Junius Heights Historic District Plants Trees to Prepare for a Cooler Summer
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Junius Heights is already a cool neighborhood. Nestled in East Dallas near Munger Place and Swiss Avenue, the area is home to Dallas’ largest historic district. The residents’ latest initiative involves a partnership with Trees for Tomorrow to ensure that Junius Heights remains one of Dallas’ coolest historic jewels.
The 100-plus-year-old Junius Heights district is “showing its age in a few significant and vital ways,” said Noel Aveton, president of the Junius Heights Historic District board of directors.
“Mature street and front yard trees once shading our historic neighborhood are now near the end of their life span, quite often not replaced when fallen or removed,” he said. “Less tree canopy stresses our inner-city environment and negatively changes neighborhood character. Urban tree canopy plays a critical role in the health of all residents. It is important to maintain and plant and establish new trees to ensure the quality of life for future generations.”
In addition to providing shade during the brutal summer months, street trees offer a variety of benefits, Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee member Ryan Behring told CandysDirt.com in October 2023.
“Street trees should be near the top of the City of Dallas and private development priorities in urban development for the environmental and air quality, let alone the other benefits,” Behring said. “There is tons of research on how they enhance real estate value in addition to environmental benefits and quality of air, life, and shade.”
Preserving Junius Heights Charm
Junius Heights earned its historic district designation in 2005. It’s home to the largest collection of Arts and Crafts/Craftsman homes in the Southwest and includes Prairie and Tudor styles in a neighborhood of more than 800 homes southwest of Lakewood.
The residents — including Mark Reeves, the historic district’s VP of communications — care deeply about their neighborhood. So they teamed up with Trees for Tomorrow and asked interested residents to sign up if they wanted to receive a 10-foot- to 12-foot-tall tree planted in an area visible from the public street. Fifteen applications were approved, and Trees for Tomorrow showed up in East Dallas on Jan. 31 to plant Chinquapin Oaks, Red Oaks, Autumn Blaze Maples, Chinese Pistaches, and Cedar Elms.
The trees are “multigenerational” and will provide shade and beauty and keep Junius Heights cool for the summer for years to come.
“Our neighborhood association is voluntary, with a very active core of volunteers who work to make Junius Heights “B.R.I.G.H.T.” by beautifying our parks and streets, representing the interests of Junius Heights residents, informing our neighbors about community news and events, gathering together often for fun and fellowship, honoring our history through thoughtful preservation, and touting the reasons Junius Heights is a great place to live,” Reeves told CandysDirt.com.
