Buckingham, Richardson, Texas
USGenWeb >> TXGenWeb >> Dallas County >> Towns & Communities >> Buckingham, Texas
 |
|
| Latitude | 32°56'11"N 32.93639°N 32.93639 |
| Longitude | 96°43'30"W 96.72500°W -96.72500 |
| Elevation feet/meters |
627/191 |
| Zip Code | |
| Founded | ~1958 |
| GNIS FID | 1331508 |
| TXGenWeb Site | |
| Cemeteries | |
| Library | |
| Local Genealogy Society | |
| Wikipedia | |
| Buckingham | |
In the early 1980s, real estate speculators bought most of the land, intending to create a planned development similar to the Las Colinas planned development in north Irving. To spur development, the residents voted to allow alcohol sales in the community before they were bought out. But the real estate market declined, and by the late 1980s, the development company went bankrupt.
The 1990s brought more development to the area, though not without causing conflicts with nearby Richardson residents. At one point, conflicts between the cities led to school zone signs being removed from one Buckingham road, leading parents to stand alongside the road waving flags to warn motorists to slow down.
In April 1996, though, conflicts between Buckingham and Richardson were resolved once and for all, when Buckingham's 159 acres were annexed into the city of Richardson. Since it allowed alcohol sales before annexation, it remained "wet" although the vast majority of Richardson was at the time "dry". (With the other exception being a small area of land annexed into Richardson along SH 190.) Richardson residents voted on whether to allow beer and wine sales in the 2006 general election. The measure passed with 68% in favor, so Richardson is no longer considered "dry."
Mark Odintz
Buckingham was located in northern Dallas County near the Collin county line and was completely surrounded by the city of Richardson. The community was incorporated around 1958 and, as Richardson grew up around it, remained a small (159 acres) semi-rural enclave with about 150–200 inhabitants. In 1983 developers began purchasing the homes of the sixty-four families that lived in Buckingham, intending to convert the area to apartments, condos, and businesses. By 1985 most of the property in the community belonged to the Buckingham Development Venture. Before the residents moved away they cooperated with the developers to pass a liquor ordinance that made Buckingham a wet community in the middle of dry Richardson. Initial attempts to develop the town were squashed by the real estate crisis of the mid-1980s, and the Buckingham Development Venture went bankrupt in 1987. There were 102 residents in the community in 1990. In the mid-1990s development of Buckingham as an apartment and business district was finally underway, with several apartment buildings, liquor stores, a supermarket, and strip malls. These developments were contested by residents in the surrounding neighborhoods who were concerned about the commercial zoning given to Buckingham and the nature of some of the businesses located in the town. The city of Richardson annexed Buckingham in April 1996.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dallas Morning News, November 14, 1988.
Handbook of Texas Online, Mark Odintz, "BUCKINGHAM, TX"
