Everything about Dallas Texas totally explained
Dallas is the third-largest (as estimated by the United States Census Bureau on 1 July 2006) city in the state of
Texas and the
ninth-largest in the
United States. The city covers and is the
county seat of
Dallas County. As of
July 1,
2006, U.S. Census estimates put central Dallas at a population of over 1.2 million
The city is the main economic center of the 12-county
Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area—at over 6.1 million people, it's the fourth-largest
metropolitan area in the United States.
Dallas is also listed as a
gamma world city by the
Loughborough University Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network.
Dallas was founded in 1841 and formally incorporated as a
city on
2 February 1856. The city's economy is primarily based on
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 a strong industrial and financial sector.
Dallas is currently the third most popular destination for business travel, and the
Dallas Convention Center, in downtown Dallas, is one of the largest and busiest convention centers in the country, at over 1 million square feet, and the world's largest singular column-free exhibit hall.
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History
Before Texas was claimed in the
16th century 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. 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. In 1839, four years into the Republic's existence,
Warren Angus Ferris surveyed the area around present-day Dallas. He shot the bears, poisoned the wolves, chased off the natives, and made the area safe for
John N. Bryan to "found" the city of Dallas in 1841. In 1846 the Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States and
Dallas County was established. It is strongly debated whether the City of Dallas, Texas is named after the U.S. Vice President,
George Mifflin 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 — of it's land and of it (11.03%) is water. Dallas 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 the Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington metropolitan area.
Dallas shares the same latitude with
Nagasaki, Japan.
Topography
of light on the right (east), Fort Worth the smaller on the left (west).]]
Dallas, and its surrounding area, is mostly flat and lies at an elevation ranging from to . The western edge of the
Austin chalk formation, a
limestone escarpment, rises 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's 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 tall earthen
levees to protect the city from floods. 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.
As a result, the Trinity River project area will reach for over 20 miles in length within the city and the overall geographical land area addressed by the Trinity River Land Use Plan is approximately 44,000 acres in size – about 20% of the land area in Dallas.
Parks and the natural Great Trinity Forest will together encompass approximately 10,000 acres, making it one of the largest and diverse urban parks in the world.
White Rock Lake, a reservoir constructed at the beginning of the 20th century, is Dallas's other significant water feature. The lake and surrounding park are a popular destination among boaters, rowers, joggers, and bikers in the
Lakewood/
Casa Linda Estates neighborhoods of
east Dallas. The
Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden lies on the lake's eastern shore.
Bachman Lake, just northwest of
Love Field, is a smaller lake and park also used for recreation.
Lake Ray Hubbard, a lake, is a vast and popular recreational lake located in an extension of Dallas surrounded by
Garland,
Rowlett,
Rockwall, and
Sunnyvale.
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).
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).
Climate
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. Winters are generally mild, with typical daytime highs between and and nighttime lows between and . However, strong cold fronts known as "Blue Northers" sometimes pass through Dallas, plummeting nightly lows below .
Snowfall is seen on average 2-4.5 days out of the year and snow accumulation is typically seen at least once every winter. A couple of times each year, warm and
humid air from the south overrides cold, dry air, leading to
freezing rain, which often causes major disruptions in the city if the roads and highways become dangerously slick. On the other hand, daytime highs above are also not unusual during the winter season. In sum, extremes in weather are more readily seen in Dallas and Texas as a whole than along the
Pacific and
Atlantic coasts, due to the state's location in the middle of the U.S.
Spring and autumn bring pleasant weather to the area. Vibrant
wildflowers (such as the
bluebonnet,
Indian paintbrush and other
flora) bloom in spring and are planted around the highways throughout Texas. Springtime weather can be
quite volatile, but temperatures themselves are generally mild. The weather in Dallas is also pleasant between late September and early November, and unlike springtime, major storms rarely form in the area.
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. Over time,
tornadoes are perhaps the biggest threat to the city. Dallas was hit by a
powerful tornado on
2 April 1957, The tornado would have likely been an
F3. On March 28, 2000, the “
Fort Worth Tornado” had an impact upon Dallas's neighbor
Fort Worth's downtown, and a tornado in
Arlington, Texas also happened that day damaging some homes. Even though Dallas lies at the lower end of the "
Tornado Alley", that day had the worst tornadoes to happen to the metroplex in the last 50 years.
The
U.S. Department of Agriculture places the city of Dallas in
Plant Hardiness Zone 8a. Dallas has the 12th worst ozone air pollution in the nation according to the
American Lung Association, ranking it behind
Los Angeles and
Houston. 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. 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.
All time recorded high is 113 °F, and all time recorded low is -2 °F.
The average daily low in Dallas is and the average daily high in Dallas is .
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
Comerica Bank Tower. 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.
As a result of the Trinity River Project, Dallas is also seeing construction of a series of bridges designed by
Santiago Calatrava. The first one being built
the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge will reach a height of over 40 stories above the river basin.
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,
new urbanist areas anchored by dense retail, 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
Reunion District and
Victory Park. North of downtown is
Oak Lawn, a densely-populated area that contains 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, the historic
Vickery Place,
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.
The southern portion of Dallas is home to
Oak Cliff, a hilly area in southwest Dallas that's 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. 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, is being built in the area along Houston School Road. Further east, above (north and east of) the
Trinity River, is
Pleasant Grove—once an independent city, it's 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.
Culture
(External Link
). Nonetheless, Dallas is also a high profile center of conservative
Protestant Christianity and is home to several renowned seminaries and influential
megachurches. The political environment is also solidly pro-business. The
Dallas TV series helped to solidify a number of Dallas stereotypes including wealthy oil barons, women with
big hair, and businessmen wearing
cowboy hats.
Politics
Present-day Dallas as a singular entity can be seen as fairly moderate to liberal, with conservative Republicans dominating the upper-middle class suburban neighborhoods of
North Dallas and liberal Democrats dominating neighborhoods closer to
Downtown as well as the city's
southern sector. As a continuation of its suburban northern neighborhoods, Dallas's northern suburbs are overwhelmingly conservative. Plano, the largest of these suburbs, was ranked as the fifth most conservative city in America by The Bay Area Center for Voting Research, based on the voting patterns of middle-age adults. However, the city of Dallas (excluding its suburbs) generally votes for Democratic political candidates in local, state, and national elections. In the 2004 Presidential elections, over 75% of Dallas voters voted for
John Kerry over
George W. Bush, making the city the 32nd most liberal city in the United States by sheer percentages and more liberal than traditionally left-leaning cities such as Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and Cincinnati. The county as a whole was split evenly, with 50% of voters voting for Bush and 49% voting for Kerry. In the 2006 elections for Dallas County judges, 41 out of 42 seats went to Democrats.
In 2004,
Lupe Valdez was elected
Sheriff of Dallas County the first Hispanic, first woman, and first open lesbian ever to fill that role. She is currently one of only two female sheriffs in the state of
Texas., the other being Sheriff Rosanna Abreo of
Bastrop County.
In 2007, conservative Republican Tom Leppert defeated Ed Oakley by a margin of 58% to 42% to become the Mayor of Dallas. Oakley, a liberal Democrat, would have become the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city had he been elected. The city's elections are officially non-partisan.
Cuisine
Dallas is renowned for
barbecue, 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, Enchilada's, Mi Cocina, Bone Daddy's Barbecue, and
The Mansion on Turtle Creek. The French Room at the Hotel Adolphus in downtown Dallas was named the best hotel restaurant in the US by Zagat. Several nationally ranked steak and chop houses can be found in the Dallas area including Bob's Steak & Chop House which is currently ranked #3 according to the USDA Prime Steakhouses chart, behind Ruth's Chris Times Square and Bones Atlanta. 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.
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,
The Dallas Contemporary,
The Dallas Children's Theatre. Venues under construction or planned include the
Winspear Opera House and the
Dallas Center for the Performing Arts. The district is also home to
DISD's
Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, which is currently being expanded.
Deep Ellum originally became popular during the 1920s and 1930s as the prime
jazz and
blues hotspot in the
south. 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. One major art infusion in the area is the city's 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.
Dallas also happens to be the Birthplace of Nick Jonas, from the hit pop band the Jonas Brothers, and Demi Lovato, an upcoming singer who stars in the Disney Channel movie Camp Rock.
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. Current attractions include Gilley's Dallas and Poor David's Pub. Entrepreneur
Mark Cuban purchased land along Lamar Avenue near
Cedars Station in September 2005 and locals speculate that he's planning an entertainment complex for the site.
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.
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.
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. 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.
The
Texas Tornado, three-time defending champions of the
North American Hockey League, plays at the
Deja Blue Arena in
Frisco.
Nearby
Irving is home to the
Dallas Cowboys of the
National Football League. Since joining the league as an expansion team in 1960, the Cowboys have enjoyed substantial success, advancing to eight
Super Bowls and winning five. Known as 'America's Team,' the
Dallas Cowboys are financially the most valuable sports franchise in the world, worth approximately 1.5 billion dollars. . The Cowboys currently play at
Texas stadium with plans to relocate in 2009 to their new 100,000 capacity stadium in
Arlington. .
Also,
Arlington is home to the
Texas Rangers of
Major League Baseball.
Other teams in the Dallas area include the
Dallas Harlequins of the USA
Rugby Super League, the
Frisco RoughRiders of Minor League Baseball in
Frisco, and the Grand Prairie AirHogs minor league baseball team. 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.
McKinney is home to the
Dallas Revolution, an
Independent Women's Football League Women's American football team.
Cricket is another sport that's popular among diaspora from South Asian countries. Local universities such as SMU and UT-Dallas have their own cricket clubs that are affiliated with USA Cricket.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Dallas Texas'.
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