Around The State, In Pre-1960 Texas, Every Major City Had Photographers To Capture The Sights And Street Style Of The Era
Around Texas in the decades before 1960, every major city, Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and El Paso, had local photographers ready to capture not only posed portraits in studios but also the everyday elegance of street life. These photographers chronicled a time when urban centers were bustling with department stores, theaters, and lunch counters, and when strolling down a downtown avenue was both a social outing and, for many, a fashion show. Here, our intrepid style chronicler, Lance Avery Morgan revisits that world and shares how the Lone Star State looked through the lens of those candid cameras.
A trip down memory lane? More like a journey in a time machine to the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, when Texas was coming into its own as a modern, urbanized state. During this period, World War II had reshaped industries and families, oil wealth was transforming skylines, and people were embracing new styles influenced by Hollywood films, department store mannequins, and glossy fashion magazines.
But whether you lived in Amarillo or Corpus Christi, certain habits remained constant: you dressed for business and you dressed for pleasure. Men in fedoras and pressed suits, women in hats, gloves, and tailored dresses; it was simply expected. Even a Saturday stroll on a downtown sidewalk required a certain polish.
That sense of everyday elegance was documented in photographs that have since become cultural artifacts. Michael Barnes of the Austin American-Statesman wrote about these images, which offer a glimpse into how Texans lived, worked, and presented themselves to the world. For me, they hold a deeply personal connection. Growing up, I was always fascinated by two small snapshots of my parents in the family photo album, taken in late 1951, walking down Austin’s Congress Avenue. Though only 3” x 2” and in black-and-white, the images leapt to life: frozen moments of style, youth, and family in the Capital City.
Curious about the origin of these images, I began tracing their history. With the help of archivists Amanda Jusso and Nicole Davis at the Austin History Center, I discovered that these photos were most likely taken by Studer’s Photography Studios, owned by Benjamin Studer, then located at 916 Congress Avenue. The concept was as ingenious as it was stylish: capture passersby, give them a card, and invite them to come into the studio to claim their photo. This was before Polaroids and one-hour processing, before instant gratification, so it doubled as both a promotional tool and a testament to the fashionable spirit of the era. Studer’s operated labs not only in Austin but also in San Antonio, ensuring a broad reach and a steady stream of chicly dressed subjects.
One treasured image in my family shows my mother, Carolyn Nichols Morgan Montgomery, strolling with my grandmother, Ollie Nichols, while my older brother, Rodney Morgan, rode in a baby stroller. The date: a crisp Saturday morning in November 1951. “Yes, I remember that day well,” Carolyn told me years later. “We were all dressed up in our suits, and as you can see, your grandmother wore a hat with a veil. She was also wearing gloves. In fact, we may have been shopping for gloves or a new dress. I, without gloves and a hatless head, represented a little rebellion. Not a surprise since my mother called me Miss Independent growing up.”…