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Tyler Street
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10th and Polk Streets (Winnetka Heights area) (214) 946-8106
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Oak Cliff Trivia |
Oak Cliff has produced some amazing characters and events -- Take a tour into some of the most notable facts about Oak Cliff on this page. Do you have some Oak Cliff trivia to share? Tell us!
Please visit some of the other pages on the Oak Cliff site that include trivia, remembrances and history contributed by web site readers.
Did you know that...
The
original township of Hord's Ridge was in the
area bordered by Colorado Boulevard, Cliff Street, and Thirteenth Street in
1845. The name Oak Cliff originated in 1887 from developers Thomas L. Marsalis
and John S. Armstrong. After a disagreement, Marsalis stayed to develop Oak
Cliff and Armstrong went on to also develop a new project -- Highland Park.
The area that is now the zoo was originally developed by Marsalis to promote Oak Cliff as a vacation resort. Now called Marsalis Park and Zoo, the 150-acre park included a two-mile-long lake and a 2,000-seat pavilion in which dances and operas were held.
Oak Cliff incorporated in 1890 with a population of 2,470. Its first mayor was Hugh Ewing.
The depression of 1893 ended the viability of vacation resorts such as Oak Cliff, forcing Marsalis into bankruptcy.
Oak Cliff was annexed into Dallas
in 1903.
By some estimates, Oak Cliff's current population is about 280,000, making it about the same size as Raleigh, North Carolina, St. Paul Minnesota or Buffalo, New York. However, depending on how you size Oak Cliff (there are no real boundaries) some estimate it's area includes a population of about 400,000 -- which would make it about the size of Sacramento, California -- If it were not a part of Dallas, Oak Cliff would be the 40th largest city in the United States.
Without any official bounds, a lot of Dallasites call anything below the Trinity River "Oak Cliff." In reality, this includes several communities that were cities in their own right -- until they were incorporated into Dallas -- they include Pleasant Grove, Arcadia Park, Fruitdale, Urbandale, Kleberg, Pleasant Mound, and Lisbon. What we now call "North Oak Cliff" is approximately the area that was the original City of Oak Cliff.
Texas A&M's 12th man was from Oak Cliff/Adamson High School - E. King Gill (see biography below).
Speaking of Adamson Football -- W. H. Adamson High School (named Oak Cliff High back then) won the State Football Championship in 1924 by beating Waco 21 to 0. They also appeared in the 1921 High School Championship game, losing to Bryan by a score of 35 to 14 and in 1926 fell to Waco in the State grudge match by 20 to 7.
And another Oak Cliff powerhouse -- Sunset High School -- Appeared in the 1941 State match losing to Austin 20 to 7. They also appeared in the 1949 game, losing to San Antonio Jefferson 31 to 13 but rallied in 1950 to beat Houston Reagan 14 to 6 to win the championship. A group of alumni still has monthly meetings at Texas Land and Cattle on Lemmon. Here's a tidbit -- there was a trophy called the Sanger Trophy that was awarded to the Dallas high school with the best overall sports achievements in the late 40's. It was sponsored by Sanger Bros. Department store. Sunset won it three years in a row and was finally awarded permanent possession. Unfortunately, the current administration at Sunset almost destroyed the trophy by storing it in the boiler room where it lay unprotected for years! Finally Don Martin '52 and Sonny Kemble '42 found it and the reunion group paid to have it restored (several hundred dollars). It will not go back to Sunset and possibly will be on display at the Old Red Courthouse Museum.
Carter High School won the 1988 Championship game against Converse Judson only to have to forfeit the title later.
Oak Cliff sports the prolific Tyler Street Christian Academy which is awash in State titles including:
1985 - TAPPS Division II Boys
Basketball State Champions
1986 - TAPPS Division II Girls Basketball State Champions
1986 - TAPPS Division II Boys Basketball State Champions
1987 - TAPPS Division II Boys Basketball State Champions
1992 - TAPPS Class A Boys Basketball State Champions
1993 - TAPPS Class A Football State Champions
1993 - TAPPS Class A Boys Basketball State Champions
1994 - TAPPS Class A Boys Basketball State Champions
2004 - TAPPS 2A Boys Track and Field State Champions
One of their alumni,
Coby
Rhinehart, (Class of 94) went on to play with SMU and then with the
cardnals. Keep it up TSCA!.
(There are other Oak Cliff State Champions -- in Basketball, etc -- if anyone
has the i
nformation,
please contact us.)
Speaking of sports, at one time Oak Cliff had it own baseball team (okay, we shared with Dallas) -- The Dallas Eagles baseball team played at Burnett Field in the 1940s and 1950s. It was located at I35 and Colorado Blvd. Miss Inez (Inez Lackie Teddlie) used to play the organ during the games -- and the theme for the Eagles was Under the Double Eagle March. When a home run was slammed, Miss Inez belted out "Waiting on the Robert E. Lee" -- the part that says "way over the levee." Visiting pitchers pulled from the game heard her play "April Showers." Miss Inez was a Dallas icon -- continuing to play at the Luby's Restaurant in Casa Linda for many years. She died in 2002 at the age of 91. The stadium was razed in 1964. A Negro League team named the Dallas Black Giants also played at Burnett Field.
Another note about Burnett Field -- Mr. Julius Schepps, of dairy fame, owned the AA Dallas rebels baseball team and sold it to Burnett in '47 or so. The stadium was called Rebel Field and the Rebels won the Dixie Championshiop in '46, maybe 'it was '45. Several off that team made it to the "Bigs" including Clint Connatser, Johnny Lipon and Gene Markland and others. (thanks to Jim Spencer)
The
first 7-Eleven was in Oak Cliff -- at the
corner of Edgefield and 12th street (Southland Ice Company) in 1927. Originally
an ice house, an enterprising employee began selling milk and eggs out of the
store on Sundays and evenings when other stores where closed. The original name
for the convenience store was Tote'm -- the name was changed to 7-Eleven in 1946
to reflect the stores hours of operation.
The first Pig Stand was located somewhere
around Chalk Hill and Ft. Worth Avenue in the early 1920s -- The Pig Stand was
the originator of the term "Car Hop," was the original Drive Up (curbside
service) and Drive-Thru
restaurant, and the
originator of the Onion Ring and Texas Toast. Before World War II there were
over 100 Pig Stand restaurants around the country, but today there are only a few left in
the San Antonio, Beaumont and Houston areas.
The glass Mural in the Tejano Restaurant (Davis at Beckley) is the original mural from the first El Chico Restaurant (1940) -- the Oak Cliff restaurant was the 4th -- but was being built at the same time the #1 El Chico was being demolished -- so it got the mural. The pictures in the mural tell the story of the Cuellar's family (founders of El Chico) journey to America and then to Texas. Look closely at the mural and you'll see the "El Chico" logo -- although the name has been obscured. By the way, last I heard, Tejano's Restaurant is still owned by the Cuellar family.
The
Houston Street Viaduct was touted as the longest concrete bridge of its type in
the world
when it was constructed in the 1920s. It was built because
Dallas was often cut off from Oak Cliff due to high water. A former Dallas
Police Motorcycle policeman, Kees Higgins, an Oakcliffite, was the first person to
officially cross the bridge when it opened -- leading the mayor's procession.
By the way, on the day John F. Kennedy was shot, Kees was not on his normal beat
in Oak Cliff -- and a substitute policeman, J.D. Tippit, stood in for him on
that fateful day. This is an early postcard of that early tourist attraction to
Oak Cliff.
Speaking of the Kennedy assassination -- the most notable (and infamous) occurrence involving Oak Cliff happened on November 22, 1963. Lee Harvey Oswald lived in Oak Cliff -- the house where he rented a room still stands near the intersection of Beckley and Zang. And, the theater where he was captured, The Texas Theater, is on Jefferson. Why these buildings have not been set aside as historical is strange -- anyone who's traveled across America knows that there are other historical sites less interesting that have been made into major attractions -- I've heard that the Kennedy assassination sites in Dallas (surrounding the 6th floor museum and grassy knoll) are one of the top 2-3 visited sites in Dallas by tourists (by something like a million visitors a year). These Oak Cliff sites should be preserved and set aside as historic before they are lost. Another piece of trivia -- all of these Oak Cliff sites were used in the 1991 Oliver Stone movie, JFK -- at least they are preserved to some extent on film.
The Texas Theater, by the way, opened in 1931 and was built by C.R. McHenry. It was the largest suburban theater in Dallas at the time as was part of a chain of theaters owned by Howard Hughes. Now owned by the Oak Cliff Foundation, it is (hopefully) undergoing a renovation.
Wynnewood Village was developed in 1948 by (and named for) real estate developer Angus Wynne, who also created Six Flags Over Texas. At one time it included a theatre (The Wynnewood Theater), office buildings, banks, and a small hotel. Tenants included Titche-Goettinger, Montgomery Ward, Colbert's, Margo La Mode, and Lily Dodson (her first dress shop was in Wynnewood Village.)
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A South Oak Cliff High School band called the "Mystics" won a recording contract in 1966 and for six weeks had the #1 record in the Dallas area that record was called " Didn't we have a "Good Time." (I remember it being played about 100 times a day on KLIF!) However, they never made it to the "big time." Here is a picture of them at Kiest Park. -- Thanks to Alan Struble |  |
Click Here for Notable Natives - Famous (and
infamous) People From Oak Cliff
Do you know some Oak Cliff trivia or a famous Oak Cliffite? Do you have corrections or additions to any of the bios I've listed here? Email me and let me know about it.
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This page was last edited on April 10, 2008