Oak Cliff
Oak Cliff is a neighborhood located in Dallas, Texas, United States that was formerly a separate town in Dallas County; established in 1887 and annexed by Dallas in 1903, Oak Cliff has retained a distinct neighborhood identity as one of Dallas' older established neighborhoods.
Oak Cliff has neighborhoods dating to the turn-of-the-20th century and mid-20th century, as well as many parks, and is adjacent to the central business district of downtown Dallas.
The boundaries of Oak Cliff are roughly Interstate 30 on the north, Loop 12 on the west, Interstate 45 on the east, the Trinity River on the northeast and Interstate 20 on the south. There are no officially recognized or universally accepted boundaries for what constitutes Oak Cliff.
History
Oak Cliff was founded in 1887, when John S. Armstrong and Thomas L. Marsalis bought a farm of on the west side of the Trinity River for $8,000. The farm was subdivided into blocks, and the plat of the new town made. Armstrong and Marsalis began to develop the land into an elite residential area, which proved to be a success by the end of 1887, with sales surpassing $60,000. 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, later named Colorado Boulevard just north of Lake Cliff, then known as Spring Lake, and as far south as a pavilion below Thirteenth Street. It was bounded on the east by Miller Street, later named 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 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 promoted as "the first elevated railway in the South". The railroad ran special trains to Oak Cliff Park the home ground of the Dallas Hams. In reality, the railroad operated at ground level almost its entire course down Jefferson Boulevard and towards Lake Cliff; it only became 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, later called Marsalis Park and Zoo, a park that included a two-mile -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.
Oak Cliff incorporated in 1890 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, 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 demand for vacation resorts 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 already 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.
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. 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.
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 in favor of annexation by eighteen votes.
In April 1908, the Trinity River flooded its banks, rising to a height of by April 21; rains continued into May, finally raising the river's height to. 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, George 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 sprang the Houston Street Viaduct, begun October 24, 1910, and opened to traffic February 22, 1912, acclaimed as the longest concrete bridge in the world.
In 1909, a disastrous fire occurred in Oak Cliff, consuming fourteen blocks of residences, including the Briggs Sanitorium.
In April 1921, the Ku Klux Klan declared a chapter within Dallas, making themselves known by not only beating and branding a local black hotel elevator operator, but by also parading in downtown Dallas with nearly 800 hooded Klansmen in attendance. The Dallas chapter, known as “Klavern 66”, moved its meeting hall into Oak Cliff due to a large increase in members shortly after being announced. Klavern 66 was able to spread their influence by producing their own newspaper, Texas 100% American, which was projected to circulate approximately 18,000 copies. In March 1922, another well-known Ku Klux Klan beating occurred, this time in Oak Cliff, against a tailor named W. J. Gilbert, as reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The Great Depression caused Dallas’ economy to suffer, resulting in the Oak Cliff's black community contributing to approximately one-half of the city's unemployment population. As black people were known to be considered first for layoffs, a need for low-income housing quickly rose. As a result, 86% of Oak Cliff's black population was forced into inhabiting sub-standard housing, commonly located on what was considered as the most undesirable and unlivable parts of Dallas. Violence broke out in Oak Cliff between its black and white citizens over the issue at hand. The Dallas mayor at the time, Woodall Rodgers, was documented as criticizing Oak Cliff's black community for inciting the violence and not being accepting of their residential segregation.
On April 2, 1957, a tornado ripped through Oak Cliff as part of the Early-April 1957 tornado outbreak sequence, killing 10 people and causing more than $1 million in damages.
Politics
Dallas City Council
Oak Cliff is represented by four members of the Dallas City Council, out of a total of fourteen council members for the city as a whole. Using the boundaries described above, two of the council districts fall completely in Oak Cliff, while two others partially represent Oak Cliff.Dallas County Commissioners Court
Oak Cliff is represented by two members of the Dallas County Commissioners Court. Both of these commissioners represent other areas of Dallas County, but Oak Cliff is within their district boundaries.Texas House of Representatives
Oak Cliff is represented by several members of the Texas Legislature. All of the representatives listed below represent portions of Oak Cliff.Texas Senate
Oak Cliff is represented by two members of the Texas Senate. Senator Royce West represents most of Oak Cliff while a portion of west Oak Cliff is represented by Senator Nathan Johnson.Neighborhoods
- Arcadia Park
- Beckley Club Estates
- Beverly Hills
- Bishop Arts District
- Brentwood
- Brettonwoods
- Bronx Park
- Brooklyn Heights
- Carver Heights
- Cedar Crest
- Cedar Haven
- Cedar Oaks
- Crestwood
- Dells District
- Druid Hills
- Elmwood
- El Tivoli Place
- Encinos Park
- Five Mile
- Glen Oaks
- Hampton Hills
- Hideaway Valley
- Kernwood
- Kessler Circle
- Kessler Highlands
- Kessler Park
- Kessler Plaza, Dallas
- Kiest - Polk
- Kiest Square
- Kiestwood
- Kiest Forest Estates
- Kimball Estates
- Kings Highway Conservation District
- Kidd Springs
- Lake Cliff
- Las Haciendas
- Las Villas
- Legendary Hollow
- Los Encinos
- Loupot Heights
- L.O. Daniel
- Mountain Creek
- North Bishop Avenue Commercial Historic District
- North Cliff
- Oakland Terrace
- Oakland Hills, Woodtown
- Oak Park Estates
- Oak Tree Colony
- Pinnacle Park
- Polk Terrace
- Ravinia Heights
- Rolandale
- Ruthmeade Place
- Skyline Heights
- Southern Hills
- Stevens Park Estates
- Stevens Park Village
- Summit Lawn
- Sunset Crest
- Sunset Hills
- Tenth Street Historic District
- The Bottoms
- The States
- Timbergrove Circle
- Trinity Heights
- Twin Oaks
- Vista Real
- Western Park
- Westmount
- Wheatland Estates
- Winnetka Heights
- Wynnewood