Article Title

Proposed Dallas West End Square Park City Of Dallas, Dallas County, Texas

Authors

Jennifer Hatchett Kimbell
Michael Hogan
Catherine Jalbert

Agency

Texas Historical Commission

Abstract

Terracon Consultants, Inc. (Terracon) was retained by the Dallas Park and Recreation Department (Client) to conduct a mechanical trenching survey at 607 Corbin Street, the location of the proposed West End Square Park in Dallas, Dallas County, Texas. This location is within the Westend National Register Historic District, designated in 1978. Since the proposed undertaking will occur on land owned or controlled by a political subdivision of the State of Texas, this project was subject to the Antiquities Code of Texas (Texas Natural Resources Code, Title 9, Chapter 191). This project was conducted under Antiquities Permit #9218. Jenni Kimbell served as Principal Investigator and Michael Hogan served as the Project Archeologist. Project records will be submitted for curation at the Center for Archaeological Studies at Texas State University, San Marcos. Artifacts collected during the course of the investigation were not unique or of particular scientific or historic value. A request to discard all artifacts collected was submitted to the THC on September 11, 2020 and received concurrence on September 28, 2020. Accordingly, all artifacts collected will be discarded.

The proposed project area comprises an area of approximately 0.78 acre, most of a city block. Between January 6 and January 10, 2020, Terracon archeologists monitored the excavation of five exposures, or “blocks,” to the bottom of historical-era deposits and five trenches, within those blocks, to soils that appear to predate human activity in the New World. The historical-era deposits appear to be resting on, or in, these ancient soils. These excavations revealed evidence of historical-period use of the project area but only one partially intact feature (Feature 3) that can be specifically related to any of the features depicted on contemporary Sanborn Fire Insurance maps. Seven other features represent either more recent concrete walkways or foundations or are difficult to interpret as belonging to any mapped historical-period structures. Site 41DL555, which encompasses the majority of the project area and represents multiple overlapping and inseparable components and includes Feature 3, was registered with the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory. Terracon recommends this site as not eligible for listing as a SAL or for inclusion on the NRHP due to its lack of potential to provide new information about any of the industries or residences represented by the site, or about the Westend Historic District. The site does not meet the criteria for eligibility for either of these distinctions. No prehistoric cultural material was identified.

Based on the lack of intact cultural deposits, it is Terracon’s opinion that no deposits associated with archeological sites eligible for listing as State Antiquities Landmarks (SALs) or for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) are present within the project area and that no further archeological investigation is needed. In the event that human remains, historic properties, or buried cultural materials are encountered during construction or disturbance activities, work should cease in the immediate area but can continue where no cultural materials are present. Terracon, the Texas Historical Commission’s (THC’s) Archeology Division, or other proper authorities should be contacted.

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