Most of north Dallas was built on Caruth farmland, the more than 30,000 acres William and Walter Caruth acquired starting in 1852 for agricultural use. By the mid-1930s, with agricultural prices down and the city rapidly expanding north, W. W. Caruth Jr. started to develop and build, providing much of the land for University Park, including Southern Methodist University (DS70). The Caruths’ Main House, headquarters for cotton, dairy, and cattle operations, was built in 1872–1876 in a bracketed Italianate style. The two-story house was given a classical update in 1938, with a monumental portico of six Ionic columns. In 2000, the charitable Communities Foundation of Texas, supported by the Caruth family, purchased the 5.9-acre Homeplace. Restoration work returned the exterior and interior to 1938 conditions, including repairs to 1876 materials, restoration of the 1852 old farmhouse, and construction of a new, unobtrusive office addition.