dallashistory

Located in the old Cockrell Hill area and soon to be a site for an Arts Colony, and following the myth La Reunion, the concrete trestles date from 1903 to 1933,and are examples of what transportation was in the area and how they have survived today, other examples of the once failed source of travel exsit in the Oak Cliff area as landmarks of an almost Roman cultural age..as theses concret landmarks age and weather....

I've seen a photo of this land with the old trestle .... very lovely and unique. And it was a part of the original Cockrell estate, then?

another key structure rides over the old cedar creek area, where the old oak cliff dump is, located in the east, while dating back to the late 1880s, looters, or men who value gold have sifted much of the site for such in the past 9 years, no state agency will do somthing about this..and the strutures look great in the backgound all concrete

A recent article in CliffDweller Magazine indictes that an arts group has taken over the 35 acre site west of Cockrell Hill. I don't know what their long range plans are for the place, but they are having some kind of tree carving exhibition there this Saturday.
Here's a link to the article:
http://www.advocatemag.com/oak-cliff/ha ... g.html?c=y
I haven't been that direction since Oct. but I did notice some activity then.
Paul

So Mr. Troup ~ what (or, who) contributed to the preservation of the trestles?

Was the La Reunion colony really a myth, or rather a dream which never came to fruition ... fell through the cracks of the unforgiving Texas soil?

Ms Cedar, the trestles are now becomming a solved issue, after having spoken to one of the builders of the new art colony who wants to get a more in depth story of the escarpment, while ...the trestles date to the late 1920s possible, i am judging they do becuase of the wood mold prints or relifs left on the very odd and modern roman aquadect looking structures, while the large 4 story landmarks are stained and aged well.

Mean while La Reuion was not a myth, i have 24 diffrent types of brick, hand pressed from wood molds from the colonist who made the colony structures,which lasted to around 60 to 80 years....todays search turned up a very good article on the history and study of Austin Chalk and how it was used at the colony site by Dr David Hill 1936, anything more C edar, how about a glass of ice tea....until then..A/T..

I'm pinned to a board 'Tis my sad fate, but is better than losing my wings to this wind (I guess).

You were the one who said La Reunion was a myth ... so I was just asking

Now, there was a French colony, also, in northern Denton County. Its settlers gave the lovely name of Island of the Trees (Isle du Bois ~ that's 'Zillaboy' for all of you city folk) to the creek which flows up there. What became of them?

Then there was the Icarian colony ~ located in the vicinity of present-day Justin. Some of those people drifted down to Dallas when hope gave out. And there's a neat old guy whose land covers the area, and he thinks that he's found the remnants of the settlement through dowsing with a rod. He has an old schoolhouse on his place, too.

I don't start drinking tea on ice till spring good and sets in, but thankee

Sorry, Sharon ~ that should have been Island of the Trees.

Still wrong ~ Isle du Bois = 'Island of the Woods'; 'Woodsy Island'? Anyway, the settlers were noticing (not that they could have helped!) the Eastern Cross Timbers -- that 'forest of iron' which, in the early years, was almost impenetrable. But most people think of it as an 'island of trees.' I'm not sure if the translation could be stretched that far or not. The oak trees do extend as little islands or fingers into the Grand and Blackland Prairies.

Clyde your very much the man to know this kind of history on the Interurban history,thank you , while Mrs Cedar, the myth of La Reunion is pretty much due to the fact no colonies exist in terms of landmarks except Fish Trap Cemetery where Bonnie Parker was buried in 1934, while Herbert Nobel the cat a gangster from the 1950s wars, was blown up and buried there, due to his Santeere family background....and so Fish Trap Cemetery is the only real landmark of the 1855, colony that later moved to Dallas ,Lancaster, Denton, Irving, Grand Praries, Ft Worth and Pilot Point....both of you have made som very good remarks on this Intresting story....a.t

I have been trying to work with these folks at La Reunion to get a historical recognition on the standing structures, while i had worked onthe Interurban Buildings on Jackson Streets historical designation in 1999, and so this is just on site the Ft Worth line that goes through Cockrell Hill, shut down around 1936..

The neat thing,is these sites are now being realized, and with your imput clyde, this is going to do more to make these landmarks real for the future......and so by all means, look up La Reunion, the art colony and give them your imput...a/t.

I can hardly see a train of any kind pass by without thinking of Mr. Clyde Howard!

Alex, did some of the colonists from La Reunion, then, make their ways up northward and give Isle du Bois Creek (now mostly flowing beneath Ray Roberts Lake) its name ~ or was this, perhaps, another group entirely? Seems like I knew once, but have now forgotten.

The Icarian settlement was established a few years earlier than La Reunion, and was very short-lived. The gentleman on whose property the site is believed to lie thinks he has located its unmarked cemetery. Here is what Old Faithful has to say about that sad colony:

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/onli ... /uei1.html


Correction: that should have been Sra. Cedar, Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. ... Troup

Too, I was wondering whether previous owners of this property just chose to coexist with the trestles ... rather than having them torn down. While Clyde mentioned the other Interurban remnants, such structures seem to be rarities in their survival.

Icaria, Ms Cedar was estb around 1848/49, giver or take a month, then fell to the elements of nature and bad water, 9 men died and the colony of 69 men ,fractured into many places, 2 in Ft Worth and several to Pilot Point, Denton, and Lewisville....the old town of Justin is the colony location, while no signs have been found of the archaeolgical wonder, most of their store good and tools were left behind, mules ran off and wagons and carts found empty or filled with baggages and tents, dusty and torn up by animals ...a ghost expedition, and layed where it did for 20 years in the out back of the brush, many felt the area was cursed and so the remains of this facanating story came to light in the 1900s when farmers came across the remains fo the old colony store goods and dugouts....