To many residents of her historical district, Dorothy Savage and Swiss Avenue go hand in hand. And no wonder. She first came to the street by birth, then returned to it by marriage. She watched the venerable neighborhood deteriorate as the post-World War II housing boom led to the destruction of stately homes along Gaston Avenue and their replacement with apartment houses.
And, along with her husband Wallace, she led the effort to preserve the street. In 1973, the Swiss Avenue Historic District became the first neighborhood in Dallas to receive such a designation.
In the process, Dorothy and other homeowners created the Historic Preservation League, Inc., the predecessor of Preservation Dallas. Urban renewal became recognized as a worthwhile goal. And numerous neighborhood groups from across the city learned the process by which to preserve the character of their neighborhoods.
The Savages’ legacy was honored in October when — on their 58th wedding anniversary — the city dedicated a park in the 5500 block of Swiss Avenue in their name. The triangular, paved and shaded Dorothy and Wallace Savage Park has long been a meeting place, the site of neighborhood parties and ice cream socials, as well as host to vendors during the District’s annual home tour.
“It was rather exciting,” Dorothy says simply of the dedication, expressing pleasure at sharing the honor with her husband and the other founders of the Historic Preservation League. “We all wrote letters, helped to organize.” And the people in the city government “would listen to me because of [my husband]. He was very well thought of.”
“It’s called Dorothy and Wallace Savage Park because it was really Dorothy that did the work,” says Wallace, who served as Dallas’ mayor from 1949-1951.&nbs