Deep Roots in Dallas

Posted on: January 4, 2017

Ellen’s family has long and deep roots in Dallas. Gustav A. Eisenlohr, her paternal great grandfather, son of German immigrants, came to Dallas in 1880 and established, with his brother, Dallas’ first prescription pharmacy, located at Main and Field Street in downtown Dallas. These brothers also were charter musicians of the Dallas Symphony Club, the precursor to our outstanding Dallas Symphony Orchestra. The family lived above the pharmacy and displayed the city’s first Christmas tree (with burning candles!) from that residence in the 1880’s. Gustav also served as the city’s first volunteer weather observer and monitor of the Trinity River. Ellen’s grandfather, an Oak Cliff native, worked his way up from the mail room to the Presidency of the Dorsey Company, which managed the printing of Dallas County ballots for decades. Her father, also an Oak Cliff native, practiced Ophthalmology near Lemmon and Oak Lawn in Dallas for a long and successful career. Ellen’s maternal grandparents arrived in Dallas in the 1940s. Her mother was a 1948 graduate of Highland Park High School, and later earned her M.B.A. from SMU.

The artwork featured on this webpage belongs to Ellen and is the work of Edward Gustav Eisenlohr (1872-1961), also a relative. E.G. Eisenlohr is a noted 2oth century Texas artist with works of oil, pastel, and lithography.  He studied with two prominent Texas artists – Robert J. Onderdonk and Frank Reaugh. In 1903, both Eisenlohr and Reaugh were instrumental in the establishment of the Dallas Art Association (the precursor to the Dallas Museum of Arts) – Reaugh assembled the exhibitions and Eisenlohr served as the art critic. Eisenlohr studied in Europe, New Mexico, and throughout Texas.

Untitled, oil on canvas. This is Ellen’s favorite piece in her collection of Eisenlohr’s work.

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