Highland Park, TX

Highland Park began as a deliberately composed landscape around water and trees. In 1890, Philadelphia Place Land Association president Henry Exall dammed Turtle Creek to create Exall Lake, but the Panic of 1893 stopped that first venture. John Armstrong later acquired the land, and in 1907 his sons hired Wilbur David Cook, the planner associated with Beverly Hills, to lay out the new development. Cook reserved about 20 percent of the original acreage for parks, helping make Turtle Creek, curving streets, and landscaped public ground part of the town's structure from the outset. Residents voted to incorporate Highland Park in 1913; Dallas later pursued annexation until 1945. Dallas borders the town on three sides, and Highland Park is paired socially and geographically with University Park as the Park Cities.

The housing landscape reflects over a century of building, replacement, and enlargement. Early houses, later traditional designs, and recent custom construction can occupy the same block, so the value of an address may include a structure's documented condition, its lot, and the rules governing what comes next. The town's Community Development department handles permits for construction, remodeling, repairs, and exterior work; its zoning office also reviews combined building sites. A buyer considering an addition, teardown, pool, retaining wall, or lot combination should test the concept against current zoning and permitting before treating it as part of the property's potential. Turtle Creek adds another parcel-level question. Highland Park publishes FEMA flood information and requires additional review for work in mapped flood areas, making elevation, drainage history, prior water entry, insurance terms, and planned improvements especially relevant near the creek and low ground.

Highland Park Village gives the town a commercial landmark with national design significance. Designed beginning in 1928 and constructed from 1931 through 1941, with a later 1953 unit, it grouped shops around internal parking and a unified Spanish-influenced architectural plan. The National Park Service's landmark documentation describes the complex as pivotal in the development of the American shopping center and influential on later suburban retail design. It remains an active cluster of stores, restaurants, offices, and services at Preston Road and Mockingbird Lane. The surrounding town has very little commercial land by comparison, so daily errands often cross into Dallas even when the home address, police, library, parks, and permitting authority remain Highland Park's. That municipal independence shows up in everyday service arrangements as well as the name on a mailing address.

Turtle Creek also shapes local recreation. Lakeside Park follows the water with paths, a bridge over the dam, open lawn, and the oversized Teddy Bear sculptures that have become an unmistakable family-photo stop. The town maintains 22 park locations totaling about 59 acres, a significant public footprint within its compact boundaries. At Town Hall, the Harvey R. "Bum" Bright Library offers storytimes, clubs, local programs, and a place to linger outside the park system. Transportation changed in 2026: DART service inside Highland Park ended, and the town launched Highland Park On-Demand in May for local trips, paratransit, and connections that include Mockingbird Station. A prospective resident who expects to use transit should test the current booking rules and transfer, since an older route map no longer describes the trip. A remodel permit comes from Town Hall, the library shares that civic complex, and a walk along Turtle Creek reaches parkland Cook reserved at the beginning.