PRESTON HOLLOW, DALLAS, TEXAS

'Preston Hollow' is an established prestigious neighborhood in north Dallas, Texas (USA).
Originally incorporated as a municipality in 1939 and provisioned by the Preston Road Fresh Water Supply District, the town of Preston Hollow was named for the deep wooded area with creeks and hollows extending westward from Preston Road. Preston Hollow originally extended from east of Preston Road, slightly north of Walnut Hill Lane, west of Midway Road and southwest of Northwest Highway. In 1945 Preston Hollow residents voted to join with the city of Dallas in 1945 and the municipality was annexed to Dallas shortly thereafter.

Today the neighborhood is ''extremely'' broadly defined by real estate professionals as land to the north of Northwest Highway (SH Loop 12), south of I-635, east of Midway Road and west of North Central Expressway (US 75). Yet the approximate two-square mile area lying north of Northwest Highway, south of Walnut Hill Lane, east of Midway Road and west of Preston Road remain the essential boundaries of 'Old Preston Hollow'. Traditionally, the two square mile area bounded by Preston Rd, Royal Ln, Hillcrest Rd & Northwest Hwy is also included in a slightly broader description of Preston Hollow (as those residents are grouped into the Preston Hollow Elementary scool district), but much of this area is not truly within the traditional definition of Preston Hollow.
Prominent residents of 'Old Preston Hollow' include newly-elected Dallas mayor Tom Leppert, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, former Dallas Cowboys Roger Staubach & Chuck Howley, Stream Energy Chairman Rob Snyder, billionaire investors Harold Simmons, Robert Dedman Jr. & Boone Pickens, sports team owner (Dallas Stars, Texas Rangers & Liverpool F.C.) Tom Hicks, software developer Larry LaCerte, noted trial attorney & Democratic party fundraiser Fred Baron and former Dallas Mayor Laura Miller and her husband Steve Wolens (retired Texas legislator).
Former noted residents of Old Preston Hollow include U.S. President George W. Bush, former American Airlines Chairman Bob Crandall and the late cosmetics magnate Mary Kay Ash. Presidential candidate billionaire Ross Perot, Dallas Cowboys football coach Wade Phillips and former Dallas Stars captain Mike Modano also live just outside of the Old Preston Hollow area.
Houses in Preston Hollow are among the most expensive in the state and have continued to increase in value in recent years. Currently houses range up to US$20,000,000.

The most expensive estate in the greater Preston Hollow area, a US$45 million mansion, caught fire while still under construction. The original owner combined several lots for what would have been the biggest house in Dallas. The most expensive home currently available in the Preston Hollow area is the Park Lane estate owned by software developer Larry LaCerte, which is priced at $40 million.

Contents

Preston Hollow in the news

Education

Public schools

Private Schools

Notes and references

Preston Hollow in the news

In 2006, Preston Hollow Elementary School achieved notoriety after a lawsuit claiming the school's class-assignment policies violated the 1952 Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision. Judge Sam Lindsay ruled in November that the school's practices were not legal because they attempted to keep white students together even if minority students had to be placed in inappropriate courses; this ruling was mis-cited in at least one local paper as indicating that "all-white" classes had been created.^[1]
The defendants noted that not a single "whites-only" class existed in the school, and that placement was based on test scores; however, Latino claimants in the suit argued that their children were placed in bilingual or English as a Second Language classes even when test scores suggested they should be in a general education program.^[2] The district's attorneys also argued that no harm had been caused to the minority students, prompting the trial judge to write, "The court is baffled that in this day and age, that [DISD relied] on what is, essentially, a 'separate but equal' argument."^[3] The policies were criticized in the judge's ruling and in subsequent news articles as being an attempt to lessen white flight by attracting more parents from the surrounding, mostly white community to keep their children in the local public system rather than sending them to private schools.

Education

Public schools

Dallas Independent School District operates local public schools
Preston Hollow is zoned to:

★ Grades K-6

★
★ Preston Hollow Elementary School

★ Grades 7-8

★
★ Benjamin Franklin Middle School

★ Grades 9-12

★
★ Hillcrest High School
All of the zoned schools are located in Dallas.

Private Schools

Private schools located in North Dallas which are very popular with Preston Hollow residents include:

★ Grades 1-6

★
★ Preston Hollow Presbyterian School

★ Grades Pre K-8

★
★ St. Alcuin Montessori School

★ Grades Pre K-12

★
★ Greenhill School

★
★ Episcopal School of Dallas

★
★ Parish Episcopal School

★ Grades 1-12

★
★ Covenant School

★
★ St. Mark's School of Texas

★
★ Hockaday School

★ Grades 9-12 only

★
★ Ursuline Academy of Dallas

★
★ Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas

Notes and references

1. Kent Fischer. "Ruling: Classes divided by race: At Preston Hollow, principal tried to appease affluent parents, halt white flight, judge says," ''The Dallas Morning News'', November 18, 2006
2. Matt Pulle. "Split Decision," ''Dallas Observer'', January 11, 2007
3. 2nd ref


★ Preston Hollow Housing Statistics

★ http://www.lydiaplayer.com/f-dash.asp?Page=146227.html