Oak Cliff
Encyclopedia
Oak Cliff is a community in Dallas, Texas
, United States
that was formerly a separate town located in Dallas County
; Dallas annexed
Oak Cliff in 1903. It has since retained a distinct neighborhood identity as "Dallas' older, established neighborhood".
Oak Cliff has turn-of-the-century and mid-20th century housing, many parks, and proximity to the central business district of downtown Dallas
.
The boundaries of Oak Cliff are roughly Interstate 30 and the Trinity River
on the north, Interstate 35E
on the east, Camp Wisdom Road on the south, and Cockrell Hill Road on the west. In practice nearly every neighborhood south of the Trinity River (excluding west Dallas
) is called Oak Cliff, though much of it was never part of the original town. For example, the South Oak Cliff neighborhood (one of the primary African-American and Hispanic
neighborhoods in Dallas), which generally includes neighborhoods south of Illinois Avenue, was never part of the original town of Oak Cliff. Neighborhoods east of I-35 are normally considered part of Oak Cliff as well, in addition to the neighborhoods west of Cockrell Hill Road.
and Thomas L. Marsalis
bought a farm of 320 acres (1.3 km²) on the west side of the Trinity River
for $8,000. The farm was subdivided into 20 acres (80,937.2 m²) blocks, and the plat
of the new suburb 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. However, 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 (Oak Cliff) 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". 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 150 acre (0.607029 km²) park that included a two-mile (3 km)-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 (later Fleming and Sons), 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 20 miles (32.2 km). 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.
On November 22, 1963, shortly after the fatal shooting of President
John F. Kennedy
and the wounding of Texas
governor
John Connally
(who was the jump seat passenger in the Kennedy limousine
) at 12:30 p.m. and the fatal shooting of Officer J. D. Tippit
at approximately 1:16 p.m., Oswald entered the Texas Theatre
, located in Oak Cliff, shortly after 1:30 p.m. without paying for a ticket, ostensibly to avoid police. They were later informed by the assistant manager that a man had entered the theater without paying. The films being presented on that day were Cry of Battle
and War Is Hell
. Oswald briefly viewed the latter. Open daily, today it hosts a mix of repertory cinema and special events.
In the early 1970s, many Oak Cliff schools, along with those in South Dallas, became the focus of a long-running and bitter court battle over desegregation
, famously overseen by Federal Justice Barefoot Sanders. As a result, DISD's schools were not officially declared desegregated until 2003.
Beginning in the 1970s there was "white flight
" of white middle-class residents to nearby suburbs. Oak Cliff, especially South and Southwest Oak Cliff, became a dangerous low-income area by the 1980s, and even as late as 2004 critics were charging that Dallas chronically failed to provide adequate city services and police protection, causing developers to avoid the area. The recession that began in 2008 has hampered revitalization, and the La Reunion development was canceled .
flooded its banks, rising to a height of 37.8 feet (11.5 m) by April 21. A temporary recession occurred, but rains continued in to May, finally raising the river's height to 51.3 feet (15.6 m). 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 G. 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 (originally named the Oak Cliff Viaduct), begun October 24, 1910, and opened to traffic February 22, 1912, acclaimed as the longest concrete bridge in the world. This latter designation was later disputed as a publicity stunt.
In 1909, a disastrous fire occurred in Oak Cliff, consuming fourteen blocks of residences, including the Briggs Sanitorium
.
On April 2, 1957, a tornado
ripped through Oak Cliff as part of the Dallas tornado outbreak of April 1957
, killing 10 people and causing more than $1 million in damages.
DART is planning extensions of both the Red and Blue Lines as part of the 2030 Plan, the latter of which will serve the new University of North Texas at Dallas campus.
In 2001 Jim Schutze of the Dallas Observer
referred to northern Oak Cliff as "Dallas' own Jerusalem, where various ethnicities choose to live close to each other and not get along."
referendum on May 2, 1998.
operates district public schools.
Zoned high schools within the Oak Cliff area:
Optional high schools within the Oak Cliff area:
In 2011 the district closed Maynard Jackson Middle School. Prior to summer 2011 the community often complained about poor conditions at the school. DISD rezoned the students to Kennedy Curry Middle School in southern Dallas.
Zan Wesley Holmes Jr. Middle School, opening in 2013, is in Oak Cliff.
In addition, Life School
, a state charter school operator, has the K-12 Oak Cliff campus.
Texas°N date=June 2009°W
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
that was formerly a separate town located in Dallas County
Dallas County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,218,899 people, 807,621 households, and 533,837 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,523 people per square mile . There were 854,119 housing units at an average density of 971/sq mi...
; Dallas annexed
Annexation
Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...
Oak Cliff in 1903. It has since retained a distinct neighborhood identity as "Dallas' older, established neighborhood".
Oak Cliff has turn-of-the-century and mid-20th century housing, many parks, and proximity to the central business district of downtown Dallas
Downtown Dallas
Downtown Dallas is the Central Business District in Dallas, Texas USA, located in the geographic center of the city. The area termed "Downtown" has traditionally been defined as bounded by the downtown freeway loop: bounded on the east by I-345 Downtown Dallas is the Central Business District...
.
The boundaries of Oak Cliff are roughly Interstate 30 and the Trinity River
Trinity River (Texas)
The Trinity River is a long river that flows entirely within the U.S. state of Texas. It rises in extreme north Texas, a few miles south of the Red River. The headwaters are separated by the high bluffs on the south side of the Red River....
on the north, Interstate 35E
Interstate 35E (Texas)
Interstate 35E , an Interstate Highway, is the eastern half of Interstate 35 where it splits to serve different cities in Texas. I-35 splits into two branch routes, I-35W and I-35E at Hillsboro. I-35E runs north for , maintaining I-35's sequence of exit numbers. It runs through Dallas before...
on the east, Camp Wisdom Road on the south, and Cockrell Hill Road on the west. In practice nearly every neighborhood south of the Trinity River (excluding west Dallas
West Dallas
West Dallas is an area consisting of many communities and neighborhoods in Dallas, Texas . West Dallas is the area bounded by Interstate 30 on the south, the Trinity River on the east and north, and the Trinity River's West Fork on the west....
) is called Oak Cliff, though much of it was never part of the original town. For example, the South Oak Cliff neighborhood (one of the primary African-American and Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
neighborhoods in Dallas), which generally includes neighborhoods south of Illinois Avenue, was never part of the original town of Oak Cliff. Neighborhoods east of I-35 are normally considered part of Oak Cliff as well, in addition to the neighborhoods west of Cockrell Hill Road.
History
The suburb of Oak Cliff originated on December 15, 1886, when John S. ArmstrongJohn S. Armstrong
John S. Armstrong was the co-founder of the former City of Oak Cliff and founder of the town of Highland Park, Texas. Armstrong was also a founder of the State Fair of Texas.-References:...
and Thomas L. Marsalis
Thomas Marsalis
Thomas Lafayette Marsalis was, with John S. Armstrong, the founder of Oak Cliff, and one of the key developers of what is now known as the Dallas area.-Early life:...
bought a farm of 320 acres (1.3 km²) on the west side of the Trinity River
Trinity River (Texas)
The Trinity River is a long river that flows entirely within the U.S. state of Texas. It rises in extreme north Texas, a few miles south of the Red River. The headwaters are separated by the high bluffs on the south side of the Red River....
for $8,000. The farm was subdivided into 20 acres (80,937.2 m²) blocks, and the plat
Plat
A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....
of the new suburb 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. However, 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
Highland Park, Texas
Highland Park is a town in central Dallas County, Texas, United States. The population was 8,842 at the 2000 census. Located between the Dallas North Tollway and U.S. Route 75 , four miles north of downtown Dallas....
.
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 (Oak Cliff) 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". 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 150 acre (0.607029 km²) park that included a two-mile (3 km)-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 (later Fleming and Sons), 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
Northern Texas Traction Company
The Northern Texas Traction Company was a subsidiary of Stone & Webster that operated the streetcar system and interurban lines in Fort Worth, Texas....
, 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 20 miles (32.2 km). Known as a streetcar suburb
Streetcar suburb
A streetcar suburb is a residential community whose growth and development was strongly shaped by the use of streetcar lines as a primary means of transportation. Early suburbs were served by horsecars, but by the late 19th century cable cars and electric streetcars, or trams, were used, allowing...
, 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.
On November 22, 1963, shortly after the fatal shooting of President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
and the wounding of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
John Connally
John Connally
John Bowden Connally, Jr. , was an influential American politician, serving as the 39th governor of Texas, Secretary of the Navy under President John F. Kennedy, and as Secretary of the Treasury under President Richard M. Nixon. While he was Governor in 1963, Connally was a passenger in the car in...
(who was the jump seat passenger in the Kennedy limousine
Limousine
A limousine is a luxury sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coachbuilder. These are called "stretch" limousines and are traditionally black or white....
) at 12:30 p.m. and the fatal shooting of Officer J. D. Tippit
J. D. Tippit
Tippit attended a Veterans Administration vocational training school at Bogata, Texas, from January 1950 until June 1952. He was then hired by the Dallas Police Department as a patrolman on July 28, 1952...
at approximately 1:16 p.m., Oswald entered the Texas Theatre
Texas Theatre
The Texas Theatre is a movie theater and Dallas Landmark located in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas. It gained historical fame for being the place Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of President John F. Kennedy and Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit, was arrested after a brief fight...
, located in Oak Cliff, shortly after 1:30 p.m. without paying for a ticket, ostensibly to avoid police. They were later informed by the assistant manager that a man had entered the theater without paying. The films being presented on that day were Cry of Battle
Cry of Battle
Cry of Battle is a 1963 coming of age story and war film based on the 1951 novel Fortress in the Rice by Benjamin Appel who was a journalist and special assistant to the U.S. Commissioner for the Philippines from 1945-46. The film stars Van Heflin, James MacArthur, Rita Moreno, Leopoldo Salcedo...
and War Is Hell
War Is Hell
"War Is Hell" is a common phrase dating back at least as far as a speech by William Tecumseh Sherman. It has also been used as a title.*War Is Hell , a war series often dealing in occult themes from Marvel Comics...
. Oswald briefly viewed the latter. Open daily, today it hosts a mix of repertory cinema and special events.
In the early 1970s, many Oak Cliff schools, along with those in South Dallas, became the focus of a long-running and bitter court battle over desegregation
Desegregation
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races. This is most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in...
, famously overseen by Federal Justice Barefoot Sanders. As a result, DISD's schools were not officially declared desegregated until 2003.
Beginning in the 1970s there was "white flight
White flight
White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...
" of white middle-class residents to nearby suburbs. Oak Cliff, especially South and Southwest Oak Cliff, became a dangerous low-income area by the 1980s, and even as late as 2004 critics were charging that Dallas chronically failed to provide adequate city services and police protection, causing developers to avoid the area. The recession that began in 2008 has hampered revitalization, and the La Reunion development was canceled .
Natural disasters
In April 1908, the Trinity RiverTrinity River (Texas)
The Trinity River is a long river that flows entirely within the U.S. state of Texas. It rises in extreme north Texas, a few miles south of the Red River. The headwaters are separated by the high bluffs on the south side of the Red River....
flooded its banks, rising to a height of 37.8 feet (11.5 m) by April 21. A temporary recession occurred, but rains continued in to May, finally raising the river's height to 51.3 feet (15.6 m). 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 G. 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 (originally named the Oak Cliff Viaduct), begun October 24, 1910, and opened to traffic February 22, 1912, acclaimed as the longest concrete bridge in the world. This latter designation was later disputed as a publicity stunt.
In 1909, a disastrous fire occurred in Oak Cliff, consuming fourteen blocks of residences, including the Briggs Sanitorium
Briggs Sanitorium
Briggs Sanitorium is a former sanitorium developed in 1896 by Dr. J.R. Briggs, and located at the corner of Jefferson and Tyler streets, in Oak Cliff, Texas. Noted as the first hospital built in Oak Cliff, it included five wings, containing fifty-two rooms...
.
On April 2, 1957, a tornado
Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
ripped through Oak Cliff as part of the Dallas tornado outbreak of April 1957
Dallas tornado outbreak of April 1957
The April 1957 Dallas tornado outbreak was a deadly tornado outbreak that struck most of the Southern United States from April 2 to the early hours of April 4, 1957. The outbreak was most notable due to a tornado that hit a densely populated area of the Dallas Metropolitan area, while other deadly...
, killing 10 people and causing more than $1 million in damages.
Neighborhoods
- Alta Mesa Estates
- Tray Overton Projects
- Arcadia Park
- Best For Less
- Beckley Club EstatesBeckley Club EstatesBeckley Club Estates is a neighborhood in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas. The area is composed of bungalow style houses built in the 1930s and 1940s along winding, hilly streets in North Oak Cliff. The area's boundaries consist of North Shore to the north, Beckley to the west, Arizona Ave....
- Beverly Hills
- Brackins Village - Housing Projects
- Bishop Arts DistrictBishop Arts DistrictThe Bishop Arts District is a small shopping and entertainment district in north Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas , near the intersection of Bishop Street and Davis Street .- About :...
- Brentwood
- Bronx Park
- Brooklyn Heights
- Cadillac Heights
- Carver Heights
- Cedar Crest
- Cockrell HillCockrell Hill, TexasCockrell Hill is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,443 at the 2000 census. It is completely surrounded by the city of Dallas.-Geography:Cockrell Hill is located at ....
, an enclave - independently governed - Crestwood
- Dallas Land & Loan Phase I & II
- Dells District
- Deer Path (Village Oaks) (Dallas)
- ElmwoodElmwood (Dallas)Elmwood is a picturesque North Oak Cliff neighborhood of charming homes and expansive parks. The community is located on gently rolling, tree-shaded hills above the limestone banks of Cedar Creek. This land was once the Tennessee Farm dairy. Consisting of , the dairy was a corporate operation and a...
- Encinos Park
- Five Mile (Dallas)
- FruitdaleFruitdale, Dallas, TexasFruitdale, sometimes called Fruitdale Acres, is an area in Dallas, Texas, United States that formerly was its own incorporated city.On April 17, 1937 Fruitdale incorporated so it would not be annexed by Dallas. In October 1964 residents voted to disincorporate and Dallas annexed Fruitdale in...
- Glendale
- Glen Oaks
- Hampton HillsHampton Hills, Dallas, TexasHampton Hills is a neighborhood in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, Texas , that was developed in the 1920s. The neighborhood is bounded by Clarendon Drive on the north, Wright Street on the south, Oak Cliff Boulevard on the east and Hampton Road on the west...
- Hendricks Avenue
- Highland Hills
- Kernwood
- Kessler Circle
- Kessler Highlands
- Kessler Park
- Kessler Plaza
- Kiest Square
- Kings Highway Conservation DistrictKings Highway Conservation DistrictKing's Highwayis located in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas . The district is bounded by Stewart Drive on the north, Davis Street on the south, Tyler Street on the east and Mary Cliff Road on the west. It is in Dallas Council District 3....
- Kidd SpringsKidd SpringsKidd Springs is a neighborhood in the North Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas . James Kidd purchased land in the area in the 1870s which included the spring now bearing his name.It is also home to a park/recreation area of the same name...
- Lake Cliff
- Las Villas
- Lisbon (Dallas)
- Los Encinos
- Loupot Heights
- L.O. DanielL. O. Daniel, Dallas, TexasL.O. Daniel is a neighborhood in northern Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas . It is named for Lark Owen Daniel.The neighborhood is bounded by Hampton Road on the west, Jefferson Boulevard and Sunset Hills on the south, Rosemont Avenue and Winnetka Heights on the east and Davis Street and West Kessler on...
- Mountain Creek
- North Cliff
- Oakland Terrace
- Oakland Hills, Woodtown
- Pinnacle Park
- Polk Terrace
- Ravinia Heights
- RedbirdRedbird, Dallas, TexasThe Redbird community of Dallas is a group of neighborhoods located in the southern Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas . Neighborhoods in the area include Glen Oaks, Wynnewood Hills, and Elderwoods/Elderoaks....
- Rolandale
- Ruthmede Place
- Singing Hills
- Skyline Heights
- Southern Hills
- Stevens Park EstatesStevens Park Estates, Dallas, TexasStevens Park Estates is a neighborhood in northern Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas , named for its developer, John P. Stevens. It is home to the Stevens Park Golf Course.- External links :**...
- Stevens Park Village
- Sunset Crest
- Sunset Hills
- Tenth Street Historic District
- The Bottoms
- The StatesThe StatesThe States or the Estates signifies the assembly of the representatives of the estates of the realm, called together for purposes of legislation or deliberation...
- Timbergrove Circle
- Trinity Heights
- Vista Real
- Western ParkWestern Park, Oak CliffWestern Park is a neighborhood in the south Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas, south of Cockrell Hill, Texas. It is predominantly Hispanic. Western Park has different regions including Western Park, Kenwood to the south, the Highland Road Village Apartments and the Village Green to the east, and...
- Westmount (Dallas)
- Wheatland Estates
- Winnetka HeightsWinnetka HeightsWinnetka Heights is one of the oldest and largest historical districts in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, Texas . The district is bounded by Davis Street on the north, 12th Street on the south, Willomet Avenue on the east and Rosemont Avenue on the west...
- WoodtownWoodtownWoodtown is a hamlet on Dartmoor in Devon, England. It is roughly south of Sampford Spiney along the river Walkham....
- Wynnewood North
- Lancaster-Kiest
- Oak Tree Colony(The Countrytown)
Light rail
- DARTDallas Area Rapid TransitThe Dallas Area Rapid Transit authority is a transit agency based in Dallas, Texas . It operates buses, light rail, commuter rail, and high-occupancy vehicle lanes in Dallas and 12 of its suburbs...
:- 8th & Corinth Station8th & Corinth Station8th & Corinth is a DART Light Rail station located in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas at 8th and Corinth Streets. It opened on June 14, 1996, and is a station on the and Lines, serving Yvonne A...
- Dallas Zoo StationDallas Zoo StationDallas Zoo is a DART Light Rail station located in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas at Ewing Avenue and Clarendon Drive. It opened on June 14, 1996 and is a station on the , serving the Dallas Zoo and Methodist Hospital.-External links:*...
- Tyler/Vernon StationTyler/Vernon StationTyler/Vernon is a DART Light Rail station located in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas at Tyler Street and Vernon Avenue. It opened on June 14, 1996 and is a station on the , serving the nearby residential and commercial areas....
- Hampton StationHampton StationHampton is a DART Light Rail station located in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas at Hampton Road and Wright Street. It opened on June 14, 1996 and is a station on the , serving the nearby YWCA and Sunset High School.-External links:* -...
- Westmoreland Station
- 8th & Corinth Station
- DARTDallas Area Rapid TransitThe Dallas Area Rapid Transit authority is a transit agency based in Dallas, Texas . It operates buses, light rail, commuter rail, and high-occupancy vehicle lanes in Dallas and 12 of its suburbs...
:- 8th & Corinth Station8th & Corinth Station8th & Corinth is a DART Light Rail station located in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas at 8th and Corinth Streets. It opened on June 14, 1996, and is a station on the and Lines, serving Yvonne A...
- Morrell StationMorrell StationMorrell Station is a DART Light Rail station located in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas at Morrell and Woodbine Avenues, two blocks west of Corinth Street. It opened on June 14, 1996, and is a station on the , serving nearby residences and businesses.- External links :*...
- Illinois StationIllinois StationIllinois is a DART Light Rail station located in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas on Denley Drive, north of Illinois Avenue. It opened on June 14, 1996, and is a station on the , serving nearby residences and businesses, featuring bus service to Mountain View College, Fair Park, the...
- Kiest StationKiest StationKiest Station is a DART Light Rail station located in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas on Kiest Boulevard and Lancaster Road . It opened on May 31, 1997, and is a station on the , serving nearby residences and businesses....
- VA Medical Center Station
- Ledbetter StationLedbetter StationLedbetter Station is a DART Light Rail station located in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas . It is near the Intersection of Lancaster Road and Ledbetter Drive. It opened on May 31, 1997, and is the southern terminus of the , serving Paul Quinn College and Cedar Valley College.- External...
- 8th & Corinth Station
DART is planning extensions of both the Red and Blue Lines as part of the 2030 Plan, the latter of which will serve the new University of North Texas at Dallas campus.
Highways
Interstate 30
Interstate 35EInterstate 35E (Texas)Interstate 35E , an Interstate Highway, is the eastern half of Interstate 35 where it splits to serve different cities in Texas. I-35 splits into two branch routes, I-35W and I-35E at Hillsboro. I-35E runs north for , maintaining I-35's sequence of exit numbers. It runs through Dallas before...
U.S. Highway 67
Demographics
Prior to neighborhood desegregation, Oak Cliff was predominantly white. Many neighborhoods in the Oak Cliff area, especially the most southern portions, were targeted for desegregation. As was typical of desegregation in the South, many all-white neighborhoods transitioned to African-American And Hispanic neighborhoods due to both black and white migration: blacks moving to neighborhoods that they perceived as better and a whites moving from neighborhoods that they perceived as worsening.In 2001 Jim Schutze of the Dallas Observer
Dallas Observer
The Dallas Observer is a free alternative weekly newspaper distributed around the Dallas, Texas . At its inception, it was conceived as a weekly local arts and cinema review publication, with the credo "Advocate for Excellence in the Arts" on the cover. For a time during the early years, the paper...
referred to northern Oak Cliff as "Dallas' own Jerusalem, where various ethnicities choose to live close to each other and not get along."
Government and infrastructure
Key precincts in Oak Cliff voted overwhelmingly for the Trinity RiverTrinity River (Texas)
The Trinity River is a long river that flows entirely within the U.S. state of Texas. It rises in extreme north Texas, a few miles south of the Red River. The headwaters are separated by the high bluffs on the south side of the Red River....
referendum on May 2, 1998.
Education
Public
The Dallas Independent School DistrictDallas Independent School District
The Dallas Independent School District is a school district based in Dallas, Texas . Dallas ISD, which operates schools in much of Dallas County, is the second largest school district in Texas and the twelfth largest in the United States.In 2009, the school district was rated "academically...
operates district public schools.
Zoned high schools within the Oak Cliff area:
- W.H. Adamson High School - 4A - northern (The replacement campus will open in 2012)
- Sunset High SchoolSunset High School (Dallas)Sunset High School is a public secondary school located in the North Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas . The school enrolls students in grades 9-12 and is a part of the Dallas Independent School District. Opened in 1925, Sunset was the second high school in the Oak Cliff area, preceded only by...
- 5A - Franklin D. Roosevelt High School - 3A - eastern
- South Oak Cliff High SchoolSouth Oak Cliff High SchoolSouth Oak Cliff High School is a public secondary school located in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas...
- 4A - southern - David W. Carter High SchoolDavid W. Carter High SchoolDavid Wendel Carter High School is a public school located in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas . David W. Carter High School, which covers grades 9-12, is a part of the Dallas Independent School District....
- 5A - Justin F. Kimball High SchoolJustin F. Kimball High SchoolJustin F. Kimball High School is a public secondary school in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas . Justin F. Kimball High School enrolls students in grades 9-12 and is a part of the Dallas Independent School District...
- 4A - Moisés E. Molina High SchoolMolina High School (Dallas)Moisés E. Molina High School is a public secondary school in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas . Molina High School is part of the Dallas Independent School District...
- 5A
Optional high schools within the Oak Cliff area:
- A. Maceo Smith High SchoolA. Maceo Smith High SchoolA. Maceo Smith New Tech High School is a four-year public high school serving grades 9-12 in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas . It is part of the Dallas Independent School District, where it was founded in 1978...
- Barack Obama Male Leadership AcademyBarack Obama Male Leadership AcademyBarack Obama Male Leadership Academy at B.F. Darrell is a magnet university preparatory secondary school for boys located in Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas. It is a part of the Dallas Independent School District. After the Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School, it is DISD's second single...
(all male) - Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet CenterYvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet CenterThe Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center is a complex of schools in East Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas.TMC is a single building campus that houses six semi-independent magnet high schools in the Dallas Independent School District...
In 2011 the district closed Maynard Jackson Middle School. Prior to summer 2011 the community often complained about poor conditions at the school. DISD rezoned the students to Kennedy Curry Middle School in southern Dallas.
Zan Wesley Holmes Jr. Middle School, opening in 2013, is in Oak Cliff.
In addition, Life School
Life School
Life School is a charter school operator headquartered in Lancaster, Texas. It operates charter school campuses in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.Dr...
, a state charter school operator, has the K-12 Oak Cliff campus.
High schools
- Bishop Dunne Catholic SchoolBishop Dunne Catholic SchoolBishop Dunne Catholic School is a private Middle/High college prep school located in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas . It is currently the only 6-12 school within the city of Dallas to hold an exemplary accreditation rating from the Southern Association of Colleges and School .-History and...
- TAPPS - Tyler Street Christian Academy - TAPPS
Post-Secondary
- Paul Quinn CollegePaul Quinn CollegePaul Quinn College is a private, historically black college located in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas . Paul Quinn College holds the distinction as the oldest historically black college in the country west of the Mississippi River...
- Christ for the Nations InstituteChrist For The Nations InstituteChrist for the Nations Institute is an unaccredited interdenominational three year Christian Bible institute located in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas . The Bible based curriculum is taught from a Charismatic/Pentecostal heritage...
- Mountain View College (part of the Dallas County Community College system)
External links
- Old Oak Cliff Conservation League
- Friends of Oak Cliff Parks
- OakCliff.com
- OakCliff.BubbleLife.com
- Oak Cliff neighborhood information
- Kessler Neighborhoods United
- Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce
- http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/OO/hvo43.html Handbook of TexasHandbook of TexasThe Handbook of Texas is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association .-History:...
Online article - Beautiful Lake Cliff, clean, cool, delightful: the Southwest's greatest playground; it's in Dallas published 1906, hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
- "Oak Cliff Becomes Cool Embracing What Other Parts Of Dallas Have Fought: Builders, Bikes And Immigrants" - Dallas ObserverDallas ObserverThe Dallas Observer is a free alternative weekly newspaper distributed around the Dallas, Texas . At its inception, it was conceived as a weekly local arts and cinema review publication, with the credo "Advocate for Excellence in the Arts" on the cover. For a time during the early years, the paper...
Texas°N date=June 2009°W