Joseph Earl Lawther: Dallas Mayor and Civic Leader (1876–1943)
By: John H. Slate
Published: October 30, 2024
Updated: October 30, 2024
Joseph Earl “Joe” Lawther, Dallas mayor, banker, and civic leader, was born on February 11, 1876, in Galveston to Robert Ralston Lawther and Ellen Eliza (Hoopes) Lawther. He was the younger brother of Dallas lawyer Harry Preston Lawther and moved with his family to Dallas in 1885. He was educated in Dallas public schools and followed his father into the grain business with the firm Lawther & Son.
In 1917 Lawther won the race for mayor against incumbent mayor Henry D. Lindsley and served one two-year term. Lawther’s leadership as mayor of Dallas included initiating many projects, such as consolidating two telephone systems, the construction of railroad grade separations on major thoroughfares, the removal of railroad tracks from Pacific Avenue, and the development of Dallas’s Union Station Park. His administration was also credited with lowering utility rates, persuading the U.S. Army to establish a training facility at Love Field, and settling a contentious firefighters’ strike. His attention to the improvement of White Rock Lake was recognized when an encircling road at the lake was named Lawther Drive, after him. Perhaps most importantly, Lawther successfully led the city of Dallas through the influenza pandemic of 1918–19, which included emergency measures such as shuttering schools, churches, and theaters. He later led the effort to incorporate Preston Hollow and served as the short-lived town’s first mayor.
Among many other business and civic endeavors, Lawther served as a director of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce and was the first president and a founder of the East Dallas Businessmen’s and Property Owners’ Association. He became president of Liberty State Bank in the 1920s and was instrumental in its growth. He also served as president of Guardian Federal Savings & Loan Association, Love Field Company, Fields Sewerage Company, and Dallas Airport Utilities Company and, as president, led the Dallas Athletic Club in attracting members and decreasing its debt.
Lawther married Irma Bernice Enlow on October 22, 1895, in Dallas. They had two children together, including longtime Dallas County commissioner Lynn V. Lawther. After the death of his first wife in 1924, he married Anna Florence Walden on June 8, 1925, in Kansas City, Missouri. They had one child together. Lawther was a member of Highland Park Presbyterian Church, where he taught the Men’s Bible study class and was superintendent of Sunday school. He was also president of the Reynolds Presbyterian Home and a member of the Freemasons.
Joseph Earl Lawther died on April 24, 1943, in Dallas after an illness of several months. He was buried at Grove Hill Cemetery in Dallas. Flags were flown at half-mast at Dallas City Hall, at the Dallas County courthouse, and the Hall of State.
Bibliography:
Dallas Morning News, April 25, 27, 1943; November 3, 1969.
Time Periods:
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
John H. Slate, “Lawther, Joseph Earl,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/lawther-joseph-earl.
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- October 30, 2024
- October 30, 2024
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