A historic photograph of the red Pegasus atop the Magnolia Hotel in Dallas, which occupies the historic Magnolia Building, shared this week on the X account @FactsAboutTexas, has drawn renewed attention to one of the city’s longest-standing landmarks.
Pegasus atop the Magnolia Building in Dallas, Texas (1950) pic.twitter.com/lAx7uTi5Z5
— Facts About Texas (@FactsAboutTexas) August 4, 2026
The 1950 image above shows the neon flying horse that first appeared on Dallas’ downtown skyline more than nine decades ago.
For generations, the glowing red Pegasus served as one of Dallas’ most recognizable nighttime landmarks, becoming a symbol of the city’s oil heritage and skyline.
The original Pegasus, fabricated in 1934 by Dallas-based Texlite Inc. for the Magnolia Petroleum Company, stood atop the 29-story Magnolia Building at Commerce and Akard streets until 1999. A replica has occupied that rooftop position since New Year’s Day 2000, while the restored original now rotates at street level in front of the Omni Dallas Hotel.
Origins and Installation
The Magnolia Building opened in 1922 as the headquarters of Magnolia Petroleum Company and the tallest structure in Texas at the time. In 1934, ahead of the American Petroleum Institute’s annual meeting in Dallas, Magnolia commissioned Texlite to create a large rotating neon sign of its corporate logo—the winged horse Pegasus.
According to Inspire Art Dallas, the twin porcelain-enamel and neon horses were completed in six weeks at Texlite’s Dallas plant. Each measured approximately 40 feet long by 32 feet high, spaced 14 feet apart, and together formed a structure that rotated once every 40 seconds on a 50-foot tower designed to resemble an oil derrick. A quarter-mile of red neon tubing outlined the figures.
The American Oil & Gas Historical Society reports that the rotating sign first beamed its red neon glow in 1934 to welcome petroleum executives. Following Magnolia’s merger into Mobil Oil in 1959, the Pegasus continued as one of Mobil’s best-known corporate trademarks.
The Dallas City Council designated the Pegasus a city landmark in 1973 and took ownership in 1976. It remains part of the city’s public art collection.
Removal, Replacement, and Rediscovery
By the late 1990s, the original sign had deteriorated from weather exposure. Porcelain panels were rusted and pitted, the rotating mechanism had failed years earlier, and the neon no longer functioned. In 1999, the sign was removed.
D Magazine notes that the city raised $600,000 for a new Pegasus, which was installed and illuminated at midnight on January 1, 2000. The replica was designed to rotate atop the Magnolia Hotel Dallas, which occupies the historic Magnolia Building, after its conversion to a hotel in the late 1990s.
After years in city storage near White Rock Lake, the original panels were brought into a restoration project led by Matthews Southwest. Restoration was completed by local artists including Jeremy McKane and Michael van Enter. Bullet holes discovered in the panels were left as historical evidence.
In 2015, the restored original was installed on a smaller oil-derrick base in the plaza in front of the Omni Dallas Hotel at 555 S. Lamar Street. According to a City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs statement published by North Texas e-News, then-Interim Director David Fisher said at the time that “The Pegasus is one of Dallas’ most visible cultural artifacts and icons. It hearkens back to and honors the great history and story of Dallas. In this new location, the restored original Pegasus will be a popular destination for everyone who visits downtown Dallas.”
The original now stands at the Omni while the 2000 replica remains on the Magnolia Hotel. Both installations remain in place through agreements involving the City of Dallas and ExxonMobil.
To recap, the original Pegasus has occupied three primary sites since its creation: the Magnolia Building rooftop from 1934 to 1999, city storage facilities between 1999 and 2015, and the Omni Dallas Hotel plaza from 2015 to the present.
Other Prominent Outdoor Signs in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area
Dallas and Fort Worth have hosted other prominent outdoor signs that became local reference points.
The Dallas Waterfall Billboard, located at 3303 Harry Hines Boulevard and visible from Interstate 35E, debuted in 1962 as an advertisement for Pearl Brewing Company. Designed by the Tracy-Locke firm, the structure features a cascading waterfall approximately 45 feet high.
Texas Highways and Clear Channel Outdoor document its later use by brands including Salem cigarettes, Absolut Vodka, and Coors. The City of Dallas designated it an “extraordinarily significant sign” in 2008.
On the roof of the former Texas School Book Depository building, a large Hertz Rent-A-Car time-and-temperature billboard stood from December 1959 until May 1979. Measuring roughly 100 feet long by 23 feet high, it was visible from Stemmons Freeway.
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza records that the sign was removed after engineers determined it was structurally stressing the building; portions of the faceplate remain in the museum’s collection.
These signs, like the Pegasus, served as visual markers for residents and visitors navigating the growing metroplex.
Provided by Dallas Express
