A short history of Cedar Hill
Cedar Hill was founded circa 1846 by a small group of settlers from the Peters Colony. They came from Kentucky, Alabama, and surrounding areas to arrive in the Dallas area of North Texas; 197 families and 184 single men settled in what is now Cedar Hill, making it the largest settlement in the area at the time.
Cedar Hill has five homes listed on the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places, four historical structures on the Texas Historical Commission's list of Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks, and two graveyards designated as "Historical Texas Cemeteries" by the Texas Historical Commission, one of which is believed to be the oldest integrated cemetery in Dallas County.
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Cedar Hill Bank robbery
On October 8, 1932, the then First State Bank of Cedar Hill was robbed by Raymond Hamilton, a sidekick of bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde. After taking the money, he locked the employees in the vault and made his getaway. When Hamilton got wind of reports that some of the cash had been hidden during the first robbery, he returned to rob the bank again. The consecutive robberies took a toll on the bank, causing it to fall into financial ruin and ultimately close its doors for good.
Raymond Hamilton was incarcerated at Eastham Prison in Lovelady, Texas on other charges when, on January 17, 1934, his partners, Bonnie and Clyde, broke him out of jail. The gang is known to have had an old hide out on the south edge of Cedar Hill and scattered places in the Mountain Creek Valley.
Hamilton was later re-captured on April 24, 1934. The building where the robbery took place still stands in downtown Cedar Hill. It is the current home of Cedar Hill Barbers. In March 2008, the building was designated as a historic resource by the city of Cedar Hill and bears an official medallion indicating its significance.
Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Cedar Hill, Texas, revision 1377758708 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.