Colonel Green and His 1899 Automobile - Terrell, TX
N 32° 44.193 W 096° 16.808
14S E 754870 N 3625354
A mural depicting transportation, including a famous 1899 automobile trip, is on the side of the wall of the Electrolysis Clinic at 313 W Moore Ave, #300, Terrell, TX.
Waymark Code: WMQEZ3
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 02/18/2016
Views: 7
The Terrell Heritage Museum provides some background (see link):
This mural shows several modes of transportation that were important to the development of Terrell. The railroad came in 1873 opening up new avenues of shipping cotton and other crops to a more far reaching market. But the most important is the depiction of Col. E. H.R. Green’s automobile. Colonel Greene, large in physical stature and in personality, was the son of Hetty Green, known as the “Witch of Wall Street” and was the richest woman in the world during her lifetime. She owned the Midland Railroad which ran North and South through Terrell and made her son, the President. Colonel Green made Terrell his home during his bachelor days and in 1899 purchased one of two motor cars that had been built in St. Louis and had it shipped to Terrell. Known as the “St. Louis”, Green and the maker of the car, George Preston Dorris, acting as his driving instructor, set out for Dallas. As they neared Forney, there was a mishap and the water tank was damaged. It is believed that the necessary repairs were done at a blacksmith shop in Forney by Reeve Henry. Legend has it that Mr. Henry was a kinsman of John Wiley Price, Dallas County Commissioner. This mural was painted by Sunny Delipsey and was sponsored by The Terrell Heritage Society.
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The 1899 Automobile Trip was the subject of a 1990 Texas Historical Marker placed in Forney, not far from here, and it provides some complementary background: (
visit link)
On October 5, 1899, Edward H. R. Green drove his newly-acquired "St. Louis" automobile from Terrell to Dallas. Accompanied by the car's manufacturer, George B. Dorris, Green passed through Forney on his historic journey. The five-and-one-half-hour, thirty-mile trip was marked by an accident in Forney, necessitating repairs to the automobile by a local blacksmith. Upon their arrival in Dallas, Green and Dorris were met by a cheering crowd. Hailed as a first in Texas, the automobile trip caused a sensation in area newspapers and among local citizens.