The Vacant House

First topic message reminder :

Is there any way to determine who owned 2511 West Fifth St. in 1963? Is it not a little odd that there was an empty house sitting right next to ground zero in Irving that was never investigated, never searched, and barely even mentioned in the official record? The only two references I know of are from (1) the 12/4/64 report of Irving Postal Inspectors Nieohwner and McCoy; and (2) the WC testimony of James Hosty: 





Mr. STERN. Can you show us from Exhibit 430 approximately where you parked your car that day if you recall? 

Mr. HOSTY. I don't recall specifically. I do recall that her station wagon was parked in the driveway. There was another car in front of the house, and it is my recollection that I parked, perhaps, here.
There is another house right next door here which was vacant, and I believe I parked in front of the vacant house right next door. 

Here's the vacant house right in the center of the photo behind the big tree:



This is just something that has bugged me for a while and was wondering if anyone knows or knows how to find anything out about the property.

Again we are left with a 12 year old kids recollections from 60 years ago... Thus another stain on past researchers. A huge dropped ball.

Not sure if relevant, but I stumbled on an FBI report on Cliff Shasteen of all people from September ‘64 that caught my eye. Shasteen said his brother in law J.W. Hallmark who was a truck driver lived at 2510 West Fifth St. until he sold it in 1961.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1142#relPageId=834

Shasteen also said that he, Shasteen, owned two rental properties in Irving, but nothing on West Fifth.

EDIT: I guess I should’ve flipped through the rest of the FBI report. Hallmark lived at 2514 West Fifth apparently, not 2510, and he said he sold it in 1959, not 1961. The FBI also looked at property records - and the deed of sale apparently was not recorded until April 1960. 

What’s potentially interesting is Hallmark said he sold the property to a Kenneth D. Reynolds, who he described as “a builder and real estate developer”. It’s not much, but if this guy Reynolds was a developer scooping up property on West Fifth St. in the early 60s it could be a potential lead on the owner of 2511, the Paines’ original landlord, etc.

The FBI got the property info from the Dallas County Tax Assessor and Collector’s office. I found this listing in the Dallas Archives, deeds from 1874-1968: 

https://dallascityhall.com/government/citysecretary/archives/Pages/Archives_1992-003.aspx

Could be interesting to dig through at some point.

Eng, Kenneth Reynolds and the Randles were of the same congregation, so there was a good chance they knew each other.

JFK_FNG wrote:Not sure if relevant, but I stumbled on an FBI report on Cliff Shasteen of all people from September ‘64 that caught my eye. Shasteen said his brother in law J.W. Hallmark who was a truck driver lived at 2510 West Fifth St. until he sold it in 1961.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1142#relPageId=834

Shasteen also said that he, Shasteen, owned two rental properties in Irving, but nothing on West Fifth.

EDIT: I guess I should’ve flipped through the rest of the FBI report. Hallmark lived at 2514 West Fifth apparently, not 2510, and he said he sold it in 1959, not 1961. The FBI also looked at property records - and the deed of sale apparently was not recorded until April 1960. 

What’s potentially interesting is Hallmark said he sold the property to a Kenneth D. Reynolds, who he described as “a builder and real estate developer”. It’s not much, but if this guy Reynolds was a developer scooping up property on West Fifth St. in the early 60s it could be a potential lead on the owner of 2511, the Paines’ original landlord, etc.

The FBI got the property info from the Dallas County Tax Assessor and Collector’s office. I found this listing in the Dallas Archives, deeds from 1874-1968: 

https://dallascityhall.com/government/citysecretary/archives/Pages/Archives_1992-003.aspx

Could be interesting to dig through at some point.

You found it.
Nice work FNG! That was used to research Reynolds back in the day.
This Hallmark guy was disscussed on Lancer.
I dont recall what was the conclusion though.
I distinctly recall Reynolds as being on several deeds in that subdivision., as well as the original devepolper/subdivider. Cant think of the name.

Anna & Billie Shasteen
Hella Shrine Temple
Hmmmmmm!

JW's daughters wedding

Jw's obit

Billie Virginia Shasteen Hallmark

Ed, I've got a chapter of info on the various links to West 5th. Was the name you are thinking of, Mayflower Investment?

Tony Krome wrote:Ed, I've got a chapter of info on the various links to West 5th. Was the name you are thinking of, Mayflower Investment?

I'd say that is a pretty good chance. Seems from 1937, they were the main / biggest developers in Irving,.

It was a fully owned subsidiary of Fidelity Union Life Insurance Company of Dallas. The Fidelity Union Building gets a few mentions in the JFK records = one of which might deserve it's own thread.
https://dallascityhall.com/departments/sustainabledevelopment/historicpreservation/HP%20Documents/Resources%20Page/Mayflower%20Building%20National%20Register%20Report.pdf

Hmm thought it was a guy, not an Entity.
Though Reynolds may be thee guy and was funnelled property by Fidelity/Mayflower.

Anything on Western Hills Sub. specifically would sink it. or ties to Myflwr Invst. by Reynolds.
Pkymouth Park is close enough to Ruths you can walk it in few minutes.

Ed, the link is the "Irving Home Builders Association". Both Kenneth Reynolds and Mayflower Investment were members.

Ed.Ledoux wrote:Hmm thought it was a guy, not an Entity.
Though Reynolds may be thee guy and was funnelled property by Fidelity/Mayflower.

Anything on Western Hills Sub. specifically would sink it. or ties to Myflwr Invst. by Reynolds.
Pkymouth Park is close enough to Ruths you can walk it in few minutes.

Then howzabout Russell S. Stephens?
https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1626094/mayflower-investment-company-v-stephens/

I have Carr P. Collins, President of Mayflower Investment as a person of interest.

Tony Krome wrote:Ed, the link is the "Irving Home Builders Association". Both Kenneth Reynolds and Mayflower Investment were members.

Good lead.

Sunday, April 29, 1962 DAILY NEWS TEXAN Irving, Page 3 A PRESTIGE' RESIDENTIAL AREA 80 Beautiful Homes Completed or Abuilding In Storyglen Estates On completion of development, Storyglen Estates will contain 175 of the finer prestige homes in Irving. The 60-acre wooded area, located north of E. Grauwyler Rd. and jus'east of Carpenter, is the scene of activity of 12 of the top homebuilders in Irving. The developing firm, Glenbrook Valley headed by Fred McManis president, has allotted building sites to the following well known Irving home builders: Kenneth Reynolds, H.

L. Bush, Melvin B. Shuler, L. L. Post, O.

Gilbreath, Cupp, B. Leach, M. Muff Buchanan, A. D. N.

W. (Jims Vance of Advance Realry, Zach Lanaston, and William C. Farrell. Between them, these have completed or started construction on SO homes. The homesites are regarded as some of the most beautiful in Irving, and the street layout and home design shows the overall plan to make Storyglen Estates one of the finest "bragging points" in Irving, Glenbrook Valley Corp.

is owned by the Texas Presbyterian foundation, with R. Earl Price as general manager and L. O. Ingle as associate general manager. Here are thumbnail sketches of the homebuilders active in Storyglen Estates; KENNETH REYNOLDS years experience in tfce homebuilding field help aake Kenneth Reynolds one of the stand-out builders in Irving.
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/62068264/

Tony Krome wrote:I have Carr P. Collins, President of Mayflower Investment as a person of interest.

Hmm... and a seller of magic elixir...
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=11895#relPageId=325

Crazy Water Crystals haha

Anyway, the Crazy Crystal guy can be directly connected with just a tobacco spit from Ruth Paine's kitchen. That's why he's on my list.

Founded in 1962 by Marvin Randle, Irving Counter Top began operations initially focused on plastic laminate countertops. As time progressed, new products were introduced and ICT continued to remain progressive by offering countertops fabricated of cultured marble in the 1970’s, acrylic solid surface in the 1980’s, granite in the 1990’s, and quartz in the 2000’s. Today, we continue this tradition by offering many new and specialty products.

Over the years, both Irving Counter and its founder, Marvin, have been involved in numerous industry and civic activities. Marvin served as President of the Home Builders Association of  Dallas, 


https://irvingcountertop.com

Marvin for Mayor! Got my vote.

"Anyway, the Crazy Crystal guy can be directly connected with just a tobacco spit from Ruth Paine's kitchen. That's why he's on my list."


So if the Paines walk to their back fence, and chat with Winfred Bell, they would be chatting with Carr P Collin's cabinet maker. Collins was President of Mayflower Investment;

Tony Krome wrote:Crazy Water Crystals haha

Anyway, the Crazy Crystal guy can be directly connected with just a tobacco spit from Ruth Paine's kitchen. That's why he's on my list.

Must say, this has been a learning curve on Irving history - and I am amazed by how much it mirrors Campbelltown, which is about the same distance from Sydney as Irving is from Dallas.

We moved there when I was a kid... a small semi-rural/farming area, but earmarked for rapid growth as a so-called satellite city. That was the whole reason for the move. My old man was a concreter and new subdivisions were springing up seemingly every other day. 50 years later and it is STILL growing, with a population expected to hit 245,000 over the next 7 years - which again mirrors the growth and population of Irving.

Tony Krome wrote:Marvin for Mayor! Got my vote.

Marvin tried for a second run and was beaten after a campaign against him on the grounds that he had filed for bankruptcy twice, continued to used the N word well after it ceased being acceptable, and had done some dodgy deals when last in office.

He does sound like your average local political candidate to me. Were the local cows nervous in his presence?

Shasteen and Randle together;

Access to these archives might throw out some leads

https://www.cityofirving.org/DocumentCenter/View/5213/Collection-2-PDF?bidId=

Randle said he was unclear about some comments Gears had made about the development loan at Wednesday's work session. He suggested that Gears correct him if he was wrong about those comments.

"I don't want to embarrass you any further," Gears said.

"I've been embarrassed before," Randle said.

"I know," Gears said.
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/62068264/