About Dallas
Dallas, located in North Texas also serves as the county seat of Dallas County. Originally built on the banks of the Trinity River, the city has a population of 1.2 million people ranking it 3rd in the state of Texas and 9th in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex with 6.5 million residents, however, is the largest in Texas as well as the Southern United States and ranks 4th in the country.
The area that is now Dallas was seen a significant amount of change of ownership. Present day Dallas was once part of Spain until Mexico declared their independence from Spain. At that time in the early 1800’s, Mexico extended North to the Red River which included all of what is now Texas. In 1836 Texas declared its independence from Mexico to form the Republic of Texas until it was annexed into the United States in 1845. The city of Dallas, however, was founded as par of the Republic of Texas in 1841 but was not incorporated until 1856, years after being a part of the United States.
The city rose to prominence from the cotton and oil industries. As is true of the rest of Texas, especially neighboring Fort Worth, farming and livestock activity were the most common livelihoods in those days. While a large influence in the identity and heritage of the area, the oil, cotton and livestock industries are now joined by banking, commerce, telecommunications, computer technology, energy, healthcare, medical research, transportation and logistics as major employers.
The city is sometimes referred to as the heart of “Silicon Prairie” because of a high concentration of telecommunications companies in the region. There is an area known as the Telecom Corridor in the city and its Northern suburb of Richardson. The Corridor is home to more than 5,700 companieswhich includes Texas Instruments, Nortel Networks, Alcatel Lucent, AT&T, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Nokia, Rockwell Collins, Cisco Systems, Sprint and Verizon Communications.
The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex has one of the largest concentrations of corporate headquarters for publicly traded companies in the United States. The city of Dallas has 12 Fortune 500 companies while the DFW region as a whole has 20. In 2007–08, Comerica Bank and AT&T located their headquarters in Dallas. Irving is home to four Fortune 500 companies of its own, including ExxonMobil, the most profitable company in the world and the second largest by revenue for 2008, Kimberly-Clark, Fluor (engineering), and Commercial Metals. Other companies headquartered in the region include Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, RadioShack, Neiman Marcus, 7-Eleven, Brinker International, AMS Pictures, id Software, ENSCO Offshore Drilling, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Chuck E. Cheese’s, Zales and Fossil. Corporate headquarters in the northern suburb of Plano include HP Enterprise Services, Frito Lay, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, and JCPenney.
In addition to all the major corporations, the area hosts the highest concentration of shopping centers per capita in the United States as well as the first shopping center, Highland Park Village which dates back to 1931. The Dallas Galleria and NorthPark Center Malls are loaded with high-end retail and specialty stores.
The area’s economy ranks 6th in total GDP and the city of Dallas is home to 17 Billionaires, ranking it 6th in the world and neighboring Fort Worth is said to be home 8 Billionaires.
Dallas was one of the focal points considered when the US Government was planning and building the Interstate System because of its location in the Southern and Central part of the country. Interstates 20, 30, 35 and 45 travel through the city while I-635 and I-820 circle the city. The DFW Airport is among the busiest in the world and Dallas Love Field is the main hub of Southwest Airlines. In addition the DART system operates the busiest light-rail system in the US and a heavily used bussing system.
Pro Sports Teams
Dallas Cowboys (NFL), Texas Rangers (MLB), FC Dallas (MLS), Dallas Mavericks (NBA), Dallas Stars (NHL)
Nearby Cities & Towns
Fort Worth, Briar, Dallas, Boyd, Springtown, Weatherford, Annetta North, Decatur, Bridgeport, Paradise, Aledo, White Settlement, Ferris, Benbrook, Crowley, Burleson, Joshua, Keene, Cleburne, Alvardo, Rendon, Mansfield, Red Oak, Justin, Krum, Sanger, Denton, Flower Mound, Grapevine, Bedford, Hurst, Arlington, Forest Hill, Crandall, Corinth, Highland Village, Little Elm, The Colony, Lewisville, Frisco, Celina, Carrollton, Richardson, Plano, Allen, Fairview, McKinney, Wills Point, Quinlan, Melissa, Anna, Van Alstyne, Princeton, Lucas, Wylie, Sachse, Garland, Rockwall, Rowlett, Heath, Mesquite, Greenville, Farmersville, Balch Springs, Lancaster, Desoto, Glenn Heights, Duncanville, North Dallas, Midlothian, Palmer, Terrell, Forney, Kaufman, Irving, Grand Prairie
