Little Egypt
32°51'56.1"N 96°42'51.6"W
Look for a dirt alley just west of 10051 Shoreview Rd, Dallas, TX 75238
Once you’ve arrived, press play on the audio link below. Feel free to scroll the information below as you listen.
LITTLE EGYPT 1865-1962
Little Egypt was one of several Dallas area freedmen’s towns. A freedmen's town, in the United States, refers to an African-American municipality, communities built by freedmen, former slaves who were emancipated during and after the American Civil War. These towns emerged in a number of states, most notably in Texas.
Little Egypt began after the Civil War, when the site was deeded to former slaves Jeff and Hanna Hill, when they were freed by their master in 1865. By 1880 they had built the Little Egypt Baptist Church, and the community became known as Little Egypt because the residents were delivered from bondage, as in the biblical story.
Though Little Egypt was officially within the Dallas city limits, it remained a distinct community until 1962, when developers bought the thirty to thirty-five acre tract, which was across the street from Northlake Shopping Center, for retail development. This purchase followed a November 1961 rezoning of the area for retail use. At this time community residents were served by dirt streets and lacked running water, electricity, gas, and indoor plumbing. Residents fought for but failed to get running water into Little Egypt even thought they could see city sprinklers watering nearby Flag Pole Hill.
Of the twenty-eight families who owned land in the community, two-thirds wished to find new homes close to one another. Since the houses in Little Egypt were dilapidated and some residents feared the buildings would be condemned, they were in favor of selling the land. In May 1962 the 200 residents of Little Egypt moved to their new homes, led by community patriarch William Hill, who was eighty-nine at the time. The families were given enough money to buy new houses and most of them settled either in Oak Cliff or in Rockwall County.
This is a photograph of Little Egypt in 1962. Next door to expensive Dallas homes was this neighborhood of houses with no running water where all of the roads were made of dirt.
This is a picture of William Hill as he prepares to move out of Little Egypt. To Hill, it meant a new home with indoor plumbing, plus an extra $22,000 cash.
White Rock Coffee sits on the southwest corner of what was once Little Egypt.