Neighborhoods

Kessler Park Conservation District

The Kessler Park Conservation District is located in north Oak Cliff, bound by Interstate Highway 30 on the north, Stewart Street on the south, Sylvan Avenue on the east, and Plymouth Road on the west. Part of this area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its collection of 1920-1940s bungalows and larger revival style houses.

On March 19, 1923, R.H. Stewart sold a parcel of land in north Oak Cliff to S.A. Temple to develop the first section of Kessler Park, the Kessler Square Addition, just ten days later. On November 30, 1923, J.B. Salmon, president of the Kessler Highlands Development Company, filed for the second addition to Kessler Park: the Kessler Highlands Addition. The first two additions of Kessler Park offered a variety of revival style cottages on smaller lots with lush landscaping and regular setbacks.

Two more additions to Kessler Park occurred in 1924 when R.H. Stewart and E.S. Owens, president of the North Texas Trust Company, platted the Kessler Park Addition immediately north of the Kessler Square Addition, and the Second Kessler Park Addition in the northwest area. These additions include many of Kessler Park’s formal Tudor and Spanish Revival houses, and served as home to several of Dallas’ political elite in the 1920s and 1930s. They are perhaps best known for their hilly terrain, which the developers retained through curved streets and irregularly shaped lots.

On May 25, 2005, the Kessler Park Conservation District was established and includes the original four additions of Kessler Park as well as the three postwar developments Kessler Woods, Sam Dealey Estates, and Timbergrove. With its diverse historical architecture, lush landscaping and hilly topography, as well as its proximity to downtown, Kessler Park Conservation District remains an appealing and historic Oak Cliff neighborhood.

Author: Michelle Stanard
Editor: Michael Hazel
Photographs: Allan Fagan