What happened to Fruitdale, Texas? Curious Texas investigates

New York resident and Dallas Morning News reader Jim Hall grew up surrounded by family in Fruitdale, Texas.

He has fond memories of walking to his elementary school, his grandmother’s homemade noodle strudel and the neighbor who threatened to cut children’s heads off with a butcher knife if they ever got close to her property.

However, he hasn’t heard much about Fruitdale since, which made Hall ask Curious Texas about the origins of Fruitdale and what happened to the town he misses so much.

According to the Handbook of Texas, Fruitdale was built on land owned by J.K. Sloan and G.L. Haas about three miles south of downtown Dallas.

Although there was an influx of settlers after the Civil War, the first settlers came in the 1850s. Back then, it was called Christian Valley, and it remained a quiet farming community well into the 20th century.

In 1937, Fruitdale — then home to slightly over 400 residents — decided to municipally incorporate, or begin self-governing, to avoid annexation by Dallas. Dallas Municipal Archives has Fruitdale-related material starting from that year and said that it was at this time that the name “Fruitdale” was formalized.

The population doubled by the 1950s to about 880 people. According to Hall, most of the houses in the ’40s and ’50s were hand-built, just like the one he lived in on Linfield Street that was built by his father and grandfather.

The 1950s brought struggles to the residents of Fruitdale because of droughts. By the 1960s, they wanted more city services and did not see the point of being an “island city” entirely surrounded by Dallas, according to the handbook.

In August 1964, Fruitdale presented a petition with more than 100 signatures requesting to unincorporate to the county judge of Dallas County. In a letter in the Municipal Archives from Fruitdale Councilman Byron Sykes to Dallas City Manager Elgin Crull, Sykes said that an election had been held Sept. 12 to dissolve the city.

“We, the citizens, hereby respectfully request that you, at your earliest convenience annex said area formerly known as the City of Fruitdale, Dallas County, Texas and that such area become a part of the City of Dallas,” Sykes wrote.

By that October, Fruitdale officially dissolved its corporate existence.

Today, many people don’t remember Fruitdale. Its ZIP code, 75216, is often referred to as east Oak Cliff.

Hall moved away from Fruitdale in the early 1960s because of “white flight,” the large-scale migration of white people from minority-populated urban areas to the suburbs. He now lives in New York, but still tries to maintain a close contact with his Dallas roots.

What should we answer next?

Tell us

What do you wonder about the culture, people and institutions of North Texas — and the rest of our great state? Help us investigate stories that matter to you.

No question is too big or too small. Let’s get started. Visit this link to pose your question and vote on which questions we should answer.