Joppa (Joppee/Joppie)

Dallas County, TX

Status: Located

Year Established: 1872

Council of Governments: NCTCOG

Public History: There are no current descriptions related to Joppa in the public record. If you are aware of any sources that we may have missed please share them with us.

Community History: Joppa, sometimes spelled Joppee, or Joppie, is Hebrew for “beautiful” or “new beginnings.” It is north of I-45 & Highway 12, between the Trinity River & Union Pacific rail lines, w/ Great Trinity Forest just to the east & Joppa Preserve to the south. Joppa is primarily shotgun houses that have stood in the neighborhood for generations. The land where Joppa currently sits was once inhabited by Native American tribes. Henry Critz Hines was an enslaved person sent as property from Missouri or Alabama to Texas for protection until the end of the Civil War. After Emancipation, many formerly enslaved peoples who had been on the Miller Plantation stayed in the area. Henry Critz Hines settled in Joppa. Soon after other formerly enslaved persons at the Miller Plantation or other E. Texas plantations came & settled in the area. In 1888, Henry Critz, the founder of Joppa, was living in nearby Millers Switch.

Church: New Zion Missionary Baptist Church

School: Melissa Pierce School