McCree Cemetery: Photo by Carol Toler
Preservation Dallas’ Most Endangered Historic Places List annually calls attention to some of our city’s more interesting structures and locations.
“Historic resources are irreplaceable community assets that tell the story of the city’s development.” note the founders.
Among the listed properties is the Lake Highlands-based McCree Cemetery, about which we published a brief history in 2013 when Preservation Dallas awarded the graveyard $200,000 for renovation and a study. (Our cemetery has appeared on the list in the past.)
McCree Cemetery is situated between an apartment complex and a neighborhood of single-family homes on Estate Lane. The 300 or so graves date back to the mid-19th century. The plots are segregated by race — blacks on one side and whites on the other, according to a story we published in 2014.
Dinah Jackson
Among the many interesting families and individuals buried at McCree is Dinah Jackson, 1831-1908. A newspaper clipping from 1908 states that she was one of Dallas’ earliest settlers and that her family was “one of the best known in the county,” adding that her funeral was one of the best attended in Dallas history. The Jackson family built and owned a general store near Forest-Audelia.
The purpose of the historical society’s list is to “recognize significant properties that make up our neighborhoods and reflect the lives of community leaders, important architects and builders, and the families who made Dallas their home … places that are important to the diverse history of our city and … tied to the neighborhoods and communities where they are located. Nary a place in our neighborhood fits the bill better than McCree Cemetery.
That’s not to say Lake Highlands doesn’t have a robust history — just ask resident historian Ted Campbell, who we interviewed several months back.
Look forward to our November issue in which we will time travel in Lake Highlands history and lore with stories about the former KBOX radio as well as a piece about an old neighborhood called Little Egypt.
