Park Cities — A trip down memory lane by Eugene Vainshel

Written By Martha Jackson

I was so excited when Jessica Perno, who recently moved to the Park Cities with her family from New York, shared that her husband was so curious about the history of this great city he just moved to that he wrote a guide. After reading this guide I had to invite the author, Eugene Vainshel, to join me on The Bubble Lounge to further discuss his discoveries. With his permission, I am sharing Park Cities - A trip down memory lane below. You can also listen to our episode here.

Written by Eugene Vainshel
Park Cities — A trip down memory lane

As someone who lived for many years in NYC, I can confidently say that Park Cities is the opposite of a concrete jungle. And I for one, am eternally grateful for that.

I have been working on this guide in an effort to help our family gain a better understanding of Park Cities rich history and the journey made us appreciate even more just how special and unique this neighborhood is.

It made us see Park Cities not as a static snapshot, but rather as a living, breathing and continuously evolving entity, who’s future, we can only hope, will be as bright as its past.

Thinking that other people may find it useful, my daughter suggested that I share this guide on social media, and so here it is. Please enjoy.

Table of Contents

I: Highland Park: 1906 — present

II: University Park: 1911 — present

III: Park Cities private schools

The Garden Suburban Community

  • Town size: 2.26 sq miles

  • Residents: around 9,000

  • Architecture: 50% of homes are 50 years or older

  • Homes: median year built is 1941

  • Nature: 20% of the town’s land is set aside for parks

  • Zip codes: 75205, 75209, 75219

  • School district: HPISD

  • Emergency response time: 2.5 minutes

Highland Park: 1906 — Present

1906: A humble beginning

The story of Highland Park begins in 1906, when entrepreneur John S. Armstrong purchased 1,326 acres of land bisected by what is now Preston Road. A true visionary, Mr. Armstrong envisioned a new, exclusively planned community just north of Dallas, naming it Highland Park in part because it was situated 130 feet above Dallas.

To design the town, Mr. Armstrong and his two sons-in law, Hugh Prather (Prather park) and Edgar Flippen (Flippen park), travelled to LA to engage the services of Wilbur David Cook, the designer of Beverly Hills. Cook made the trip to Dallas and, largely from the topographical map of the area, drew up his master plan for Highland Park, with 20% of the land set aside for parks. So confident was Cook of his design, that he apparently never returned to Dallas to view his completed work.

In addition to Wilbur Cook, other significant engineering contributions to Highland Park were made by N. Werenskiold, the planner of Highland Park West. Land­scape architects working out successive sections included L. M. Jenny, Cleveland, Ohio; George E. Kessler (creator of Dallas’s first master plan in 1910); and Hare & Hare of Kansas City.

Today, the names of neighborhood streets still provide a glimpse into the long story of Highland Park’s antecedents and founding. They include Edmond(son) Avenue, Lomo Alto Drive, Armstrong Avenue and Parkway, Drexel Drive and Beverly Drive.

The neighborliness, beauty and nostalgia of Highland Park is captured by these streets not necessarily because of the size of their residences, but rather because of proportion and the overall architectural rhythm of the street. The wide roadways, generous lots, deep setbacks, beautiful landscaping, and uniform residence heights allows various architectural styles to harmoniously blend and flow, creating a true feast for the eyes.

1907: Highland Park is born

  • The town of Highland Park opened in 1907

  • Famous Highland Park marketing slogans included: “Beyond the City’s Dust and Smoke” and “It’s 10 Degrees Cooler in Highland Park.”

Highland Park (1907)

1912: Dallas Country Club

  • Mr. Flippen and Mr. Prather lured the country club to Highland Park as a drawing card to attract well off citizens of Dallas to their new development. Dallas Country Club is the oldest country club in Texas.

Dallas Country Club

1913: Highland Park is incorporated

  • Between the opening of the first 100-acre section in 1907 and the opening of Highland Park West in 1924, Highland Park was in­corporated in 1913

  • Addresses in Highland Park may use either “Dallas, Texas” or “Highland Park, Texas” as the city designation (USPS prefers the use of the “Dallas, Texas”)

  • Today, Highland Park has its own government (e.g., mayor, city council) along with their own police and fire departments. The town utilizes a Department of Public Safety model, with its direct responsibility for all emergencies, including fire, police and medical

1914: HPISD opened its doors

  • Armstrong School was the first school in HPISD, followed by Bradfield (1926), UP (1928), Hyer (1949) and Boone (2020)

The ‘Robinhood Plan’

  • enacted in 1993, this law recaptures property tax revenue from property-wealthy school districts and redistributes these proceeds to property-poor districts, in an effort to balance financing of all school districts throughout Texas

  • in 2016, wealthier school districts across TX paid $1.725B under this plan

  • Austin ISD paid in the most, at $405 million, number two was Plano, at $105M, Highland Park paid $87M, while Grapevine-Colleyville paid $34M

1924: HP Municipal Pool opens

Highland Park Municipal Pool

1931: Highland Park Village

  • Highland Park Village was the first planned shopping center in the United States with a unified architectural style and stores facing in toward an interior parking area, all built and managed under a single ownership.

  • The Spanish design was chosen by Hugh Prather, Sr. after a trip to Spain in 1929 with architect J. B. Cheek. Highland Park Village

1940: Exall Lake Bridge

  • The pedestrian bridge across Exall Lake was constructed atop the dam in the 1940s

  • Exall lake was formed when the Exall Dam was constructed on Turtle Creek in 1890

Exall Lake Bridge

1996: Teddy Bear Park

  • The teddy bear statues were donated to the park by the Harlan Crow family (the estate neighboring the park is theirs)Teddy Bear Park

2020: Katy Trail

  • Katy Trail, as we know it today, began in 2000, but its history stretches back nearly a hundred years to the age of railroads. Union Pacific donated this unused railroad line to the city of Dallas in 1993, with the line converted into the beautiful greenbelt we see today Katy Trail.

Ivy of the South

University Park: 1911 — Present

1911: SMU opens

  • SMU was founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church (now part of the United Methodist Church), in partnership with Dallas civic leaders

Southwestern Methodist University (SMU)

1915: City of University Park

  • University Park began as a cluster of homes surrounding SMU in 1915

  • SMU supplied these homes with utility services until 1924, at which point the 380 homes in the area could no longer be supported by the school’s facilities

1920s: The Volk Estates

  • the large estate concept for University Park was introduced in the 1920s by Leonard W. Volk, a Dallas retailer

  • a 1926 promotional brochure for the area came with the following headline: “Own Your Own Estate”

  • considered one of the premier areas within Park Cities, Volk Estates is made up of 3 smaller neighborhoods (UP Estates, Brookside Estates, and Troth) Volk Estates

1924: UP Incorporates

  • Highland Park and Dallas both refused to annex the University Park area because of the financial burden of laying new sewer lines and supplying garbage removal and police and fire protection

  • in response, and to deal with the municipal challenges facing their community, UP voters approved the town’s incorporation measure by a 5:1 margin

  • when first incorporated, the city encompassed 515 acres, 380 homes, and 1,200 residents

1931: UP Municipal Pool Opens

  • Nobody is exactly sure when the UP pool was built (today known as the Holmes Aquatic Center), but most agree it was sometime between 1913 and 1931

PHOTO

University Park Municipal Pool

1945: Annexation Struggle

  • as the town grew more prosperous, Dallas wanted to annex University Park back into its boundaries

  • in one of the largest voter turn outs in UP’s history, the annexation effort was defeated by a 53% to 47% margin

  • after their refusal to merger, Dallas used its home rule powers to annex territory adjacent to University Park

  • because it was now surrounded by Dallas, University Park was prevented from expanding, and its neighborhood area remained at 3.7 square miles

1989: A New City Government

  • UP approved a Home Rule Charter which officially adopted the Council-Manager form of government and expanded the three-member Board of Commissioners to a five-member City Council

2001: University Park Library

  • UP library originally opened in 2001, with the new library opening in 2013

2019: LOVE Sculpture

  • The LOVE sculpture is installed on the south side of Williams park

  • the sculpture was gifted to the City on long-term loan by a UP couple in celebration of their 25th wedding anniversary (there are fewer than 25 original LOVE sculptures across the US)

PHOTO Love Sculpture (Williams Park)

Park Cities: Neighborhood Schools

In addition to HPISD, the parents of Park Cities enjoy many choices when it comes to choosing a best-fit school for their family, with options spanning everything from early education centers to preschools to private schools. To learn more, click on the map or a school name.

Park Cities Schools

Click here to learn more

Park Cities’ Private Schools

Within Park Cities

North of Park Cities

South of Park Cities

West of Park Cities

East of Park Cities

Martha Jackson
Previous

Zoo To Do 2022 Wild and Wonderful Kickoff Reveal Was Wild and Wonderful by Sharon Adams
Next

Everyone, let's "Mahj" - with Stephanie Brinks, Mahjong instructor