You Won’t Even Recognize Texas When You Watch This Historical Footage From The 1950s

Modern-day Texas has many cities that are mammoth urban centers that can compete with any in the country. As the old saying goes, everything's bigger in Texas, and our cities are included in that. However, it really wasn't that long ago that the entire Lone Star State was thought of as a more rural area. Decades ago, Dallas was significantly smaller than it is today. Many Dallasites feared the rapid growth and urbanization of the city. Traffic and poor road planning were major issues. The Dallas Citizens Traffic Commission studied how to make traffic more efficient. We found this 1955 film created by the commission to advise city planners on how to improve traffic flow. You won't even recognize it with how much Texas has changed since then!

Dallas was not nearly as sprawling then as it is now.

In 1955, Dallas had a population of 750,000. That number is today over 1.3 million!

It's difficult to even recognize the downtown Dallas of this time period!

The rapid population explosion in the early 1950s left Dallas filled with traffic jams that made today's look light and easy.

Like many American cities in the 1950s, Dallas had such a huge population growth that major changes to the transportation infrastructure had to occur.

Next time you're in modern-day Dallas and upset about traffic, just think of how nightmarish this traffic flow would be.

Even today, Dallas continues to grow, as does Texas as a whole. The state is so appealing and welcoming that it's no wonder more and more people are drawn to it each year. Share your thoughts on the growth of Texas in the comments! You can also check out these 15 photos taken in Texas in the 1960s.