Home Specific Projects Dallas, TX With Their Hearts In Their Hands: Forging A Mexican Community In Dallas, 1900-1925
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With Their Hearts In Their Hands: Forging A Mexican Community In Dallas, 1900-1925
 
Bianca Mercado, B.A.

Thesis Prepared for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS May 2008

pp 65–71

"Dallas even utilized Kessler’s skills in 1906 when its State Fair Association hired him to study the fair grounds and facilities and make suggestions for the long–run. Kessler, whom the Association only paid $1,000, produced detailed maps of drives, walks, and buildings and offered many suggestions like the construction of a fair administration building. In 1910, the park board of Dallas retained Kessler again to provide direction in the creation of a park system. In 1911, the park board and City Plan and Improvement League hired Kessler once more to develop a plan for Dallas for a salary of $1,250. The report he produced, known as the Kessler Plan, ‘dramatically shaped the course of expansion within Dallas.’

“The Kessler Plan was much more than just a plan for expanding the park system of Dallas. The plan, published in the form of an annual report from the park board in 1911, encompassed the entire city and addressed everything from its transportation facilities to its flood control mechanism. Kessler recognized that Dallas, a typical railroad terminal town that had grown according to the dictates of land speculation, had not taken into consideration the need for the creation of continuous thoroughfares throughout the city or for room for downtown commerce to expand. The plan he created specified nine areas for improvement.”

”Dallas would once again hire George Kessler in 1918 to update his plan based on the growth that had taken place in Dallas since his original plan. It made no new proposals, only revisions. In 1927, the city commission appointed the Ulrickson Committee, which formulated a nine–year capital budget program with eighty–one proposed projects. They in turn produced the $23.9 million Ulrickson Plan, an updated version of George Kessler’s 1911 plan.

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