Collection documents the purchase of portions of what is now Reverchon Park in Dallas, Texas.

Reverchon Park, a city-owned park adjacent to Turtle Creek Boulevard and Maple Avenue, sits atop what is known as the “Cole Purchase.” The land originally was owned by one of Dallas’ earliest pioneers, Dr. John D. Cole. In 1914, the City of Dallas purchased 36 acres from the John Cole Estate and from Cole heirs for the sum of $40,000. The property contained the area known as Woodchuck Hill, Raccoon Springs, and portions of Turtle Creek.

Doctor John D. Cole (1796 -1850) bought two lots in the settlement that had started along Cedar Springs Creek and organized a town that was also called Cedar Springs. He purchased a nearby 160 acres of land from William Grigsby. The area was two or three miles north of John Neely Bryan's trading post on the Trinity River. Dr. Cole installed a store and pharmacy combination in a log structure in Cedar Springs and began to establish his practice of medicine. He also began farming and looking for more land. He later applied for a certificate for 640 acres adjoining the 160 acres he had bought from Grigsby and also bought land from Henderson Couch who was his neighbor to the west. When Dallas County was established in 1846, after Texas had been annexed by the United States, the county included the part of Nacogdoches County that Cole, Bryan and others had chosen to settle on. When the Dallas County government was formed, John Cole, who had probably been the first doctor in the area, was chosen to be the judge of the first probate court.