West Dallas Chamber of Commerce

History of West Dallas

From newspaper archives...

December, 1891 "There was an election held in West Dallas yesterday for the purpose of incorporating for school purposes. The canvass for votes was warm and attended with much feverish anxiety. The vote stood 41 for to 38 against incorporation, which, to say the least, is a disgrace to the little village, showing as it does the number opposed to schools." Dallas Daily Times-Herald

July, 1907 "President W. F. Cowham, of the Southwestern States Portland Cement company, accompanied by several other officials of the company, are in Dallas. Ever since their arrival here, Mr. Cowham has been in conference in his room at the Oriental hotel with his engineers and others, relative to the gigantic cement plant they are about ready to construct in West Dallas." Dallas Daily Times-Herald

December, 1908 "A committee of the People's Improvement and Protective Association of West Dallas, in a communication, asked for action by the city in the matter of deepening and straightening the channel of the Trinity River, the raising of levees and the construction of a bridge that will care for the high waters of the sort experienced last spring." The Dallas Morning News

July, 1919 "The first refinery to be built in West Dallas was the Texas Company plant. It is located about 3 miles from the city on the Texas & Pacific railway and West Dallas pike and was started in 1907." Dallas Daily Times-Herald

November, 1925 "Already the location of a number of the largest and most important manufacturing enterprises of the city, expansion and development of the West Dallas industrial district is expected to continue at a more rapid rate in the future." Dallas Daily Times-Herald

May, 1934 "Clyde Barrow — until three days ago the most feared killer in the Southwest — was buried at sunset tonight on a chalky West Dallas hillside near his boyhood home." The New York Times

July, 1946 "You who lift your noses at West Dallas, or dub it a crime center because it once produced two notorious bandits, can get an earful from Mrs. Winston, thusly: 'These people are just as nice as they can be. They're just unfortunate. And, if they had the education, they'd be just as smart as you. They have much native ability." The Dallas Morning News

April, 1957 "A tornado lashed Dallas for 40 minutes today while thousands watched in terror and fascination...The tornado swooped into a Negro settlement of small frame houses in west Dallas. Forty-six houses were leveled in a three or four block area." Chicago Tribune

August, 1992 "If Dallas has a netherworld, it is the bleak area west of the Trinity. Maligned, misunderstood, a place of crime, poverty, disease and neglect — this is West Dallas." The Dallas Morning News

November, 1993 "West Dallas residents celebrated when the Clinton Administration declared last May that they live in the largest lead-contaminated Superfund site in the United States. Portions of one of the nation's biggest housing projects and five schools, all located within five square miles of a now-defunct lead smelter, are slated for cleanup (although Federal Environmental Protection Agency records indicate as much as sixteen square miles of West Dallas are contaminated)." The Progressive

May, 1997 "When the West Dallas Housing Project was built it was, like most housing in Texas in 1952, unashamedly segregated: 1,500 units for whites, 1,500 for blacks and 500 for Hispanics. After 'desegregation'' it became all black, like the ghetto that surrounded it. Now, under an unusual three-way agreement, most residents are to be integrated into suburban apartment complexes and most of the project is to be torn down." The New York Times

November, 2000 Here's a fascinating "Environmental History" PowerPoint presentation with facts and photographs. Produced by the West Dallas Neighborhood Development Corporation for the Texas State Senate Committee on Natural Resources.

April, 2006 "A new world could soon knock on West Dallas' front door thanks to two planned multimillion-dollar bridges. And West Dallas better be ready." The Dallas Morning News

"A New Town," The Dallas Morning News headline read on Feb. 9, 1886.

"As an immediate result of the boom, a town to be known as the West End is in process of being laid off west of the river ... It is surmised, that ten years hence, when Dallas will have nearly trebled its present population, the West End will contain the finest private residences of Dallas."

Then, in the Dallas Daily Times Herald on Sept. 4, 1890, "A large and enthusiastic meeting of the citizens of West Dallas was held at Fisher's Hall yesterday evening to consider the question of formulating a new city government out of Oak Cliff and West Dallas."

"The decision was unanimous that West Dallas needed no incorporation."

And so began the fits and turns of West Dallas.

For more than a century, the prevailing mind-set in West Dallas fell somewhere between "leave us the hell alone" and "what can we get away with?" To compound matters, West Dallas fell between the cracks formed by the flood-prone Trinity River and Interstate 30 while Dallas looked elsewhere for growth and economic development.

Today, however, all eyes are on West Dallas. Interest and investment in the area have been awakened by the economic and recreational potential of the Trinity River Corridor Project and new-generation shifts in how we live, work and play together.

True West Dallas Pioneers
Over the last few decades, however, it has been West Dallas' non-profit community that has laid the flagstones for a brighter future. Each of these charitable groups is to be honored for their vision and service. Each also remains active in West Dallas:

	St. Mary of Carmel Catholic School dates back to 1937 when a missionary from Spain began working with West Dallas residents from a small building that served as both church and classroom.
	In 1961, Brother Bill’s Helping Hand was registered as a non-profit organization and encourages residents to make positive changes in their lives through faith-based programs.
	Originating in 1902 — and a presence in West Dallas since the 1960s — Goodwill Industries of Dallas opened a 270,000 square-foot facility in 2000 and remains the largest employer in West Dallas.
	Los Barrios Unidos Community Clinic began providing health care to the people of West Dallas in 1972.
	La Voz del Anciano was founded in 1976 and is a bilingual/bicultural non-profit organization whose primary focus is serving the needs of the elderly Latino population.
	Founded in 1982, Voice of Hope has grown to serve over 300 children daily in after-school program and summer programs.
	Trinity River Mission began in the early 1960s as an outreach ministry of a north Dallas church. Incorporated in 1988, today the Mission runs a volunteer-based community learning center.
	West Dallas Community Development (now West Dallas Initiative) was established in 1991 to help provide family social services for people in the community.
	Vecinos Unidos, founded in 1992, identifies and resolves neighborhood problems such as housing, security, public services, education, health, and economic development.
	West Dallas Business Association (now West Dallas Chamber of Commerce) organized in 1994 to create a better climate for business development in West Dallas
	Founded in 1995, West Dallas Community School offers college-preparatory faith-based education for the families of West Dallas.
	Since 1998, Builders of Hope CDC has delivered quality, affordable housing, worked to stimulate healthy and safe revitalization of the West Dallas community.
	Fort Worth Avenue Development Group formed in 2002 to bring neighbor-friendly retail to the West Commerce/Fort Worth Avenue corridor, the "zipper" between north Oak Cliff and West Dallas.
	Mercy Street grew out of the desire to transform a small pocket of poverty in West Dallas. In 2003, the faith-based organization began engaging in the lives of West Dallas children through mentoring relationships.
	Wesley-Rankin Community Center was founded in 1902 as the Greater Dallas Board of City Missions and settled in West Dallas in 1934. The Center helps families in the greatest need to care for their children.
	Westmoreland Heights Neighborhood Association officially formed in 2006, galvanizing the years of work neighborhood leaders had undertaken to strengthen their community.
	In 2009, Dallas Faith Communities Coalition, West Dallas Education Task Force and Southern Methodist University launched an initiative to explore West Dallas' needs and goals for access to high-quality K-12 schools.
	Inspired by the opportunities afforded by the Trinity River Corridor Project, in 2009 The Trinity Trust brought in renowned urban planner Larry Beasley to re-imagine West Dallas and to launch the CityDesign Studio with the City of Dallas.