John Millard Stemmons (July 10, 1909 - July 20, 2001) was a real estate developer and civic leader in

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 ...

. He is best known for his efforts to develop the former flood plain of the Trinity River and his lucrative donation of land for the

Stemmons Freeway Interstate 35E (I-35E), an Interstate Highway, is the eastern half of I-35, where it splits to serve the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. I-35 splits into two branch routes, I-35W and I-35E, at Hillsboro. I-35E travels north for , mai ...

that was named for his father, Leslie Stemmons.

Early life

Stemmons attended public schools in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

and Dallas, Texas. He graduated from Sunset High School in Dallas in 1927 and attended

Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexington ...

, where he received a football injury that prevented his service in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He is a Member of the Sunset High School Hall of Fame.

Career

He joined his father's company, Industrial Properties Corporation, in 1931. The company's business was the development of the land recovered by the erection of a flood-controlling levee system. He continued with the company after his father's death in 1939, rising to become president of Industrial Properties Corporation in 1954 and Chairman/CEO in 1971. He retired in 1994 and was elected Chairman Emeritus. Initial development of the recovered land was slowed by the onset of the Great Depression. Stemmons partnered with

Trammell Crow Fred Trammell Crow (June 10, 1914 – January 14, 2009) was an American real estate developer from Dallas, Texas. He is credited with the creation of several major real estate projects, including the Dallas Market Center, Peachtree Center in Atla ...

in the years following World War II as the growing economy improved the value of the property. Their partnership ended when Crow's proposed

Dallas Market Center Dallas Market Center is a 5 million square foot (460,000 m2) wholesale trade center in Dallas, Texas, the United States, located at 2200 Stemmons Freeway, housing showrooms which sells consumer products including gifts, lighting, home décor, app ...

project would involve considerable borrowing at the rate of 6% interest. Stemmons could not imagine carrying such expensive debt, and so sold his interest to Crow. Stemmons's donation of of the recovered flood plain to the

Texas Highway Department The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT ) is a government agency in the American state of Texas. Though the public face of the agency is generally associated with the construction and maintenance of the state's immense state highway sys ...

was beneficial in saving the state the cost of acquisition but was even more beneficial to Stemmons and IPC. In the terms of the gift, Stemmons stipulated that

frontage road A frontage road (also known as an access road, outer road, service road, feeder road, or parallel road) is a local road running parallel to a higher-speed, limited-access road. A frontage road is often used to provide access to private drive ...

s be added to the project to provide freeway access that vastly increased the value of his property.

References

Dallas County Pioneer Association - Pioneer Stories

The Handbook of Texas Online - Trammell Crow Company

* ttp://www.jenforum.com/storey/messages/633.html John Millard Stemmons obituary
SMU Press release - $1 Million Gift from Stemmons Foundation to Support New Engineering Building at SMU
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stemmons, John M. People from Dallas 1909 births 2001 deaths Real estate and property developers