South Boulevard is not your ordinary street.

“This is a street of royalty in the Black community,” said Dr. Ed Gray of the Dallas County Justice Initiative.

Dr. Gray is able to shoot out the names of Black trailblazers who’ve lived in South Dallas’ Historic South Boulevard-Park Row District; however, there’s one home that’s gained attention after a fire on August 18.

“This one pains me because of all of the history that’s here, or was here, at this site,” Dr. Gray said.

It was the historic home of Abner Haynes, who integrated football in Texas. He played for the University of North Texas, and later for the Dallas Texans, who are now known as the Kansas City Chiefs.

Neighbor John Sternes woke up to the house on fire and called 911.

“I was in my room and, um, I heard a loud pop, and I saw orange out,” Sternes said. “I mean it’s sad because it’s a historic home, you know.”

Residents of the South Boulevard-Park Row District said the homes were built in the early 1900’s in what used to be a Jewish community. Jewish families moved there because they were not allowed to live north of Downtown Dallas at that time.

Last Saturday, another home caught fire. It was less than a block away from the Abner House.

According to neighbors, this is the third home to catch fire within a month.

“These houses have been abandoned for over a decade, and so they don’t have active electricity, they don’t have gas,” said Chelsea Templeton, a South Dallas resident.

Some wonder if the fires were intentionally set.

“I’m feeling angry. I’m thinking this is reminiscent to the 1950s when we had bombings here in South Dallas over land usage,” Dr. Gray said. “Across the bridge on the 10th Street Historical District. We had lots of fires over there as well.”

WFAA reached out to Dallas Fire Rescue, but they could not provide any information on the fires. WFAA also filed an open records request with the city.

“Praise God, there’s nobody in there, um. And hopefully it just stays to the abandoned homes,” Templeton said.

“We need the city to protect historic districts,” said Dr. Gray.