In late summer 1990, a small band of AAs then attending a large group became dissatisfied with many perceived Traditions breaks and decided it was time to start something fresh on the east side of Central Expressway. On September 16 they met in a private home and discussed certain principles they wished to observe in their new group. Among those were adherence to AAs Twelve Traditions and meetings structured so that newcomers and old-timers alike would be nourished in their sobriety.
Once the need for a group was affirmed, a meeting place was the first order of business. At first, the building on the SE corner of Mockingbird and Greenville was very attractive to the committee, but it would have proved too expensive, even if the landlords had wanted an AA entity as a tenant – which, as it turned out, they did not. Our hopes temporarily dashed, another committee member suggested the property on the NE corner of Mockingbird and Skillman. The suite on the east end of the building upstairs (over the Cork and Bottle liquor store) was currently being used as campaign headquarters for a 1990 Texas gubernatorial candidate, but after the November election it would be available. The rent was right, the landlords were happy to have an AA group, and they even offered finished space at the other end of the building for our temporary use free of charge (except for electricity) until the finish out was completed. Every time there was an obstacle in our path, it seemed a little miracle happened.
The first meeting in the temp space was Monday, October 15, 1990. Right after the meeting we held our first Group Conscience meeting and affirmed the Basic Principles that the founders had adopted the night before, and that guide the group to this day. Those principles may be found here. One of them was that we would be a non-smoking group, not unique but still a rarity in those days. We were careful to state that we had no opinion on smoking but would simply agree not to smoke on the premises. This allowed us to avoid putting up glass walls separating one alcoholic from another and actually encouraged group unity. Once inside, we were gathered together simply for AA’s Primary Purpose and nothing else.
We did have a small problem, however – we hadn’t the money to buy chairs. At the first meeting, everyone sat on the floor! The next day, a friend from the Preston Group called and said that Preston was moving to its new space (where it is to this day – 7/19/05) and had purchased new chairs and tables. Would we like the old ones at a good price? Would we! A pickup was requisitioned from a sponsee, and our new group had an early experience of participation in the finest sort of AA cooperation – Preston sold us those chairs for $1 apiece and the tables for $3. And when we ran out of cash, they threw a few extra on the truck anyway. We’ll always be grateful to them.
From our first month of holding meetings, the Group Conscience mandated contributing a little bit to Intergroup, District, Area and GSO, just as AA guidelines suggested. “You can’t keep it unless you give it away” seemed to work in other areas besides sobriety: money was always short, but we got by. A commercial electrician just showed up one day and decided to make us his new home group. Then came a master carpenter/contractor, who was responsible for much of the “look” of the finished space. But the work dragged on, as we were financing the finish out ourselves. We took favorable rent for the first 3 years rather than a large finish-out allowance. Finally on April 1, 1991, the group had its first meeting in the finished-out space. Three of the group’s founders and several of their sponsees spent the previous weekend scouring nicotine off the old Preston Group chairs – but it was well worth the effort!
After we moved, the meetings began growing. At first we had reckoned on only noon and evening meetings, but soon there was a groundswell to have early morning meetings, and a couple of fine old-timers agreed to guarantee that meeting time for us. One of our Basic Principles was – and is – that we would have only one evening meeting daily, in the spirit of Tradition One. It was our belief that having two meetings in the evening adversely affects the unity of the group, the “spiritual entity” so elegantly described in Tradition Five. But we agreed to have other meetings at other times of the day, and we attempted always to have the trusted servants come from a mix of meetings whenever possible.
In June of 1991 we held our first annual Founders Day celebration in gratitude to Bill, Bob and the other pioneers of AA, without whom we’d either be dead or wish we were. That tradition has continued to this day on June 10, the traditional date of Dr Bob’s last drink. Air conditioning problems plagued us in that old space, and we actually had to allow an old-timer to guarantee the financing on a new AC unit to replace one that was beyond repair. That first summer was tough!
But the noon meeting really began growing, from 9-10 people to 30-35 people by the end of 1991, and the 7:30 gatherings were increasing in size to 50-60 on many evenings. The rent was always paid before it was late, but it was the Fall of 1991 before we felt any real financial security. We believe we were the first AA group in this area to “suggest” a $2 contribution at every meeting, but that strategy paid off as people began to realize that AA isn’t immune to inflation, and the “standard” contribution had been stuck at a buck since the 1960’s. After we got a bit of a prudent reserve built up, we increased our contributions to other AA entities accordingly.
The Basic Principle that we should have only one evening meeting was challenged in the Group Conscience early on, but that motion did not succeed, and a successful 6PM meeting in a church nearby was founded and continues to this day.
The group continued to grow and stabilized until early 2003, when we were told that our old building was going to be demolished. A search was initiated, and the present location, c. 1.5 miles north of the old one was decided by the Group Conscience after much lively debate. That required the finishing out of totally unfinished space – concrete floors, no HVAC, no plumbing, etc. Fortunately, the landlord was eager to lease the space and agreed to generous finish-out terms. During the late spring and summer of ’03 the meetings had to be in two different locations – one for the morning/noon meetings and another for the evening meetings. But finally the work was done, permits finalized, “I”s dotted and “T”s crossed. The first meeting in the new space was on September 14, 2003, just before our thirteenth anniversary celebration. The committee of trusted servants who oversaw the move made a significant gesture to the old, original Cornerstone quarters: in our original home, we had a black wall on which was emblazoned the Responsibility Declaration in large white letters. The committee had that cut out before demolition, framed and moved to the new space where it hangs today, reminding all who enter of the most basic principle of our group:
I am responsible…
Whenever anyone, anywhere reaches out for help,
I want the hand of AA always to be there.
And for that, I am responsible.
Copyright © 2011
Dallas AA Central Office
Dallas Intergroup Association
All Rights Reserved.
This page last updated: 6/2/11