Comments on: Inside Old Parkland

By: kate

kate — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:41:41 +0000

I have gone through hundreds of pictures for Old Parkland - our firm is doing an oral history for Crow Holdings, highlighting her rich history - I just had to say your pictures capture are wondering - the light is PERFECT. The feel you’ve captured is remarkable.

thank you

By: rezeski

rezeski — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:39:59 +0000

Marvelous set of photos. Not being from Dallas, these sorts of “historical” photo essays help me to build a sense of place, topos memori…

By: Carlitos

Carlitos — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:20:46 +0000

Those are great photos. I’ve always wanted to explore in there. Curious old spot. Glad they’re going to renovate it.

By: James Michael Starr

James Michael Starr — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:46:59 +0000

I attribute part of my awakening as an artist to my best friend, Terry, whom I met at Garland’s Austin Junior High in the mid 60s. It was just before he began a downward spiral that would last the next, and last, six years of his life. From time to time I’d visit him, at Woodlawn or at Parkland’s psych ward just up the road, where his drug-enhanced schizophrenia earned him room and board.

The last time I saw Terry alive he’d graduated to Terrell State Hospital but skipped out one day to track me down in Oklahoma City. Next thing I heard, he’d set himself on fire, like a Buddhist monk protesting the war going on inside his own brain.

Having been away from Dallas for more than twenty years, I’d been unable to fit the jigsaw-puzzle piece I call Woodlawn into my current picture of Oaklawn. As painful as those memories remain, and as relatively inconsequential as the street address might seem, it’s good to finally find a place for it all in reality, instead of out there in the fog of a bad dream.

By: Karen Gempel

Karen Gempel — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:02:20 +0000

Fascinating! Crow’s crew has actually done a very good job w/rennovation, though secretly, I prefer the spooky,untouched look.
The red brick buildings there today were actually built in 1913, and were the second set of hospital buildings built on that spot…called
“Parkland” b/c the land, purchased from the city, was originally meant to be a park. Brochures from the time extolled the high, open country atmosphere and fresh breezes as the perfect setting for the recovering TB patient.

You can sort of imagine it if you’ve ever stood by the waterfall sign and checked the view.

By: bill holston

bill holston — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:51:24 +0000

Wonderful shots Sarah Jane. I love the drawer photo in particular.

I don’t know when it closed but the building housed Woodlawn, a minimum security jail in the early 80’s. I visited prisoners there.