Sherrod, sportswriter
Mickey Spagnola, sportswriter
Robert Wilonsky, architecture critic