Dream and Reality: The Selective Implementation of the Kessler Plan in Dallas

Abstract

This research examines George Kessler’s 1911 A City Plan for Dallas to understand the gaps between the ideals of the City Beautiful era plan and impact on the realized physical design of the city. As inequality rises in our urban centers (insert citation), it is increasingly important for us to understand our social and political environments that shaped the landscapes that physically reinforce that inequity. As stated by Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar in their history of Central Park, “its meaning as a public institution also has two dimensions: its political character as property and its cultural character as an open space [emphasis added].”1 This research takes a granular approach to understand the political and cultural character of the Kessler Plan and its impact on public space in Dallas in the early 20th century by studying the different treatments of two parkway plans recommended by the Kessler plan: Turtle Creek and Mill Creek. These creeks had similar recommendations in the Kessler plan, but only Turtle Creek Parkway was implemented.

Through case study comparison of these two design elements from the Kessler plan, the research analyzes primary and archival data to spatially map impacted areas and interpret correlating societal values that overlap with what was implemented and what was not. This research concludes that race and class, power of private citizens, and government disinclination to address issues of equity in the city played a significant role in how the plan was implemented and what still exists in the urban landscape today.