Dallas, Texas

Dallas rose from frontier obscurity to become the ninth largest city in the United States, thanks to aggressive business and civic leadership. Situated inland with no navigable river and no mineral resources, Dallas has become an economic success and the business center of Texas through the talent and hard work of its citizens.

Landscape

Dallas is located in north central Texas beside the Trinity River, about seventy miles south of Oklahoma and thirty miles east of Fort Worth. The landscape is dominated by prairie land, with low hills and scattered trees. The area between Dallas and Fort Worth is connected by smaller cities, and known as the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The city of Dallas has an area of approximately 340 square miles.

The climate ranges from hot summers to mild winters, with occasional snow. Dallas winters are typically mild, with average temperatures between 33 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit. Summers are hot and temperatures can reach 100 degrees at times, but the normal range is between 70 and 97 degrees. Weather hazards include tornadoes, severe thunderstorms that may cause flooding and hail, and freezing rain.

Global warming and climate change are strongly impacting Dallas as well as other cities throughout Texas. The summer of 2023 was the second hottest on record. Climate change is increasing the frequency and length of heat waves.

People

In 2022 Dallas had an estimated population of 1,299,544 residents. According to Census Bureau estimates from that year, Dallas residents are 42.4 percent Hispanic, 28.3 percent non-Hispanic White, 23.6 percent African American, and 3.7 percent Asian. As a result of the city's diversity, more than fifty different languages are spoken in Dallas. School busing, crime, and other factors have shifted much of the white population to the surrounding suburbs. The dramatic increase in the Hispanic population in the early 2000s has made that group the majority minority, and their percentage of the population continues to increase.

Geographically, the city is split at the Trinity River and the interstate highway system. Despite the diversity of Dallas overall, the city's various ethnic communities are for the most part segregated within their own neighborhoods, sometimes more so than surrounding suburban communities, according to a study conducted by the Dallas Foundation.

Older parts of north Dallas still have affluent neighborhoods, such as Highland Park and Preston Hollow. Highland Park, founded in 1908, remains an exclusive prestige neighborhood with expensive homes and exotic architecture.

There are many cultural and ethnic influences within Dallas. The largest minority groups naturally have the most influence, but other smaller groups have their niche in the city. Jewish synagogues, Greek Orthodox Christian churches, and Islamic mosques are centers for such smaller communities. First- and second-generation immigrants, such as the city's Vietnamese and Chinese residents, share distinctive language, customs, and food. Each ethnic group has its own cohesive bonds that help unite their respective communities.

Economy

Agriculture, especially cotton, was the foundation of Dallas's economy in the mid-nineteenth century. Due to the encouragement of city leaders, the economy diversified in the latter part of the century to include banking, insurance, and other businesses, attracting new residents and creating opportunities for wealth. Farsighted leadership by banking and business leaders helped promote Dallas and attract more people to the city.

During World War II, war-related industries came to Dallas to take advantage of the area's labor supply. Aircraft assembly plants and other manufacturing and distribution centers were built in Dallas, and the economy prospered with the help of government contracts. After the war, more manufacturing plants were built in the area, and Dallas became a leading manufacturing center for aircraft and missile parts.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Dallas grew into a high technology center, with companies such as Texas Instruments, LTV, and many others setting up manufacturing plants and headquarters in the city. Trade centers were built, such as the Dallas World Trade Center, to provide space to display new products and negotiate business deals. In 2015, the Dallas–Fort Worth area served as the headquarters for twenty-one corporations listed on the Fortune 500.

Dallas is one of the major transportation centers in the United States. Many railroad lines run through the city, and many interstate highways criss-cross the area. The Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, which was one of the top-ten busiest airports by passenger traffic in the world in 2015, began operations in 1974. The airport quickly became a regional headquarters for many airlines, with thousands of employees moving to the Dallas area to take advantage of the city's central location. The airlines remain a vital part of the regional economy.

Several large hospitals are located in the Dallas area, providing health care to the population and employment for medical staff and other professionals. The Parkland Health and Hospital System is one of the largest teaching hospitals in the country. Baylor University Medical Center has been a leader in medical research using nuclear technology in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. The Texas Scottish Rite Hospital specializes in treating children who have disabilities and special health care needs.

Dallas has professional sports teams for each of the four major sports. The premier team is the National Football League (NFL) Dallas Cowboys, winners of five Super Bowls. Other professional teams in the area include the Major League Baseball Texas Rangers, based in Arlington, the National Basketball Association Dallas Mavericks, and the National Hockey League Dallas Stars. Sporting events bring prestige, attract visitors, and help the local economy.

Landmarks

Dallas boasts a wide variety of tourist attractions throughout the city. The Dallas Zoo is the oldest zoo in Texas, founded in 1888. Located in Marsalis Park, it is also the state's largest zoo in terms of area. The State Fair of Texas is a month-long event that is held in Fair Park in Dallas. The fair has music, food, amusement park rides, arts exhibits, and livestock, drawing thousands of visitors to the city each year.

Dallas is also home to a number of museums and performing arts halls, including the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Art, the African-American Museum of Art and History, and the Science Palace, among many others. Performing arts are well represented in Dallas by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Opera, and the Dallas Theater Center.

One of the historic sites in the city that draws many visitors, especially on November 22 of each year, is Dealy Plaza and the Texas School Book Depository building. The street in front of the depository was the location of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. The depository building museum has a number of exhibits about the tragedy.

History

Dallas was founded by John Neely Bryan in 1841. Bryan did not realize that the Republic of Texas had encouraged a group of settlers from St. Louis, led by William S. Peters, to settle the same area as the Peters Colony. Bryan was able to legalize his land claim, and would act as the leader of the town for many years. He encouraged other settlers to come to the area and farm the rich soil near Dallas.

Railroad transportation was the key to success for most cites, and business leaders in Dallas fought hard to make sure the railways came through the town. In 1872, the Houston and Texas Central Railroad came to Dallas. It connected the town to Houston and became an important transportation route. More important was the arrival of the Texas and Pacific Railway in Dallas, which provided the city with an overland connection to the rest of the country, simplifying travel to Dallas.

In 1901, the discovery of oil at Spindletop, in south Texas, launched a new industry and helped put Dallas on the road to greater prosperity. Although there was no actual oil in Dallas, the area did have an established insurance and banking community, which was a necessity for the oil companies around Houston. Dallas bankers grew rich from the profits earned in loaning the new companies money, and strong ties were formed between the city and the oil industry.

A major boost to Dallas's prestige came with the establishment of the 11th District Federal Reserve Bank in 1914. The Federal Reserve is a privately owned system of banks that have great influence over the US money supply and interest rates. The Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas immediately transformed the city into a national financial center.

The Great Depression affected Dallas as it did other parts of the nation, causing high unemployment and bank and business failures. Over fifteen thousand Dallas citizens lost their jobs and found themselves on government relief. However, the city's economy gradually recovered with the discovery of more oil in East Texas, and the arrival of aircraft factories in the area during World War II.

Tragedy struck Dallas, and the nation, on November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The official report was that a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, shot the president. Oswald was murdered before he could tell his story, but he repeatedly denied that he was the shooter. The identity and the true motives of the assassins have never been established to the satisfaction of many who have examined the evidence.

Life in Dallas was disrupted by the civil rights movement of the 1960s, especially when school desegregation was mandated by federal courts. As in many other cities, resistance to forced busing of students away from neighborhood schools was intense. Most white residents who were opposed to busing moved out of the city to the suburbs. Since that time, economic integration has occurred in many of the suburbs, notably DeSoto. Members of the rising African American, Asian, and Hispanic middle class have moved out of the inner city to the suburbs, looking for safer neighborhoods and better schools. Their success has helped create voluntary integration based on economic similarity rather than mandates from the federal government.

Bibliography

Behnken, Brian D. Fighting Their Own Battles: Mexican Americans, African Americans, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Texas. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 2011. Print.

“Dallas (City), Texas.” QuickFacts, United States Census Bureau,www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/dallascitytexas/RHI725221. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.

“Demographics.” Dallas Economic Development. Dallas Office of Economic Development, 2013. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.

Douglas, Erin. "Texas Economy Slows as Summers Get Hotter, Dallas Fed Economists Say." The Texas Tribune, 18 Oct. 2023, www.texastribune.org/2023/10/18/texas-economy-summer-heat-climate-change-dallas-fed/. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.

McElhaney, Jackie, and Michael V. Hazel. “Dallas, TX.” Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Assn., 2024. www.tshaonline.org/handbook Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.