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| Neighborhood History |
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 This history of the neighborhood plays a vital part in the identity of its residents. If you have lived in the neighborhood for many years, the neighborhood history is a heartfelt reminder of days gone by.
If you have just come to call the neighborhood home, it is a way to learn more about the new community you have joined. We would love nothing more than to be able to share the history of neighborhood name with all who reside there. If you are interested in writing a brief history of the neighborhood to share with the community, please contact us! |
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Preston Hollow Remembered
Preston Hollow nestles quietly north of where frenetic Northwest Highway is bisected by Preston Road. On the East side of Preston lie traditional post World War II ranch-style homes in neat uniform rows amid towering shade trees. To the West of Preston, stately mansions loom above scenic lakes and twisting roads. Some of the old homes in the area rest on land worth astronomical dollars, more valuable than the houses themselves.
What makes Preston Hollow such a desired area? Perhaps part of the answer lies in the fact that it clings to either side of Preston Road whose path bisects the famed 'Golden Corridor' of Dallas.
Preston Hollow took it's name from Preston road, which was originally an old frontier road, older than Dallas itself. Many settlers poured down the path connecting Austin with the town of Preston in Grayson County where it originated, including one John Neely Bryan who founded the city of Dallas. The town of Preston was considered the most inportant town in North Texas in 1850. The southward trail from the town became known as 'the Preston Road.'
In the beginning, Preston Hollow was mostly farm and pasture lands, cotton and corn fields, dotted with wandering streams and lakes. Dallas proper considered it to be far out in the counrty.
Early settlers of the area left legacies by giving names to many of the present-day streets. One of the first settlers in Preston Hollow was Jessie W. Meaders who built his home on Preston road in 1856 and farmed corn, cotton, oats, and wheat. Today, a street bears his name.
Ira Deloache moved to Dallas in 1909. He sold cigars until 1915 when he closed his first real estate trade: a second-hand Cadillac for an interest in a home in Oak Cliff. Thus Ira Deloache started on the road which earned him the title of 'Dean of Dallas Realtors.' In 1922, deloache flew in an airplane and spotted a wooded fairyland three or four miles east and west of Preston Road. He decided that what he saw from the sky could become a choice residential section of Dallas. He opened the first real estate office there in 1930, when the nearest residential section was Highland Park, two miles away- an enormous distance in those days. Amid such skepticism and protest that he was throwing his money away, he bought more than 100 acres near Preston Road and began to develop.
Al Joyce followed the footsteps of Deloache and owned more land in Preston Hollow than any other individual. He put in a short street from Preston to the Cottonbet Railroad (now the North Dallas Tollroad) which he names in honor of his big competitor. Not to be outdone, Deloache put in an even shorter and more narrow street (originally intended to be an alley) which he named Joyce Way. Today neighbors in the area enjoy recounting the story that the street was named after a farmer's mule named Joyce and the street washer way to the watering hole. But the real truth is that it was named as a joke played by one buninessman on another.
Other large landholders of the day include the Stichter family,W.W. Caruth, and Sam Lobello. The Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church now stands on the site of the original Stichter estate. The Lobello family opened a 200 acre addition of open fields for real estate speculation. The land at the southwest corner of Preston road and Northwest Highway became the site of Lobello's Bar-B-Que, a favorite local spot. Sam Lobello's granddaughter was named Stefani, for whom the street was named.
The first Swimming pool in the area was built on the Tav Lupton estate at Preston and Falls Rd. The pool was a laboriously hand-dug by shovel, with the dirt hauled off in mule-hitched wagons. Deloache also built a pool. Since the water supply was still in a primitive state, artesian well water was used, and it lacked a filter and recirculating system. Deloache's son Jimmy recalls the day his father ordered big blocks of ice from the local ice house t cool down the pool for a summer party. One of the guest dived into the pool and broke a tooth on the ice.
The White House on the corner of Northwest Highway and Preston Road was originally thought to has been a servant's quarters for the Deloache estate. Ira turned it into his office, the first 'suburban' real estate office in dallas. Later, the house served as town hall during the time Preston Hollow was an incorporated town. The house continued in its real estate tradition by serving today as an office for Ebby Halliday Realtors.
Original residents of Preston Hollow had no running water sewer lines, electricity, telephones or gas. Much if the well water tasted so badly that residents imported water from Dallas until city water was finally installed. Some locals put in their own telephone post so the telephone company would run the lines out to rural Preston Hollow. All streets were dirt and gravel until the late 1930's: curbs and sidewalds had to be paid for by the residents, who quickly became convinced that they were unnecessary. To this day, most of the Preston Hollow streets are unbordered by sidewalks. There were no fences between houses in those days, giving neighbors a feeling of openness, freedom and carmaraderie.
Most of the land in the early '30's was still being used as farm or pasture land or cotton fields. East of Preston Road was mostly undeveloped and was lovinly remenbered by W.C.'Dub' miller as Johnson Grass Acres.' Sarah Federwisch recalls, 'I got some chickens but they got lost in the Johnson Grass.' The Thompson family, original owners of the field where the Mary Kay Ash's house stands today, used to keep goats in order not to mow.
Many of the existing trees were planted by the early residents, then their seeds were spread throughout the area by birds. When Deloache began developing old Preston Hollow, he hired an eight-man crew at $1.00 per man per day to dig up hackberry trees grew along the Cottonbelt Railroad and tranplanted them to his new streets, planting them according to where he would build the houses. Some of the tree line still remain along Woodland, Deloache, and Northwood streets.
Preston Hollow was certainly considered 'country' in those days when even SMU was considered to be in the country. Dallas seemed to stop along the border of Mockingbird Lane. City people would drive ut from Dallas on pretty weekends to gaze at the beautiful Preston Hollow estate homes. A special treat for Highland Park children was to spend the night out in the country with their chums where they could ride horses and catch bullfrofs. But the Preston Hollow kids disliked spending the night in the city because 'all they did was play ball.'
Children in the area had much to entertain them. Many of the residents lived on lots of three or more acres where they could raise horses. W.C. 'Dub' Miller raised prize Arabians and often gave children rides in a horse-drawn wagon. Most of the local boys owned horses and would earn extra money by riding down to Highland Park and making dollar bets with city kids that they couldn't mount their horses. In fact, the young men were such good cowboys that they would leave home dressed for a date, but sneak off instead to the rdeo in Mesquite.
Herbert Otis, founder of Otis Engeneering, entertained children with an electric car named Daisy, made from a lawnmower motor. Dr Rushing owner of the original Trop Post estate between Park Lane and walnut Hill Lane along Inwood Road, built a miniature steam railroad train which delighted the children and was featured in a local magazine.
Where there are children, there is enevitably a ghost. The 'ghost of Preston Hollow' was a lone white post in a field near Hathaway and Northwest Highway which created an eerie illusion of floating in the moonlight.
Most children attended shcool in the near-by town of Vickery, located at the present intersection of Park Lane and Greenville. They would be picked up by bus, a daily adventure due to the wide economic gap between the local children. The bus picked up the kids at the wealthy estates and went on to an areas where the children were so underpriviledged that they had to share sets of clothes in their family and attend school on alternate days. Often the school bus would get stuck ing the mud and all the children rich and poor alike would have to hike the remaining distance barefoot.
When Preston Hollow Elementary School was built, school board officials intended it to be the finest grade school ever built in Dallas. The school filled quickly.
St. Marks, originally known as the Texas Country Dat School, started with 12 boys in its first class in a home on meadow Road, originally built by Stichter as a wedding present for his son. After sitting vacant for several years, the house was acquired by the School, which later absorbed the teaching staff of the Cathedral School. The new school name originally chosen was St. James, whose symbol was a gental lamb, but visions of a football team whose mascot was a lamb inspired the change to St.Mark's, the saint symbolized by a lion.
Ursuline Academy, the Roman Catholic school for girls and one of Texas' oldest parochical schools, was founded in 1874. It was first located in a house on the present site of the downtown post office, then moved to a building at Bryan and St. Joseph where it stood for 68 years. When that site was razed Ursuline moved to its present site in Preston Hollow.
The roads in Preston Hollow, though certainaly not a crowded as today, had their own set of problems. Most were two lane humpbacked roads, bordered by ditches to catch the water run-off. The first access roads to Northwest Highway had to be crossed by foot over wooden boards spanning a sea of mud. Since Preston Hollow concealed underground streams, the lakes scattered through the area tended to flood after heavy rains. On the occasion of a rare 100 years rain, motorist were in peril on the old humpback roads. Once a local attorney was washed away in his car on Royal Lane by a sheet of water.
In the late '30's, residents banded together to set up a township with Ira Deloache as one of the leaders in a move to incorporate as a tax-free city. A committee completed the details if the incorporation and drafted a charter to submit to property owners. On November 18,1939, Preston Hollow became incorporated as a township. Joe E. Lawther was elected as its first mayor. Setting itself up as a tax-free city with elected mayor and city council and an appointed zoning board. Preston hollow essentially had a do-it-yourself city government with all officials serving without pay. The combined area totaled approximately 1200 acres with 800 residents. The official town limits extended from Northwest Highway to Park Lane, Preston to Meadowbrook, but really included Bluffview via the Cottonbelt railroad tracks, and Walnut hill Lane to Inwood Road. The eastern boundary extended into the area between Preston and Hillcrest.
The residents signed a petition against the levying of any tax, stating that funds to operate the fledgling government 'should be raised through voluntary subscription based on equitable amounts, which would guarantee economy and eliminate the posibility of wast and a constantly increasing tax rate'. However, the dream of operating a municiplity without city tax revenues brought on a crisis. Mayor Lawther leclared after a few months trial that the nobel experiment would not work and announced he would have to resign inless the idea was abandon. The council refused to do more than ask each homeowner to voluntarily contribute $25. a year toward city expenses.
With the growth of businesses along Northwest Highway, residents became increasingly concerned over the drive-in restaurants with thei glaring lights and loud music at night. Laughter and yelling from customers provoked a petition from Preston Hollow residents which contended that a public nusance was being created which destroyed their peace, privacy and jeopardized their property values.
About this time Leroy trice became a well known figure, the Deputy Marshall. When teenagerd boys raced their automobiles along the 7/10 ths mile dragstrip with their girlfriends on the look out for Trice's car, he would sound his sirena mile in advance of his arrival to warn of his approach. Two othe local policemen owned gas stations and would frequently give the kids free gasoline or send help if the ran out of gas. When teenagers got into trouble, the local jdge would assign them work details as their punishment, such as painting street signs. The teens made the punishment look like such fun other kids would seek punishment to join the work party, a scene reminsent of Tom sawyer painting the picket fence.
Since most of the men over eighteen were away during World War II, the volunteer fire department was staffed by sixteen-year old boys who ere bored with their interminable games of dominos and the action on the home front. The loacal girls took pity on them by starting innocent grass fires. When time came to put the bright new fire engine into use, no one could find the keys.
Soon the residents began to see the need to improve utilities, sewage controll, and better bus service, calling themselves 'septic tank dewleers'. In 1945 Preston Hollow petitioned the city of Dallas for annexation. On April 3 1945, the election to consolidate the town of Preston hollow with the City of Dallas passed.
Today, the quiet neighborhood of Preston Hollow still retains some of the peace and serenity of the old days. The winding roads still curve through the old estate area and the early builders' newly planted trees tower with age. Some of the camaradie can still be found among neighbors who show off their homes with hard earned pride. The memory of the town of Preston Hollow may have long faded, but the dignity of the beautiful neighborhood remains intact and flourishes with each new resident.
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