6 August 3-9, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Then, in 1904, W.J. Betteron platted “Bet- terton Circle” and developed the remaining vacant land into residential lots. The neigh- borhood continued to grow, as did other freedmen’s towns. Eventually, Tenth Street had a school, two churches and enterprises such as a bot- tling plant, banks and pharmacies. It was a flourishing community until the Great De- pression. Tenth Street and other freedmen’s towns in Texas and Oklahoma then began seeing a steady decline, according to the city. During the 1940s and ’50s, residents started to leave Tenth Street, primarily for Califor- nia, in search of work. Even as Tenth Street continued to deteri- orate, it was nominated to the National Reg- ister of Historic Places in 1994, a year after the community was officially designated as a Dallas Landmark District. Clarence Glover, a local historian and for- mer Southern Methodist University history professor, said that as African-Americans came out of slavery, they set up communities like Tenth Street all across the country in both rural and urban areas, and those places began to thrive. But as cities grew, these communities began to fall apart. “It swal- lowed up these freedman towns,” he said. “They became gentrified over a period of time, like we’re seeing in Tenth Street.” Today, many freedmen’s towns face their own issues. Dallas’ Elm Thicket-Northpark, for example, has faced undesired develop- ment and rises in property values that could push out legacy residents. Joppa, in south- east Oak Cliff, has been plagued by pollution and lacks needed infrastructure. Both neigh- borhoods are threatened by gentrification. Other than 15 years spent in California, 79-year-old Patricia Cox has lived in Tenth Street her whole life. When she was growing up, the neighborhood was exciting, she said. Even though all the streets in the neighbor- hood were initially made of gravel, it was de- veloped enough to have its own gas stations, a movie theater and grocery stores. “Everything was just big to us,” she said. She recalled going on Jefferson Boulevard to shop and said it was like going downtown. “We thought we always had our own down- town Dallas in Oak Cliff,” she said. “We just grew with the city. As it grew, we grew.” Eventually though, things started to change. Once I-35 was constructed in 1959, it cut the neighborhood off from Oak Cliff and all the main shops and stores that Cox remembered going to, she said. “They all disappeared,” she said. “Everything went to the other side of the freeway. … So, our money always had to go out of our neighbor- hood.” She said of the freeway, “It was an incon- venience for us, but it was OK for getting downtown quickly.” Today, she describes Tenth Street as a dead end. “It’s not a neighborhood any- more,” she said. When her great grandchil- dren come over, there’s nowhere for them to play and nothing to do. She doesn’t have a car to take them anywhere. “In other words, I don’t get to play in my own backyard, and that’s not a good thing,” she said. “I’m very worried and concerned about the survival of Tenth Street.” Cox thinks it will ultimately take invest- ment in the neighborhood to save it. “In or- der for us to have something, the city would have to put some of those tax dollars that we do spend back into our neighborhood, but they don’t see any reason to invest in our neighborhood, except for the deck park and destroying what’s here to do so. They want to build a whole new neighborhood, and we would like to keep our neighborhood.” Tenth Street is like a diamond in the rough to Cox. “It just needs to be taken care of and rebuilt instead of being ignored and neglected,” she said. These days, homes are falling apart in Tenth Street. Others have caught fire and had to be torn down. Demolitions have also played a role in Tenth Street’s destruction. A 2010 city ordinance that allowed for the quick demolition of structures smaller than 3,000 square feet has led to much of the destruction of the neighborhood. Between the time the district was formed and 2017, the city demolished 72 of the district’s 260 homes. Often, these homes were demol- ished because they were determined to be urban nuisances, creating blight. Many of the lots they sat on are still empty. In 2019, Legal Aid of Northwest Texas and the Tenth Street Residential Association sued the city, claiming it was demolishing homes in the neighborhood at a dispropor- tionate rate. Residents were calling for the ordinance to be abolished. Carolyn King Arnold, the City Council member for the district, secured a five signa- ture memo with help from others on the council to temporarily halt the use of public funds for any demolitions in Tenth Street. Although the ordinance has largely gone un- used since, it still hangs over the community. Page Jones, a spokesperson for the city, said the ordinance is still on the books, but Dallas is working toward a proposed zoning code amendment to address the issue. At a press conference in March, residents said the city has home repair programs that could help preserve the neighborhood, but the requirements limit access for Tenth Street residents. For example, deeds and ti- tles are required for Dallas’ home improve- ment and preservation program and for the senior home repair program. “Everybody doesn’t have a clear deed to their homes over here, but they’ve been in the homes for over 20 years,” Cox, president of the Tenth Street Residential Association, said at the press conference. “That should count for something.” The city has a program that helps resi- dents rectify a variety of title and property issues. In 2020, The Title and Property As- sistance program was launched on a pilot basis to provide legal aid to residents to help determine and document ownership of their homes. On top of all the demolitions, Johnson said, the area has historically lacked the kind of investment needed to stay afloat. Johnson said Tenth Street is the way it is today due in large part to redlining, a dis- criminatory practice in which banks refuse to make loans to purchase or repair homes in minority neighborhoods. For example, the home he eventually bought in Tenth Street has roof and foundation damage. The family that formerly lived there told him that a post oak tree fell on the roof of the house and damaged the foundation. He asked why it was never repaired and was told the family never had the money to do so. “They went to apply for the loans, and the banks wouldn’t lend,” he said. Promises of more funding had been made in the past, but they’ve never come to frui- tion, Johnson said. It’s made the community suspicious of people who say they want to come and help, he said. There are a few steps being taken to pre- serve the neighborhood, he said. Arguably one of the most signficant is the attempt to rebuild the Sunshine Elizabeth Chapel. According to the city’s website, the church was constructed at 1026 E. 10th St. in 1889. It was torn down and reconstructed in the same location in 1910. As the community began to grow, the chapel became a focal point and meeting place. The roof of the church collapsed during a storm in 1995, and the structure was demolished in 1996 “after vacancy in the neighborhood led to de- creased church attendance and eventual dis- repair,” according to the city. “That church was, at one time, the hub of the community,” Johnson said. With the help of Rayo Planning, he submitted an ap- plication to the Texas Real Estate Commis- sion for a $1 million grant. The application has advanced to the second stage of the grant process, Johnson said. That money could go toward reconstructing and rehabil- itating structures in the neighborhood, such as the church. He and others are also preparing to clean up the neighborhood’s Oak Cliff Cemetery, including the removal of invasive plants. One person who spends a lot of time in the cemetery is Robert Swann. Tenth Street is likely the only freedmen’s town with an intact slave burial ground, Swann said. Swann is the landmark commissioner for Dallas’ District 4, which includes Tenth Street. He can often be found in the cemetery re- searching burials and trying to manage the plants. Among his goals are a complete inven- tory of native plants that have been identified there and creation of a management Unfair Park from p4 Nathan Hunsinger Nathan Hunsinger Landmark Commissioner Robert Swann waters plants in the Oak Cliff Cemetery. >> p8 Larry Johnson stands in front of a home he is restoring in his Tenth Street neighborhood.
