DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — so let me pass it along to you straight. Now, if you've ever driven through the Swiss Avenue, Munger Place, or Junius Heights neighborhoods of Dallas, you may have caught a glimpse of a three-story brick building that carries itself with a certain quiet authority. That's the William B.
Lipscomb Elementary School, and the story behind it is about as Dallas as it gets. The school was built in 1920 — and the reason is simple enough: the schools around that part of the city were packed. Crowded conditions, not enough room, and something had to give.
So they built this one. When it opened officially in 1921, it bore the name of an early educator, William B. Lipscomb.
Now, Lipscomb was a Tennessee native, born in 1860, who made his way to Dallas and served as principal of Dallas High School starting in 1894. He held that post for five years — right up until his death. The school named for him would outlast him by a long stretch, and it's still standing.
The man they tapped to design the building was architect Herbert M. Green, and Green did not phone it in. This is a three-story structure with a facade trimmed in stone quoins — those decorative cornerstones you see on buildings that want you to know they mean business.
Out front, two Gothic-style stone tablets adorn the two front entrances, displaying the school's name like a quiet announcement to the neighborhood. And down in the basement wing, the castellated stones reveal the date of construction right there in the masonry — built into the building itself, which is about as permanent a signature as an architect can leave. Originally, the whole thing was surrounded by over three acres of recreation grounds.
Room to breathe. Room to run. Now, this school has watched Dallas change from close range over the decades.
When it opened, rapid urbanization in the 1920s meant enrollment surged right along with the growth of the surrounding neighborhoods. Then the Great Depression of the 1930s arrived, and the economic woes that came with it left their mark here just like everywhere else. Then came World War II, and the school became a hub of patriotic activity and wartime relief efforts — the kind of thing a community center does when the times demand it.
After the war, families started heading to the suburbs, and enrollment dropped. The old neighborhoods quieted down some. But here's the thing about a building that was designed with stone quoins and Gothic tablets and castellated masonry — it tends to stick around long enough for the story to turn again.
And it did. In the years that followed, those neighborhoods saw a renewed vitalization, and the school came back with them. The Lipscomb School has been an educational and social center for Swiss Avenue, Munger Place, and Junius Heights since its official opening in 1921, and the old building — still carrying Herbert M.
Green's stonework, still displaying those Gothic tablets at the front entrances — is still at it.
What the marker says
This school, built in 1920 to relieve the crowded conditions of area schools, was named for early educator William B. Lipscomb. A Tennessee native (b. 1860), Lipscomb served as principal of Dallas High School from 1894 until his death five years later. The three-story structure, designed by architect Herbert M. Green and originally surrounded by over three acres of recreation grounds, boasts a facade trimmed with stone quoins and a basement wing with castellated stones revealing the date of construction. Two Gothic-style stone tablets adorn the two front entrances to display the school name. Since its official opening in 1921, the school has served as an educational and social center for the Swiss Avenue, Munger Place, and Junius Heights neighborhoods. Over the years the school's enrollment reflected its changing environment. Rapid urbanization in the 1920s gave way to economic woes in the Great Depression of the 1930s, followed by a surge of patriotic activity and wartime relief efforts during World War II. The post-war years brought decreased enrollment when many families began moving to suburbs, but subsequent decades have seen a renewed vitalization to the old school and neighborhoods. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986