Hamilton Park Community

Duane's take

Here's the story as the official marker tells it — and it's one worth hearing slow. Ten miles north of downtown Dallas, there's a neighborhood called Hamilton Park. And like most places that matter, it didn't come easy.

Before it was Hamilton Park, this stretch of North Dallas was known as the White Rock Farming Settlement. That's where the story starts. But to understand why Hamilton Park had to exist at all, you have to look south first — to what was happening to African American families in Dallas during the 1940s and 1950s.

Down in the South Dallas community of Queen City, racial violence was driving families out. And if that weren't enough, the expansion of Love Field Municipal Airport was displacing African American residents — not by accident, not by circumstance, but by the kind of discriminatory force that doesn't ask permission and doesn't offer apologies. Families who had built lives in those communities found themselves with nowhere to go.

Now, into this situation steps a man named Jerome Crossman — a local oilman. And here's where the story turns. Crossman didn't just wring his hands.

He compelled the Dallas Citizens' Interracial Association — the DCIA — to locate land in North Dallas for a new development. Then he went further, consulting a philanthropist by the name of Karl S.J. Hoblitzelle about funding.

On February 13, 1953, the Hoblitzelle Foundation lent the DCIA the funds to purchase the acreage. A loan to address a housing shortage. A date on a calendar that meant a future for hundreds of families.

The community they built was named for Dr. Richard Theodore Hamilton — an influential voice in the African American equality movement in Dallas. And what they built in his name was no small thing: Hamilton Park became the first African American suburban development in the city of Dallas.

They didn't just throw up houses and call it done. This place was intentionally planned — two phases, deliberate and considered. At the center of it all, a segregated twelve-grade school.

Every street named for a prominent African American individual or institution. That's not decoration. That's a statement.

The community officially opened in 1954. By 1958, many of the homes built near the school were complete, and middle-class families began to move in. By 1961, Hamilton Park stood finished — seven hundred and forty-one single-family homes.

And beyond the homes there were three churches, a shopping center, a park with a swimming pool, a tennis court, a basketball court, a pavilion, and a playground. A whole world, built from the wreckage of displacement. And the people who moved in — they didn't just live there.

They organized. The Hamilton Park Civic League has been serving this community since the 1950s, connecting residents with City of Dallas resources, encouraging voter registration and turnout, keeping the community's voice alive. That's what gets me about Hamilton Park.

It was born from violence and injustice, built by intention and cooperation, and kept alive by the people who chose to stay and fight for it. The marker calls it the Heritage and Legacy of the original homeowners. And out here on the road, ten miles from downtown Dallas, that's exactly what it feels like — a legacy that earned every square foot of itself.

What the marker says

Located ten miles north of downtown Dallas, the African American community of Hamilton Park began as the White Rock Farming Settlement. In the 1940s and 1950s, racial violence in the South Dallas community of Queen City and the discriminatory displacement of African American residents for the new Love Field Municipal Airport resulted in the need for many of these families to move outside of the downtown area. In response, Jerome Crossman, a local oilman, compelled the Dallas Citizens' Interracial Association (DCIA) to locate land in North Dallas for the project and consulted philanthropist Karl S.J. Hoblitzelle for funding. On February 13, 1953, the Hoblitzelle Foundation lent DCIA funds to purchase acreage to address the housing shortage of African Americans. Named for Dr. Richard Theodore Hamilton, an influential voice in the African American Equality movement in Dallas, the Hamilton Park Community was the first African American suburban development in Dallas. Intentionally planned in two phases with the segregated twelve-grade school at the center and each street named for prominent African American individuals and institutions, the community officially opened in 1954. By 1958, many homes built near the school were complete and middle-class families began to move in with the community complete by 1961 with 741 single-family homes. In addition to the school, the community included three churches, a shopping center, and park, complete with a swimming pool, tennis court, basketball court, pavilion and playground. Since the 1950s, the Hamilton Park Civic League has served the community residents, connecting them with City of Dallas resources, encouraging voter registration and turnout, and planning community events. This sense of community and pride among residents helps preserve the Heritage and Legacy of the original homeowners. (2016)