Dallas freeway officially named after S.M. Wright, correcting decades-old mistake

DALLAS - The Dallas City Council officially renamed the S.M. Wright Freeway in South Dallas on Wednesday.

The South Central Freeway carried his name for nearly 30 years, but the signs came down earlier this year when the new freeway went up.

Today, in a special called meeting, the council corrected a decades-old mistake. There was no official record of South Central Expressway ever being renamed after the influential leader.

The first speaker at Wednesday's meeting, Royce West, started the renaming of the highway back when he was a freshman in the State Senate.

"I began the process of thinking about who in Dallas should we name a highway after. Needless to say, that came to the name of S.M. Wright," said Sen. West.

Wright was the first African American in Texas to have a freeway carry his name.

Wright pastored the People's Missionary Baptist Church in South Dallas from 1957 until his death in 1994.

His voice went beyond the walls of the church. He spoke with presidents, governors and had a deep friendship with Billy Graham.

He helped Dallas through integration in the 60s and 70s.

When TxDOT reconstructed the 310 expressway in South Dallas, Wright's name was removed from a three-mile stretch in May. The signs simply read South Central Expressway.

"It was tough. We were trying to find out what happened. It was very tough, and it was hard for the signs coming down, but I'm glad that the city came in swiftly and got it all taken care of, so we're very excited and we're very thankful," said Pastor S.M. Wright II.

On Wednesday, the council voted unanimously to approve the renaming of South Central Expressway after S.M. Wright.

"I always try to look at a positive spin to any negative, and I'm not going to ignore that this was a negative, that this came to light. However, there's always a positive and I think that the timing of this was incredible," said Dallas City Councilman Adam Bazaldua. "It wasn't by accident it happened while there was still a generation who had been personally touched by Doctor Wright. It happened at a time where we could still fill the chamber with people with their own personal testaments of why honoring this legacy is so important."

The people who filled the chamber stood up as they thanked the council for the renaming of the S.M. Wright Freeway.

"Simply put, there's no intersections, no stop signs, no yield signs on the freeway where Dr. S.M. Wright lived, so that we could all have access to the freeway," said Rev. Dr. T.L. Brown, Baptist Ministers Union. "We stand here today on the shoulders of Dr. S.M. Wright. We have access to churches, we have access to city hall because of the Reverend Dr. S.M. Wright. Thank you all for keeping his legacy alive."

More than just a name on a stretch of road, it is a reminder of a stretch of history paved for others by a man who made a great difference in Dallas and beyond.