- June 28, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Business
The Garland business district took shape in the 1920s. Some businesses have endured for several decades, like the Brown Derby, Ferguson’s Cafe and Garland Printing.
Lee Chandler worked at at Louis Davenport’s restaurant and hotel for 23 years before he opened the Brown Derby Fountain and Lunch on Garland Avenue in 1932. Chandler said he named it after a hat he won in a contest, not the famous Hollywood restaurant of the same name in California.
Outlying business districts like the Garland area were often at odds with city government over police and fire coverage, paving of area roads and changes in traffic laws.
This tension was seen at the end of Prohibition in 1933. Though Prohibition was over, city government was hesitant to approve liquor licenses, even for just beer, because it was assumed that outlying neighborhoods wouldn’t have adequate police coverage and that bars in residential neighborhoods…
