Wired Ball

What a great name, Wired Ball, shown on the hand lettered sign, for a croquet party at the home of the Stevens family on the corner of Swiss Avenue and Haskell. Laura Stevens Chadwick, whom I discussed in my previous post, sent me this photograph of her grandmother’s house with her father measuring the distance of the ball to the wire wicket, along with several young ladies in fashionable croquet dresses. This picture arrived in my mailbox not long after I participated in a Multiple Sclerosis Society fundraising Bachelor Bid Auction, in which I participated along with several of my supportive friends on Swiss Avenue. They hosted a progressive dinner with each course at a different home on Swiss Avenue making up my bid package. In the Bachelor Bid book, I was photographed holding a croquet mallet, as I thought this conveyed the gilded age of Swiss Avenue. It was so fun to receive this photograph validating my impression of Swiss Avenue. The winning bid was $5,500, a meaningful contribution to the cause. Kenny Novorr’s home at 5303 Swiss Avenue was the first home built on the street in 1905 and it was featured on the progressive dinner. It is probably close to the age of the home on Swiss and Haskell. Both homes had elements of Victorian architecture but had made the transition to a more nuanced Prairie style. When Laura Stevens’ grandfather moved to Dallas in 1870, she said the streets were mud with wood planks. When her grandfather suddenly died, her mother moved from the Stevens Park area to the home on Swiss and Haskell. She said the house in the photograph further down the street was the Chilton home. May is a month of preserving homes, preserving memories, and creating new homes worth preserving in the future. *Wired Ball

#SwissAvenue #DallasNeighborhood #Dallas #Croquet #LawnParty #HistoricHome #PeakSuburbanDistrict #MungerPlace #OldEastDallas
#HistoricPreservation #PreservationMonth