In 1873, brothers Karl and Ludwig Axe sold their property near the present-day Ross Avenue in Dallas. Karl took his share and bought a farm south of the small town of Garland. The original site of the Axe farm was to be in the modern Park Cities but the title was not in order. The property lines are described in the deed with terms like: “from the waters of Duck Creek”, and “forty yards from the spike set by the Smith Survey”. In today’s terms, the farm’s West side followed the MKT railroad tracks (Garland Road) from Northwest Highway, North past the branch of Duck Creek (later called Axe branch) that crosses Garland Road North of Axe Drive. It then turns East near the present KRLD towers until it joins Duck Creek. The East side runs South down Duck Creek from the branch to Kingsley. Eventually, Karl acquired most of the area to 5th Street. The line then turns West and follows Kingsley to Saturn, where it turns South again to Northwest. The South side is completed by running to the beginning point at Northwest and Garland.
The name, Orchard Hills, came from Karl’s Pecan Orchard, located along the banks of Duck Creek. Karl’s house wasn’t in Orchard Hills, although his farm contained most of it. He lived where Southside Assembly of God is currently located, near the intersection of Axe Drive and Garland Road. Karl (now spelled Carl) had, at least 6 children. One of his sons, John, owned a mill near the Garland Road bridge over Duck Creek. Another of Karl’s sons, Will and his daughter Elizabeth inherited most of the current Orchard hills. Elizabeth married J.D. Carney and built the large house on the North side of Carney Drive. Will’s son, Fred, lived in the white frame house on the Southeast corner of Carney and Larry Dr. Carl’s son (my Grandfather) Charles Christian, lived near the site of Axe Memorial United Methodist. His son (my father) was born in that house in 1900. My father, Herbert W. Axe was the first member of our branch of the family to actually reside in Orchard Hills. He had been transferred to Odessa (where I was born) before WWII, and moved to the stone house at 1105 Carney Drive in 1949. Eula and I were married in 1973 and, after living in several places in the South side of Garland, bought a house just across Kingsley from OH on Marydale.
Eula and I have lived in OH since 1986, living for a few years in my parent’s house on Carney, then moving to our current home on Treasure in 1989. If you live in any part of Orchard Hills South of Axe Branch, I probably played in your house while it was under construction.
On Carl Axe and Bertha Axe Miller’s Tombstone in the old Garland cemetery at Miller and Saturn, their names are spelled Karl and Berta Mueller Axe on one side and Carl and Bertha Miller Axe on the other. I suppose that this was just in case God spoke German. Axe Memorial United Methodist Church on Kingsley and the former First Lutheran Church at Saturn and Carney were both built on land donated by members of the Axe family.