Walnut Hill Neighborhood History
by Joyce Tepley, Neighborhood Archivist
June, 2013
Where did it all begin?
Millions of years ago our area of north Texas was covered in water. You may notice fossil shells in your pea gravel. I pick up tiny clam-like shells in my alley all the time. When the sea receded and the ice age compressed the dead animals and plants, rich clay soil was created along with deposits of gas and oil. Our neighborhood sits on a limestone bed covered with the best soil any Master Gardener or farmer will tell you is perfect for growing almost anything except acid loving plants. Don’t ever mix our clay with sand, though. You will end up with “concrete.” Feed it with enormous amounts of organic material – compost. Beneficial bugs and microbes will love you for it.
What came next?
Indigenous people, of course, and an endless prairie. Lots of grass for bison, horse, antelope, turkeys and other prairie animals. Don’t forget the bluebonnets and colorful wildflowers. Creeks and rivers with a few trees and small hills broke up the wind swept expanse of land. For several thousands of years that’s all there was here until the early 1800’s. (Most of the trees in our neighborhood were planted or reseeded themselves within the last 200 years. There’s a 150 year old Catalpa in the front yard of a house at the corner of Gooding and South Better. Another property on Gooding near Merrell has a Champion Dogwood tree designated by the State of Texas. (So it is also possible to grow acid loving plants in our soil.)
Who were the first settlers that developed the land that became our neighborhood?
In 1836 the Republic of Texas was created. It was bankrupt. Five years later the Texas legislature, in order to entice settlers to the north Texas area to open new sources of revenue, passed a bill granting impresario rights to a group of men who formed the Texas Land and Emigration Company. Led by W. S. Peters, a music publisher in Louisville, Kentucky who published among other works the music of Stephen F. Foster, this group of 20 men hoped to make a profit. Eleven of them were staid businessmen from London, England and it is doubtful they ever visited the United States.
Initially, the contract called for Peters to supply 600 families over a three year period and Texas would give 640 acres of land to each family plus 320 acres to each single man over the age of 17. The single men had to be of good moral character, though. For its trouble and expense the TL and E was to receive 10 acres for every 100 families and 100 single men introduced to the area. The original tract of land was a wide strip along the eastern boundary of Denton County extending west to Justin. Things did not go smoothly for the “Peters Colony”. Presently “The Colony” is what this area is know by.
Between 1844 and 1845 the first wave of settlers totaled 822 colonists. Only 197 families and 184 single men were certified during that time as official settlers. The certifying agent had a chart showing 305 cabins, 482 children, 29 slaves, 286 rifles, 35 muskets and shotguns, 254 ½ pounds of powder, and 566 pounds of lead. They were behind schedule and the contract was renewed with new boundaries expanding the territory.
After the Republic became a state of the United States of America in 1845, the second wave of 1286 settlers from 1846 to 1848 had problems with confusion over ownership, squatters, an investigation of the constitutionality of colony contracts, and their corn crops trampled by cattle and buffalo. A good many solicited settlers never even made it to North Texas choosing to settle on route. Between Indian raids and law suits it took until 1873 to finally settle the land titles. The investors made little profit.
Our neighborhood is on the eastern edge of the Peters Colony that comprised over 10 million acres. Over 20 counties eventually made up the Peters Colony Settlement — all of Cooke, Denton, and Tarrant, as well as most of Dallas and Grayson counties. Carrolton, Texas is named after Carrolton, Illinois where many settlers came from. The largest group of settlers came from Missouri, followed by Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky. Farmers comprised 87.5% with Artisans and Professionals at 4.5%. The founders of our little section of the Peters Colony were from North Carolina.
(Above information comes from an article by Seymour V. Connor entitled The Peters Colony taken from the Texas State Historical Association in partnership with the University of Texas Libraries at the University of Texas at Austin. I accessed it November 5, 2007 at www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/books/peters.html
See also Seymour V. Connor, The Peters Colony of Texas: A History and Biographical Sketches of the Early Settlers, Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1959.)
Who was the founding family of our neighborhood?
Eli Merrell (b. 1787), one of 15 children born to Benjamin and Penelope Merrell of Buncombe County, North Carolina just south of Ashville, came before July of 1844 with his third wife, Mary McKay, to settle their 640 acres granted by the Texas Land and Immigration Company along what is now known as Joe’s Creek. The creek was named after Elder Eli’s youngest son John M. “Joe” Merrell. (b.1847). It was all Nacogdoches County at that time. Later it became Dallas County and Eli, being a minister in the Disciples of Christ Church since it began in 1832, is on record in Dallas County for performing his first marriage on June 11, 1848.
Elder Eli and Mary had 6 children: Olivia, Julia, George Cornelius, Margaret Ellen, Tom, and John. Olivia married William D. Webb whose father founded Farmers Branch and Webb’s Chapel of Webb Chapel Road.
After Elder Eli’s wife Mary died, he married Nancy McCrary (b.1820) and had 8 more children: Benjamin, William, Nancy, Eli Jr., Jonathan, Phoebon, David, and Elizabeth.
In 1849 Eli died making his grave the oldest in Merrell Cemetery. He packed a lot of life in those 62 years.
David Merrell, one of Eli’s brothers (b. 1801) was also a Peters colonist and had 8 children of his own. His eldest son Benjamin was the first Dallas County tax assessor-collector in 1850.
What Revolutionary War hero is Eli Merrell related to?
Eli’s father and uncle were both named Benjamin. They fought many battles in the Revolutionary War. Captain Ben Merrell, Eli’s uncle, was executed by the British. The Mel Gibson movie, The Patriot, is loosely base on his life. There are statues of Captain Ben Merrell erected in the Carolina’s.
What is the history of the Merrell Cemetery?
Eli’s son, Benjamin, gave the land for the cemetery around the time of Eli’s death in 1849. It is one of the true pioneer cemeteries in Dallas. At that time Merrell Road was a dirt lane leading off Midway Road. Midway gets its name because it is halfway between Preston Road and Denton Road. A greater part of that section north of Northwest Highway was considered to be Farmer’s Branch until the 20th century.
Other pioneer families like the Straits are also buried in the cemetery, though it is not exclusive to the pioneers. Families who have streets named after them like the Welches, the Marshes, the Coppedges, the Lunas, and the Jordans all have graves there. Burial is open to anyone who contributes to the upkeep of the cemetery through its association that was founded in 1965. An historical marker was erected at 4000 Merrell Road in 1985. Donations are welcome.
What Unreconstructed Rebel is buried in Merrell Cemetery?
Mrs. Nancy Jane Coyle, known as Grandma Coyle, is buried beside her husband, Walker J. Coyle, one of Fightin’ Joe Wheeler’s Alabama Cavalrymen. She was 10 years old when the Union Army invaded her town of Scottsboro, Alabama sometime after 1862. When one of the blue clad soldiers dipped his hand into a bowl of honey in her home, outraged she predicted he would be shot by the Rebels before nightfall when she was certain her town would be recaptured. The Rebels did retake the town but only briefly held it. The next day that Union soldier rode his horse back into her yard and taunted her saying, “Well, sis, too bad you didn’t get your wish.” She admitted her mistake, they laughed and he didn’t harm her.
In 1880 she and her husband moved to Dallas. They farmed where Southern Methodist University stands. Later they moved to farmland near the present site of Walnut Hill Elementary School. He died in 1895 and she followed in 1940 at the age of 88. Even though she was born on the Fourth of July she never acknowledged it as a national holiday.
(Information for the above two sections was taken from an undated monograph written by A. C. Greene, Texas Historian)
What Merrell couple buried in Merrell Cemetery tragically died near El Paso?
Thomas Merrell and his young wife, he was 35 and she was 22, were murdered Christmas eve, 1884 in their home in Sierra Blanca, 80 miles southwest of El Paso. They had recently moved there. An eyewitness to their bodies described the gruesome details to a reporter for the weekly Sunday Herald, their local paper, dated December 28, 1884. Mr. Oxner said he saw Mr. Merrill (spelled wrong) lying near a table with his head “cleft open with an axe” and his wife was kneeling at her bedside with her “head severed from her body”. Two Mexicans employed by the Merrells to make adobe bricks were suspected, but hard rains washed away their trails. It is unknown if the crime was ever solved.
(From Steve Blows Dallas Morning News column dated Friday, November 12, 1999.)
What about the slaves? Where are they buried?
Neighborhood lore suggests that they are partly buried in the backyard of a property in the 10000 block of Best, that sits at the northeast corner of Merrell and Best. The house was built in 1954 and may have been a showcase home in the famous Parade of Homes that year. The property was half an acre and later part of it on the north side was purchased by the city of Dallas to widen Merrell Road, so there may be graves under Merrell Road as well.
Black slaves were generally buried near their white owners cemeteries but several yards away. There is an alley between part of the cemetery and the back of the property.
I interviewed one of the owners of the house, Ian Dellar, who sold it around 2003. He told me he learned about the slave burial site in his backyard from Mr. and Mrs. Morris Klutts who were on the Board of Directors of Merrell Cemetery and lived on Best. Mrs. Klutts, deceased, was a descendant of the Merrells.
Mr. Dellar further explained that when he wanted to build a 35 foot greenhouse in the area of his backyard in question, his contractor was denied permission from the city. He was told that it was not allowable to sink anything lower that 6 inches into the ground in that northeast section of his yard because of the former slaves of the Merrell homestead buried there. The deed to the property lists no slave graves or restrictions. He tried 3 more times after that with no luck and gave up.
Other interesting facts about that houses’ owners not related to the slave burial ground: The owners of the property before Mr. Dillar were given permission by the city to build a swimming pool and concrete block cabana in the southeast section. Mr. Dillar used the concrete block cabana as a studio where he taught millinery. A few of his students’ hats are in the Kentucky Derby Museum. The present owners won a contest a couple years ago by the rap artist, Vanilla Ice, to renovate the cabana. It was made into a state-of-the-art entertainment center.
What happened to the land between the time of the Merrells and present day?
A Walnut grove that Walnut Hill Lane was named after stood where the Walnut Hill Recreation Center is today. Are there any Walnut trees in our neighborhood? Should we reintroduce them?
The Merrells primarily grew cotton. (There are some areas of my garden where no plants seem to thrive. They all die. I was told we have inherited cotton root rot in our soil.) The Merrells actual house was located on Joe’s Creek about 150 yards north of the cemetery and was still occupied by Joe, Eli’s youngest son, and his wife Susan in 1929. It no longer stands having been replaced with houses built in the 1950’s.
Records from October 1, 1934 show an agreement of joint ownership of 224 acres in the Eli Merrell survey and about 97.2 acres in the Ben Merrell survey by T.C. Merrell, W. D. Merrell, Maggie Merrell, J. E. Merrell, Walter E. Merrell, Julia Strait, Ada Frank, Johnson Frank, Ethel Cochran, W. M. Cochran, Lucy Howell, and J.T. Howell. Further records show Ethel Cochran selling her portion of that property to Ely Straus and Pauline Margules, wife of Leon Margules on February 15, 1950. Their plan was to build houses “restricted to residences costing not less than $7500.00” and be constructed out of brick, stone or stucco.
Further research may find other records of how the land changed hands from 1934 to the 1950’s developments when “assembly line” methods of building homes became the industry norm and the ranch and modern style house was in fashion. From the early 1950’s until the last 15 years this style was stable in our neighborhood. Many of the children of the original owners continued to live in these houses raising their own children and some chose to return to this neighborhood after living elsewhere for a while. Land values have risen faster than the value of the houses so we have seen a new wave of construction toward two-story mixed style homes being built after tearing down the older ranches. That is why Preservation Dallas, the non-profit organization dedicated to educating people on the value of preserving particular styles of homes has placed Ranch and Modern homes on its endangered list. Our neighborhood is one of the few left in the United States still mostly in tact and sought after for this style.
(Information for this section comes from copies of records found in the Dallas County Records office and is kept in our neighborhood archives.)
When was the beginning of our neighborhood housing development?
Next September, 2014 will mark the 60th anniversary of a gala event held in our neighborhood called The Parade of Homes. Sponsored by the Home Builders Association of Dallas, it took place in 1954 over a nine-day period starting September 18 to the 26th. The October 1954 issue of Dallas Home Builder magazine called it “not only the most brilliant presentation of model homes in Dallas” but it received national prominence as the most attended Parade of Homes among 200 cities celebrating National Home Week that week. Close to $100,000,000 worth of new homes, most of them 3 bedroom 1 1/2 bath brick exterior, were on display coast to coast.
Post war prosperity and GI loans stimulated the home building industry at that time. A record number of babies were born creating the need for more housing space. A new and faster way of building homes, like cars rolling off the assembly line, was imported from California.
Some time before the early 1950’s the descendants listed on the 1934 joint ownership mentioned in the above section must have sold all or part of their farmland to Gump & Gaynier, builders. They were responsible for developing what is known as the Midway Hills addition No, 4 that was adjacent to the corner of Midway Road and Royal Lane. Homes featured in the Parade of Homes featuring the latest designs sold for $20,000 to $30,000. At the same time the Brown Association was showing homes on Brockbank Street in the newly developed Walnut Hills addition west of Webb Chapel near Merrell Road. These smaller homes went for $12,500.00 to $16,500.00. These two sites were chosen for their accessibility to trafficways, parks, churches, schools and shopping districts, as well as predicted rising land values.
Judge Lew Sterrett cut a plank in half opening the event. Dallas Power and Light lit up the nighttime showings with attractive and innovative lighting. Builders like Robert J. Gump of Gump and Gayneir showed two homes in the Midway Hills Parade and two in the Walnut Hills Parade. Three were sold right away. Other builders like Gordon Nichols had six inquiries for his three homes during that week and Beverly Harris had a prospective customer for her Midway Hills home that featured a woman’s touch in decorating. Staarnor Bowman reported that “he sold his Walnut Hills parade home on Brockbank and has orders for five or six more. He also has one custom building job on order for his Pinocchio home.” (pg. 11, Dallas Home Builder, October, 1954.)
The Walnut Hill/Midway Hills Parade of Homes set a record for the number of visitors who walked through the newly built modern and ranch style homes. Over 100,000 people from 250 cities took a look at 38 houses erected and planned as a model neighborhood. Twenty-two of the 38 were sold that week. The total sales in 9 days amounted to $965,000. It was the next biggest change in our neighborhood since the descendents of the Merrell family divided up their parcels of the original cotton plantation in the 1930’s.
I’ve only been able to identify 1 house in our Homeowners Association that was actually featured in the 1954 Parade of Homes. It is in the 10,000 block of Rosser and was shown in an ad for a GE dishwasher in the November 1954 issue of the Dallas Home Builder. Mrs. Holloway, the owner of the house built by Gump & Gaynier, was quoted as saying her interior was early American and her kitchen cabinets were Phillipine mahogany so she insisted on having a perfectly matched mahogany paneled dishwasher. At that time GE provided 4 easily installed types of wooden fronts to blend in with a homeowners oak, pine, mahogany, or birch kitchen cabinets.
Should we consider having our own Parade of Homes next September to celebrate our unique neighborhood? Do you know if your home was in the Parade of Homes built in 1953 or 1954?
The famous and infamous in our neighborhood, who were they?
Thomas Scott Dean, architect, designed several Modern homes on the style of Frank Lloyd Wright in our neighborhood. Three that I know of, can be seen in the 10,000 block of Gooding, the 10,000 block of Rosser, and the 10,000 block of Better. Dr. Dean not only had his practice in architectural design in Dallas from 1946 to 1960, but after obtaining his doctorate in 1963 he taught at North Texas State, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, Southern Methodist University, The University of Texas, Oklahoma State University, and North East London Polytechnic in London, England. During his career he designed shopping centers, medical clinics, churches, and apartment buildings as well as private homes. He died in 2002 at the age of 77.
Melinda Gates, wife of Bill Gates, Microsoft tycoon grew up in our neighborhood and went to St. Monica’s Catholic school. The copper dome over the sanctuary of the church was a gift from her.
Jack Ruby had a house on Marsh Lane just south of Merrell considered to be a brothel where he entertained members of the Dallas underworld as well as local and state politicians. The property is presently for sale but the house was torn down a number of years ago. In 2003 Jim Gatewood, author of Captain Fritz & the Dallas Mafia, interviewed Tom Ladusau, a Dallas real estate appraiser who showed him the house and property and gave Jim permission to write about it in his book. The beautifully landscaped house was not visible from the street. It had a footbridge that crossed, what he said was Betty Jane Creek but is actually Joe’s Creek. Mr. Atwood met a neighbor, Milan Watts, whose father owned the adjacent property during Jack Ruby’s time. Mr. Watts told him about a wire mesh placed over wooden beams that encased the swimming pool, sunken stone garden, and Jacuzzi which housed exotic birds. Men and their escorts could be heard at all hours of the day and night in that area. Jack Ruby also had a construction company and when he contracted to build the airport at Glenrose he quarried stone from Dinosaur Park there. He also brought rocks from that quarry placing them around the Marsh Lane property. There is supposed to be a perfect specimen of a Tyrannosaurus Rex footprint in one of the rocks.
(Above information about Thomas Scott Dean comes from his obituary accessed March 11, 2002 from The Topeka Capital Journal, www.cjonline/stories/031102/obn_dean.html
Information about Jack Ruby comes from Jim Atwood, Captain Will Fritz & The Dallas Mafia, 2004: Mullaney Corporation, Garland, TX.)
Preserve our neighborhood history.
Contribute copies of documents, pictures, stories of notable people who lived here, interesting facts, and your memories, to our neighborhood archives.
Contact Walnut Hill Homeowners Association President, Bob Noyes, at president@whha75229.net.
