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AHistory
History · Highland Park

28% of Highland Park’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 92% of U.S. towns · #3 of 642 in Texas. What drives it

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them the Highland Park Shopping Village, a National Historic Landmark. Below: maps from 1931 on and the census since 1920.

1on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

About Highland Park’s history

How historic is Highland Park?

A

More historic than 92% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Highland Park’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Highland Park is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #3 of 642 in Texas. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.

A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Highland Park’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194027.5% of homes (±4.3) · typical TX town 1.6% · U.S. 8.4%A−National Register1 listing, 6 historic buildings, 6.8 per 10,000 residents · typical TX town 0.0 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 92%
NewerOlder
Texas towns of 2,500+ (642)#3 of 642

Few Texas towns list much on the Register (a typical Texas town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Highland Park’s 6.8 sits above most of its state (84% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 6 historic buildings outnumber those of 72% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.3 points).

Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Highland Park’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Highland Park are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.A National Historic Landmark1 place on the National Register, including Highland Park Shopping Village, a National Historic Landmark.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Highland Park’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Highland Park’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

1 historic place in Highland Park

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmark
1
Highland Park Shopping Village
historic buildings protected
6
each building in a district counts
first listed
1997
Highland Park Shopping Village
Highland Park Shopping Village★
Buildings★ landmark

Architectural styles listings

Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival1
★ Landmark
Highland Park Shopping VillageMission/Spanish Colonial Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story

How Highland Park came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Highland Park.

Read it all →

The land now known as Highland Park was bought in 1889 by a group of investors from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known as the Philadelphia Place Land Association, for an average price of $377 an acre, with a total of $500,000. Henry Exall, an agent, intended to develop the land along Turtle Creek as "Philadelphia Place", exclusive housing based on parkland areas in Philadelphia. He laid gravel roads, and dammed Turtle Creek, forming Exall Lake, before the Panic of 1893 brought a blow to his fortunes, halting development. In the 1890s, Exall Lake was a common picnic destination for Dallas residents.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Highland Park, 1931 to 2000

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1931On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 1957Born hereGino Hernandez is born here
  4. 21st century
  5. 2000LandmarkHighland Park Shopping Village named a National Historic Landmark
By decade

Highland Park, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Street scene in2015Street scene inHighland Park, Texas2007Highland Park, TexasPark in Highland Park, Texas32005Park in Highland Park, Texas3Park in Highland Park, Texas22005Park in Highland Park, Texas2Park in2005Park inHighland Park Village 22005Highland Park Village 2
On the map

Highland Park on the map, 1931 to 1995

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Highland Park. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Highland Park on the 1931 USGS mapHighland Park on the 1958 USGS mapHighland Park on the 1968 USGS mapHighland Park on the 1973 USGS mapHighland Park on the 1981 USGS mapHighland Park on the 1995 USGS map1931Carrollton sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Highland Park.

People over time

Highland Park, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,000192019401960198020002020Peak: 11,405

Between 2,321 and 11,405 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Highland Park’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

University Park10 historic placesB−

Questions about Highland Park’s history

How does Highland Park rank for history?

Highland Park is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #3 of 642 in Texas. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Highland Park?

One place: the Highland Park Shopping Village (listed 1997).

How old are the homes in Highland Park?

28% of Highland Park’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1977.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.