My First Home — 3809 Cole Avenue
by Paula Bosse
Home sweet home, circa 1900…
by Paula Bosse
Above is a photo of a stone house which once stood at 3809 Cole Avenue, across from North Dallas High School. It was built by John H. “Jack” Cole — probably around 1880-1900 — and it was occupied for decades by family members, up until the 1960s. By the 1980s it was owned by the Southland Corp. and was ultimately torn down around 1987 or so. And it was the very first house I lived in (…briefly).
Jack Cole was one of the sons of Dr. John Cole, an important early settler who arrived in Dallas in 1843 and whose family soon owned thousands of primo acres in what is now Highland Park and Oak Lawn.
John H. “Jack” Cole
According to a great-great grandson, Jack’s farmhouse once stood on land which is now the site of Cole Park (about where the tennis courts), and his barn and stock tank were on the land now occupied by North Dallas High School. Below is a photo of the farmhouse (it looks like it might be the back of the house); built in the 1850s (and added on to over the years), it was said to be one of the first brick houses in Dallas County (Jack had his own brick kiln on the property).
photo: Bill Gillespie
Below is the only other photo I’ve been able to find of the house — apologies for the image quality!
The smaller house seen at the top was located a short distance away.
At some point Jack Cole’s farmhouse and barn were torn down; the land for Cole Park was donated to the city by the family and became part of the Dallas park system in 1921, and North Dallas High School opened the following year.
The small stone house was occupied by various Cole descendants over the years, primarily the Miers and Warlick families. It was opened up to renters in the 1960s and until sometime in the late ’80s was rented as both living space and retail space.
My parents lived there only about a year. My father ran a small book business out of the front of the house, and my parents lived in the back and upstairs. The floors were brick and the walls were stone, and according to my mother, a lot of the mortar was gone and you could see outside though gaps in the walls. It was a very, very cold place in the winter. I was born during this time, and lived there for a few chilly months until we were off to someplace across town with better insulation.
I mentioned this house a few years ago in a post about North Dallas High School and a guy named Craig Thomas contacted me to tell me that he had lived in that same house in the 1980s — along with friends who were part of local bands The Plan and Luxor. They dubbed the house “Green Acres” because it was definitely something of a fixer-upper along the lines of the TV show of the same name. He even sent me a photo of the house from 1984! It looked a little tired by then, but it was close to a hundred years old by that time.
photo: Craig Thomas
It pleases the history geek in me to know that I started out my life living in a house built by a member of one of the most important founding families of Dallas. …I sure wish I remembered it!
1952 Mapsco
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Sources & Notes
Top photo is from the collection of Michael Warlick, a Cole descendant who grew up in the house. (Many thanks to Danny Linn for bringing this fantastic photo to my attention!)
The photo of the Jack Cole farmhouse is from the book The Park Cities, A Photohistory by Diane Galloway, credited as coming from the collection of Bill Gillespie, another Cole descendant.
The blurry photo is from Jim Wheat’s site, here (the accompanying article is very interesting, here).
The color photo is used courtesy of Craig Thomas (whose blog is here).
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Copyright © 2019 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 
Jack Cole was also responsible for the Pecan tree preservation at the entrance to Armstrong Pkwy. known as the “Million Dollar Monarch,” I’m sure you know of this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mOw7zLnd5E
Now 154 years old and in jeopardy from all the electric conduits and supports driven into the tree.
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I love that tree and hope it survives many more years. I wrote about it here: https://flashbackdallas.com/2015/12/24/celebrate-the-pecan-trees-150th-christmas/
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I remember an old lady named “Mrs. Cole” on Cornell Ave. in HP, across from Armstrong Elementary. I wonder if she, too, was a member of the Cole family for which so much is named? this would have been in the late 60s.
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Probably!
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Hi. I can’t say who built the house that i AND my dad was raised in. Oh, i was raised by my grandmother. A huge house. It looked like it was once a duplex and they demolished the separation.
2215 Worthington. If you guys get any info I would love it!
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Sorry, Pamela — I did a bit of searching and came up with nothing, I’m afraid.
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A wonderful trip down memory lane Paula and I will make sure Michael Warlick sees this post. As you mentioned in your article, his family (Cole decedents) also lived in the Cole Avenue house for a time. You may already know, but if not, North Dallas High School has been slated for $46.5 million in improvements, including a 2,000 seat competition gym that will be right across from 3809 Cole Ave. We’re hoping it will all be complete for the 100 year anniversary of the the school in 2022.
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Great news. And thanks again for getting the photo to my attention!, Danny!
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This has been a trip down memory lane for me. I came to Dallas in late 1945 to visit my relative Loudie Cole Warlick, at 3809 Cole. I loved the house ; first one I had ever seen with ceiling fans! I met my husband; married at Church of Incanation on McKinney and our reception was at Loudie’s home. A wonderful family of my kinfolk.Homer Warlick gave me a history of the family. He was my cousin and I think Michael was the one we called “Sunshine”.
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This piqued my curiosity. I was a mortuary student in Dallas in the mid 70’s and one of my favorite places to eat was the China Clipper on McKinney across from NDHS. We always knew that it had to be a soda shop prior to being a Chinese Cafe. Do you have any history on this? I still remember their egg rolls and shrimp in lobster sauce as being delicious.
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[…] In March I posted a photo of the first house I ever lived in which turns out to have been part of the historic Cole farm. The stone house was on Cole, near North Dallas High School, and my parents swore it was the coldest place they had ever lived. By serendipitous happenstance I was sent both a photo of the house around 1900 (seen below, from the Warlick family archives) as well as a photo of the house a few years before it was torn down — two photos I never thought I would see! From the post “My First Home — 3809 Cole Avenue.” […]
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This is very interesting reading for me. I’m a history geek myself. I’m related to the Cole family through Joe B. Cole, who was George Calhoun Cole’s son, who was I believe Jack Cole’s son…and so forth. Joe B Cole married my Great Aunt Nellie Alice Moser in the early 1900’s
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My name is mary I lived on cole ave. 3007. As a child. I knew a woman who lived a few houses away. We knew her as mrs. Cole. The year was between 1956 to 1962 or so . The woman I lived with was mrs.juanita sanches. She was well connected with the church on pearl st.our lady of Guadalupe. She took care of orphans and was recognized by mayor of Dallas as mother of the year. There were Victorian homes everywhere.
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