One theory about achieving recognition holds that if you don’t toot your own horn, no one else will. The Swiss Avenue Women’s Guild is heeding that advice, and in its less than two-year existence has completed several promotional projects and started several more.
You may have seen the Historic Swiss Avenue self-guided tour on tape at the Dallas Museum of Art gift shop or at Preservation Dallas. That’s the group’s work. So is a new visitor’s brochure.
And so are the coffee mugs at the DMA bearing photographs of individual Swiss Avenue homes, and the gift set that includes a package of Swiss chocolate coffee.
What you probably haven’t seen is the document granting the group non-profit tax status, the parties and meetings that have drawn residents together, and the plans for neighborhood improvements.
Guild chairwoman Suzanne Palmlund says she and neighbors formed the women’s group two years ago to help increase friendship and cohesiveness along the eight-block section of Swiss Avenue that is the core of the Swiss Avenue Historic District. Membership is open only to residents of Swiss Avenue between La Vista and Fitzhugh, which contains 106 homes. Initially, 38 women joined, and membership has gradually grown to 60.
“In one year, we got to know each other and our dogs and kids through our visits and events,” Palmlund says.
Although the organization is largely a social club, its goals quickly outgrew that description. Building local, regional and national identity for Dallas’ first exclusively residential district and one of its most architecturally and historically rich neighborhoods became a mission.
“We have some of the finest early 20th century architecture in the country, and yet not many people know about us,” Palmlund says.
“We decided we were tired of being the best-kept secret in not just the City but the nation.”
Dallas is not aggressive about marketing its historic assets to visitors compared to places such as New York City, New Orleans, San Francisco and Philadelphia, Palmlund says. Visitors often ask where to find Dallas’ historic areas but may not receive accurate information from hotels and other sources, she says.
Now that the tour and souvenirs are available, the guild is moving to Phase Two, which includes sprucing up the neighborhood’s public areas, producing a video highlighting the area’s exterior and interior architecture, creating an Internet web site, and installing a permanent display of neighborhood architecture and history at the Lakewood Post Office.
“We will be applying for a grant to light the eight-block median and to add more landscaping to it – maybe azaleas,” Palmlund says.
“We also plan to install signs on the lamp posts identifying the area as Historic Swiss Avenue.”
Because the group strives to get sponsors for most of its promotional endeavors, the proceeds of any sales can be used for neighborhood charities. Each year, guild members select programs in the area to benefit from their success.
“The people who saved Swiss Avenue in the 1970s worked about 10 years, and now it’s our turn to take the next step,” Palmlund says.
“We feel we are caretakers of these homes for the future. We don’t try to live in the past, but we try to preserve history for the next generation.”
For information, call Palmlund at 214-821-0136.
