Whiterock

Welcome to White Rock

The residential ring around White Rock Lake, where 1930s lake cottages, big-lot mid-century homes, and a 9-mile shoreline trail sit ten minutes from downtown Dallas.

White Rock is the collection of East Dallas neighborhoods wrapped around White Rock Lake, roughly ten to fifteen minutes northeast of downtown by way of Garland Road and Buckner Boulevard. It covers Little Forest Hills, Forest Hills, Casa Linda, Casa Linda Estates, and Casa View, most of it south and east of the water. This is single-family country, not lofts. Housing runs from the small 1930s and '40s frame cottages in Little Forest Hills, some of them former lake houses, to the grand homes fronting Garland Road in Forest Hills, to the mid-century ranches of Casa Linda. Median sale prices across these pockets generally run from the high $500Ks into the $900Ks depending on the block and the year. It fits buyers who want a yard, mature trees, and the lake as a backyard. The trade-off: the housing stock is old, so many homes need updating.

White Rock is served by Dallas ISD. The core feeder for most of the area:

• Elementary / Middle: Alex Sanger Preparatory School (grades 1–8), which serves Forest Hills and Little Forest Hills. W. H. Gaston Middle School and Casa View Elementary also serve parts of the area, including Casa Linda.
• High: Bryan Adams High School Leadership Academy.

This is the green-space part of the guide where White Rock has no equal in Dallas. White Rock Lake Park covers about 1,254 acres and is circled by a 9.33-mile paved trail for walking, running, and cycling. The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden sits on 66 acres of the east shore at 8525 Garland Road, and the Bath House Cultural Center, a City of Dallas arts venue, anchors the northeast side at 521 E. Lawther Drive. For most people who live here, the lake and its trail work like an extension of the front yard.

The lake and the Arboretum carry the calendar. The Dallas Arboretum runs Dallas Blooms every spring (the display has been going since 1984) and Autumn at the Arboretum each fall, a pumpkin village built from more than 100,000 pumpkins, plus the Cool Thursdays concert series out on the concert lawn with the lake behind it. On the water, the Bath House Cultural Center hosts the AAPI Heritage and Dragon Boat Festival each May, with teams racing across White Rock Lake and free admission for spectators.

Casa Linda Plaza is the everyday hub, a Spanish Revival center at Garland Road and Buckner that has been serving East Dallas since 1945. It holds a grocery store, a farmers market, and longtime restaurants: El Fenix (Tex-Mex, family-run since 1956), Ellen's for all-day breakfast, and Havana Cafe. The Dallas Arboretum is the marquee attraction next door. Beyond that, most residents drift a few minutes west to Lakewood for more dining and retail.

The lake came first. Dallas began building White Rock Dam in 1910 to answer a water shortage, and the earthen dam was finished in 1911. The reservoir served as a municipal water supply for decades; the last swimmers were allowed off the beaches on September 1, 1952, to keep the water sanitary. In the early 1930s the Dallas Park Board, working with the Civilian Conservation Corps, turned the shoreline into a public park, and the CCC crews deepened the lake and built the limestone structures still standing today. The neighborhoods grew up alongside it. Development in Little Forest Hills took off in the 1930s, where wood-framed cottages started as recreational lake houses and hunting cabins. Casa Linda was first platted in 1939, most of its homes went up in the 1940s, and Casa Linda Plaza opened in 1945. By the 1980s and '90s, artists were drawn to Little Forest Hills for its affordability and its funk, and the whole area has drawn steady reinvestment since.

White Rock is for buyers who want a real yard and a lake at the end of the street, not a downtown loft. Little Forest Hills is the character play, smaller lots and a keep-it-funky streak; Forest Hills and Casa Linda Estates are where you find the bigger homes and the higher prices. Two things to know going in: the closer a house sits to the White Rock trail, the stiffer the premium and the competition, and a lot of this stock is original 1940s construction, so budget for what the inspection turns up. One local heads-up, Garland Road backs up on peak Arboretum weekends (Dallas Blooms in spring, the pumpkin village in fall), so plan showings around it.

• Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden — gardens, concerts, and seasonal festivals on the east shore.

• White Rock Lake Park (City of Dallas) — city parks page for the lake and Arboretum.

• Dallas ISD — the assigned school district; use the SchoolSite Locator to confirm campuses by address.
• Bath House Cultural Center — lakeside arts venue and event host.