Another aerial photograph was taken in 1964 and showed dramatic change. In 1952 the City of Dallas finally annexed West Dallas amid heated controversy and the Housing Authority of the City of Dallas, precursor of the Dallas Housing Authority, acquired 435 acres of new- ly constructed worker housing, demolished it, and built 3,500 units of low income housing.
Billed as the answer to the cityâs Negro Housing Problem that was exacerbated by the return of servicemen follow- ing the end of World War II, the project was built over bur- row pits and lagoons that had been filled in. One lagoon which had been the Vilbig Bros. burrow pit--Fishtrap Lake --remained as well as two large sections of worker hous- ing on either side of the new development and heavy in- dustry.
1964
Courtesy of Dallas Archives and History Collection, Dallas Public Library
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