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Heritage Oak Cliff Grants
Kiest Park Community Group
Published: 10 April 2017
Growing Community Effort
Kiest Park Community Group Neighborhood Association evolved from the original Perryton Drive Neighborhood Group, which was founded in 2008 by four women residents. In 2012, as more residents became active with the association, leadership felt a name change was in order to be more inclusive of the whole neighborhood. In the Spring of 2012, Kiest Park Community Group became an incorporated neighborhood association with the State of Texas and City of Dallas, as well as joining Heritage Oak Cliff and obtaining our 501©3 status. We have an active Crime Watch and a V.I.P./Volunteers In Patrol group.
1,440 single-family homes built from 1947 through 1953
Our neighborhood consists of approximately 1,440 single-family homes built from 1947 through 1953, in an area bounded by Hampton Road, S. Polk Street, W. Illinois Avenue and Kiest Boulevard. Kiest Park Community Group borders Kiest Park on the north and east sides, and we’re proud to be neighbors to the second largest park in the City of Dallas Park System. Several original housing editions make up the neighborhood – Clearview Estates/Clearview Park 1, 2, 3 & 4; Edgefield Heights; Summit Lawn 2; Wynnewood 4 & 5; East-O-Kiest. We surround a majority of the Summit Lawn 1 & 2 editions, which have their own neighborhood group.
At bit of the neighborhood’s development history, as published in the Dallas Morning News March 31, 1949, article by William Allen Ward:
500 Homes To Be Built On Site Of Old Airport *
"Five hundred economy-prices houses will be built within the next eighteen months on the site of the old Clearview Airports in Southwest Oak Cliff by the Clearview Park Corporation, Hub Hill, president of the corporation, said Wednesday. The 5- and 6-room homes would be prices from $6,000 to $7,500, Hill said. He expects 300 of the new houses to be finished in 1949 and the remainder to be ready for occupancy next year. Clearview Corporation bought the site from Mrs. Harold Volk, owner of Clearview Airport, for $250,000. Preliminary work on the project, being constructed under Federal Housing Administration regulation, started in early March. The first of the new homes was nearing completion Wednesday. Foundation has been laid for 103 others and street paving will start within a week. All city utilities will be extended to the development, Hill said. The homes will be placed on the market as soon as paving has been completed and utility services extended to the houses, Hill said. Designers of the addition said most of the streets would be continuations of well-known streets in Southwest Oak Cliff. Included are such thoroughfares as Hollywood, Montreal, Hampton and Illinois. Clearview Park is within the city limits, having been annexed several years ago with a large section in the vicinity of Kiest Park. The area has been used for more than twenty years as an air field. During recent years, it had been known as Clearview Airport. It was used as a training center for air cadets in World War II. After the war, Mrs. Volk continued to operate the field as a private airport. The Texair Aviation School had been located there several years, but recently moved to Red Bird Airport.”
*Note: Even though the airport ceased operating, the airport hangars remained in what is now the retail shopping area at the southeast corner of S. Hampton Road and W. Illinois Avenue. All of the roof trusses for the homes in the neighborhood were built in the airplane hangars.
From a historical Dallas Morning News article published December 13, 1949 (no author noted):
Land Bought For Roadway *
"The Dallas Park Board Monday bought a 2,500-foot strip of land along the north side of Kiest Park to build a roadway connecting Hampton and Rugged Drive. The board approved the $2,000 purchase from Dallas Builder Hub Hill. The strip is twenty-five feet wide and Hill will give another twenty-five feet to build a 50-foot street. It will separate the park from Hill’s adjoining residential subdivision.”
*Note: That roadway is now known as Perryton Drive, from the 2300 block on the west to the 1700 block on the east, the current full northern side length of Kiest Park.
Good neighbors and stewards
Kiest Park Community Group strives to encourage revitalization and renewal of our residential properties and community as a whole, while being good neighbors and stewards to Kiest Park. We are proud of our history and our current diverse demographics.