Lower Greenville, Dallas, Texas

Lower Greenville is a neighborhood in east Dallas, Texas (USA), west of Lakewood. Specifically, the neighborhood is the area adjacent to Greenville Avenue south of Mockingbird Lane and north of Belmont Avenue. The area south of Belmont Avenue is often, and more specifically, called "Lowest Greenville," and the area north of Mockingbird Lane is called "Upper Greenville." "Lower Greenville" is also used to refer to the neighborhoods surrounding Greenville Avenue, including Vickery Place, the Belmont Addition, Greenland Hills (the "M Streets"), and Stonewall. It straddles Dallas Council Districts 14 and 2. [http://www.dallascityhall.com City of Dallas] - [http://maps.dallascityhall.com/otherservices/cd02_e.pdf Council District 2 Map] (PDF). Retrieved 4 October 2006.] [http://www.dallascityhall.com City of Dallas] - [http://maps.dallascityhall.com/otherservices/cd14_e.pdf Council District 14 Map] (PDF). Retrieved 4 October 2006.]

About

Lower Greenville is a major entertainment district in Dallas south of Mockingbird Lane containing many popular bars, restaurants, boutique stores and live music venues. Although most of the bar and restaurants of Lower Greenville host the annual Saint Patrick's Day parade, it is Upper Greenville (north of Mockingbird Avenue) that serves as the parade route. The Lower Greenville area hosts a big Saint Patrick's day block party between Vanderbilt Avenue and Vickery Boulevard on Greenville Avenue after the parade. Lower Greenville has benefitted somewhat by the decline in popularity in recent years of Deep Ellum, especially with the renovation and reinvention of the Historic Granada Theater (constructed in 1946 as a Movie House) in recent years as a major music venue (hosting many music acts that would have performed at the now defunct Gypsy Tea Room in Deep Ellum), and indeed voted most popular live music venue in Dallas by the Dallas Observer in 2007 and 2008. [ [http://www.dallasobserver.com/bestof/2007/award/best-live-music-venue-747951/ www.dallasobserver.com: Best Live Music Venue] ] .

History

In the early 20th Century, Greenville Avenue was one of the most important roads in Dallas, serving the new residential areas in East Dallas and indeed played the part that the North Central Expressway (US 75)) plays today. Before the construction of the North Central Expressway in the 1950s, Greenville Avenue was the main route from Northern Dallas into downtown, with the H&TC railroad occupying the current location of North Central Expressway. In the 1910s, Goodwin Avenue was at the far north end of Greenville Avenue and served East Dallas including the Belmont Addition and Vickery Place Addition. In the 1920's, the Greenland Hills Addition was platted North of Vickery Place, and Mockingbird Lane became the northern boundary of the City of Dallas. Prior to the mid 1920's, Greenville Avenue was known as the "Richardson Road" or the "Richardson Pike". Before the construction of the North Central Expressway in 1950, Greenville Avenue was the main route to Richardson, Plano, McKinney and north to the states of Oklahoma and Arkansas. It is for this reason that the "Lower Greenville" area was developed as one of the most important centers in Dallas for shopping and restaurants, especially the area comprising "Lowest Greenville" in modern times. The arrival of the automobile in Dallas was via Greenville Avenue, and even today the Lower Greenville Avenue area is a hot spot for automobile and motorcycle enthusiasts. This is especially true for what is arguably the center of the Lower Greenville area, the intersection of Goodwin Ave and Greenville Ave, which has been a popular gathering spot and watering hole since at least the 1930s. [ [http://www.vickeryplace.com/greenville www.vickeryplace.com: A history of Greenville Avenue] ]

References