Hilliard Memorial Golf Course

Hilliard was billed as the first municipal golf course for Black players in the South. Before it, Black golfers had only six holes added to Moore Park in the 1930s. In 1954, as the city took the land back for Love Field, parks director L. B. Houston told Leo Shead, president of the Dallas Negro Golfers Association, that no rule barred Black residents from the city's courses. Until then Stevens Park, Cedar Crest and Tenison had admitted them only on designated days. The blues guitarist T-Bone Walker was photographed teeing off at Hilliard in 1952.

What the plaque says

Hilliard Memorial Golf Course From 1950-1954, the Elm Thicket - Northpark neighborhood boasted one of the nation's only golf courses open to African Americans. When the City of Dallas built Love Field, they did not use all the property they had acquired. In 1949, the city loaned 65 acres to the parks department for a golf course. The facility was named after Thomas J. Hilliard (1889-1939), who worked to secure the site. The course featured nine holes and a pro shop on Lemmon Avenue between Grove Street and Hawes Avenue. Over 800 people attended the course's dedication on April 16, 1950. Those in attendance included Dallas city officials, Dallas Negro Golf Association president Leo Shead, Negro Chamber of Commerce representative James Taylor, Elm Thicket residents and enthusiasts from around the state and nation. The new site continued to draw visitors, tournaments and newspaper headlines. Notable golfers included V.W. Ross and Ike Oliver. Hillard hosted a Juneteenth celebration in 1950. Even as the course grew in popularity, Love Field experienced unforeseen growth. A January 1953 bond election provided funds to expand the city's airports. Love Field's plan expanded into the site occupied by the golf course's pro shop and four of the nine holes. After the pro shop closed, the parks department waived all fees and golfers continued to enjoy the course, even though they had to bring their own equipment. On May 17, 1954, bulldozers razed portions of Hilliard as golfers continued to play their rounds. Further expansions in 1955 erased the course entirely. During its years of operation, Hilliard Memorial Golf Course stood as a beacon of Black resiliency and athleticism in the face of Jim Crow segregation of public facilities. (2024)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Dallas Museum of Art — 4.2 mi
  A city art museum that began as the Dallas Art Association in 1903, grew up in Fair Park, and has stood in the Arts District since 1984 under a forty-foot barrel vault.
• The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza — 4.5 mi
  A plow-company warehouse of 1903, identified by the Warren Commission as the building Oswald fired from, now a museum on its sixth and seventh floors above Dealey Plaza.
• Dallas Heritage Village at Old City Park — 5.4 mi
  Dallas's first city park, laid out around Browder's Spring in 1876, now a museum of historic buildings moved here from across North Texas, among them Millermore, a cotton planter's mansion.
• African American Museum, Dallas — 5.9 mi
  Founded in 1974 at Bishop College, a free Fair Park museum holding the Sepia photograph archive, African art and A. Maceo Smith's papers, and the story of the Hall of Negro Life.

More markers nearby

• Oath of Office of President Johnson — 0.7 mi
• Love Field — 0.7 mi
• Texas' First Airmail and Passenger Service — 0.7 mi
• Junior League of Dallas — 1.1 mi