UT Southwestern began in 1943 in a cluster of abandoned wartime barracks, after Baylor moved its medical school from Dallas to Houston and local leaders scrambled to replace it. In 1955 the school moved to Harry Hines Boulevard beside the new Parkland hospital, and in the decades since it has grown into a sprawling academic medical center whose faculty have won several Nobel Prizes. This walk moves along South Campus from the original 1955 building to a plaza that has become one of Dallas's most striking outdoor sculpture gardens, then to the modern university hospital and Parkland, the teaching hospital forever tied to November 22, 1963. It is about a mile and a half, mostly along busy medical-district sidewalks.
UT Southwestern's story is one of fast, improbable growth. When Baylor moved its medical school to Houston in 1943, Dallas leaders scrambled to replace it, and the new Southwestern Medical College opened in a cluster of abandoned wartime barracks. In 1955 it moved to Harry Hines Boulevard beside the new Parkland hospital, and it has since grown into a vast academic medical center whose faculty have won several Nobel Prizes.
This walk explores that arc on South Campus, and its biggest surprise is art. Beginning in 2019, Nobel laureate Joseph L. Goldstein gave a series of major sculptures, and by 2026 they formed the 12-work Joseph L. Goldstein Sculpture Garden. Its centerpiece, Roxy Paine's Overgrown Neuron, is a stainless-steel nerve cell nearly 50 feet tall, a fitting emblem for a place where art and science meet. Nearby, Donald W. Seldin Plaza honors the internal medicine chairman widely credited with building the school's reputation.
The walk also takes in the Edward H. Cary Building, the 1955 hall that was the first on the Harry Hines site, and Parkland, the teaching hospital where generations of Dallas doctors have trained and where President John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead in 1963.
It's an eye-opening walk for anyone curious about medicine, public art or Dallas history.
It is a self-guided walking tour: 5 stops, about 2 miles, ~1 hour. Go at your own pace; the app keeps your place.
Where does it start?
In Dallas, Texas. The exact starting point, the full stop list and turn-by-turn directions are in the TexasRoam app.
How do I take this tour?
Download TexasRoam for iPhone or iPad from the App Store. The tour is included with TexasRoam+. It is not available on the web map.
When is the best time to go?
Walk it in daylight on a weekday or weekend morning, and stay on public sidewalks and plazas, since this is a working hospital district with busy traffic.
Take the “UT Southwestern Campus Tour”
Texas Roam guides you turn by turn through Dallas with maps, audio narration and check-ins as you go — plus all 5 stops on this tour and every guided tour, hiking trail and historical marker across Texas. Get it on the App Store.
Guided tours & hiking trails are available only in the TexasRoam app for iPhone & iPad — not on the web map. Free to download; unlock with TexasRoam+.
