In 1952, the Knights of Columbus, a fraternal Catholic organization, moved to 7333 E. Northwest Highway, just east of Abrams, and opened a neighborhood pool used today by about 500 local families. The club also rents out its hall, which seats 250 people, for weddings, receptions and seminars.
Now, DART plans to purchase the eight-acre site and turn it into one of DART’s new northeast light-rail line stations connecting Downtown to Garland along the old MKT railroad tracks.
The line is scheduled to be fully operational in 2002, and DART estimates up to 15,000 people will ride the line daily. Station locations will be finalized this fall.
DART’s Jack Wierzenski says the Knight’s location is perfect. The Knights agree, and they’re not happy about their potential eviction.
“If we have to move far away, we feel we’ll lose members over it. We’re centrally located,” says Patrick McKeever, the group’s leader and Grand Knight.
The neighborhood chapter of the Knights, Council 799, draws most of its 1,000 members from five churches located near the club. These churches benefit from the funds raised by pool fees and hall rentals, funneling the money to disabled and disadvantaged parishioners.
The churches served are St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Patrick, St. Bernard’s, St. Pius X and Christ the King. Forty-nine-year-old McKeever, a Bryan Adams High School graduate, attends St. Bernard’s. He joined the club in 1983 after making friends at the pool, he says.
The Knights is an international club and insurance agency formed in 1882 in Connecticut by a Catholic priest. It was founded to help immigrant Irish fathers look after their families. The group sells insurance to its members and operates an annual college scholarship program.
In addition to helping disadvantaged neighbors directly, the club sends money to the Knights of Columbus state headquarters in Austin, which filters money to bishops throughout Texas for charity projects.
Council 799 is 93 years old, one of the oldest councils in Texas and the first council in Dallas.
Pool memberships account for most of the club’s money. A limited number of non-members, about 300 this year, are allowed to purchase a summer pool membership on a first-come, first-served basis at a price of $200 per family. The pool is open Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Families sign up to purchase pool memberships a year in advance, says Club Manager Patrick Brutton.
“We have three pages of a legal pad full of people waiting,” says 74-year-old Brutton, a Knight since 1954.
Brutton, who is originally from Ireland, says the current Knights building is old and constantly in need of repairs, but he doesn’t want it torn down.
The club is his social outlet, he says.
“I have made a tremendous number of friends,” he says.
So far, no deals have been finalized between DART and the Knights. A purchase price has not been discussed, McKeever says.
Wierzenski says DART and the Knights possibly could share the property and the new parking lot. The club only needs four acres, Brutton says. Sharing the site is preferable to him, but he says the parking lot could become crowded in the summer because of the large number of pool users.
If DART shares the location, the Knights could end up with a new building and new pool Wierzenski says.
Pool member and neighborhood resident Theresa Daniel says her family would miss the pool if the club moves, but she thinks the site will be good for DART.
“You always hate to see the things you use taken for the benefit of the larger community,” Daniel says.
“When it affects you personally, it’s a shock. But objectively, it makes a lot of sense to put it there.”
