DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Wilson Block on Swiss Avenue in Dallas. Now, before a single house ever went up on this stretch of land, the story stretches back to 1838 — when the whole parcel was patented to a man named John Grigsby, an Illinois native who had no way of knowing what Swiss Avenue would one day become. The land changed hands over the years, and somewhere before the Civil War, a man by the name of Jacob Nussbaumer acquired it.
Jacob was a Swiss native, a colonist in the pioneer La Reunion settlement of the Dallas area — one of those bold souls who helped plant the earliest roots of what we now call Dallas. Jacob passed, but the land stayed in the family's orbit. In 1898, his wife Dorothea and their children sold the property — and here's where it gets interesting — they sold it to Dorothea's own niece, a woman named Henrietta Frichot Wilson.
Henrietta herself was the daughter of La Reunion settlers, so that land never really left the world it came from. It just passed to the next generation of it. Now Henrietta, born in 1864, and her husband Frederick P.
Wilson, born in 1863, were Dallas people with plans. Frederick was a businessman, and together he and Henrietta got to work. In 1899 they built their own residence at 2922 Swiss Avenue.
That wasn't the end of the building — not by a long shot. They went on to construct six additional homes on that same land, rented out as property to others. Seven houses in all, and the Wilsons held onto them for almost eighty years.
Those seven houses became the heart of something — a residential area that people came to call the Wilson Block of Swiss Avenue. And the folks who rented homes there weren't just anybody. Several early Dallas leaders called this block home.
Charles D. Hill lived here — a man who went on to become one of the area's prominent architects. Dr.
Theodore L. E. Arnold, an early Dallas ophthalmologist, lived here too, and his son Charles pioneered in something called microphotography.
The Wilson Block had a way of attracting people who were going somewhere. Walk those houses today and you can still read the era right off the walls. Victorian and Queen Anne influences shaped the way these homes were built — frame construction, clapboard siding, decorative shingle patterns, gabled roofs, and intricate ornamentation that somebody took real pride in putting there.
Similar in composition across the whole block, they stand as a picture of Dallas life at the turn of the century. Frederick Wilson died in 1923. Henrietta lived on until 1953.
And those houses they built together, that neighborhood they anchored — it outlasted them both, still standing as a reminder, the marker says, of Dallas' rich heritage and early development. Seven houses on Swiss Avenue, and the whole story of a city growing up right around them.
What the marker says
This historic neighborhood is located on land patented in 1838 to Illinois native John Grigsby. Dallas businessman Frederick P. Wilson and his wife Henrietta Frichot Wilson acquired the site in 1898 and built their residence (2922 Swiss Avenue) and six other houses. Owned by the Wilsons for almost eighty years, the houses became the nucleus of the Wilson Block. Several early Dallas leaders rented homes here. Similar in composition, the houses in the neighborhood are representative of the city's lifestyle at the turn of the century. 2nd: Swiss native Jacob Nussbaumer, a colonist in the pioneer La Reunion settlement of the Dallas area, purchased this land prior to the Civil War. In 1898 his wife Dorothea and children sold it to her niece Henrietta Frichot Wilson (1864- 1953), the daughter of La Reunion settlers. Henriett and her husband Frederick P. Wilson (1863 - 1923) built their residence at this site in 1899 and later constructed six additional homes as rental property. Together the houses were the center of a residential area known as the Wilson Block of Swiss Avenue. The neighborhood was the home of many early Dallas leaders, including Charles D. Hill, who became one of the area's prominent architects, and Dr. Theodore L. E. Arnold, an early Dallas ophthalmologist whose son Charles pioneered in microphotography. The various architectural styles represented in the historic Wilson Block reflect Victorian and Queen Anne influences. The homes feature similarities in composition, including frame construction, clapboard siding, decorative shingle patterns, gabled roofs and intricate ornamentation. Today the Wilson Block serves as a reminder of Dallas' rich heritage and early development.