Dr. Myrna Dartson
Special Contributor
As a proud legacy resident of the Elm Thicket/Northpark (ETNP) neighborhood, I am watching the community where I was raised be systematically eliminated. My desire is to do everything I can to save my neighborhood. I hope you will help me.
Beautiful cottage homes envelop this historic Black neighborhood. Many of the families living here are third- and fourth-generation family members. There is a familial camaraderie amongst us that has fostered life-long bonds. ETNP is a tranquil and safe community.
Change is upon us, however. The first set of new homes built in ETNP were three to four times the size of our cottages but at least they looked like homes. Those new neighbors were welcomed into our community. They are happy to live in a wonderful neighborhood and appreciate the history of their legacy neighbors.
This milieu has been disturbed by builders and developers who are constructing homes that do not fit the style and character of our established neighborhood. They are trying to rename our neighborhood “Inwood Park” because that is a “more sophisticated moniker.” It is disturbing that the developers reference our neighborhood with dog whistles by calling our homes shacks. They want to erase us and our history because we stand in the way of their profits.
ETNP history runs deep.
The Elm Thicket community was formed as one of several Freedmen communities in North Dallas according to the Texas State Historical Association Handbook of Texas.
The Hilliard Memorial Golf Park, the first municipal golf course in the south for Blacks, was opened in 1950 in ETNP. That pride they felt in having something they could call their own was short-lived. In 1954 the city took the land back along with most of the west and southwest portion of ETNP for the Love Field expansion.
Being forced to relocate from our homes and community for the sake of “progress” is also a part of our history. The voices of the previous generations of Black Dallasites were ignored and silenced when eminent domain came knocking.
The battle today is not with eminent domain.
City leaders said they would help us preserve our history.
District 2 Dallas City Councilman Adam Medrano selected ETNP in 2016 as a Neighborhood Plus Target Area. The mission statement for the ETNP neighborhood was “To support a diverse, safe neighborhood with quality housing, infrastructure, and institutions for all its residents, and to preserve and protect the legacy and heritage of this historic Dallas neighborhood.”
In 2017, one of the action items that came from the Neighborhood Plus initiative was to submit a neighborhood zoning case for an Authorized Hearing Steering Committee. This committee met 11 times this year and recommended several reasonable zoning changes to help preserve this historic Black neighborhood.
The most important recommendations that came from the committee were to limit the roof types for two-story homes and lowering the maximum height to 30 feet from 35 feet. Only 10 percent of the roof area can be flat or shed-style for two-story houses to allow for some architectural style. The need to lower the height is because some builders are building straight up to the maximum which leaves a 35-foot wall next to a neighbor’s home.
These changes are reasonable.
They will directly affect the quality of life of our residents by not having to stare at a 35-foot wall outside their kitchen window and protecting our cottages from runoff. These changes ensure that new homes will fit in the style and character of our established neighborhood. Where the committee fell short was having these recommendations cover the entire neighborhood.
The developers have taken to attacking our legacy residents who have voiced support of the proposed zoning changes. Once again, our voices are trying to be silenced through intimidation. The day after “Save Elm Thicket” yard signs appeared, the developers mocked the home of one of our Black legacy residents on their website with a picture of her modest 1950s-era home and asked, “What are they really trying to save?”
I will answer that question. We want to save our community, which is a big part of Dallas history. While developers can only think of generational wealth we think of generational history. The City of Dallas made a promise to us that they would help us preserve and protect ETNP. I am asking you to please join my neighbors and me in reminding our city leaders of their promise and help us save Elm Thicket/Northpark.
Dr. Myrna Dartson is a legacy resident whose family has lived in Elm Thicket/Northpark for almost 60 years. She is a licensed psychologist, and shares a private practice in Dallas with her identical twin sister.
