DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official Highland Park marker has to say — and friends, this one's got a coin flip, a translation error, and a house modeled after the home of the first president of the United States. Now, Col. John S.
Armstrong had a dream. Not just any dream — an exclusive residential neighborhood north of Dallas. And in 1906, he set about making it real.
He purchased 1,350 acres of land in the area, including a spread known as the Lomo Alto Horse Farm. Then he reached all the way out to Beverly Hills and secured the services of landscape architect Wilbur David Cook to lay out the suburb. Beverly Hills.
For a neighborhood north of Dallas. The Colonel was not thinking small. But here's where fate steps in with its boots on.
Armstrong died in 1908, before the dream was finished. The Flippen-Prather Realty Co. picked up the plans and kept right on going. And the neighborhood they were building?
They called it Highland Park — which the marker notes, with a certain dry honesty, was an erroneous English translation of Lomo Alto. They got the name wrong. And it stuck forever.
Now in 1909, the old horse farm was deeded to Armstrong's two daughters — Minnie May Flippen and Johnetta Prather. Each of them happened to be the spouse of a principal in the Flippen-Prather Realty Co. So this was very much a family affair.
And when it came time to choose who got first pick of a homesite, they did what any two sisters sharing 1,350 acres and a real estate company probably should do. They flipped a coin. The Flippens won the toss.
And with that lucky call, they commissioned Dallas architect C. D. Hill to design them a house.
Not just any house. Hill based it on George Washington's Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon.
In Highland Park. Completed in 1910, that house stood as an example — a beacon, really — for attracting Dallas' elite to come on up and settle in the neighborhood. The homestead has been radically altered externally over the years, the marker is honest about that.
But underneath all those changes, the basic Flippen homestead is still there, still carrying the weight of what it represents — the founders of Highland Park, and the ambition of a city that was just getting started growing into itself. A dream, a horse farm, a bad translation, and a coin that landed right. That's how a neighborhood gets built.
What the marker says
To fulfill his dream for an exclusive residential neighborhood north of Dallas, Col. John S. Armstrong in 1906 purchased 1,350 acres of land in this area, including the "Lomo Alto" Horse Farm, and secured the services of Beverly Hills' landscape architect Wilbur David Cook to lay out the suburb. Upon Armstrong's death in 1908, the Flippen-Prather Realty Co. continued plans for development of the neighborhood, which was named Highland Park (an erroneous English translation of "Lomo Alto"). In 1909, this horse farm was deeded to Armstrong's daughters, Minnie May Flippen and Johnetta Prather, each of whom was the spouse of a principal in the Flippen-Prather Realty Co. A coin was flipped to determine first choice for a homesite, and the Flippens won the toss. Dallas architect C. D. Hill designed a house for them based on George Washington's Mount Vernon. Completed in 1910, the house served as an example for attracting Dallas' elite to Highland Park. Although radically altered externally over the years, the basic Flippen homestead retains significance for its association with the founders of Highland Park and as a reflection of Dallas' early 20th-century growth. 1990