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This historic neighborhood is located on land patented in 1838 to Illinois native John Grigsby. Dallas businessman Frederick P. Wilson and his wife Henrietta Frichot Wilson acquired the site in 1898 and built their residence (2922 Swiss Avenue) and six other houses. Owned by the Wilsons for almost eighty years, the houses became the nucleus of the Wilson Block. Several early Dallas leaders rented homes here. Similar in composition, the houses in the neighborhood are representative of the city's lifestyle at the turn of the century. 2nd: Swiss native Jacob Nussbaumer, a colonist in the pioneer La Reunion settlement of the Dallas area, purchased this land prior to the Civil War. In 1898 his wife Dorothea and children sold it to her niece Henrietta Frichot Wilson (1864- 1953), the daughter of La Reunion settlers. Henriett and her husband Frederick P. Wilson (1863 - 1923) built their residence at this site in 1899 and later constructed six additional homes as rental property. Together the houses were the center of a residential area known as the Wilson Block of Swiss Avenue. The neighborhood was the home of many early Dallas leaders, including Charles D. Hill, who became one of the area's prominent architects, and Dr. Theodore L. E. Arnold, an early Dallas ophthalmologist whose son Charles pioneered in microphotography. The various architectural styles represented in the historic Wilson Block reflect Victorian and Queen Anne influences. The homes feature similarities in composition, including frame construction, clapboard siding, decorative shingle patterns, gabled roofs and intricate ornamentation. Today the Wilson Block serves as a reminder of Dallas' rich heritage and early development. |
