Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 15, Number 1, Spring, 2003 Page: 41
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Construction of the present swimming
pool took place in 1958. Much of the old pool
was filled in, the diving towers removed, and
the memory-laden pavilion demolished. After
1970, thanks to a private gift, serene Japanese
gardens were created, complete with a temple
bell and with torri gates in the quiet water of
the lake. Unfortunately, vandalism (including
theft of the temple bell) destroyed most of this
beautiful scene. Only a vestige of the oriental
garden remains.
Also in 1970 the park was expanded to its
present size of 31.32 acres. It now includes a
baseball diamond, multiple tennis courts, picnic
facilities, and a community center.
Missing, however, is the steady roar of the
spring water that used to pour from outlets on
each side of the old bathhouse steps. Missing,
too, are the tempting aromas that wafted from
the concession stand. And, although one strains
to hear it, gone is the brassy sound of Artie
Shaw.
Where does the water come from?
Where does it go?
It will come as a surprise to most readers
that the spring itself is not located within Kidd
Springs Park. Perhaps it never was.
According to the Dallas Park and
Recreation Department, the spring comes to
the surface (or would if it were allowed to) in a
residential property on North Vernon Street.
From there a pipe carries it to the lake within
the park. It's likely that this has been the case
since the days before Vernon Street existed.
Canty Street, under which the pipe must run,
was originally called Kidd Springs Avenue.
It seems certain that the spring's flow is but
a fraction of what it was when given Colonel
Kidd's name. One such report came from Kidd's
son, Jim, who, after spending most of his life in
New England, revisited Dallas in 1951. Taken to
Kidd Springs, he saw "houses and houses and a
park and the once-gushing springs a trickle.""This trickle leaves the lake at a small spillway
and follows a route (much of it in storm drains)
toward the Trinity River. The creek originally
met the river just below present Commerce
Street. Today, however, it is brought to the west
levee area, just offBeckley.
Here, amid old tires and plastic bags, where
the air is heavy with the stench of pollution,
Kidd Springs-what remains of it-joins the
Trinity in its journey to the Gulf of Mexico. *
NOTESThe Dallas Morning News, September 21, 1924.
2 Dallas Daily Times Herald, May 5, 1892.
3 The Dallas Morning News, March 4,1928.
4 Ibid.
5 African American Families and Settlements of Dallas: On
the Inside Looking Out, Volume II (Dallas: Black Dallas
Remembered, Inc., 1990), 20.
6 Bill Minutaglio and Holly Williams, The Hidden City:
Oak Clff Texas (Dallas: Elmwood Press and the Old Oak
Cliff Conservation League, 1990), 73.
7 Charles Cretien, "Early Days in Dallas and Oak Cliff,
1856-1920," 34, in the collection of the Texas/Dallas
History & Archives Division, Dallas Public Library.
8 Minutaglo and Williams, The Hidden City, 118-29.
9 "The Hidden City: Oak Cliff, Texas," Research files,
MA 91.4, Box 4, folder 1,Texas/Dallas History & Archives
Division, Dallas Public Library.
'o Harry Jebsen,Jr., Robert M. Newton, and Patricia R.
Hogan, Centennial History of the Dallas Park System 18761976
(Lubbock, Texas: Texas Tech University, 1976), 596.
" The Dallas Morning News, January 25, 1951.4I
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Dallas Historical Society. Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 15, Number 1, Spring, 2003, periodical, 2003; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth35094/m1/43/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Historical Society.