History
John Shelby Wisdom
(October 1855 - March 7, 1931) Born into a large family in Tennessee, John Shelby Wisdom moved with his family to a farm near Mulberry, Arkansas, when he was very young. He moved to Texas as a teenager and found work in ranching and cattle driving. Years later, he met a 12-year-old fiddler named Madison Pinkney "Pink" Wright and his widowed mother, Hattie Wright. Wisdom married Mrs.
History
John W. Lane
Kentucky native John W. Lane (1835-1888) was a member of Tannehill Lodge No. 52 AF&AM. Trained as a printer, he came to Dallas in 1859 and worked for the Dallas Herald newspaper. He married Elizabeth Crutchfield in 1860 and the next year joined the 18th Texas Cavalry to serve in the Civil War. Upon returning to Dallas, Lane was elected mayor. He resigned to become personal secretary to Gov.
History
Jordan-Bowles House
Built about 1860 of hand-hewn logs from bottomland of Trinity River. The builder, David Jordan (1808 -79), came to Texas about 1859, moving his household by wagon from Tennessee. A farmer, he also kept a store and a stage stand on the Dallas-Fort Worth Road. At that time Indian raids were frequent, and the outlaw gang of Sam Bass was suspected of committing an 1870 hold-up here.
History
Jordan-Hight Family Cemetery
This began as a family burial ground in 1866, when David A. Jordan (1808 - 1879) provided land for a cemetery in which to bury his son-in-law, Robert A. Hight (1826 - 1866). The graveyard was later made available to other residents of the area and became a public cemetery.
History
Juanita Craft House
Juanita Jewel (Shanks) Craft (1902-1985) was born in Round Rock and attended schools there and in Austin before earning certificates from Prairie View and Samuel Huston Colleges. She joined the Dallas Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1935 and became a pivotal NAACP civil rights organizer, childrens advocate, public servant and humanitarian.
History
Juliette Abbey Peak Fowler
Juliette Abbey Peak Fowler (May 8, 1837 - June 4, 1889) After the deaths of her husband and children in the early 1860s, Juliette Peak Fowler lived in Dallas and was active in local charitable causes. Committed to orphans and elderly women during her life, she provided for their benevolent care in her will.
Transport
Junction of the Texas & Pacific and Houston & Texas Central Railroads
The city of Dallas secured its role as the economic, communication and transportation center of North Texas with the completion of the junction of the Texas & Pacific and Houston & Texas Central Railroads in 1873.
History
Keenan Cemetery
Thomas (1808 - 1879) and Sarah McCallister Keenan (1807 - 1872) came to this area as members of the Peters Colony in 1842. When their two-month-old son, John, died on November 11, 1843, they buried him at this site, establishing one of the earliest cemeteries in present-day Dallas County. The large number of early infant graves are testimony to the hardships endured by the area's pioneer settlers.
History
Kit Community
Virginia natives John W. and Jestine Gorbit had a farm in this area by 1850. A settlement known as Gorbit grew up around it and became a stop on a pre-Civil War postal route. In 1855, Jonathan Story moved here from Illinois with his wife and 13 children. Story's son, Isaac "Ike," who later returned to Illinois for several years, settled in Gorbit with his wife and children in 1873.
History
Kleberg
The town of Kleberg began in 1850 on the land grant of Robert Justus Kleberg (1803 - 1888), veteran of the Republic of Texas Army and a participant in the Battle of San Jacinto. Originally a stage stop where two wagon trails crossed, Kleberg grew into a farming community. After the railroad came in 1881, the town boasted a post office, bank, and a number of retail businesses.
History
Korean Texans
Korean immigrants first came to Texas in the early 20th century, with a handful living in the state by the 1920s. Most were laborers arriving from the Western U.S., including Hawai'i, or from Mexico. However, larger numbers of Koreans immigrated following the Korean War (1950-53). The U.S. Established military bases in Korea, and many U.S.
History
L. Butler Nelson Cemetery
L. Butler Nelson Memorial Park includes two historic cemeteries, the oldest of which was previously unnamed. Its earliest marked grave (1896) is that of Cherry Lawler, an 85-year-old grandmother. In 1911, William B. West, John P. Starks and William E. Ewing of Peoples Undertaking Co. purchased the cemetery and named it Woodland (or Woodlawn). Ten years later, Dr. G. W.
History
La Reunion
Site of the French Colony La Reunion, settled 1854. Placed by Jane Douglas Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. April 10, 1924
History
La Reunion Cemetery
Burial place of French, Belgian, and Swiss settlers brought here 1855-58 by company for European American colonization in Texas. This site was on road from La Reunion to Willow Fish Traps set by the colonists in the Trinity. Early burials in this cemetery included aged French Grenadier Pere Lagogue; also a young child of colony director F. Cantagrel.
History
Lake Highlands Elementary School
Opening in 1955, Lake Highlands Elementary School has served this area for more than 50 years. Prior to 1955, public education in the area was limited to Little Egypt School for black students and Rogers School, which closed in 1929 when it was incorporated into Richardson Independent School District, for white students.
History
Lancaster Education
The first log school in Lancaster was built in 1846 at Clear Springs one mile north of the original settlement of Hardscrabble. In 1863, as more families moved in, the Masonic Lodge building served as a school. Education was available to all children and in 1868 the old Confederate gun factory housed the first school for African Americans; ten years later a new school on Keller Branch was built.
History
Leadbelly in Deep Ellum
The Dallas neighborhood known as Deep Ellum is one of the most significant in the history of the development of Texas music. Surrounding the intersection of Elm Street and Central Avenue in downtown Dallas, Deep Ellum was one of the largest and most dynamic urban African American communities in the United States during the early twentieth century.
History
Lee Cemetery
In 1870, James J. Lee (1820 - 1901), a Confederate Army veteran from Mississippi, donated land for this cemetery, stipulating that no charges were to be made for plots. The 1.125-acre tract was the first cemetery in southeast Dallas County. Among the 1,500 burials are Lee and members of his family; Gen. James S.
History
Letot Cemetery
A native of France and a veteran of the Crimean War, Clement LeTot (b. 1836) settled in northwest Dallas County in 1874. He was the founder and leading citizen of the town of Letot, which was established in 1881 along the rail line. As was the custom of early Texas pioneers, Letot set aside a plot of his land for the burial of family members. The first burials here were for his sons Theodore (d.
History
Lincoln High School
In 1937, the Dallas school board appointed a building committee to find land for a new high school for African Americans. The committee chose eleven acres at this location. Lincoln High School was one of the largest campuses in the city, with twenty classrooms, chemistry and physics laboratories, auditorium, cafeteria, and library in the main building.
History
Lisbon Cemetery
In 1870 Samuel Sloan (1811-92) and E. A. Gracey (1837 - 1915) donated five acres of land near the center of the pioneer town of Lisbon, now part of Dallas, as a church and cemetery site. The oldest known grave is that of James J. Dowd, who died Oct. 24, 1871. A community church and school was erected in 1871; later separate churches were built.
History
Little Bethel Cemetery
Burials of two small children opened this cemetery in 1856. The oldest stone (1858) commemorates Etna Barker, of a pioneer family. Some relatives of John Neely Bryan, first settler in Dallas, are buried here. This was once the site of a small church that was later relocated in Cedar Hill. Landowner Crawford Trees donated original burial ground in 1860. Judge William B.
History
Little Egypt
The rural settlement of Little Egypt began when former slave Jeff Hill bought a tract of approximately thirty acres of land across Thurgood Lane from this marker in 1883. By the 1920s, the Egypt Chapel Baptist Church and a one-room school had been added to a growing number of homesteads on the tract.
History
Livestone Lodge No. 152, F. & A. M.
Originally built east of Grand Prairie near the African American community known as "The Line," Livestock Lodge No. 152, Free and Accepted Masons, was granted a charter on July 24, 1903 by the Prince Hall Masons of Texas. In 1944, the lodge building was moved to the Dalworth community. The site, in one of the few areas where African Americans were allowed to buy property, cost $200.
History
Log Cabin Pioneers of Dallas County
Most colonists first settled in this "Three Forks" area of the Trinity River as members of the Peters Colony after 1841. Immigrants from such states as Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee brought with them a tradition of building log shelters. Land title was granted to settlers who worked at least 15 acres and built "a good and comfortable cabin upon it.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
