Winnetka Heights Historic District

The Winnetka Heights Historic District of Dallas is an intact suburban residential development typical of the period 1910 to 1920 in Texas. Individual houses within the area are good examples of the Bungaloid and Prairie School styles as they were expressed in Dallas. Adding cohesiveness to the area are the tree-lined streets of uniform width, with their houses set back a generous distance to provide large front lawns. Winnetka Heights has been declared a historic district by the city of Dallas and is the city's largest residential area to be given this status. While other comparable neighborhoods that date from the same period have suffered from demolition and/or high-density development (e.g., Oak Lawn and Old Highland Park), the Heights has maintained its character as an early 20th-century, middle-class neighborhood. The development of Winnetka Heights proceeded rapidly after its platting in 1908, with most of its houses being built between 1910 and 1920. Families were attracted to the Heights by advertisements proclaiming "Dallas' Ideal Suburb," and featuring "Elevation, Uniform Improvements, and Rapid Transportation." The suburb was supplied with artesian water, gas, lights, telephones, cement sidewalks, curbs, gutters, and paved streets. By 1912, 83 homes had been built, and over 60 percent of the lots were sold. Though physically separated from the Dallas business district by the Trinity River, an elevated electric railway and viaduct spanning the river made Dallas' central business district easily accessible to the residents of Oak Cliff of which Winnetka Heights is a part.

Hord's Ridge was the early name given to the land across the Trinity River to the southwest of Dallas. It was named after William H. Hord, an early settler who came to the area in the mid-1840s from Tennessee. In 1887, John S. Armstrong joined Thomas L. Marsalis and formed the Dallas Land and Loan Company. They purchased from County Judge William Hord 2,000 acres of rocky cliffs and fields across the Trinity from Dallas and named the area Oak Cliff. By 1890 the town had 7,000 people and 2,000 homes, and soon became incorporated as a municipality. Not long after the turn of the century, the town was annexed by Dallas. Oak Cliff has maintained its identity, however, as a distinct community.

The area of Oak Cliff which became Winnetka Heights was part of the original J.B. Robinson survey and was later contained in the boundaries of the Midway Addition to the City of Dallas. In December of 1908, the Midway addition (owned by Charles 0. Knowles of Topeka, Kansas) was still unoccupied and was replatted and named the Winnetka Heights Addition after an exclusive Chicago suburb. Then, on January 4, 1910, Knowles sold 235.37 acres of this land to R.S. Waldron and Company, and to Miller and Stemmons.

The northern part of this property became Winnetka Heights. Principals in the purchase were R.S. Waldron, J.P. Blake, T.S. Miller, Jr., and Leslie A. Stemmons. Miller and Stemmons had earlier been active in promoting Oak Cliff's development and began the Miller-Stemmons Addition in 1903. Stemmons, Blake, and Waldron chose Winnetka Heights for their own homes, but only Blake's remains. Stemmons' name is well-known in connection with the development of Dallas, as he and his sons John and Storey later developed the Trinity Industrial District. major expressway through the area, IH 35, bears the elder Stemmons' name.

Although large homes had begun to appear in various locations throughout the eight Heights area in the years just prior to the 1908 platting, it was not until the period 1912 to 1915 that the first extensive construction began. (Fires in 1905 and 1919 contributed to the lack of housing surviving from those early years.) Development proceeded for several years after 1915, with many of the earliest structures being located in the southwestern area. Later construction filled in the area towards the east.

Few if any architects can be associated with the building of specific Winnetka Heights structures. Rather, most houses appear to be typical designs found in popular architectural pattern books or Sears and Roebuck catalogs.

Houses in Winnetka Heights associated with prominent Dallas residents include the following:

401 N. Rosemont -- Built in 1911-12 for $50,000 by Texas oilman J.P. Blake (one of Winnetka Heights' developers), this imposing structure is the current home of the Oak Cliff Society of Fine Arts. Mary Jane Ramsey, a daughter of a subsequent owner, married U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thomas Campbell Clark, a native of Dallas, and was the mother of U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

300 S. Montclair -- William J. Evans built this fine bungalow home in 1912. A banker, Evans served on the Federal Reserve Bank Board, XI District.

137 S. Montclair -- Thomas Jefferson Hubbert served the Confederate cause prior to his arrival in Texas in 1884. Appointed by President Grover Cleveland as U.S. Pension Examiner for the Old Indian Territories and the State of Texas, Hubbert formed the National Pharmacy with his son William. The younger Hubbert, William Ernest, was President of the Board of Pharmacy, 54th District, State of Texas, and official surgeon for the Central Texas Railroad.

127 N. Montclair -- W. H. Adamson, long-time principal of Oak Cliff High School (now Adamson High School), purchased this house and lived here until the 1930s when the property was sold to the daughter of Ellis Cockrell.

201 S. Montclair -- Ellis Cockrell, a locally prominent cattle rancher, built this town residence for himself in 1915. The town of Cockrell in Dallas County was named in his honor.

216 S. Windomere--This was the home of influential local attorney Grady Niblo, who was very active in Oak Cliff affairs and served for a number of years on the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce.

Beginning at the intersection of Polk and Jefferson streets, proceed along a line west to the alley between Polk and Willomet streets, then proceed south to Twelfth St., then west along Twelfth Street to the alley between Rosemont and Waverly Drive, then north along the alley to the northern property line of lot/block A/3269, then east along the property line to Rosemont Ave., then north to Davis Street, then east on Davis Street to Windomere, then South on Windomere to 7th Street, then East on 7th Street to alley between Windomere and Edgefield; then north along said alley to Davis Street, then East on Davis Street to Edgefield, then North on Edgefield to the northern boundary of Lot 17/Block 17/3472, then East on northern boundary of Lot 17/Block 17/3472 to alley between Edgefield and Clinton, then North along alley to northern boundary of Lot 3, Block 17/3472; then East along northern boundary of Lot 3, Block 17/3472 to Clinton, then South on Clinton to northern boundary of Lot 15, Block 13/3464, then East along northern boundaries of Lots 15 & 2, Block 13/3464 to Winnetka, then South on Winnetka to Davis Street; then East along Davis Street to alley between Winnetka and Willomet, then South along alley to 7th Street, then East on 7th Street to alley between Willomet and Polk, then South along alley to alley between Sunset and Jefferson. Then East along the alley to Polk along the northern boundary of Lot 8 & 10 Block 3248-189. Then South along Polk Street to Jefferson to point of beginning.