Located ten miles north of downtown Dallas, the African American community of Hamilton Park began as the White Rock Farming Settlement. In the 1940s and 1950s, racial violence in the South Dallas community of Queen City and the discriminatory displacement of African American residents for the new Love Field Municipal Airport created a need for many families to move outside the downtown area. In response, local oilman Jerome Crossman compelled the Dallas Citizens' Interracial Association to locate land in North Dallas for the project and consulted philanthropist Karl S.J. Hoblitzelle for funding. On February 13, 1953, the Hoblitzelle Foundation lent funds to the Dallas Citizens' Interracial Association to purchase acreage to address the housing shortage of African Americans. Named for Dr. Richard Theodore Hamilton, an influential voice in Dallas's African American equality movement, Hamilton Park was the first African American suburban development in Dallas. Intentionally planned in two phases with a segregated twelve-grade school at the center and streets named for prominent African American individuals and institutions, the community officially opened in 1954. By 1958, many homes built near the school were complete and middle-class families began moving in, and the community was complete by 1961 with 741 single-family homes. In addition to the school, the community included three churches, a shopping center, and a park with a swimming pool, tennis court, basketball court, pavilion, and playground. Since the 1950s, the Hamilton Park Civic League has served residents by connecting them with City of Dallas resources, encouraging voter registration and turnout, and planning community events, helping preserve the heritage and legacy of the original homeowners.