4 August 3-9, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents FORSAKEN HISTORY Dallas’ neglect and development threaten to overrun one of the nation’s most intact freedmen’s towns. BY JACOB VAUGHN O ne day in 2016 Larry Johnson and his son were driving through an Oak Cliff neighbor- hood when they saw an older couple cutting their grass. “It was a hot day, and I told my son they’re going to die,” Johnson recalled. He stopped to talk to the couple and returned the next week to cut the grass. That’s when he met Patricia Cox and Shaun Montgomery, two long-time residents of the neighborhood. They pulled up in their car, introduced themselves and asked Johnson if he owned the lot. He told them no but that he was interested in buying a home in the neighborhood. “They were excited,” he said. Cox asked Johnson, “Do you know where you are?” Johnson responded, “Yes, I’m in northeast Oak Cliff.” “But do you know where you are?” Cox replied. “I thought to myself, this crazy old lady, I think she’s lost it,” Johnson recalled. He said again that he understood he was in northeast Oak Cliff. Cox asked a third time. Finally, Johnson said, “Where am I?” “Son, you’re in Tenth Street,” Cox said. Until then, he didn’t know what Tenth Street or a freed- men’s town was. She explained, “This is where we settled af- ter we were freed.” Freedmen’s (also called freedmans or freedman’s) towns are communities set up by emancipated Black people after the Civil War. Tenth Street is often regarded as one of the most intact freedmen’s towns in the country. “It was pretty sobering,” Johnson said. “I actually wanted to take off my shoes. I felt like I was on holy ground. To this day, I’m a student of Tenth Street.” Soon, he started attending community meetings about the neighborhood “and before you knew it, I was all in,” he said. Johnson is now a member of the Tenth Street Residential Association and the neighborhood’s taskforce for Dallas’ Landmark Commission. He’s also a part-time resident of the neighborhood. He’s fixing up a house in the area and living in another part of Oak Cliff until his home in Tenth Street is finished. Since Johnson became involved, he’s heard about the is- sues that have long plagued the community, such as under- investment, gentrification and blight. The neighborhood is facing similar challenges today, he said. As some lots sit vacant and some structures fall apart, much is happening around Tenth Street. There’s a new deck park in the works to the southwest, and Bishop Arts District appears to be expanding. Residents in Tenth Street are left to wonder about their place in all this new development. Residents and advocacy groups have been working for years to preserve Tenth Street. The historic designation the town received in 1993 offers certain protections, such as lim- iting what can be built in Tenth Street. Even so, the designa- tion hasn’t stopped the neighborhood from needing to fight to stay alive. Situated on the northeastern edge of Oak Cliff, the neighborhood is made up of a variety of types of homes, from shotguns to two-story vernacular Queen Anne-style houses. It encompasses about 15 blocks and rests on hilly terrain overlooking downtown Dallas and the Trinity River. Some lots sit empty. Others hold houses that look like they’re falling apart or in the process of getting fixed up. Interstate 35E, E. Eighth Street, the former interurban right of way and Clarendon Drive make up the boundaries of Tenth Street. A document on the city’s website, “Tenth Street Historic District: A Historic African-American Neighborhood in Dallas, Texas,” explains the history of the neighborhood. The document, a collaboration between the city of Dallas and the Texas Historical Commission, says the historical district is part of an area once called Hord’s Ridge after Tennessee native and slave owner William H. Hord, who settled there in 1845. Hord’s and others’ slaves were not told of their freedom until June 19, 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. The freedmen and women stayed at Hord’s Ridge, even- tually being deeded 10 acres of land between 1865 and 1867, according to the city document. Other freedmen and women migrated to the area, looking for employment and a community. According to the city, T.L. Marsalis, a grocer, landowner and president of Dallas Land and Loan Co., purchased what remained of the Hord family land beginning in 1887 and re- platted the area as the “Tenth Street Addition,” creating a subdivision that resembles the neighborhood’s current size and configuration. | UNFAIR PARK | Nathan Hunsinger >> p6 Two shotgun houses in the Tenth Street neighborhood that were later joined together.
