offering new homes for $ 2,750 in Grand Prairie . The four-room 480 square-foot frame houses could be purchased for $ 500 down and $ 35 a month . Considering that Arlington ’ s black population only grew from 357 residents in 1950 to approximately 384 in 1960 while the rest of the city ’ s population grew 482 percent during the same period , it seems likely that blacks chose to live in cities such as Grand Prairie , Dallas or Fort Worth where housing opportunities were greater . 19
There was little reference to a Hispanic population during this boom period . Census figures do not give an indication of the size of this ethnic group in Arlington at that time . A cursory review of the 1960 Arlington City Directory tends to suggest that there was a very small Hispanic population . Occupations for the heads of the households included employment as electricians , mechanics and mechanical engineers for such industries as American Airlines , Bell Helicopter , American Can , General Motors , Convair and Chance Vought as well as housekeepers , a janitor and a gardener . Listed addresses revealed most lived among the general population in new subdivisions in houses constructed in the 1950s . 20
Arlington ’ s growth in population put strains on the public school system . At the end of World War II , the city had four public schools : J . A . Kooken Elementary serving the north side , South Side Elementary , Booker T . Washington School for the city ’ s black students , and Arlington High School . The high school only served white students ; African American students attended Fort Worth ’ s I . M . Terrell High School if they wished to continue their education beyond elementary school . To meet the growing population ’ s needs , the Arlington Independent School District ( ISD ) put forth a number of bond elections in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s to expand existing facilities and to purchase land and construct new schools . As a result of a bond election in 1948 , West Side Elementary at Summit and Border was the first school constructed after the war . The demands on that school were so great that it received an addition in 1950 . Another bond election that year allowed for the construction of another elementary school in 1951 to serve students in the northwest part of the city ( Maxie Speer Elementary ). A $ 950,000 bond election in 1952 resulted in the construction of an elementary school off of New York ( C . B . Berry Elementary , the largest elementary when it opened in 1954 ) to serve students in the rapidly growing east side . The bond issue also allowed for the purchase of land for an elementary school in south central Arlington in the Park Row area . 21
For the fall semester of 1952 , Arlington public schools had a total enrollment of 2,565 , 235 more students than what were enrolled at the end of the 1951-52 school year . In 1953 , it was announced that a new band hall , named in honor of Hooker and Tommy Vandergriff for their long-time support of the school ’ s band , would be constructed for the high school . That same year , the school district was enlarged by the annexation of four county school districts — Grace Chapel , Watson , Johnson Station and Pantego . The school buildings for all of these districts except for Grace Chapel were incorporated into the Arlington ISD and placed in use for a few years . The former Grace Chapel students attended C . B . Berry Elementary School . The fall semester of 1953
19 For an in depth history of “ The Hill ,” see Terri Myers , The Hill : Arlington ’ s African-American
Communities ( Austin : privately printed , 1999 ), particularly pages 13 and 16-19 for a discussion of the postwar years ; Arlington Journal , November 14 , 1947 and October 1 , 1948 . It should be noted that the 1960 Census did not differentiate between African American and other “ nonwhite ” groups so the actual number of black residents likely was less than 384 . 20 1960 Arlington City Directory . 21 Arlington Journal , August 26 , 1949 , Arlington ( Texas ) Citizen April 27 , 1950 , November 23 , 1950 ;
Arlington Journal , December 21 , 1951 and June 27 , 1952 .
FINAL REPORT
ARLINGTON HISTORIC RESOURCES SURVEY UPDATE
SEPTEMBER 2007
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