Do you know why it is called "Hillsdale"?

Have you ever wondered why this area is called Hillsdale?

There are certainly no hills in the area; in fact it is rather flat.

There is Hillsdale Elementary School

Hillsdale Drive

Hillsdale Park

and we can’t forget the Hillsdale Subdivisions (1,2&3)

...Well, read on.

Once this area was all farmland known as Granger, so named because it looked so productive.

In the early 1950's a subdivision in Granger was created from the Brock and Hogan farms bought by Estel Wright, a longtime resident, for that purpose. Estel worked with Othello Pearce to create the housing development they called Hillsdale, after the William, Earr and John D. (Jack) Hill families, who also owned large tracts of land in the area.

Earl and William having farms on both sides of 3500 South, the property where Maverick Center is now, and land by Decker Lake, John D. Hill later became the beloved Stake Patriarch and lived on Pearce Drive.

The Hillsdale area comprised the land between 2700 West and 3200 West, and 3500 South and 3100 South. Two families of the original developers still live in the area, Kurt and Suzan Hill and Faye Hogan Kyle. Later, Dale Hogan was to be bishop of Granger 10th Ward and Kurt Hill, bishop of Granger 6th Ward.
Now you know where the names of Brock Street and Hogan Street came from. But did you know LeMay was named for Leah, the wife of Estel Wright, and May, the wife of Earl Hill,- thus LeMay Ave. Or that Barney was named for the family that lived near 3100 South? Or that Amherst was the prefix for the telephones in the area? Or Pearce Drive after Othello Pearce, who's son Richard, and wife, Marilyn Hale (of Hale Theatre)were long time residents living on Pearce Street. -

Written by Darlene Hutchison