Vickery

Vickery was at a site that is now on Loop 12, State Highway 75, Interstate Highway 635, the Southern Pacific line, and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas line in north central Dallas County. It was located on the original land grants of W. Jenkins, D. Barrow, N. McGraney, and W. P. Wyche. The area was originally settled by John J. and William Jenkins in the 1850s, and a small settlement began to develop around the Jenkins homes. The Houston and Texas Central Railway built through the community in 1873, but by 1900 it was still a small settlement of a few scattered houses. In the early 1900s before World War I, John E. Vickery laid out and promoted a townsite, which received a post office in 1912. Ten years later the community had 200 residents, six food and drug stores, four automobile repair shops, three churches, a bank, a cotton gin, a dining hall, and a public school. It had no water or fire department facilities. The population of Vickery fluctuated between a high of 800 in 1927 to a low of 200 in 1933. By 1939 the number of residents had increased to 650, and by 1941, to 1,000. Dallas annexed the community in March 1945. In 1991 the residents living in the area of Vickery still retained a strong sense of community and were working to redevelop and preserve this historic site.