Winnetka Heights
Dallas, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Promoted as Dallas' ideal suburb, Winnetka Heights was platted in 1908 on a tract of land that was originally included in the midway addition to the city. The neighborhood's developers, outstanding men who made other significant contributions to the growth of Dallas, were L. A. Stemmons, T. S. Miller, Jr., R. S. Waldron and J. P. Blake. The majority of houses in Winnetka Heights were constructed by 1915. During the early years of the neighborhood's development, the prairie school and bungaloid styles of architecture were predominant. Later homes reflected influences and variations of the bungalow theme. Dallas Mayor J. Waddy Tate is listed among the many prominent civic, business and professional leaders of the city who lived in Winnetka Heights during the 1920s and 1930s. Characterized by a strong neighborhood identity, the area remained virtually intact following World War II, despite increased urban development and changing growth patterns throughout Dallas. Today Winnetka Heights serves as a reminder of the city during the early part of the twentieth century.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Platted in 1908 and promoted as Dallas's "ideal suburb," Winnetka Heights was largely built out by 1915 by a quartet of prominent developers who shaped much of the growing city. Its early streets favored the Prairie School and bungalow styles then in vogue, and it drew civic and business leaders — including Mayor J. Waddy Tate — through the 1920s and '30s. With a strong sense of identity, the neighborhood survived the post-World War II sprawl largely intact.
Why it matters
The district preserves an early-twentieth-century vision of the American middle-class suburb, from its Prairie and bungalow architecture to its enduring neighborhood identity.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · J. Waddy Tate
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Texas Theatre
Dallas, TX
Opened in 1931 as the largest suburban theater in Texas, the Texas Theatre was an "atmospheric" movie palace designed to transport audiences, its Venetian-court auditorium glittering with 118 twinkling stars beneath a painted night sky. Built at the commercial heart of Oak Cliff with rare Motiograph sound equipment, it drew crowds for decades. On November 22, 1963, it earned lasting fame when Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested in its auditorium after the Kennedy assassination, and later renovations, a role in the film "JFK," and a foundation's rescue kept this landmark alive into the twenty-first century.
Oak Cliff Masonic Lodge
Dallas, TX
Designed in 1919 by prominent Dallas architect Herbert Miller Greene, this Oak Cliff building housed the largest Masonic temple in Texas by 1923, with some 1,900 members. Its 10,000 square feet include a basement and two large second-floor lodge rooms, one soaring to twenty-foot ceilings, and the exterior has scarcely changed since a 1940s remodel of the front entry. The original lodge sold the building in 2004, but several Masonic groups still meet in its upstairs halls today.
The Baptist Standard
Dallas, TX
This influential Baptist newspaper traces its roots to 1888, when Lewis Holland and John H. Boyet founded The Baptist News in Fannin County. Relocated to Dallas and renamed The Baptist Standard in 1892 under J. B. Cranfill, it moved between Dallas and Waco before settling permanently and, in 1914, coming under the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Guided by editors like J. B. Gambrell, it grew into the largest state paper in the Southern Baptist Convention.
Bilbo Jitney Line, Headquarters Site
Dallas, TX
Before Dallas had public transit on its west side, Victor Bilbo filled the gap with a fleet of Model T Fords. Beginning in 1915, his jitney line carried nickel-a-ride passengers — packed three deep, some clinging to the running boards — from downtown out to Cement City, Irving, and other fringe communities, and he often ferried people to hospitals and funerals free of charge. New state franchise laws finally replaced his jitneys with buses in 1927.