While families began making their homes in our neighborhood around the Civil War, it wasn’t until Sept. 9, 1882 that East Dallas officially incorporated, with Mayor George W. Crutcher at the helm. At the time, many argued the town should be called Gaston for neighborhood settler W.H. Gaston, but the new 1,429-acre city already was well known by the moniker we still use today. Crutcher’s first act was the build a school, which cost $15,000, including $4,500 for the lot where Baylor Hospital sits today. The two-story brick building included a meeting space that acted as City Hall, where the aldermen planned East Dallas’ future. Though only a city for eight short years, our pioneers accomplished a lot, including a state-of-the-art water system (see above entry), paved streets, a thriving school system and the first two church-supported hospitals in the region. East Dallas joined the “big city” on New Year’s Day, 1890. (Sources: Texas Historical Commission, The Dallas Morning News)
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