Today in Old Map Porn: A 112-Year Old Look at Who Owned What in Dallas County

• Rowel Hunnicutt is also listed as b. December 23, 1851, Dallas County, Texas, d. January 07, 1940, Accident.

• William C. Hunnicutt is all over the interwebs. Apparently moved here in the 1840s and was married to a (pioneer Dallas family) Beeman girl. He received a 3rd Class Headright Grant which entitled him to 640 acres (single guys only got 320 acres) with a requirement of three years residence. Third-class headright grants were issued for those who settled from 2 October 1837 to 1 January 1840. Realize that the map shows original land grants and abstract numbers on it. Those are not necessarily the land owners at the time the map was printed..

• If your replacement doesn't post items like this, or the old photos, I'm never coming to this site again. This is why we will miss RW.

• You obviously have never worked with the fine folks at the Texas/Dallas Archives & History division at the Main Library downtown or you wouldn't have made such an ignorant comment.

• Wow.  That is awesome.  I've been looking at this thing for an hour or so, and I'm not even done with the far-northern part.  

• You should look at this map at Historic Mapworks with the great overlay of the aerial and current road imagery. It puts a whole new perspective on it. http://www.historicmapworks.com/Overlay/?m=504052&c=US 

• where are all the saloons on mckinney and all the men with the guns that have "bang flags"?

• This is riduculously awesome!

• A ton of the background behind the names and places on that map, in addition to the map itself, can be found on Jim Wheat's Dallas County Archives website. He's put up a ton of information on the internet that he must have transcribed by hand from old documents and records. The old Sam Street's map is confusing at first. If you are trying to figure out what is where, just remember that graveyards and railroad tracks are in the same places now as they were back then. For instance, if you wanted to find White Rock Lake just look for the old Cox Cemetery on the map, on present day Dalgreen. The Calhoun Station listed on the map where Fisher currently crosses under Mockingbird was just recently uncovered during some stormwater drainage work. Pretty cool that it was still under all that rail ballast.  

• Looks like he's in luck:  http://www.dallaslibrary2.org/hours.php

• Has JWP seen this? The colors used on this map are obviously racist. And look at all that open land waiting to be developed. Just think of all the 'equity' opportunities missed.

• Good luck with that. With the current state of Dallas libraries you would have to find one that is: A) Open on a Saturday B) Has the reference materials and/or rescources you want. 

• Thanks for posting this fascinating map. I always wondered where the name of my street (Hunnicut Rd.) came from.  Now I'm curious about W.C. Hunnicut and R. Hunnicut. I may have to spend a Saturday at the library sometime to see if I can dig up more info.

• Thanks, Robert. That's the map I like to use when I give the lecture about why West Dallas and Oak Cliff don't get along with the other side of the river. Tales of fixed elections, coincidental ferry breakdowns, etc. Long history.

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