The iconic flying horse started out as an oil company logo and helped define Dallas as a place of strength and possibility.
The red pegasus, which has become ubiquitous throughout Dallas, first sat atop what was then the tallest tower in Texas -- the Magnolia Petroleum Building. The Sealy family of Galveston developed the 29-story tower in 1922 for $4 million. The red flying horse, as many would call it, watched over the growing metropolis for 80 years.
The Beaux-Arts style structure was built next to what had been the state's tallest building, The Adolphus Hotel, on Commerce Street. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. acquired Magnolia Petroleum in 1931. Three years later, it erected an 11-foot tall rotating red neon pegasus made by the Texlite company on top of the tower.
It was visible for miles and helped define Dallas as a place of strength and possibility. Some said they could see the glowing symbol up to 75 miles away in its early years.
In 1959, Mobil Oil acquired Socony-Vacuum and adopted the pegasus, giving the symbol national notoriety and solidifying its connection to Dallas. It would remain as Mobil Oil's logo for almost four decades until the company merged with Exxon in 1998.
When Exxon left Dallas for Houston in the 1980s, the sign began to lose its luster and fall into disrepair. The original winged horse remained atop the Magnolia Building until 1999, two years after the tower was converted into the 330-room Magnolia Hotel. Lost without its beacon, the city raised $600,000 for a new pegasus in 2000.
About 15 years later, a team that worked for Dallas developer Jack Matthews of Matthews Southwest searched for the original red flying horse. After failing to unearth it at Fair Park or the Dallas Farmers Market, they discovered it in a city storage facility at White Rock Lake. The team restored the neon equine, which had become rusted out and full of unexplained bullet holes.
In 2015, the iconic piece of art found a new home in front of the Omni Dallas Hotel, developed by Matthews in the southern sector of downtown Dallas. The city has an agreement with ExxonMobil to continue to use the pegasus as a symbol for Dallas, and its legacy lives on through things like the biotech and nonprofit development Pegasus Park, Pegasus Plaza downtown, the Pegasus mascot for Booker T. Washington High School, and the Pegasus logo for Dallas' WNBA team, the Wings.
The Magnolia Building is now a Dallas landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.