The Hill

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about The Hill in Arlington, Tarrant County. Now, five blocks doesn't sound like much. But sometimes five blocks is a whole world.

That's what The Hill was — a roughly five-block stretch of Arlington set aside as the only addition in the city specifically designated for its African American residents. And from that modest patch of ground, a community rose up that would outlast the very forces that once confined it. It started taking shape in the 1890s, on land that had once belonged to Martin V. and Rebecca A.

Thomas. As families began settling in, the churches came with them — and in any Texas community worth its salt, that means the real foundation was being laid. The Church of God in Christ, Mt.

Olive Baptist Church, and the African Methodist Episcopal Church — later known as Armstrong Chapel AME — became the leading institutions of the neighborhood. Mt. Olive, in particular, wasn't just a place of worship.

It was a gathering place, a venue for community life, for social events, for all the things that turn a collection of houses into a home. Around that same time, the county established a school for Arlington's African American children. Education taking root right alongside those churches — both of them saying the same thing, really: these folks were building something meant to last.

Then came 1907, and a man named Edward F. Wilkerson subdivided a tract that would become known as the Wilkerson Addition. That addition became the very core of The Hill.

Growth followed. By the 1920s, grocery stores, clubs, and restaurants had opened their doors. A vibrant, living, breathing community had emerged.

Now, The Hill had started as a rural place — quiet land on the edge of things. But cities have a way of movin' outward, and by the 1930s Arlington had grown out to meet The Hill, and suddenly that rural community found itself urban and densely populated. The world had caught up.

In 1953, the last segregated school on The Hill was built and named for Booker T. Washington. A decade later, in the 1960s, it closed as integration took place.

And this very park — the one where the marker stands — was opened by the city in the mid-1950s and named for George Stevens, the principal of Booker T. Washington School. A park named for a principal.

There's a quiet kind of honor in that. From the mid-1940s through the 1960s, The Hill began to decline. Job opportunities shifted, social changes pulled residents toward other areas, and the neighborhood that had once been so purposefully built started to thin out.

But here's where the story doesn't end the way you might expect. The Hill is still there. Today it's become an ethnically diverse community — no longer the singular, set-aside place it once had to be, but a neighborhood that has carried its history right into the present.

Five blocks. A whole world. And it's still standing.

What the marker says

A roughly five-block area of Arlington known as "The Hill" was the only addition specifically set aside for the city's African American residents. In the 1890s, the community began developing on land that once belonged to Martin V. and Rebecca A. Thomas. Also during this time, several churches organized in the emerging community. The Church of God in Christ, Mt. Olive Baptist Church and the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, now known as Armstrong Chapel AME, became leading institutions in the neighborhood. Mt. Olive, in particular, became a center for spiritual life while also hosting many community and social events. In 1907, Arlington resident Edward F. Wilkerson subdivided land known as the Wilkerson Addition that became the core of The Hill. Growth occurred in the following years as a vibrant community emerged including grocery stores, clubs and restaurants opening by the 1920s. Other important institutions included a school, which the county first established for Arlington's African American children in the 1890s. The last segregated school in The Hill, named for Booker T. Washington, was built in 1953 and closed as integration took place in the 1960s. Another vital part of the neighborhood was this park, which the city opened in the mid-1950s and named for George Stevens, principal of Booker T. Washington School. Although The Hill was originally a rural community, it became more densely populated and urban as the city grew out to meet it by the 1930s. From the mid-1940s through the 1960s, The Hill began to decline as job opportunities and social changes led residents to other areas. Today, The Hill has become an ethnically diverse community. (2006)