Oak Cliff History - 1961-1970
Early History|1901-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50 |
| 51-60 | 61-70 | 71-80 | 81-90 | 91-2000 | 2001 -
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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 Methodist 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!
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.
Nighttime at the Phillips Freezette
Polar Bear on Zang
One of the most popular teen hangouts on warm summer nights in the 50s and 60s had to be Wee Saint Andrews Miniature Golf Course. Who could forget the strings of lights illuminating the carpet covered greens, and the “top forty” rock-and-roll hits blaring from the speakers? (Courtesy of Bill Melton.)
Bronco Bowl opened in 1962 with celebrity Jayne Mansfield headlining the event. This entertainment Mecca included something for every restless soul - slot cars, bowling, pool, archery and golf. Don’t forget the Hinkle’s at the snack bar, dancing at the “The Pit,” and those great concerts featuring performers like the Everly Brothers, REM, U2, Clash, b-52's, the Alarm…an endless list. And, oh, yeah, they had a bowling alley. (Courtesy of Gayla Kokel.)
Play ball! In Oak Cliff that meant an afternoon watching the professional baseball teams at Burnett Field (also known as Steer Stadium and Rebel Field.) Every time Miss Inez belted out the “Double Eagle March” on the organ it was a sure thing that a Dallas Eagle player had just scored a run. This Oak Cliff cathedral of sports sat across the Trinity River from the Dallas skyline, at what is now Colorado and I-35E.
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!
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 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.)
This picture is of the motorcade moments before the assassination.
Oswald’s next known move was his walk to the Texas Theater on Jefferson Boulevard (interior shown here). 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.)
The 1960s 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.
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.
Early History |1901-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50 |
| 51-60 | 61-70 | 71-80 | 81-90 | 91-2000 | 2001 -
