Donation from Park Cities Historic and Preservation Society


Park Cities Historic and Preservation Society Makes Donation to Park Cities Heritage House
September 18, 2009

Gary Smith, President of Dallas Heritage Village, was presented with a generous donation from the Park Cities Historic and Preservation Society (PCH&PS;). Members of the Board of PCH&PS; presented funds from the 2009 Home Tour for ongoing preservation of the Park Cities Heritage House (c. 1908), which was moved to the Village in 1986 and was the second home built in the Park Cities.

“Dallas Heritage Village has enormous challenges in maintaining the historic buildings which have been entrusted to their care, so the PCH&PS; saw the importance of sharing some of the funds from their 2009 Home Tour for this purpose,” said PCH&PS; President, Sandra Cude.

“The purpose of the Home Tour is to demonstrate the value of preserving our homes," said PCH&PS; Chair Cynthia Beaird, “and what better way to help preserve an important Park Cities house than by sharing funds from the Home Tour with Dallas Heritage Village to care for the 2nd home built in the Park Cities.”


Pictured Above (left to right):
Melissa Prycer (Director of Education, Dallas Heritage Village),
Gary N. Smith (President, Dallas Heritage Village),
Sandra Cude (President, Park Cities Historic and Preservation Society),
Bruce Harbour (President-Elect, Park Cities Historic and Preservation Society)
and Cynthia Beaird (Chair, Park Cities Historic and Preservation Society)

Dallas Heritage Village Featured on TV




April 5, 2009...Fox 4's Lone Star Adventures

Did you miss Richard Ray's Lone Star Adventures on Sunday, April 5?
Click here to see the feature on Dallas Heritage Village.

Dallas Heritage Village Featured in The Dallas Morning News


Dallas Heritage Village looks to the future, too
by Robert Miller
April 5, 2009

Gary Smith thinks Dallas Heritage Village at Old City Park is one of the city's best-kept secrets, a veritable oasis in the city.

Of course, you might expect him to say that since he's the president and executive director of this oasis at 1515 Harwood St.

Smith is working on projects to raise the public profile of Dallas Heritage Village, whose mission is to preserve structures, artifacts and other significant materials and events related to Dallas and North Texas from 1840 to 1910.

"We have more than 28,000 artifacts in our collection, currently exhibiting 8,500 of them," Smith said.

Pop quiz

But first, let's review some events that illustrate the village's rich and vivid past.

Did you know that City Park became Dallas' first park when James J. Eakins donated 10 acres in lieu of taxes in 1876?

And did you know that eight additional acres, originally owned by the Browder family, were acquired in 1881? That land included Browder Springs, the city's first public water supply.

OK, all you animal lovers, did your grandparents or great-grandparents tell you where the city's first zoo was located?

That would be City Park, too, in 1890 or 1891. And guess how many deer it had?

Two.

In 1892, the zoo added two mountain lions, two eagles, two bears and some rabbits (you know how rabbits multiply, so we'll keep that number general).

The zoo moved to Fair Park around 1910 on its journey to its permanent site on Marsalis Boulevard in Oak Cliff.

The Dallas County Heritage Society was founded on Jan. 19, 1966, at a meeting in the Dallas Public Library. On Feb. 18 of that year, society president Mary Batts Aldredge and a group of women faced down bulldozers to stop the demolition of the Civil War-era Millermore home on Bonnie View Road in Oak Cliff.

In 1967, Millermore was reassembled at City Park, and the Dallas County Heritage Society became a nonprofit educational corporation.

From that point forward, the local collection of the area's past gained speed.

The real deal

"Dallas Heritage Village is an accredited history museum by the American Association of Museums," Smith said. It has 38 historic structures on 13 acres in the Cedars neighborhood.

On Nov. 21, the Cedars will host the seventh annual Cedars Open Studios to showcase the neighborhood's unique collection of working artists and eclectic mix of businesses.

During Cedars Open Studios, Dallas Heritage Village participates by offering free admission to the museum, highlighting the village's potter and blacksmith performing their trades as they would have during pioneer times.

Smith points out that every year, more than 32,000 schoolchildren and thousands of families and tourists visit the village.

In 2003, the Dallas Heritage Village Board of Trustees formed a committee to come up with a plan to maintain the village's relevance for future generations.

The fundraising for Phase 1 is finished. The goals of this phase are to accommodate more schoolchildren, provide all ages a wider variety of learning experiences and become a visible cornerstone in the Cedars neighborhood.

Dallas Heritage Village will get a new entrance off Harwood Street and improved paved parking. Gano Street will be closed off by installing fencing around the perimeter of the property, and utility lines will be rerouted to prepare for future expansions.

On the drawing board are a new visitor center and education building and a children's amphitheater. The costs are estimated at around $3 million.

Contributors

Contributors to Phase 1 of Dallas Heritage Village's capital campaign include the city of Dallas, with a commitment of $1 million in bond funds. An additional $800,000 has been committed by individual, corporate and foundation donors.

Major donors are:

$100,000: Mr. and Mrs. Erle Nye, the Hoglund Foundation and Mr. and Mrs. Mark Masur.

$25,000 to $99,999: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Diane and Hal Brierley, Angela L. Fontana and Andre M. Szuwalski, Nita and John Ford, Betty Smith Josey, Gail and Bill Plummer, TXU Corp. (now called Energy Future Holdings), Sharon S. and Robert A. Wooldridge, and the J.D. Williamson family.

$10,000 to $24,999: Mike and Sandy Albright, Cedars TIF, Marie and John Houser Chiles, Susan and Charlie Cooper, Mr. and Mrs. Orrin Harrison III, Shirley and William S. McIntyre, Ann D. Phy, Charles and Regina Pistor, Mark and Sandy Singer, Mary and Pat Spillman, and the Summerlee Foundation.

Additional support came from Balfour Beatty Construction and Commerce Steel/Mark Singer.

Dallas Heritage Village is supported by the city of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, the Texas Commission on the Arts and donations.

Call 214-421-5141 or visit www.DallasHeritage Village.org.

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS.