2011 Education Awareness:
Anderson Bonner Endowment
Based on Bonner Family records, edited by David Schulz, Old Red Museum of Dallas County History & Culture
The tale of Anderson Bonner is a distinctive example of the great untold history of our region. Born into slavery, Anderson Bonner (c. 1835 - c, 1920) became a major landowner with extensive holdings, upwards of 2,000 acres, along White Rock Creek and the Cottonwood Branch. Today, we call it North Dallas. According to family members, Bonner was given as a wedding gift (slave) to the daughter of his original owners. It is not known exactly when he was given his freedom nor how Bonner, his brother Louis and sister Caroline came from Alabama to the farm area north of White Rock Creek.
Anderson Bonner signed his name with an "X" on deeds for hundreds of acres of land. He purchased the land with funds earned from his farm products and houses he leased to sharecroppers, testament to his brilliant business sense. All of his transactions were handled with legal consultation and documentation to secure his massive holdings. Records indicate that the warranty deed for one of his earliest land purchases (over sixty acres) was filed in Dallas County August 10, 1874.
Anderson Bonner married Eliza and nine known children were born to that union, Eliza was believed to be originally from Arkansas, The children helped work the farm where they grew cotton, com, and fruit, along with other types of crops.
The family endured many pioneering hardships together as they tamed the land to make it profitable and eke out a living. One such hardship was the death of Eliza, the result of a lamp explosion and fire in their home. Those who witnessed the explosion said a lamp blew up in her face and tragically burned down the home and caused her demise. Anderson Bonner later remarried a lady named Lacinda from Waxahachie. They had no children together.
The first school for blacks in the area was the Vickery and Hillcrest School. Subsequently closed, the Anderson Bonner School was established in their place and located on property formally owned by Mr. Bonner. In 1955, the Bonner school was closed upon the opening of Hamilton Park School.
Prior to World War II many black families and groups held picnics and gatherings on a section of the farm located on Forest Lane, including the property where today Medical City Hospital stands. The thoroughfare which is today known as Central Expressway cuts through a section which was the property owned and farmed by Anderson Bonner and his family.
As recognition the City of Dallas has officially named the park west of Medical City Hospital, Anderson Bonner Park. The park runs along White Rock Creek and is complete with bicycle trails and recreation areas. This area was also a part of the original farm.
Anderson Bonner has many surviving descendants living in the North Dallas area formally known White Rock. His sister, Caroline, married Ed Fields, Pearl Turner-Bonner, Wife of John Bonner, was from the Turner Family. One of the Fields descendants married a Giddings, This established linkage among several of the pioneer African American families who migrated to the farmlands along White Rock Creek in settlements known as the Upper and Lower White Rock Creek areas. These families along with other, had extensive land holdings alone a line between Dallas and Richardson and from Garland to Carrollton.