Maple Avenue

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. You're rolling through a piece of Dallas that used to mean something, and still does, if you know where to look. Maple Avenue.

One of twelve subdivisions carved out by the North Dallas Improvement Company, back when north Dallas was still a grand idea more than a fact on the ground. The year was 1884, and somebody had the good sense (or the good timing) to extend a streetcar line out to this area north of the growing city. And when that streetcar line came through, the people who could afford to care about such things took notice.

The leading citizens of Dallas, they followed that line like a compass needle. And what did they build when they got here? Not modest little houses, friend.

Elegant Victorian mansions. The kind of places that said, without whispering, that their owners had arrived. Now who were these people?

The manager of the Dallas Morning News called Maple Avenue home. The land agent for the Texas and Pacific Railroad. The owner of Briggs-Weaver Machinery.

And if that weren't enough names to fill a city directory, two Dallas mayors built their lives along this stretch. Two. This avenue had more civic authority per city block than most towns had in total.

Then there's the house that stood on this very site. Built in 1907 by a pioneer realtor named John P. Murphy.

And that house stayed in his family for nearly fifty years. Not passed along quick, not sold off in a hurry; just held. Kept.

Like the family knew what they had. One streetcar line, one subdivision out of twelve, and somehow Maple Avenue became the address that mattered. That's not luck.

That's location.

What the marker says

One of twelve subdivisions of the North Dallas Improvement Company. Maple Avenue was developed after a streetcar line was extended to this area north of the growing city of Dallas in 1884. Many leading citizens built elegant Victorian mansions along this avenue. Among these were the manager of the "Dallas Morning News." The land agent for the Texas and Pacific Railroad, the owner of Briggs-Weaver Machinery, and two Dallas mayors. The house on this site, built in 1907 by pioneer realtor John P. Murphy, remained in his family for nearly 50 years.