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Dallas travel guide

about Dallas

Dallas is one of the ten largest cities in the United States and the heart of the largest metropolitan area in Texas. It is the county seat of Dallas County and small portions of the city also extend into the neighboring counties of Collin County, Denton County, Rockwall County, and Kaufman County.

Dallas is the largest city of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, a large metropolitan area in North Texas. As of the 2000 census, Dallas had a total population of 1,188,580 and the Metroplex had a population of 5,222,000, making it the largest metropolitan area in Texas, the ninth largest metropolitan area in the United States, and one of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the world.

Dallas was founded in 1841. While Dallas County was established three years later in 1844 and was named after George M. Dallas, who was the United States Vice President at the time and supported Texas' annexation, the origin of the city's name is debatable. Dallas was so called by its residents at least as early as 1843. There are four theories as to the origin of the city's name; it was named:

In 1855, a group of European artists and musicians set up a utopian community west of Dallas called La Reunion. When that venture collapsed in 1857, many of the artists moved to Dallas where they established the base of the artist culture that exists today in the Deep Ellum neighborhood in downtown. In the 1970s, Reunion Arena and Reunion Tower (a trademark of the skyline) were built in honor of the La Reunion colony. Today, Dallas boasts a lot of theater with much room for experimentation and a reasonable live music breeding ground for artists digging in to hone their craft before heading off to larger fame.

In 1871, railroads were beginning to approach the area. Dallas city leaders paid one railroad to build its tracks through Dallas, and tricked another railroad by having a state law passed that required them to build their tracks through town. The north-south and east-west routes intersected in Dallas in 1873, thus ensuring its future as a commercial center.

Dallas quickly became the center of trade in cotton, grain, and even buffalo. As it 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 east of Dallas and the city quickly became the financial center for the oil industry in Texas and Oklahoma. Then, the integrated-circuit computer chip was invented in Dallas in 1958. So when the oil industry relocated to Houston in the 1980s, Dallas was beginning to benefit from a burgeoning technology boom while continuing to be a center of banking and business. In the 1990s, Dallas became known as Texas' Silicon Valley, or the "Silicon Prairie."

Dallas geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 997.1 km² (385.0 mi²). 887.2 km² (342.5 mi²) of it is land and 110.0 km² (42.5 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 11.03% water.

Dallas, as is the surrounding area, is mostly flat and lies at an elevation ranging from 450 to 550 feet. An escarpment rises another 200 feet in southern Dallas in the neighborhoods of Oak Cliff and Cockrell Hill, Texas and continues through the city of Cedar Hill.

The Trinity River is a major Texas river that passes from the northwest right by the southern portion of downtown Dallas as it heads southeast to Houston. The river is flanked on both sides with a 50 foot earthen levee to keep that part of the city from flooding. Several bridges traverse the river connecting southern Dallas to downtown Dallas. Businesses and businessmen, like Belo and Ross Perot, Jr., have pushed in recent years to build a multi-million-dollar, landmark bridge over the river and convert that section of the river into a park area with nearby commercial and retail services somewhat similar to the River Walk in San Antonio or Townlake in Austin. Some proponents claim this development would bring more life, commerce, revenue and lower crime to downtown Dallas and poorer, southern Dallas. Some critics charge the project is a facade to serve special, financial interests of businessmen. Residents barely approved a bond proposal in 1998 to fund the Trinity River Project and work has progressed slowly towards implementing it. Ron Kirk, Dallas' first African-American mayor, championed the project during his term as mayor as he did the new American Airlines Center in downtown. His successor, mayor Laura Miller--sometimes referred to as Dallas' first reform mayor--won the vacancy left by Kirk when he ran for the U.S. Senate. Miller won in part based on her platform she would focus on the city's basic needs like roads and other infrastructure and city employees' pay: services some claimed were neglected at the cost of special projects like the American Airlines Center.

White Rock Lake is Dallas' other significant water feature. The lake and surrounding park is a popular destination in the Lake Highlands/Casa Linda neighborhoods for boaters, joggers, bikers, skaters and for related activities. The lake also boasts the 66-acre Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden on its shore.

Dallas lies near the bottom of a tornado region that runs through the prairie lands of the midwest. In the spring, cool fronts moving from Canada collide with warm, humid air streaming in from the Gulf Coast. When these fronts meet over Dallas, severe storms are generated with spectacular lightning shows, torrents of rain, large hail and, at times, tornados.

Dallas gets about 30 inches of rain per year, much of which is delivered in the spring time. The climate of Dallas is classified a humid subtropical climate, yet this part of Texas also tends to get hot, dry winds from the north and west in the summer. In the winter, the winds are cool, which can cause the region to fall below freezing occasionally. An inch of snow for a day or two falls about once each winter, and about every other winter the cool air from the north and the humid air from the south lead to freezing rain, which usually causes the city to come to a screeching halt for a day or two if the roads and highways become dangerously slick. Regardless, winters are relatively mild compared to the Texas Panhandle and other states to the north. Dallas winters are occasionally interspersed with indian summers.

Spring and fall and the pleasant, moderate temperatures accompanying those seasons are somewhat short-lived in Dallas. However short the season is, 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. In the spring the weather can also be quite volatile and change quickly in a matter of minutes. The cliche about volatile climates popular in various parts of the U.S.--"if you don't like the weather, wait a little while and it'll change"--applies well to Dallas' spring weather. Many consider autumn, around late September and October, to be the best time to visit the Metroplex. Yet many events are also scheduled for more volatile season in spring.

Ongoing comparisons are made between Dallas' summer weather and Houston's. Texans generally agree Houston is significantly more humid and Dallas is slightly hotter, although given Houston's humidity it may have a higher heat index than Dallas.

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Dallas, Texas".

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