Historical Commission

Projects

Records Building - 500 Elm Street, Suite 3100, Dallas, TX 75202
Phone: (214) 413-4232 | E-mail: DCHC@dallascounty.org

Dallas County Providing Funding for Untold History Markers

To help encourage the acknowledgement and preservation of key aspects of Dallas County's history, the Dallas County Historical Commission provides funding for up to two State-approved historical markers each year.

The Commission is providing this funding because it is important that all portions of history be remembered and because it is thought that the cost of a State Historical Marker ($1000-$2000) may discourage many individuals and groups from pursuing such designation.

Photo courtesy of Dallas Mexican American Historical League

Under the County's program, the County will provide 50% of the cost of a Texas Historical Marker if the selected marker deals with a cultural aspect of Dallas County history that has previously been under-recognized.

Photo courtesy of John Wiley Price

The County's Historical Commission accepts applications for funding annually.  To aid prospective applicants, the program's instructions, policies, and application forms follow below.  

• Dallas County Marker Funding Guidelines
• Dallas County Marker Funding Application
• Dallas County Marker Funding Evaluation Policies

Completed applications must be submitted electronically to the Dallas County Planning and Development Department. The 2023 application cycle runs concurrently with the state historical marker application period from February 1 to April 15. For questions about the program, email DCHC@dallascounty.org. 

Historical Commission Develops Brochure of Local History Organizations

The Dallas area is fortunate to have a large number of history organizations and museums. However, because there are so many, knowing about all of them is not always easy. So that the community can more quickly obtain information about the history resources that are available, the Dallas County Historical Commission has developed a brochure with website information for almost forty history organizations and museums located within the County.

This brochure can be accessed through the following link:

• A Guide to Local Historical Organizations and Museums

Organizations wishing to be included in this brochure should contact the Dallas County Planning and Development Department at: planning.development@dallascounty.org.

Reviewing State Historical Markers

The Dallas County Historical Commission serves as the first level of review for State historical markers. A marker application must be recommended for approval by the County's Historical Commission before it can be submitted to the Texas Historical Commission for consideration.

Marker applications can be submitted to the County to commemorate a historic site, neighborhood, structure, institution, church, cemetery, event or person. The State prescribes when marker applications can be submitted; the application period typically runs March 1-May 15 of each year. Please note that applications must go through the Dallas County Historical Commission, whose Marker Committee accepts applications February 1-April 15.

Examples of marker applications that have been submitted over the past several years and that have been recommended to the State for approval by the Commission are as follows:

Information about all of the existing State historical markers in Dallas County, as well as information about the area's historic cemeteries and National Register properties, is available from the Texas Historical Commission Atlas. Search the Atlas using either the keyword feature or the Atlas Map.

Procedures, policies and costs for historical markers are determined by the Texas Historical Commission and included with the application. For more information about Texas Historical Commission Designations, Historical Marker guidelines, and applications, click here.

Other Historical Commission Projects

The Commission also promotes historic preservation and historic appreciation through the news media, speeches and educational programs with civic groups, tourists and schools. In the past, it was a major participant in the effort to create the Sixth Floor Museum and to preserve the Old Red Courthouse, and it also spearheaded the first effort to conduct a comprehensive historic resource survey in the County since 1982.

During Spring 2011, the Commission surveyed and photographed all of the sixty-nine properties in Dallas County that had previously been designated by the Texas Historical Commission as Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks. RTHL status is the highest historic preservation designation that the State can bestow upon a structure.

A list of the RTHL properties that the Commission surveyed in 2011 as well as photographs and the completed reports for each property follows below.

• Photographs of Surveyed RTHL Properties
• Completed RTHL Survey Reports