West Dallas | |
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![]() Fish Trap Lake Park in West Dallas, including the smokestack of the defunct RSR Corporation smelter in the background | |
![]() Location in Dallas | |
Country | United States |
State | Texas |
Counties | Dallas |
City | Dallas |
Area | |
• Total | 11.45 sq mi (29.66 km2) |
• Land | 11.45 sq mi (29.66 km2) |
• Water | 0 sq mi (0 km2) 0% |
Elevation | 406 ft (124 m) |
Population (2000) | |
• Total | 24,132 |
ZIP code | 75212 (main postal zip code), 75208 and 75211 (small areas) |
Area code(s) | 214, 469, 972 |
Website | www |
References: [1] |
West Dallas is an area consisting of many communities and neighborhoods in Dallas, Texas, United States. West Dallas is the area bounded by Interstate 30 on the south, the Trinity River on the east and north, and the Trinity River's West Fork on the west. [2]
In the late 1980s, the neighborhood had a population of 13,161. [3] As of the 2000 U.S. census, there were 24,132 people living in the neighborhood. [3] The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 2.7% White, 37.3% African American, 0.6% Native American, 2.4% Asian or Pacific Islander, 41.8% from Hispanic or Latino, and 15.2% from two or more races.[ citation needed ]
One of the city's up-and-coming areas for urban revitalization, West Dallas is seeing new developments emerge. They include:
These developments are bringing top-tier chefs, yoga studios, fresh-food markets, hip retail and apartments and condos with views of the downtown Dallas skyline, the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and the Margaret McDermott Bridge.
Other newer residents of West Dallas include the Belmont Hotel; the restaurant/bar complex Chicken Scratch/The Foundry; The Workroom, the SPCA of Texas, Dead White Zombies theater company, Salon Las Americas event center and MetroPaws Animal Hospital, among many others.
Long-standing neighborhoods in West Dallas prior to gentrification of the community include:
WEST DALLAS HOUSING PROJECTS: located near HAMPTON RD & SINGLETON BLVD. this development dates back to the early 1950s. It consisted of three separate developments, segregated by race (Blacks, Hispanics and Whites). The names of the developments were: GEORGE LOVING PLACE, EDGAR WARD PLACE & ELMER SCOTT PLACE.
Public education in West Dallas is provided by Dallas and Irving Independent School Districts, as well as a public charter school from Uplift Education and two private schools. Dallas schools cover over 90% of the area — only areas on the north side of the original channel of Westmoreland and on the west side of the original channel of Mountain Creek attend Irving schools. (See: Channeling of the Trinity River )
All students zoned to Dallas ISD Schools attend Thomas A. Edison Middle Learning Center and L. G. Pinkston High School, [4] as well as one of the following elementary schools:
All students zoned to Irving schools attend Bowie Middle School and Nimitz High School. Students living on the north side of the original channel of the West Fork of the Trinity River attend Schulze Elementary School and students living on the west side of the original channel of Mountain Creek attend Townley Elementary School. [5]
Students in West Dallas may also attend Uplift Heights Preparatory, a college preparatory, non-selective, but lottery-based public charter school located in the Lake West neighborhood of West Dallas. As of August 2015, Uplift Heights serves slightly more than 1,700 Pre-Kindergarten through 11th grade students. Uplift Heights will have its first graduating class in 2017. Uplift Heights Preparatory has been open since 2006 and is part of Uplift Education.
West Dallas originated as a community on the outskirts of Dallas. The community was founded in 1886. [8] In 1909 the Thomas A. Edison School was built. Murphy Metals (later known as RSR Corporation), a secondary lead smelter processing company, opened a 63-acre (250,000 m2) facility and in 1934 started operations at the site. The process of secondary lead smelting melts the collected lead materials or, lead scrap, into metallic lead that can then be used to cast into molds. [9] Significant lead emissions can occur from poorly controlled refining, casting, and drossing operations. [9] The city of Dallas annexed West Dallas into the city limits in 1954. Before that year, many residents lived in an area lacking the basic services because they resided outside the city lines. Then in 1956 a 3,500-unit public housing complex was to be built just north of the RSR lead smelter facility. The southern edge of the public housing complex was located 50 feet (15 m) from the lead smelter's property line. In 1968 the City of Dallas enacted an ordinance prohibiting more than 5 micrograms per cubic meter over a 30-day period. This act went unenforced because in the 1960s RSR Corp West Dallas facility released more than 269 tons of lead particles into the air each year. During that time few residents could afford the luxury of air conditioning, so in the summers they kept their doors and windows open to combat the heat, directly exposing them to the toxins in the air, even in their own homes. It wasn't until 1972 that Dallas officials learned that lead could be finding its way into the bloodstreams of children who lived in West Dallas and the bordering community of East Oak Cliff. The Dallas Health Department then conducted a study of their own. They found children living near smelters had elevated levels of lead. Lead was able to reach their bloodstream through the air, soil and households in and around their living environments. In areas near smelters children had a 36 percent increase in blood lead levels. The city failed to take immediate action and in 1974 the city sued local smelters. The company agreed to pay $35,000 and install new pollution control equipment. This did little to resolve the problem because in 1983 the pollution equipment had still not been installed at RSR Corp. Pressure from the community on government agencies was beginning to rise. A citizens group appointed by the Dallas City Council, The Dallas Alliance Environmental Task Force, has this to say in a 1983 study
“We believe the city had missed many opportunities to serve and protect the community at large and two neighborhoods in particular in relation to the lead problem we now address. It is clear that the State and Federal governments have also failed in their opportunity to regulate and industry of this type with regard to the general welfare of citizens.”
Before that in 1981 public concern and pressure were raised after the West Dallas Boys Club had to suspend outside activity after one soil test showed the soil contained 36 times the level considered dangerous for children. The club was later forced to close in 1983 due to high lead levels related to the years of operations of the RSR secondary lead smelter operation. After lengthy test and lawsuits and delayed clean-up action, partially government agencies fault, RSR Corp. was ordered by the Dallas Board of Adjusters to close the West Dallas facility. In the summer of 1985 an out-of-court settlement was reached between RSR Corp. and Fred Baron who represented 370 children and 40 property owners who were all affected by the lead emitted from RSR. The settlement was for 20 million dollars. However, with this settlement the land that the old RSR Corp facility used to sit on still contained large amounts of lead contamination dangerous to all ages of people. In May 1993 a proposal of the RSR Corp. site in West Dallas was sent to the National Priorities List, also named a Superfund site [10] President Clinton's administration then brought more publicity to the issue when in November 1993 an article written in The Progressive had this to say
“West Dallas residents celebrated when the Clinton Administration declared last May that they live in the largest lead-contaminated Superfund site in the United States. Portions of one of the nation's biggest housing projects and five schools, all located within five square miles of a now-defunct lead smelter, are slated for cleanup (although Federal Environmental Protection Agency records indicate as much as sixteen square miles of West Dallas are contaminated)."
[ This quote needs a citation ] For the residents who had been pushing for years and decades to solve the problem could lay their case to rest on September 28, 1994, when the EPA signed Preliminary Close Out Report for the RSR Corp. Superfund site stating all clean-up for all the units had been completed. The EPA then signed a Ready For Reuse document in May 2005 declaring the site ready for reuse or redevelopment [10] The EPA reported that the clean-up resulted in direct lower lead blood leaves of children. The community also benefited by having 400 properties 300 acres (1.2 km2) of commercial property eliminated of contamination.
United States Postal Service Dallas Main Post Office is a processing center located at 401 Tom Landry Highway, Dallas, Texas, 75260. The Brookhollow Station services zip codes 75212 and 75247 which are home to West Dallas and the extension of West Dallas known as the Design District.
AT&T the landlines for West Dallas are serviced by two wire centers Dallas Melrose was originally telephone numbers beginning with 214-63X-XXXX which is considered the western portion of the community. Dallas Riverside was originally telephone numbers beginning with 214-74X-XXXX which is the eastern portion into Downtown Dallas.
Dallas Public Library West Dallas is served by the Dallas West Branch of the Dallas Public Library at 2332 Singleton Blvd.
West Dallas Multipurpose Center
Builders of Hope
Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The program is designed to investigate and cleanup sites contaminated with hazardous substances. Sites managed under this program are referred to as Superfund sites. There are 40,000 federal Superfund sites across the country, and approximately 1,300 of those sites have been listed on the National Priorities List (NPL). Sites on the NPL are considered the most highly contaminated and undergo longer-term remedial investigation and remedial action (cleanups).
Deep Ellum is a neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, composed largely of arts and entertainment venues near downtown in East Dallas. Its name is based on a corruption of that of the area's principal thoroughfare, Elm Street. Older alternative uses include Deep Elm and Deep Elem.
Oak Cliff is an area of Dallas, Texas, United States that was formerly a separate town in Dallas County; Dallas annexed Oak Cliff on April 04, 1903. It has since retained a distinct neighborhood identity as one of Dallas' older established neighborhoods.
Oak Lawn is a neighborhood in Dallas, Texas, defined in Dallas City Ordinance 21859 as Planned Development District No. 193, the Oak Lawn Special Purpose District. The unofficial boundaries are Turtle Creek Boulevard, Central Expressway, the City of Highland Park, Inwood Road, and Harry Hines Boulevard. It is over 12 square miles (31 km2) in area. Officially it is bounded by the City of Highland Park, the North Central Expressway, Stemmons Freeway, Woodall Rodgers Freeway, and other roads. The district is within the boundary defined by the City of Dallas law, excluding any existing planned development districts within.
Lake Highlands is a neighborhood constituting most of Northeast Dallas. The neighborhood is a collection of dozens of subdivisions served by Richardson ISD and Dallas ISD public schools, as well as an array of private schools.
Houston Heights is a community in northwest-central Houston, Texas, United States. "The Heights" is often referred to colloquially to describe a larger collection of neighborhoods next to and including the actual Houston Heights. However, Houston Heights has its own history, distinct from Norhill and Woodland Heights.
L.G. Pinkston High School is a public secondary school in West Dallas, Texas (USA). L.G. Pinkston High School enrolls students in grades 7-12 and is a part of the Dallas Independent School District (DISD).
Ledbetter/Eagle Ford is a neighborhood in West Dallas, Texas, United States.
Ledbetter Gardens is a small neighborhood in West Dallas, Texas, United States. Its boundaries are Canada Drive to the north, Bernal Drive to the south, Rupert Street on the east, and Pluto Street on the west. Westmoreland Road, Canada and Bernal Drives are major access points to the neighborhood.
Westmoreland Heights is a small neighborhood in West Dallas, Texas, United States. Its boundaries are Bernal Drive to the north, Singleton Boulevard to the south, Westmoreland Road on the east, and Norwich Lane on the west.
La Bajada is a small neighborhood in West Dallas, Texas, United States. Its boundaries are Canada Drive to the north and east, Sylvan Avenue on the west, and Singleton Boulevard to the south.
Lake West is a neighborhood in West Dallas, Texas, United States. Its boundaries are Canada Drive to the north, the Union Pacific Railroad tracks to the south, Hampton Road on the east, and Westmoreland Road on the west.
Los Altos is a neighborhood in West Dallas, Texas, United States. Its boundaries are Canada Drive to the north, Singleton Boulevard to the south, Sylvan Avenue on the east, and Chihuahua Avenue on the west.
Cadillac Heights is a neighborhood in East Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas. The neighborhood is mostly African American and Hispanic.
East Dallas, also referred to by the East Dallas Chamber of Commerce as the Lake & Garden District, is an expansive area of numerous communities and neighborhoods in Dallas, Texas, United States that border nearby suburban cities to the east such as Garland, Mesquite and Balch Springs.
South Dallas is an area in Dallas, Texas. It is south of Downtown Dallas, bordered by Trinity River on the west, Interstate 30 on the north, and the Great Trinity Forest to the south and east. In recent years the City of Dallas and organizations including Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity and Rebuilding Together Dallas have begun revitalizing the area in an effort to make the area more attractive to homeowners and foster economic development. This includes high schools- Lincoln High School and James Madison High School.
Downtown Dallas is the central business district (CBD) of Dallas, Texas, United States, located in the geographic center of the city. It is the second-largest business district in the state of Texas. The area termed "Downtown" has traditionally been defined as bounded by the downtown freeway loop, bounded on the east by I-345 (although known and signed as the northern terminus of I-45 and the southern terminus of US 75, on the west by I-35E, on the south by I-30, and on the north by Woodall Rodgers Freeway.
Lakewood Heights is a residential neighborhood in Dallas, Texas (USA), bounded by Abrams Road to the east, Monticello Avenue to the north, Skillman Street to the west, and Richmond Avenue to the south. It located in East Dallas. Lakewood Heights is approximately one-half mile (0.8 km) wide (east-west) and three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km) long (north-south). It covers approximately 240 acres or slightly less than 0.375 square miles (1000m²). It is adjacent to several East Dallas neighborhoods, including Lakewood, Lower Greenville, and Wilshire Heights.
Calumet is the portion of East Chicago, Indiana located east of the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal and south of Chicago Avenue. The neighborhood is bisected by the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad. The area west of the tracks is referred to as Calumet proper, or as "West Calumet". The area east of the tracks is known as "East Calumet."
The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex has 1.2 million African-Americans, the 2nd-largest metro population of African-Americans in Texas.