Faith, Family, Friends, Fun and the Annual Juneteenth Celebration Are Tenets of Elm Thicket

Faith, family, friends and fun are the four tenets of the Elm Thicket/Northpark (ETNP) neighborhood. In other words, if there is an opportunity for a celebration the ETNP neighborhood has no qualms about everyone pulling out their grills, baking some of the most delicious treats to ever come out of an oven, and sharing it all with their neighbors.

For the sake of full disclosure, my husband, Gus, and I moved into Elm Thicket — sometimes pronounced Ellum Thicket by legacy neighbors — in 1995. We started out in a duplex one block off of Lovers Lane and lived there until a two-story home was no longer feasible. We considered moving to the north Dallas/Plano area so Gus could be closer to work but after one day of looking elsewhere, we realized Ellum Thicket was home and our neighbors were family. In 2008, we bought a home two blocks away from our duplex. It is the best decision we ever made for our family. 

While once a predominantly African American neighborhood, ETNP is now a neighborhood of people of diverse backgrounds, nationalities and beliefs. This past weekend, neighbors gathered to celebrate the 15th Annual Elm Thicket/Northpark Juneteenth Celebration. Juneteenth celebrates the day enslaved people in Texas were informed they were free on June 19, 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Neighbors who lived in the duplex next to ours would have a Christmas celebration called Las Posadas which reenacts Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging in Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus. 

Learning about those customs and respecting our differences is what makes Elm Thicket a unique and fun place to live and, when it comes to Elm Thicket/Northpark, there is a lot to learn.

Elm Thicket/Northpark Started as a Freedman’s Community

During last year’s Juneteenth Celebration, Elm Thicket/Northpark unveiled a Texas State Historical Marker celebrating the neighborhood as a Freedman’s Community. With formerly enslaved people being displaced and relocated around Dallas, records show that Elm Thicket was initially settled in 1881 and was thriving as a community by the 1920s.

“The history of Elm Thicket/Northpark must be remembered and celebrated,” said former District 6 Councilmember Omar Narvaez at the time. “I am thankful that the State of Texas historical marker will be around for generations to come. Together, we will continue to build upon that history.”

“What people do not realize is that Elm Thicket used to be twice its size,” said Dr. Myrna Dartson, an Elm Thicket/Northpark resident. “Before the Love Field expansion in the 1950s, Ellum Thicket residents had their own businesses and restaurants and they were thriving.”

At that time, the boundary for the neighborhood extended west of Lemmon Avenue to Cedar Springs Avenue but when Love Field expanded in 1954 those homes and businesses were lost as well as Hilliard Memorial Golf Course, the first municipal golf course for blacks in the South. 

Also lost were the groves of elm trees from which the neighborhood derived its name. In what is considered Elm Thicket/Northpark today, it is old growth elm trees planted along the parkways that create the beautiful canopies neighbors enjoy.

Many of the residents who were displaced during the expansion relocated to the current day boundaries of Elm Thicket.

“Neighbors take care of one another,” Dartson said. “This is what our faith calls us to do and how a tight knit community grows and thrives. It is also why we are so protective of Elm Thicket. We know the struggle of the neighbors who lived here before us.”

Juneteenth Celebrates the Ancestors and Welcomes All Neighbors

“This is a beautiful and vibrant community with a rich history,” said Kimberly Sims, an Elm Thicket/Northpark resident since 2005.

While she did not grow up in Elm Thicket, Sims spent a lot of time in the neighborhood visiting her grandparents and aunts and uncles. It only seemed natural to live here. 

“It was close to family,” Sims said. “The trees are beautiful and it was close to my grandparents. Elm Thicket felt like home.”

“We are the kind of neighborhood where when Big Mama turned 108 we had a drive-by parade for her since it was during COVID,” Dartson said. Affectionately known as Big Mama by everyone who lives in the neighborhood, Eva Johnson was the oldest ETNP resident at that time. 

“There were so many neighbors who decorated their cars and drove by her house to wish her a happy birthday. It is moments like that where you see the true Elm Thicket/Northpark: a neighborhood where we support and look out for one another and are always looking for someone or something to celebrate.”

Gus and I participated in the parade to celebrate Big Mama. There were at least 50 cars in the procession. While we did not know her personally, it did not matter. She was our neighbor and an ancestor to the Elm Thicket/Northpark neighborhood. It was an opportunity to create a bit of shared history with our neighbors. 

It goes back to the four tenets of faith, family, friends and fun that continue to be woven into the fabric of this amazing community.