Peak's Suburban Addition, Dallas

Peak's Suburban Addition is a historic residential neighborhood and City of Dallas Historic District in east Dallas, Texas (USA). The district's boundaries are, roughly, N. Fitzhugh Street to the northeast, Sycamore to the northwest, Peak Street and Haskell Street toward the southwest, and Worth Street along the southeast. Peak's Suburban is East Dallas' oldest subdivision and oldest residential neighborhood.

The land that encompasses much of the district now was formerly a plantation settled by Jefferson Peak. Peak was a veteran of the Mexican War. Peak was an early Dallas real estate developer. Peak purchased land and built a home in 1855 at the corner of Worth and Peak streets, and it was the first brick house in Dallas.

Peak, like many early settlers, was a beneficiary of large land grants. He reportedly traveled through East Dallas on his way to fight in the Mexican War in 1846 and never forgot the territory, eventually making it his home. Peak, sometimes referred to as the "father of East Dallas," initially relocated to Dallas in 1855.

Some claim the area is, in fact, older than the city of Dallas itself, as Dallas was chartered in February, 1856.

After the Civil War, Peak was joined by other large landowners purchasing in the area, including William H. Gaston, a former Confederate Army Captain. He purchased 400 acres along White Rock Road (now Swiss Avenue). Gaston was instrumental in bringing railroads and other industry to East Dallas, which resulted in a housing shortage. The housing shortage helped encourage Jefferson Peak and others to begin subdividing their lands.

Prior to being incorporated as the city of East Dallas in 1882, the majority of the settlement in the area had been agriculture related.

Jefferson Peak platted the first of his family's subdivisions along Ross Avenue in 1874.

Peak and his son, Junius Peak, divided the family plantation in to a section of 16 blocks, which were sold as the Peak's Suburban Addition starting in 1879. Streets were named after the Peak family children: Worth, Carroll, Junius, Victor, and Flora. Many of these streets today cross between the Junius Heights Historic District, Munger Place Historic District, and Peak's Suburban Historic District. Peak initially owned all the land from Elm Street to Capital Street and to Carroll and Haskell Avenues.

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