Dallas: Sanger Brothers Department Store

Tall commercial building with round entrance on one side and named El Centro College

Sanger's Department Store, downtown Dallas, now El Centro College.

Eight storey commerical building with tall neon sign saying Sangers on one side, dated to 1940s

Sanger's ca. 1940s (UT-Arlington Special Collections Library)

Portrait of Isaac Sanger

Isaac Sanger (Dallas Public Library)

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

Sanger Brothers Store, 1871 (Dallas Public Library)

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

Carriages in front of Sanger Brothers, 1915 (Dallas Public Library)

Commercial area with building signs saying Sangers, Hotel Maurice, and Bogan’s Market

The Sangers department store, Hotel Maurice and Bogan's Market, downtown Dallas (UT-Arlington Special Collections Library)

Overhead photo of sales people standing in the aisles of a department store

Inside Sanger Brothers’ store in Waco, 1910. (The Texas Collection, Baylor University)

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

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