Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 14, Number 2, Fall, 2002 Page: 7
68 p. ; 26 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
fare, gradually and slowly, until it is complete.
Other times land-related issues generate more
media and public attention and receive significant
public scrutiny.
The first major annexations of land into the
City of Dallas were the cities of East Dallas and
Oak Cliff. Under the leadership of William H.
Gaston, Jefferson Peak, and others, the town of
East Dallas was incorporated in 1882, comprising
1,400 acres east of Dallas. The community
thrived with its own schools, water supply,
and-after 1886-the development of the State
Fairgrounds. But, eager to become the largest city
in Texas in the 1890 Federal Census, in 1889
civic leaders in Dallas maneuvered a bill through
the State Legislature repealing East Dallas's
charter and transferring the town's property to its
neighbor. The East Dallas city council retaliated
at its final meeting, on New Year's Eve, 1889, by
authorizing $45,000 in street improvements-a
cost the City of Dallas was obligated to assume.3
Nevertheless, Dallas Mayor W. C. Connor felt
the city had made a good investment. "The
annexation," he observed, "must be gratifying, if
for no other reason than it removes imaginary
lines from between us and puts us all under one
flag and one interest, and, without question, gives
us the largest tax list and greatest population of
any city in the state."4
In 1887 Thomas Marsalis began developing
a three-and-a-half-square-mile parcel of land
west of the Trinity River into an exclusive residential
area, which he called Oak Cliff, it was
incorporated June 9,1891.5 After several spectacular
failures in real estate development, a nationwide
economic depression, and other factors, Oak
Cliff went into economic decline and Dallas set
its sights on annexing it. After a series of bitter
legal fights, Oak Cliff residents approved annexation
by a margin of a mere eighteen votes, and the
town was conveyed to Dallas on April 4, 1903.6
Oak Cliff has never lost its independent
spirit. Its status as a historic "neighborhood of
neighborhoods" is manifested in such organizations
as the Old Oak Cliff Conservation League,
the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, and a localnewspaper, the Oak Cliff Tribune. Oak Cliff
attempted to disannex once in the 1950s and
again in 1990.7 Dallas took the matter seriously
the second time around, requiring its city
attorney and city manager to respond with a
thoroughly researched report arguing why such a
proposition was unfeasible. The report concluded
that a newly disannexed Oak Cliff's withdrawal
costs would be in excess of one billion dollars.8
Unquestionably, the greatest period of
Dallas's expansion through annexation and consolidation
occurred in the years during and
immediately following World War II. According
to several estimates, the city grew from 50 to 90
square miles during the war years. From 1945 to
1960, the city grew from 50.6 to 283.3 square
miles.9 Part of this boom was due to the returning
military population and then the resulting baby
boom. Additionally, the rise of the Federal
Housing Administration's national housing policies
from the middle 1930s onward, which
favored suburban, affordable, single-family
housing, encouraged the trend to move outside of
older urban centers.
Although the pace of annexations had
slowed down by the mid-1950s, it was not
checked until reforms in Texas annexation law
were made in 1963, 1977, and 1999.10 During
the decade of the 1990s, only about fourteen
annexations occurred-as compared with
approximately 213 during the 1940s.
Numerous factors contributed to a town's
candidacy for annexation or consolidation. In
some instances, a primary reason was the rise and
decline of the railroad. Some villages were created
as depots for the various railroads that crisscrossed
North Texas. By about 1910, up to
fourteen railroads operated in the Dallas area;
after 1930 the number sharply dropped (corresponding
to the increase in automobiles). As the
trains and highways bypassed these communities,
so did chances for livelihoods, forcing populations
to move to places with more opportunities
for jobs and commerce.
Another factor was the inability of small city
governments to provide many of the basic serv7
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Dallas Historical Society. Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 14, Number 2, Fall, 2002, periodical, 2002; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth35097/m1/9/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Historical Society.