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'''Oak Cliff, Dallas (formerly city of Oak Cliff) ''' was a town located in [[Dallas County, Texas|Dallas County]], [[Texas]] ([[United States|USA]]), that was [[annexation|annexed]] by the neighboring city of [[Dallas, Texas|Dallas]] in 1903. It has since retained a distinct neighborhood identity as "Dallas' older, established neighborhood". As such, it is often called "The Cliff."
, Dallas (formerly city of Oak Cliff) ''' was a town located in [[Dallas County, Texas|Dallas County]], [[Texas]] ([[United States|USA]]), that was [[annexation|annexed]] by the neighboring city of [[Dallas, Texas|Dallas]] in 1903. It has since retained a distinct neighborhood identity as "Dallas' older, established neighborhood". As such, it is often called "The Cliff."


Oak Cliff has turn of the century and mid-20th century housing, many parks and remarkably close proximity to the central business district of [[downtown Dallas]] without the heavy vehicular traffic or higher cost of housing commonly associated with Dallas' northern neighborhoods.
Oak Cliff has turn of the century and mid-20th century housing, many parks and remarkably close proximity to the central business district of [[downtown Dallas]] without the heavy vehicular traffic or higher cost of housing commonly associated with Dallas' northern neighborhoods.

Revision as of 23:57, 13 January 2009

thisdick , Dallas (formerly city of Oak Cliff) was a town located in Dallas County, Texas (USA), that was annexed by the neighboring city of Dallas in 1903. It has since retained a distinct neighborhood identity as "Dallas' older, established neighborhood". As such, it is often called "The Cliff."

Oak Cliff has turn of the century and mid-20th century housing, many parks and remarkably close proximity to the central business district of downtown Dallas without the heavy vehicular traffic or higher cost of housing commonly associated with Dallas' northern neighborhoods.

The current boundaries of Oak Cliff are roughly Interstate 30 and the Trinity River on the north, Interstate 35E on the east, Camp Wisdom Road on the south, and Cockrell Hill Road on the west. In practice nearly every neighborhood south of the Trinity River (excluding west Dallas) is called Oak Cliff, though much of it was never part of the original town. For example, the South Oak Cliff neighborhood (the primary African-American neighborhood in Dallas), which generally includes neighborhoods south of Illinois Avenue, was never part of the original town of Oak Cliff, just as the Arcadia Park area was once its own municipality.

Downtown Dallas as seen from Lake Cliff Park.

History

The suburb of Oak Cliff originated on December 15, 1886, when John S. Armstrong and Thomas L. Marsalis bought a farm of 320 acres (1.3 km2) on the west side of the Trinity River for $8,000. The farm was cut up into twenty-acre blocks, and the plat of the new suburb made. Armstrong and Marsalis began to develop the land into an elite residential area, which by the end of 1887 had proved to be a tremendous success with sales surpassing $60,000. However, after a disagreement between the partners Marsalis secured complete control over Oak Cliff's development. Armstrong would go on to create his own elite residential development on the north side of Dallas, known as Highland Park.

According to the first plat filed, the original township of Oak Cliff extended as far north as First Street, now Colorado Boulevard, just north of Lake Cliff, then known as Spring Lake, and as far south as a paviliion just south of Thirteenth Street, or about where the main entrance to Marsalis Park now is. It was bounded on the east by Miller Street, now Cliff Street, and on the west by Beckley Avenue. Jefferson Boulevard was the route of a steam railroad, and the principal north and south thoroughfare was Marsalis Avenue, then called Grand Street.

On November 1, 1887, $23,000 worth of lots were sold in the newly opened Marsalis Addition (Oak Cliff) before noon and on the following day, ninety-one lots were sold for $38,113. Figures published later in November gave the new suburb a population of 500. Marsalis developed the Oak Cliff Elevated Railway to provide the first transportation link to his new development , using a small shuttle train pulled by a "dummy" engine. The transportation system was modeled on one in the city of New York and was heralded as "the first elevated railway in the South." In reality, the railroad operated at ground level almost its entire course down Jefferson Boulevard and towards Lake Cliff; it became only slightly elevated as it crossed the Trinity River. This steam railway was continued for many years for commuters and pleasure seekers. Marsalis began two other development projects with the intent to promote Oak Cliff as a vacation resort. One was Oak Cliff Park, now called Marsalis Park and Zoo, a 150-acre (0.6 km2) park that included a two-mile (3 km)-long lake and a 2,000-seat pavilion in which dances and operas were held. Another was the Park Hotel, modeled after the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, which included several mineral baths fed by artesian wells.[1]

In 1890, Oak Cliff incorporated with a population of 2,470 and secured a post office which operated until 1896. The community had four grocery stores, two meat markets, a hardware store, and a feed store. Businesses included the Texas Paper Mills Company (later Fleming and Sons), the Oak Cliff Planing Mill, the Oak Cliff Artesian Well Company, Patton's Medicinal Laboratories, and the Oak Cliff Ice and Refrigeration Company. A number of new elite residential areas developed by the Dallas Land and Loan Company had pushed the community's boundaries westward to Willomet Street. Oak Cliff's first mayor was Hugh Ewing. In 1891 the community's first newspaper, the Oak Cliff Sunday Weekly, was published by F. N. Oliver. Over the next three years Oak Cliff's development continued, but during the depression of 1893 the need for vacation resorts such as Oak Cliff decreased, and the community's growth stagnated, forcing Marsalis into bankruptcy. Consequently, the Park Hotel was converted into the Oak Cliff College for Young Ladies. Another educational institution, the Patton Seminary, was established two years later by Dr. Edward G. Patton. By 1900 Oak Cliff was no longer an elite residential and vacation community. Many of the lots once owned by the Dallas Land and Loan Company were subdivided by the Dallas and Oak Cliff Real Estate Company and sold to the middle and working classes, a trend which lasted well into the early 1900s. The census of 1900 reported Oak Cliff's population as 3,640. Oak Cliff was annexed by Dallas in 1903, after numerous attempts beginning in 1900. The proposal had met with little success until the community's depressed economy produced a vote for annexation by eighteen votes.

In 1902, an interurban electric streetcar line controlled by the Northern Texas Traction Company, was constructed passing through Oak Cliff, and connected Dallas to Fort Worth. This line discontinued service in the late 1930s. Smaller residential streetcar service ran throughout Oak Cliff's neighborhoods, spanning over 20 miles (32 km). Known as a streetcar suburb, Oak Cliff's characteristic twists and turns are largely due to the area's topography, and the paths and turnabouts created by the streetcar service. Residential streetcar service ended in January, 1956.

In April 1908, the Trinity River flooded its banks, rising to a height of 37.8 feet (11.5 m) by April 21. A temporary recession occurred, but rains continued in to May, finally raising the river's height to 51.3 feet (15.6 m). The only bridge remaining that connected Oak Cliff with Dallas after the flood was the Zang Boulevard Turnpike, an earthen fill with a single steel span across the river channel slightly to the north of the present Houston Street Viaduct. About this time G. B. Dealey, publisher of the Morning News, returned from a trip to Kansas City with the idea of securing for Dallas an intracity causeway similar to the one there. From his proposal sprung the Houston Street Viaduct (originally named the Oak Cliff Viaduct), begun October 24, 1910, and opened to traffic February 22, 1912, acclaimed as the longest concrete bridge in the world. This latter designation was later disputed as a publicity stunt.

In 1909, a disastrous fire occurred in Oak Cliff, consuming fourteen blocks of residences, including the Briggs Sanitorium.

On April 2, 1957, a deadly tornado ripped through Oak Cliff, killing 10 people and causing more than $1 million dollars in damages.

Since the phenomenon of "white flight" occurred in the district after the local schools were desegregated following a bitter court battle in the early 1970s, much of Oak Cliff (especially South Oak Cliff) became a mainly minority, low-income area after most of the mainly white middle class moved out of the area to the nearby suburbs. As a result, Oak Cliff now has more low-income housing and more citizens living below the poverty line than several other districts of Dallas. In years past, the area struggled with high crime and a high rate of gang activity in its schools, but improved community policing and neighborhood revitalization have helped to alleviate those problems.

Oak Cliff (the original area) has been experiencing some revitalization in recent years with middle-class (many of whom work in downtown Dallas and other north Dallas neighborhoods) finding Oak Cliff an affordable and convenient alternative, although crime remains higher than other middle-class and upper middle class neighborhoods in Dallas. A recent Dallas Morning News Article stated that Oak Cliff and Nearby South Dallas housed approximately 66% of the county's parolees and a majority of registred sex offenders.

In the early 2000s, SBC Communications (now AT&T) built a regional call center in the sparse western portion of the community, resulting in many major retailers locating along Interstate 30.

Neighborhoods

Transportation

Trains

Light rail

Highways

Oak Cliff's founding and annexation

The community on the south bank of the Trinity River was called Hord's Ridge by its original residents in 1845. In 1887, a pair of land speculators bought all the land of the community with the intent of developing an elite residential and vacation community. The town incorporated in 1890, with a population of 2,470. According to the 1900 census, the town had a total population of 3,640.

The investors quickly built the town's amenities and infrastructure, but the Panic of 1893 erased the prosperity the town had been designed to exploit. As the market for vacation communities disappeared, one of the investors was forced into bankruptcy, and the town's large, exclusive lots were divided into parcels for sale to middle- and working class buyers.

Oak Cliff's annexation by neighboring Dallas came in 1903, after three years of unsuccessful attempts by annexation backers. The final vote was 201 to 183 in favor.

Demographics

Prior to neighborhood desegregation, Oak Cliff was a predominantly white. Many neighborhoods in the Oak Cliff area, especially the most southern portions, were targeted for desegregation. As was typical of desegregation in the South, many all-white neighborhoods transitioned to African-American neighborhoods due to both black and white migration: blacks moving to neighborhoods that they perceived as better and a whites moving from neighborhoods that they perceived as worsening. The neighborhood transitions is not a simple matter of black and white, as the Latino community (mainly Hispanic-Americans of Mexican descent) in Dallas has grown rapidly . As such Oak Cliff is one of the most diverse areas of Dallas.

Education

W. H. Adamson High School

Public (Dallas ISD)

High schools

Zoned high schools within the Oak Cliff area:

Optional high schools within the Oak Cliff area:

Private

Life Charter School Oak Cliff- AA

High schools

Post-Secondary

Milestones

  • Town of Oak Cliff annexed by Dallas in 1903.
  • The Southland Ice Company began selling eggs and milk from their store at 12th and Edgefield in 1927. The first convenience store would eventually become known as 7-Eleven. (This 7-Eleven had a historical landmark, however it went out of business in the late 1990s.)
  • Blues singer and guitarist T-Bone Walker lived in Oak Cliff in his youth and made his first recordings in 1929 under the name "Oak Cliff T-Bone".
  • Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, the criminal duo known more informally as Bonnie and Clyde, met in Oak Cliff in the 1930s. Barrow is buried in an Oak Cliff cemetery.
  • Dennis Rodman attended South Oak Cliff High School in 1970s.
  • Blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan was born in Oak Cliff in 1954. The lyrics of his song "Tick Tock" are engraved in the bricks of DART's Hampton Station. Pop singer Edie Brickell (married to Paul Simon) is also from the area.
  • Lee Harvey Oswald was captured at the Texas Theater on Jefferson Avenue after allegedly assassinating U. S. President John F. Kennedy and killing Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit on November 22, 1963. Oswald was also an Oak Cliff resident at the time.
  • Yvonne Craig (the Original Batgirl) attended both W. H. Adamson and Sunset High School.
  • Original home of Lindsay "Hayes" Badgeley, Championship Flute player, wife of Brandon Badgeley (co-founder of Howard Payne University Men and Women's Soccer Program)

Media

The Dallas Morning News is the local citywide newspaper.

Oak Cliff People is a local community newspaper.

The Oak Cliff Tribune is a local community newspaper.

References

  1. ^ "The WPA Dallas Guide and History", page 75-76. Dallas Public Library and UNT Press, 1992

The infamous Howard Hughes originally owned the Texas Theater located on the Historical Jefferson Street.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oak_Cliff&oldid=263924725"