Bluffview Estates

Bluffview Estates opened in 1924 after J.P. Stephenson and F.M. Drane, who also developed Greenway Parks, paid $59, 427 for a 215 acre dairy farm located about six miles outside the city. Prior to 1924, the Bluffview area belonged to Ernest Brown and his wife, Nannie Cochran Brown. Nannie Brown was the descendant of William and Nancy Cochran, who had moved from their land grant near Farmer’s Branch to the Wilson Baker Survey near Bachman Creek (an area formerly known as Brownings Branch), and developed the first corn mill in Dallas County as well as sowed one of the first wheat and cotton crops in the county.

The original addition of Bluffview Estates is bound by Lovers Lane on the south, Bachman Creek on the north, Taos Road to Cherokee Trail on the east, and Midway Road on the west. During the mid 1920s Bluffview Estates remained the northernmost Dallas suburb, and residents could regularly catch sights of grazing cattle on their way to work downtown. Due to Bluffview’s raised topography, Bluffview Estates offered scenic views of the farmland to the north as well as the 60-foot bluff of Austin Chalk bordering Bachman creek (the bluff for which Bluffview is named).

During Bluffview’s early development, local architects such as Harre Bernet and Ralph Bryan built on oddshaped lots to accommodate and maintain Bluffview’s many trees, winding creek, and natural topography. Bluffview’s scenic terrain also attracted such noted architects as Charles Dilbeck, who designed several houses in Bluffview, as well as O’Neill Ford, who designed one of his first houses for artist and Bluffview resident, Jerry Bywaters.

In 1940 Dallas city officials tried to annex Bluffview, but received mixed opinions from the residents. While some residents felt that Dallas annexation would provide better water service and new parks that would benefit the growing neighborhood, other residents such as E.R. Fuess, W.G. Bradford, and J.J. Schaefer felt that the city had purposely made mistakes in its survey of Bluffview, and that annexation was only a “subterfuge way for the city to unlawfully tax property owners.” After two years in court and growing approval from the residents, District Judge W.L. Thornton ruled in favor of annexation, and Bluffview Estates became part of the city of Dallas in March of 1943.

Today, Bluffview Estates offers scenic views and rolling hills just twenty minutes north of downtown. Though residents of Bluffview Estates can no longer catch sweeping views of farmland, Bluffview continues to offer vistas from the 60-foot rock bluff. With its mature trees, winding creek, and gently rolling hills, the natural beauty of Bluffview Estates makes the neighborhood unlike any other in North Dallas.

Text by: Michelle Stanard
Edited by: Michael Hazel
Photographs by: Michelle Stannard

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