Oak Cliff History -- "Those Crazy 60s and 70s"
A decade after World War II had ended, Oak Cliff was still in a housing boom. Thousands of WWII veterans settled in tree-lined Oak Cliff neighborhoods and Methdist Hospital learned about the baby boom. Crackerbox houses with single attached garages popped up around Hampton Road and Illinois Avenue, Kiest Park, Cedar Crest, and all over Oak Cliff. Business boomed along with the houses. Schools, churches, parks and restaurants all burst at the seams. Happy days were indeed here again!
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Oak Cliff History 1961 to 1970 |
During the 1960s the movie American Graffiti had nothing on Oak Cliff. Oak Cliff had its own hangouts: Sivil’s, Polar Bear, Pig Stand, Penguin, Dairy Queen, Dairy Mart, and plenty of other places for baby boomer kids to play, swim, watch movies, and view exotic animals.
The 1960s also witnessed a lot of changes in Oak Cliff.
Secondary education expanded when Oak Cliff opened three new high schools: the massive Justin F. Kimball at 3606 South Westmoreland Road, in 1958; Franklin D. Roosevelt at 525 Bonnie View Road, in 1963; and David W. Carter at 1918 West Wheatland Road, in 1967. Though business traffic declined significantly on Jefferson Boulevard, Wynnewood Village retail was brisk. A. Harris Center (now the DISD’s Nolan Estes Plaza) opened at the intersection of I-35E and Kiest Boulevard, and brought the first downtown retailer to the suburbs. Printing presses at Ray Zauber’s Oak Cliff Tribune were cranking out news, additional highways modernized vehicular traffic, and fall Friday nights found high school football stadiums filled to capacity.
Two Titans of Oak Cliff: Ray Zauber and Austin Cook (above, picture courtesy Patsy Summey) at Austin’s BBQ Restaurant at Hampton and Illinois (now the location of a CVS Pharmacy parking lot). Zauber was associated with The Oak Cliff Tribune for forty years (1950-1990). Many of those years he was owner/publisher, but all those years, Zauber was a staunch Oak Cliff supporter! Austin’s BBQ opened in 1949 with this descriptive motto for the barbecue, "As Tender as ‘Ole Austin’s Heart”... and sometimes that was actually true! (picture below)
Austin’s Bar-B-Cue (owned by Austin Cook) near the corner of Hampton Road and Illinois Avenue, served up good, old fashioned, barbecue sandwiches, with large tumblers of iced tea, and the greasiest French fries customers could wrap their lips around. After serving a million or two sandwiches, this institution gave up the ghost around the turn of the twenty-first century. (Picture courtesy of Gayla Kokel.)
The 1970s brought changing demographics mixed with limited growth and prosperity, an emerging local music scene, and forced busing for Dallas public schools. More families now had two working parents, putting additional students behind the wheels of their own cars and allowing teenagers more freedom and mobility. Next, the British Invasion (the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, etc.) began shaping American, as well as Oak Cliff, fashion, morals, and culture.
The 1960s started out bright for Oak Cliff. Houses were being build, businesses were thriving. The Guinness Book of World Records even mentioned that 10th Street in Dallas had more churches per mile than any other street in the world. And the Tyler Street UMC's Sunday School was the largest in the nation -- it was a mega church before the term existed.
The darkest moment in Oak Cliff's history happened on November 22, 1963. With many Oak Cliff citizens on the streets of downtown Dallas for the welcoming parade, Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy, as the president’s car passed in front of the Texas School Book Depository. Texas Governor and First Lady John and Nellie Connally rode in the front seat, with President and Mrs. Kennedy, in the back.
After the assassination, Oswald returned to his temporarily rented room at 1026 North Beckley Avenue. (This is a picture of Lee Harvey Oswald holding hi rifle... the picture was taken in the backyard of his boarding house in Oak Cliff.)
Oswald’s next known move was his walk to the Texas Theater on Jefferson Boulevard. In route, near the corner of Tenth and Patton Streets, he murdered Dallas Police Officer J. D. Tippit (of Oak Cliff). Some students at nearby Adamson High School remember hearing the gunshots. (Officer Tippit is buried at Laurel Land Cemetery in Oak Cliff.)
Like many other communities in Dallas, Oak Cliff saw a major change in its ethnic population mix as a result of new civil rights laws enacted during the 1960s. A large shift in population diversity resulted -- popularly called "white flight." This flight of a large number of middle-class people took away a lot of the area's buying power. Coupled with some business owners' and corporations' belief that a mixed race area was not good for business -- many businesses that had once thrived in shopping areas such as Jefferson Boulevard, Wynnewood Shopping Center, and the Lancaster-Kiest Shopping mall closed or moved to other locations.
Sanger Harris, Titches and Sears along with many other stores moved to a new mall on the edge of southern Dallas (Red Bird Mall). Montgomery Ward stayed in Wynnewood Village, but many of the stores along Jefferson and in Wynnewood changed from major national brands to local thrift shops.
Home prices plummeted. A large house in Winnetka Heights could be purchased for $10,000. Whereas churches saw record growth in the 50's and early 60's, by the end of the decade many formerly strong Oak Cliff churches were struggling or closing.
Oak Cliff History 1971 to 1980 |
From the challenges of the late 1960s a few sparks of renewal began, particularly in North Oak Cliff. In older Oak Cliff neighborhoods such as Winnetka Heights a new population of "urban pioneers" began to move into North Oak Cliff. Houses were cheap and these typically young couples plucked up the bargains. They renovated a number of the houses from that had been built in the 1920s and 30s.
To provide and alternative to public schools, Tyler Street Christian Academy opened in 1972. This ethnically diverse school provided quality education and grew to include an enrollment of over 500 children.
The late 60s Jesus Movement that began in California, later arrived in Texas. In 1971, numerous Oak Cliff church youth groups banded together for a Youth Encounter Weekend, resulting in a Saturday afternoon “Jesus” parade down Jefferson Boulevard. Some 250 youth paraded to emphasize a positive message: that there were still many young people that believed in the traditional values of family and church. (Photo courtesy of Alan Elliott.)
The 1971 David W. Carter High School Cowboys football team took the Texas 12-AAAA crown by shutting out Killeen 9-0 in the state quarterfinal clash (above photo), before losing at the state semi-final game. Senior Joe Rust made All-Metro on both sides, and all-state for defense. Head coach Kedric Couch took the Dallas Coach of the Year award (twice) and National Coach of the Year in 72-73. After a 105-35 record at Carter, he became DISD Athletic Director until his 2005 retirement, when the DISD re-named the Loos Athletic Complex football stadium in Couch’s honor. The author of two books on football, winning, and finance, he received the All-American High School Award in 2003 (from the All-American Football Foundation) and a 2006 Austin College Distinguished Alumni Award, and has served in leadership in both the Oak Cliff Lions Club and Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce. Pro athletes, from Carter: Jessie Armstead—1988 top state and national high school player, later a five-time Pro Bowler; South Oak Cliff: Oscar Roan, Mike Livingston, Karl Sweetan, Malcolm Walker, Tony Battie, and Super Bowl MVP Harvey Martin; Kimball: Jason & Jeryl Sasser, Delon Washington, Brandon Harrison, Quinton Ross, Acie Law, Lewis “Skipper” Mullins, and David Chalk (1980 World Series); Adamson: 26-year A&M baseball coach Tom Chandler; Sunset: Jerry Rhome, Don January, Don Gross, Rudy Jaramillo, Carl Warrick, Davey E. Williams, and Jerry Mays—six-time AFL All-Star and Super Bowl IV championship; Roosevelt: Kevin Williams, Aaron Wallace, and 7-time Pro Bowler Richmond Webb; Tyler Street Christian Academy: Kenyon Martin and Colby Rhinehart. (Photo courtesy of Vivian Skinner.)
Oak Cliff faced many changes during the Vietnam War years, with civil rights’ battles stateside. Minority student enrollment blossomed as neighborhoods, often besieged by “block-buster” tactics, were vacated by "white flight." Overcrowded classrooms forced school playgrounds to be swallowed up with temporary buildings—“portables," that came…and stayed. In this 1974 Harrell Budd Elementary School first grade photo, Aaron Wallace (top, third from left), became one of the original Texas A&M "Bruise Brothers" and later played for the Oakland Raiders. (Photo courtesy of Patsy Summey.)
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