Dallas, Texas

Dallas (pronounced [ˈdæl.əs] or [ˈdæl.ʊs]) is the third-largest city in the state of Texas and the ninth-largest city in the United States. The city covers Template:Convert/sqmi and is the county seat of Dallas County.^[4] As of 2005, U.S. Census estimates put Dallas at a population of 1.2 million. The city is the main cultural and economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area—at 6 million people, it is the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States.^[5] Dallas is listed as a gamma world city by the Loughborough University Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network.^[6]

Dallas was founded in 1841 and formally incorporated as a city on 2 February 1856. The city is most well known for its role in the petroleum industry, telecommunications, computer technology, banking, and transportation. It is the core of the largest inland metropolitan area in the United States and lacks any navigable link to the sea—Dallas's prominence despite this comes from its historical importance as a center for the oil and cotton industries, its position along numerous railroad lines, and its powerful industrial and financial tycoons.^[7][8]

History

Main article: History of Dallas, Texas

See also: Historical events of Dallas, Texas

Before Texas was claimed in the 1500s as a part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain by the Spanish Empire, the Dallas area was inhabited by the Caddo Native Americans. Later, France also claimed the area, but in 1819 the Adams-Onís Treaty made the Red River the northern boundary of New Spain, officially placing Dallas well within Spanish territory.^[9] The area remained under Spanish rule until 1821, when Mexico declared independence from Spain and the area became part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. In 1836, the Republic of Texas broke off from Mexico to become an independent nation.^[10] In 1839, four years into the Republic's existence, John Neely Bryan surveyed the area around present-day Dallas. In 1841, he returned and founded the city of Dallas on a site where several Caddoan trails in the region intersected at a rare natural ford on the Trinity River. In 1846 the Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States and Dallas County was established.

According to the City of Dallas, the origin of the name "Dallas" is a mystery, despite claims to the contrary. Bryan stated only that it was named "after my friend Dallas." It has often been claimed that both the county and the city were named after George Mifflin Dallas, the eleventh Vice President of the United States. However, there is no evidence that Bryan ever met George Mifflin Dallas, and the area was called Dallas several years before the latter was elected.^[11]

Other leading candidates for Dallas's eponym are:

1. Commodore Alexander James Dallas, brother of George Mifflin Dallas, stationed in the Gulf of Mexico;

2. Walter R. Dallas, who fought at San Jacinto;

3. James L. Dallas, Walter's brother and a Texas Ranger;

4. Joseph Dallas of Arkansas, who lived in the Cedar Springs area in 1843, and moved from Washington County (near Bryan's land holdings in Crawford County) to the Dallas area a few years after Bryan's arrival.

Dallas was founded in 1841 and formally incorporated as a city on 2 February 1856^[8] The city had a few slaves, mostly brought by settlers from Alabama and Georgia. Dallas was just another small town dotting the Texas frontier until after the American Civil War in which it was part of the Confederate States of America, and only legally became a city in 1871. The city paid the Houston and Central Texas Railroad US$5,000 to shift its route 20 miles (32 km) to the west and build its north-south tracks through Dallas, rather than through Corsicana as planned.^{[verification needed]} A year later, Dallas leaders could not pay the Texas and Pacific Railroad to locate there, so they devised a way to trick the Railroad. Dallas had a rider attached to a state law which required the railroad to build its tracks through Browder Springs—which turned out to be just south of Main Street. ^{[verification needed]} In 1873, the major north-south and east-west Texas railroad routes intersected in Dallas, thus ensuring its future as a commercial center.^[11]

By the turn of the twentieth century Dallas was the leading drug, book, jewelry, and wholesale liquor market in the Southwestern United States. It also quickly became the center of trade in cotton, grain, and even buffalo. It was the world's leading inland cotton market, and continued to lead the world in manufacture of saddlery and cotton gin machinery.^[8] As it further entered the 20th century, Dallas transformed from an agricultural center to a center of banking, insurance, and other businesses.

In 1930, oil was discovered 100 miles (160 km) east of Dallas and the city quickly became the financial center for the oil industry in Texas and Oklahoma.^[11] In 1958 the integrated circuit was invented in Dallas by Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments, which punctuated the Dallas area's development as a center for high-technology manufacturing. During the 1950s and 1960s, Dallas became the nation's third-largest technology center, with the growth of such companies as Ling-Tempco-Vought (LTV Corporation) and Texas Instruments. In 1957 two developers, Trammell Crow and John M. Stemmons, opened a Home Furnishings Mart that grew into the Dallas Market Center, the largest wholesale trade complex in the world.^[12] On 22 November 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Elm Street while his motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Dallas underwent a building boom that produced a distinctive contemporary profile and prominent skyline for downtown Dallas. Because of the immense worldwide success of the hit television series Dallas, the city became one of the most internationally recognizable U.S cities during the 1980s. The 1980s also saw many oil industry companies relocate to Houston in order to be closer to offshore operations and the Port of Houston. However, Dallas was beginning to benefit from a burgeoning technology boom at the same time, driven by the growing computer, microchip, and telecommunications industries. Dallas also remained a strong center of banking, insurance, and business. The mid-to-late 1980s were tumultuous for the city when many Dallas banks collapsed from the Savings and Loan crisis. The hit effectively threw the city's economy to its knees and plans for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of development were scrapped. The city remained in recession during the 1990s but the explosive growth of technology-based businesses kept the city's economy fairly stable—During the 1990s, Dallas became known as the Silicon Prairie, similar to California's Silicon Valley.^[13]

Recession continued to plague the city into the early 21st Century. From 1988 to 2005, not a single high-rise structure was built within the downtown freeway loop, and the city was running out of developable land in north Dallas and Lake Highlands. Totally closed-off on the north by suburbs, most new housing was being built in Carrollton, Coppell, Frisco, Plano and Richardson. By the mid-2000s, the dried up downtown market began to turn around with the construction of multiple art venues, office towers, residential towers, and residential conversions. Downtown housed little over 1,600 residents in 2000, and by the year 2010, the North Central Texas Council of Governments expects over 10,000 residents to be living in the neighborhood.^[14] Just north, Uptown is one of the hottest real estate markets in the country, and major advances are taking place in the underdeveloped south Dallas and Oak Cliff areas, including the construction of the University of North Texas at Dallas.

Geography

Dallas is the county seat of Dallas County. Portions of the city extend into neighboring Collin, Denton, Kaufman and Rockwall counties.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of Template:Convert/sqmi—Template:Convert/sqmi of it is land and Template:Convert/sqmi of it (11.03%) is water. Note however that Dallas only makes up one-fifth of the much larger urbanized area known as the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex—about a quarter of all Texans live in Dallas's metropolitan area.^[15]

Topography

Main article: Geology of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex

Dallas, and its surrounding area, is mostly flat and lies at an elevation ranging from Template:Convert/ft to Template:Convert/ft. The western edge of the Austin chalk formation, a limestone escarpment, rises Template:Convert/ft and runs roughly north-south through Dallas County. The uplift is particularly noticeable in the neighborhood of Oak Cliff and the adjacent cities of Cockrell Hill, Cedar Hill, Grand Prairie, and Irving. Marked variations in terrain are also found in cities immediately to the west in Tarrant County surrounding Fort Worth.

The Trinity River is a major Texas waterway that passes from the city of Irving into west Dallas, where it is paralleled by Interstate 35E along the Stemmons Corridor, then flows alongside western downtown, and through and alongside south Dallas and Pleasant Grove, paralleled by Interstate 45, where it exits into unincorporated Dallas County and heads southeast to Houston. The river is flanked on both sides by Template:Convert/ft tall earthen levees to protect the city from floods.^[16] The river has been treated much like a drainage ditch throughout Dallas's history, but as Dallas began shifting towards a postindustrial society, public outcry about a lack of aesthetic and recreational use for the river ultimately gave way to the Trinity River Project. The project, which began in the early 2000s and is scheduled to reach completion in the 2010s, will result in lakes, new park facilities and trails, and transportation improvements.^[17]

White Rock Lake is Dallas's other significant water feature. The lake and surrounding park is a popular destination among boaters, rowers, joggers, and bikers in the Lakewood/Casa Linda Estates neighborhoods of east Dallas. The lake also boasts the Template:Convert/acre Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden on its shore.^[18] Bachman Lake, just northwest of Love Field, is a smaller lake and park also used for recreation. Lake Ray Hubbard, a Template:Convert/acre lake, is a vast and popular recreational lake located in an extension of Dallas surrounded by Garland, Rowlett, Rockwall and Sunnyvale.^[19] Mountain Creek Lake is a small lake along Dallas's border with Grand Prairie and is home to the (defunct as of September 1998) Naval Air Station Dallas (Hensley Field).^[20] North Lake, a small lake in an extension of Dallas surrounded by Irving and Coppell, served primarily as a water source for a nearby power plant, but the surrounding area is now being targeted for redevelopment due to its proximity to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (a plan that the neighboring cities oppose).^[21]

Climate

Dallas receives approximately Template:Convert/in of rain per year, much of which is delivered in the spring.

Dallas has a humid subtropical climate, yet this part of Texas also tends to receive warm, dry winds from the north and west in the summer. In the winter, strong cold fronts from the north pass through Dallas, occasionally plummeting nightly lows between Template:Convert/°F and Template:Convert/°F. Snowfall is seen on average three days out of the year and snow accumulation is seen two days out of the year.^[22] Occasionally, warm and humid air from the south overrides cold, dry air, leading to freezing rain, which usually causes major disruptions in the city for a day or two if the roads and highways become dangerously slick.

Spring and autumn bring very pleasant weather to the area and are usually the best times to visit. In the spring months, residents and visitors appreciate the beauty of the vibrant wildflowers (such as the bluebonnet, Indian paintbrush and other flora) which bloom in spring and are planted around the highways throughout Texas.^[23] In the spring the weather can be quite volatile and can change dramatically in a matter of minutes. Barring storms, springtime is very mild and enjoyable in the city. The weather in Dallas is also very pleasant between late September and early November, and unlike springtime, major storms rarely form in the area.

Tornadoes are perhaps the biggest threat to the city of Dallas. Dallas was most recently hit by a powerful tornado on 2 April 1957. The tornado would have likely registered as an F3.^[24] The most recent minor tornado with notable damage occurred in 1984 when a minuscule formation touched down near Lovers Lane and Greenville Avenue (which collapsed one side of an apartment building). In the spring, cool fronts moving from Canada collide with warm, humid air streaming in from the Gulf Coast. When these fronts meet over northern and central Texas, severe thunder storms are generated with spectacular lightning shows, occasional torrents of rain, hail, and at times, tornadoes. Dallas lies at the southern end of Tornado Alley, which runs through the prairie lands of the Midwest. In May 2000, the "Fort Worth Tornado" hit neighboring Fort Worth's downtown, causing severe damage to many of the city's skyscrapers (and damage to one prominent 70s-era high-rise extensive enough to elicit rejected proposals for demolition) as well as destroying some smaller buildings on the periphery of its central business district.^[25]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture places the city of Dallas in Plant Hardiness Zone 8a.^[26] Dallas has the 12th worst ozone air pollution in the nation according to the American Lung Association, ranking it behind Los Angeles (ranked 1st) and Fresno, California (2nd), and Houston.^[27] Much of the air pollution in Dallas, and the DFW Metroplex in general, comes from a hazardous materials incineration plant in the southern-most suburb of Midlothian, as well as concrete installations in neighboring Ellis County.^[28] Another major contributor to air pollution is exhaust from automobiles. Due to Dallas's spread out nature and high amount of urban sprawl, automobiles are the only available mode of transportation for many.

The average daily low in Dallas is 57 °F (14 °C) and the average daily high in Dallas is 77 °F (25 °C).^[29]

Cityscape

Architecture

Most of the notable architecture in Dallas is modernist and postmodernist. Iconic examples of modernist architecture include I. M. Pei's Fountain Place, the Bank of America Plaza, Renaissance Tower, and Reunion Tower. Examples of postmodernist architecture include the JPMorgan Chase Tower and Chase Center. Several smaller structures are fashioned in the Gothic Revival (Kirby Building) and neoclassical (Davis and Wilson Buildings) styles. One architectural "hotbed" in the city is a stretch of homes along Swiss Avenue, which contains all shades and variants of architecture from Victorian to neoclassical.^[30]

Tallest structures in Dallas

See also: List of buildings in Dallas, Texas

Neighborhoods

The City of Dallas has many vibrant communities and eclectic neighborhoods. Major areas in the city include:

Central Dallas is anchored by Downtown, the center of the city and the epicenter of urban revival, coupled with Oak Lawn and Uptown Dallas, the shiny new urban areas thriving with shops, restaurants, and nightlife. Downtown Dallas has a variety of neighborhoods, including the West End Historic District, the Arts District, the Main Street District, Farmers Market District, the City Center business district, the Convention Center District, the historic Vickery Place, the Reunion District and Victory Park. North of downtown is Oak Lawn, a densely-populated area that contains beautiful parks along Turtle Creek and the popular Uptown area with LoMac, Cityplace and the West Village.

The east side of Dallas contains the community of east Dallas, home to Deep Ellum, a trendy arts area close to downtown, homey Lakewood, Bryan Place, and historically and architecturally significant homes on Swiss Avenue. Above the Park Cities is north Dallas, home to mansions as palatial as Versailles in Preston Hollow, strong middle and upper-class communities north into Bent Tree and Far North Dallas, and high-powered shopping at Galleria Dallas, NorthPark Center, and Preston Center. East of north Dallas and north of east Dallas is Lake Highlands, one of the most unified middle-class areas in the city, with the strongest definition—it is in the northeastern part of the city above White Rock Lake and east Dallas.^[31]

The southern portion of Dallas is home to Oak Cliff, a hilly area in southwest Dallas that is predominantly Hispanic and includes entertainment districts such as the Bishop Arts District. South Oak Cliff became a predominantly African American district after the early 1970s and has struggled with high rates of poverty and crime.^[32] To the east, south Dallas lays claim to the Cedars, an eclectic artist hotbed south of downtown, Fair Park, and areas west of the Trinity River and east of Interstate 35E. The University of North Texas at Dallas, currently located south of Oak Cliff along Interstate 20,^[33] is being built in the area along Houston School Road.^[34] Further east, above (north and east of) the Trinity River, is Pleasant Grove—once an independent city, it is a predominantly black collection of neighborhoods stretching to Seagoville to the southeast.

The city is further surrounded by many suburbs and encloses the following enclaves: Cockrell Hill, Highland Park and University Park.

See also: List of neighborhoods in Dallas, Texas

Culture

Main article: Culture of Dallas, Texas

Politics

In a larger context, the Dallas-area is seen as right-wing politically, with a heavy cultural emphasis placed on Protestant Christianity and close historical and cultural ties to both the rugged American West and agricultural South. The popular television series Dallas bolstered this view epitomizing the city with wealthy oil barons, big hair, and cowboy hats. However, present-day Dallas as a singular entity can be seen as fairly liberal, even exceptionally so relative to its position in what is seen as an extremely conservative area—in the 2004 presidential election, 75.05% of Dallas voters voted for John Kerry, the Democratic Party candidate.^[35][36] In the 2006 elections for Dallas County judges, 41 out of 42 seats went to Democrats.

Cuisine

Dallas is renowned for barbeque, authentic Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine. Famous products of the Dallas culinary scene include the frozen margarita and the restaurants La Calle Doce, Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse, El Fenix, Mi Cocina, Bone Daddy's Barbeque, and The Mansion on Turtle Creek.^[37] The French Room at the Hotel Adolphus in downtown Dallas was named the best hotel restaurant in the US by Zagat. On average, Dallasites eat out about four times every week, which is the third highest rate in the country, behind Houston and Austin, and Dallas has more restaurants per capita than New York City.^[38][39]

Arts

The Arts District in downtown is home to several arts venues, both existing and proposed. Notable venues in the district include the Dallas Museum of Art, the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, The Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, the Nasher Sculpture Center, and nearby The Dallas Contemporary. Venues under construction or planned include the Winspear Opera House and the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts.^[40][41] The district is also home to DISD's Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, which is currently being expanded.^[42]

Deep Ellum originally became popular during the 1920s and 1930s as the prime jazz and blues hotspot in the south.^[43] Artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, and Bessie Smith played in original Deep Ellum clubs such as The Harlem and The Palace. Today, Deep Ellum is home to hundreds of artists who live in lofts and operate in studios throughout the district alongside bars, pubs, and concert venues.^[44] One major art infusion in the area is the city's lax stance on graffiti; consequently, several public ways including tunnels, sides of buildings, sidewalks, and streets are covered in murals. One major example, the Good-Latimer tunnel, was torn down in late 2006 to accommodate the construction of a light rail line through the site.^[45]

The Cedars has a growing population of studio artists and an expanding roster of entertainment venues. The area's art scene began to grow in the early 2000s with the opening of Southside on Lamar, a Sears warehouse converted into lofts, studios, and retail.^[46] Current attractions include Gilley's Dallas and Poor David's Pub.^[47][48] Entrepreneur Mark Cuban purchased land along Lamar Avenue near Cedars Station in September 2005 and locals speculate that he is planning an entertainment complex for the site.^[49]

The Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff is home to a number of studio artists living in converted warehouses. Walls of buildings along alleyways and streets are painted with murals and the surrounding streets contain many eclectic restaurants and shops.^[50]

Dallas has an Office of Cultural Affairs as a department of the city government. The City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs is responsible for six cultural centers located throughout the city, funding for local artists and theatres, public art projects and running the city owned radio station WRR.^[51]

Sports

See also: U.S. cities with teams from four major sports

Dallas is home to the Dallas Desperados (Arena Football League), Dallas Mavericks (National Basketball Association), and Dallas Stars (National Hockey League). All three teams play at the American Airlines Center. The Major League Soccer team FC Dallas, formerly the Dallas Burn, used to play in the Cotton Bowl but moved to Pizza Hut Park in Frisco upon the stadium's opening in 2005.^[52] However, the college Cotton Bowl football game is still played at the stadium. The Dallas Sidekicks, a former team of the Major Indoor Soccer League, used to play in Reunion Arena.^[53] The Texas Tornado, three-time defending champions of the North American Hockey League, plays at the Deja Blue Arena in Frisco.^[54]

Nearby Irving is home to the 5-time Super Bowl Champion Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League while Arlington is home to the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball. By 2009, the Dallas Cowboys will also be located in Arlington at a new facility.^[55][56]

Other teams in the Dallas area include the Dallas Harlequins of the USA Rugby Super League, and the Frisco RoughRiders of Minor League Baseball in Frisco.^[57] The Dallas Diamonds, the two-time national champions of the Women's Professional Football League Women's American football team, plays in North Richland Hills.^[58][59] McKinney is home to the Dallas Revolution, an Independent Women's Football League Women's American football team.^[60]

Recreation

The City of Dallas maintains and operates 406 parks on 21,000 acres (8,500,000 m²) of parkland. Its flagship park is the 260 acre (1,000,000 m²) Fair Park which was originally developed to host the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936. The city is also home to Texas's first and largest zoo at 95 acres (405,000 m²) — the Dallas Zoo, which opened in 1888.^[61]

The city's parks contain 17 separate lakes, including White Rock and Bachman lakes, spanning a total of 4,400 acres (1,780,000 m²). The city is criss-crossed with 61.6 miles (99 km) of bike & jogging trails, including the Katy Trail, and is home to 47 community and neighborhood recreation centers, 276 sports fields, 60 swimming pools, 232 playgrounds, 173 basketball courts, 112 volleyball courts, 126 play slabs, 258 neighborhood tennis courts, 258 picnic areas, six 18-hole golf courses, two driving ranges, and 477 athletic fields.^[62]

To the west of Dallas in Arlington is