Orchard Hills Neighborhood Association

3rd Quarter Orchard Hills Neighborhood Association newsletter:
Adobe PDF format: 2016 Jul-Sep Newsletter

The digital version of the 2nd quarter Orchard Hills Neighborhood Association newsletter can be viewed by clicking on the following links:
Adobe PDF format: http://www.ohna.us/newsletters/2016/2016%20Apr-Jun%20Newsletter.pdf

The digital version of the 1st quarter Orchard Hills Neighborhood Association newsletter can be viewed by clicking on the following links:
Adobe PDF format: http://www.ohna.us/newsletters/2016/2016%20Jan-Mar%20Newsletter.pdf

Fall 2015 635 East Update

By John Willis

Over the past two months 635 East has been discussed at a number of meetings in Garland. The North Central Texas Council of Governments (the CoG for short) hosted one at Garland’s Fire Administration building, and two at the Garland Police Station, while the city council held an off site work session (which unfortunately, being off site at the Hyatt in north Garland, was not recorded for broadcast on the city’s cable channel or the website).

It was important for the city council to come to a consensus about the locally preferred option for the lanes and other details. Multiple resolutions passed by the council state we prefer the same configuration, all the way from US 75 to IH 30. The final recommendation is for five main lanes in each direction, two express lanes in each direction (which might be tolled, but more on that later), and for Garland the most important consideration – continuous service roads.

The biggest problem with having a 5-2-2-5 for the entire length is the Oncor power line right-of-way between Centerville/Ferguson and La Prada. At the last meeting TxDOT representatives presented a solution that fits in that space, yet does not inflate the project cost.

The biggest problem in getting 635 East built, now that what it will look like is settled, is how to pay for a $1.5 billion project when there is still insufficient TxDOT funding, despite passage of Props 1 and 7, and the ending of diversions from the highway trust fund. This one project would use $1.5 billion of the $2.5 billion that Prop 7 is projected to provide annually. That would leave little for other needed projects statewide. Downtown Houston alone is looking at a $6 billion project on IH 45. Without additional funding allocated by the legislature there simply is not enough money to pay for these crucial mega projects in urban areas.

The CoG proposes tolling the express (or managed) lanes on 635 East from US 75 to Miller/Royal. Depending on whose numbers are used, that might generate anywhere from $300 million to $500 million over a varying number of decades, and provide some additional funding for the project. The CoG believes this is the only way to generate enough more money to pay for the project, but any tolling authority must finally come from the legislature, which because of constituent pushback due to all the tolled highways we have now, is not likely inclined to approve any more tolled projects anywhere in the state.

If approved in time, and if funding can be identified, 635 East could be under construction as soon as early 2018. We have another legislative session in 2017, giving legislators a chance to allocate much needed additional resources to providing for the myriad transportation needs across Texas. Tolling any part of 635 East might not be necessary. Let’s hope the legislature can sort this out. The process for the reconstruction of 635 East started nearly 30 years ago! Everyone agrees that it is past time to get our part of IH 635, the LBJ Freeway, done!

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 5^th 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.

The digital version of the 4th quarter Orchard Hills Neighborhood Association newsletter can be viewed by clicking on the following links:
Adobe PDF format: http://www.ohna.us/newsletters/2015/2015%20Oct-Dec%20Newsletter.pdf