Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge Construction - March 2010

Margaret Hunt Hill (1915–2007) was an American heiress and philanthropist.

Early life

On October 19, 1915, Hill was born as Margaret Hunt in

Lake Village, Arkansas Lake Village is a city in and the county seat of Chicot County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,575 at the 2010 census. It is located in the Arkansas Delta. Lake Village is named for its location on Lake Chicot, an oxbow lake for ...

. Hill's father was

H. L. Hunt Haroldson Lafayette Hunt Jr. (February 17, 1889 – November 29, 1974) was an American oil tycoon. By trading poker winnings for oil rights according to legend, but more likely through money he gained from successful speculation in oil leases, he ...

(1889–1974) and her mother was Lyda Bunker (1889-1955).Alan Peppard
Oil in the Family
'' Vanity Fair'', June 2008Jaime S. Jordan
Margaret Hunt Hill dies at 91
''Dallas Business Journal'', Jun 15, 2007 Hill had six siblings:

Caroline Rose Hunt Caroline Rose Hunt (January 8, 1923 – November 13, 2018) was an American heiress and hotelier who was at one time the wealthiest woman in the United States.Cheryl Hall "Once considered America's richest woman, Caroline Hunt offers a r ...

(1923–2018), H. L. Hunt III (1917–2005), Lyda Bunker Hunt (born and died in 1925),

Nelson Bunker Hunt Nelson Bunker Hunt (February 22, 1926 – October 21, 2014) was an American oil company executive. He was a billionaire whose fortune collapsed after he and his brothers William Herbert and Lamar tried to corner the world market in silver ...

(1926–2014),

William Herbert Hunt William Herbert Hunt (born March 6, 1929) is an American oil billionaire, who along with his brothers Nelson Bunker Hunt and Lamar Hunt tried but failed to corner the world market in silver. According to Forbes, as of January 2015 his net worth ...

(1929), and

Lamar Hunt Lamar Hunt (August 2, 1932 – December 13, 2006) was an American businessman most notable for his promotion of American football, soccer, and tennis in the United States. He was the principal founder of the American Football League (AFL) and ...

(1932–2006). She also had a number of half-siblings on her father's side. Hill grew up in

El Dorado, Arkansas El Dorado, founded by Matthew Rainey, is a city in, and the county seat of, Union County, on the southern border of Arkansas, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 18,884. El Dorado is headquarters of the Ark ...

and

Tyler, Texas Tyler is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the largest city and county seat of Smith County, Texas, Smith County. It is also the largest city in Northeast Texas. With a 2020 census population of 105,995, Tyler was the List of cities in Texa ...

, and moved to

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

in 1938.

Education

Hill graduated from

Mary Baldwin College Mary Baldwin University (MBU, formerly Mary Baldwin College) is a private university in Staunton, Virginia. It was founded in 1842 as Augusta Female Seminary. Today, Mary Baldwin University is home to the Mary Baldwin College for Women, a resid ...

, a private

women's college Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male stud ...

Staunton, Virginia Staunton ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities a ...

Career

Hill worked as an assistant for her father until she got married. Together with her husband, she built two luxury resorts in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

: the Garden of the Gods Club and the Kissing Camels Club. She also landscaped the

Falcon Stadium Falcon Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in the western United States, on the campus of the U.S. Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is the home field of the Air Force Falcons of the Mountain West Conference, and also h ...

of the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Uni ...

in 1962.

Philanthropy

She served as a Treasurer of the Dallas

Junior League The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (Junior League or JL) is a private, nonprofit educational women's volunteer organization aimed at improving communities and the social, cultural, and political fabric of civil society. With ...

, President of the Dallas Women's Club, as well as Chairman of the Dallas Easter Seals and the Dallas Society for Crippled Children. She founded the Dallas County Heritage Society, where she served as a Director throughout her life. She also served as Vice President of the Dallas Historical Society. From 1981 to 1987, she served on the Governor's Texas Historical Society, and from 1981 to 1988, as a Treasurer of the Friends of the Governor's Mansion. Together with

Van Cliburn Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr. (; July 12, 1934February 27, 2013) was an American pianist who, at the age of 23, achieved worldwide recognition when he won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 during the Cold Wa ...

(1934–2013), she served as co-Chairman of the 60th Anniversary of the Discovery of the

East Texas Oil Field The East Texas Oil Field is a large oil and gas field in east Texas. Covering and parts of five counties, and having 30,340 historic and active oil wells, it is the second-largest oil field in the United States outside Alaska, and first in tot ...

. The ceremony was held at the East Texas Oil Field Museum, which she helped create. She sat on the Board of Directors of the

Garden Club of America The Garden Club of America is a nonprofit organization made up of around 18,000 club members and 200 local garden clubs around the United States. Founded in 1913, by Elizabeth Price Martin and Ernestine Abercrombie Goodman, it promotes the record ...

. Moreover, she founded the Kissing Camels Garden Club and served as President of the Junior League Garden Club and the Founders Garden Club. Additionally, she founded the Dallas Cotillion, an annual debutante ball in Dallas. She also served as the Queen of the

Texas Rose Festival The Texas Rose Festival, a three-day event held annually in Tyler, Texas, celebrates the role of the rose-growing industry in the local economy. The festivities, taking place during the third weekend of October, draw thousands of tourists to the cit ...

in Tyler, Texas in 1935. In 1991, together with her sister Caroline, she paid for the restoration of Hilltop, an 1810 building on the campus of Mary Baldwin College which is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

.Mary Baldwin College: Annual Giving Societies
She was a recipient of the 1990 Flora Award, the Zone IX Creative Leadership Award from the Garden Club of America, the National Philanthropy Award from the

Susan G. Komen for the Cure Susan G. Komen (formerly known as Susan G. Komen for the Cure; originally as The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation; often simply as Komen) is a breast cancer organization in the United States. Komen focuses on patient navigation and advo ...

in 1996, the Award for Excellence from the Dallas Historical Society in 1999, the Gertrude Shelburne Award from

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

, the Family of the Year Award from the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

in 2000, and an honorary degree from her alma mater, Mary Baldwin College.

Personal life

Hill was married to Albert Galatyn Hill Sr. (1904–1988). They had three children: *

Lyda Hill Lyda Hill (born 1942) is an American investor and philanthropist. Early life Lyda Hill was born on September 17, 1942 in Dallas, Texas. Her father was Albert Galatyn Hill Sr. (1904-1988) and her mother, Margaret Hunt Hill (1915-2007). Her maternal ...

(born 1942). *Alinda Wikert *Albert Galatyn Hill Jr. Hill died on June 14, 2007, in Dallas, Texas. She was 91. Hill's funeral service was held at the Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas.

Legacy

The

Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge is a bridge in Dallas, Texas, that spans the Trinity River. The bridge is named for Margaret Hunt Hill, an heiress and philanthropist. The bridge was constructed as part of the Trinity River Project. Designed by San ...

in Dallas, designed by

Santiago Calatrava Santiago Calatrava Valls (born 28 July 1951) is a Spanish architect, structural engineer, sculptor and painter, particularly known for his bridges supported by single leaning pylons, and his railway stations, stadiums, and museums, whose sculpt ...

, is named in her honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt Hill, Margaret 1915 births 2007 deaths Hunt family People from Lake Village, Arkansas People from Dallas Mary Baldwin University alumni American philanthropists