Dallas - House Cleaning Dallas

Dallas (/'dæl?s/) is a major city in Texas and is the largest urban center of the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the United States. The city proper ranks ninth in the U.S. and third in Texas after Houston and San Antonio. The city's prominence arose from its historical importance as a center for the oil and cotton industries, and its position along numerous railroad lines. The bulk of the city is in Dallas County, of which it is the county seat; however, sections of the city are located in Collin, Denton, Kaufman, Tarrant and Rockwall counties. According to the 2010 United States Census, the city had a population of 1,197,816. The United States Census Bureau's estimate for the city's population increased to 1,281,047, as of 2014.

The city is the largest economic center of the 12-county Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area, which had a population of 6,954,330 as of July 1, 2014, representing growth in excess of 528,000 people since the 2010 census. The metropolitan economy is the sixth largest in the United States, with a 2013 real GDP of $448 billion. In 2013, the metropolitan area led the nation with the largest year-over-year increase in employment, and advanced to become the fourth-largest employment center in the nation (behind New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago) with more than three million non-farm jobs. The city's economy is primarily based on banking, commerce, telecommunications, computer technology, energy, healthcare and medical research, and transportation and logistics. The city is home to the third-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the nation. In the latest rankings released in 2013, Dallas was rated as a "beta plus" world city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network, and was 14th in world rankings of GDP by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Located in North Texas, Dallas is the main core of the largest inland metropolitan area in the United States that lacks any navigable link to the sea. Dallas and nearby Fort Worth were developed due to the construction of major railroad lines through the area allowing access to cotton, cattle, and later oil in North and East Texas. The construction of the Interstate Highway System reinforced Dallas' prominence as a transportation hub with four major interstate highways converging in the city, and a fifth interstate loop around it. Dallas developed as a strong industrial and financial center, and a major inland port, due to the convergence of major railroad lines, interstate highways, and the construction of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, one of the largest and busiest airports in the world.

History

Preceded by thousands of years of varying indigenous cultures, the Caddo people inhabited the Dallas area before Spanish colonists claimed the territory of Texas in the 18th century as a part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Later, France also claimed the area but never established much settlement.

In 1819, the Adams-Onís Treaty between the United States and Spain defined the Red River as the northern boundary of New Spain, officially placing the future location of Dallas well within Spanish territory. The area remained under Spanish rule until 1821, when Mexico declared independence from Spain, and the area was considered part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. In 1836, the Republic of Texas, with majority Anglo-American settlers, gained independence from Mexico to become a distinct nation.

In 1839, Warren Angus Ferris surveyed the area around present-day Dallas. John Neely Bryan established a permanent settlement near the Trinity River named Dallas in 1841. The Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845 and Dallas County was established the following year. Dallas was formally incorporated as a city on February 2, 1856.

With construction of railroads, Dallas became a business and trading center, and was booming by the end of the 19th century. It became an industrial city, attracting workers from Texas, the South and the Midwest. The Praetorian Building of 14 stories, built in 1909, was the first skyscraper west of the Mississippi and the tallest building in Texas for some time. It marked the prominence of Dallas as a city. A racetrack for Thoroughbreds was built and their owners established the Dallas Jockey Club. Trotters raced at a track in Fort Worth, where a similar Drivers Club was based. The rapid expansion of population increased competition for jobs and housing.

In 1921, the Mexican president Álvaro Obregón along with the former revolutionary general visited downtown Dallas' Mexican Park in Little Mexico, the small park was located on the corner of Akard and Caruth Street, site of the current Fairmount Hotel. The small neighborhood of Little Mexico was home to the Hispanic population that had come to Dallas due to factors like the American Dream, better living conditions or the Mexican Revolution.

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Elm Street while his motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas. The upper two floors of the building from which Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy, the Texas School Book Depository, have been converted into a historical museum covering the former president's life and accomplishments.

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 385.8 square miles (999.3 km²), 340.5 square miles (881.9 km²) of it being land and 45.3 square miles (117.4 km²) of it (11.75%) water. Dallas makes up one-fifth of the much larger urbanized area known as the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, in which one quarter of all Texans live.

Cityscape

Architecture

Dallas' skyline contains several buildings over 700 feet (210 m) in height. Although some of Dallas' architecture dates from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most of the notable architecture in the city is from the modernist and postmodernist eras. Iconic examples of modernist architecture include Reunion Tower, the JFK Memorial, I. M. Pei's Dallas City Hall and Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. Good examples of postmodernist skyscrapers are Fountain Place, Bank of America Plaza, Renaissance Tower, JPMorgan Chase Tower, and Comerica Bank Tower.

Several smaller structures are fashioned in the Gothic Revival style, such as the Kirby Building, and the neoclassical style, as seen in the Davis and Wilson Buildings. One architectural "hotbed" in the city is a stretch of historic houses along Swiss Avenue, which contains all shades and variants of architecture from Victorian to neoclassical. The Dallas Downtown Historic District protects a cross-section of Dallas commercial architecture from the 1880s to the 1940s.

Neighborhoods

Central Dallas

Central Dallas is anchored by Downtown, the center of the city and the epicenter of urban revival, along with Oak Lawn and Uptown, areas characterized by dense retail, restaurants, and nightlife. Downtown Dallas has a variety of named districts, 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, and the Reunion District. "Hot spots" north of Downtown include Uptown, Victory Park, Oak Lawn, Dallas Design District, Trinity Groves, Turtle Creek, Cityplace, Knox/Henderson, Greenville and West Village.

East Dallas

East Dallas is home to Deep Ellum, a trendy arts area close to Downtown, the homey Lakewood neighborhood, historic Vickery Place and Bryan Place, and the architecturally significant neighborhoods of Swiss Avenue and Munger Place. Its historic district has one of the largest collections of Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired Prairie-style homes in the United States. In the northeast quadrant of the city is Lake Highlands, one of Dallas' most unified middle-class neighborhoods.

South Dallas

South Dallas, a distinct neighborhood southeast of Downtown, lays claim to the Cedars, an eclectic artist hotbed, and Fair Park, home of the annual State Fair of Texas, held in October. Southwest of Downtown lies Oak Cliff, a hilly area that has undergone gentrification in recent years, in neighborhoods such as the Bishop Arts District. Oak Cliff was a township founded in the mid-1800s and annexed in 1903 by the city of Dallas. Today, most of the area's northern residents are Hispanic. The ghost town of La Reunion once occupied the northern tip of Oak Cliff. South Oak Cliff has a population that is a mixture of African American, Hispanic, and Native American.

South Side Dallas is currently a popular location for nightly entertainment at the NYLO rooftop patio and lounge, The Cedars Social, and the famous country bar Gilley's. The neighbourhood has undergone extensive development and community integration. What was once an area characterized by high rates of poverty and crime is now one of the most attractive social and living destinations in the city.

Further east, in the southeast quadrant of the city, is the large neighborhood of Pleasant Grove. Once an independent city, it is a collection of mostly lower-income residential areas stretching to Seagoville in the southeast. Though a city neighborhood, Pleasant Grove is surrounded by undeveloped land on all sides. Swampland and wetlands separating it from South Dallas will in the future be part of the Great Trinity Forest, a subsection of the city's Trinity River Project which is planned to restore and preserve wetlands, newly appreciated for habitat and flood control.

Dallas is surrounded by many suburbs; three enclaves are within the city boundaries--Cockrell Hill, Highland Park, and University Park.

Districts

Dallas has many distinct districts that have their own culture. Below is a list of several of their districts:

• Downtown
• Bishop Arts
• Bluffview
• "M"-Streets/Lower Greenville
• Deep Ellum
• Fair Park
• Exposition Park
• Lakewood
• Lakeland Hills
• Knox/Henderson
• Oak Lawn
• Uptown
• Trinity Groves
• Mockingbird Station
• Park Cities
• Preston Hollow
• Harry Hines
• Design District
• South Dallas
• Oak Cliff
• Kessler Park

Topography

Dallas and its surrounding area are mostly flat; the city itself lies at elevations ranging from 450 to 550 feet (137 to 168 m). The western edge of the Austin Chalk Formation, a limestone escarpment (also known as the "White Rock Escarpment"), rises 230 feet (70 m) and runs roughly north-south through Dallas County. South of the Trinity River, the uplift is particularly noticeable in the neighborhoods of Oak Cliff and the adjacent cities of Cockrell Hill, Cedar Hill, Mesquite, Grand Prairie, and Irving. Marked variations in terrain are also found in cities immediately to the west in Tarrant County surrounding Fort Worth, as well as along Turtle Creek north of Downtown.

Dallas, like many other cities, was founded along a river. The city was founded at the location of a "white rock crossing" of the Trinity River, where it was easier for wagons to cross the river in the days before ferries or bridges. The Trinity River, though not usefully navigable, is the major waterway through the city. Its path through Dallas is paralleled by Interstate 35E along the Stemmons Corridor, then south alongside the western portion of Downtown and past south Dallas and Pleasant Grove, where the river is paralleled by Interstate 45 until it exits the city and heads southeast towards Houston. The river is flanked on both sides by 50 feet (15 m) tall earthen levees to protect the city from frequent floods.

Since it was rerouted in the late 1920s, the river has been little more than a drainage ditch within a floodplain for several miles above and below downtown Dallas, with a more normal course further upstream and downstream, but as Dallas began shifting towards postindustrial society, public outcry about the lack of aesthetic and recreational use of the river ultimately gave way to the Trinity River Project, which was begun in the early 2000s and is scheduled to be completed in the 2010s. If the project materializes fully, it promises improvements to the riverfront in the form of man-made lakes, new park facilities and trails, and transportation upgrades.

The project area will reach for over 20 miles (32 km) in length within the city, while the overall geographical land area addressed by the Land Use Plan is approximately 44,000 acres (180 km²) in size--about 20% of the land area in Dallas. Green space along the river will encompass approximately 10,000 acres (40 km²), 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' other significant water feature. The lake and surrounding park is a popular destination for boaters, rowers, joggers, and bikers, as well as visitors seeking peaceful respite from the city at the 66-acre (267,000 m²) Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, located on the lake's eastern shore. White Rock Creek feeds into White Rock Lake, and then exits on to the Trinity River southeast of downtown Dallas. Trails along White Rock Creek are part of the extensive Dallas County Trails System.

Bachman Lake, just northwest of Love Field Airport, is a smaller lake also popularly used for recreation. Northeast of the city is Lake Ray Hubbard, a vast 22,745-acre (92 km²) reservoir located in an extension of Dallas surrounded by the suburbs of Garland, Rowlett, Rockwall, and Sunnyvale. To the west of the city is Mountain Creek Lake, once home to the Naval Air Station Dallas (Hensley Field) and a number of defense aircraft manufacturers. North Lake, a small body of water in an extension of the city limits surrounded by Irving and Coppell, initially served as a water source for a nearby power plant but is now being targeted for redevelopment as a recreational lake due to its proximity to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, a plan that the lake's neighboring cities oppose.

Climate

Dallas has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa), though it is located in a region that also tends to receive warm, dry winds from the north and west in the summer, bringing temperatures to the 100 °F (38 °C) mark about 20 days annually, the majority in August, and heat indices easily breaking 110 °F (43 °C). When only temperature itself is accounted for, the north central Texas region where Dallas is located is one of the hottest in the United States during the summer months, usually trailing only the Mojave Desert basin of Arizona, southern Nevada, and southeastern California. Dewpoints in the summer range from 66.5 to 67.6 °F (19 to 20 °C).

Winters in Dallas are generally mild to warm, with a normal daily average temperature in January of 47.0 °F (8.3 °C) with sharp swings in temperature as strong cold fronts known as "Blue Northers" pass through the Dallas region, forcing daytime highs below the 50 °F (10 °C) mark for several days at a time and often between days with high temperatures above 80 °F (27 °C). Snow accumulation is seen in the city in about 70% of winter seasons, and snowfall generally occurs 1-2 days out of the year for a seasonal average of 1.5 inches (3.8 cm). Some areas in the region, however, receive more than that, while other areas receive negligible snowfall or none at all.

A couple of times each winter in Dallas, warm and humid air from the south will override cold, dry air, resulting in freezing rain or ice and causing disruptions in the city if the roads and highways become slick. Temperatures reaching 70 °F (21 °C) on average occur on at least 4 days each winter month. Dallas averages 26 annual nights at or below freezing, with the winter of 1999-2000 holding the all-time record as having the fewest freezing nights, with 14. During this same span of 15 years, the temperature in the region has only twice dropped below 15 °F (-9 °C), though it will generally fall below 20 °F (-7 °C) in most (67%) years. In sum, extremes and variations in winter 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 interior of the North American continent. The lack of any mountainous terrain to the north leaves it open to the sweep of Arctic weather systems.

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 mild. The weather in Dallas is also generally pleasant from late September to early December and on many winter days. Autumn often brings more storms and tornado threat, but usually fewer and less severe than in spring.

Each spring, cold fronts moving south from the North will collide with warm, humid air streaming in from the Gulf Coast, leading to severe thunderstorms with lightning, torrents of rain, hail, and occasionally, tornadoes. Over time, tornadoes have probably been the biggest natural threat to the city, as it is located near the heart of Tornado Alley.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture places Dallas in Plant Hardiness Zone 8a. However, mild winter temperatures in the past 15 to 20 years have encouraged the horticulture of some cold-sensitive plants such as Washingtonia filifera and Washingtonia robusta palms. According to the American Lung Association, Dallas has the 12th highest air pollution among U.S. cities, ranking it behind Los Angeles and Houston. Much of the air pollution in Dallas and the surrounding area comes from a hazardous materials incineration plant in the small town of Midlothian and from concrete installations in neighbouring Ellis County.

The all-time record low temperature within the city itself is -3 °F (-19 °C), set on January 18, 1930, while the all-time record high is 113 °F (45 °C), set on June 26 and 27, 1980 during the Heat Wave of 1980 at nearby Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. The average daily low in Dallas is 57.4 °F (14.1 °C) and the average daily high is 76.9 °F (24.9 °C). Dallas receives approximately 37.6 inches (955 mm) of rain per year.

Demographics

As of the 2010 Census Dallas had a population of 1,197,816. The median age was 31.8.

According to the 2010 Census, 50.7% of the population was White (28.8% non-Hispanic white), 25.0% was Black or African American, 0.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.9% Asian, 2.6% from two or more races. 42.4% of the total population was of Hispanic or Latino origin (they may be of any race).

At the 2006-2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, among the Hispanic population, 36.8% of Dallas was Mexican, 0.3% Puerto Rican, 0.2% Cuban and 4.3% other Hispanic or Latino.

There were 458,057 households at the 2010 census, out of which 29.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.1% were headed by married couples living together, 16.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.0% were classified as non-family households. 33.7% of all households had one or more people under 18 years of age, and 17.6% had one or more people who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.42.

At the 2010 census the city's age distribution of the population showed 26.5% under the age of 18 and 8.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31.8 years. 50.0% of the population was male and 50.0% was female.

According to the 2005-2007 American Community Survey, the median income for a household in the city was $40,147, and the median income for a family was $42,670. Male full-time workers had a median income of $32,265 versus $32,402 for female full-time workers. The per capita income for the city was $25,904. About 18.7% of families and 21.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 33.6% of those under age 18 and 13.4% of those aged 65 or over. The median price for a house was $129,600.

Dallas' population was historically predominantly white (non-Hispanic whites made up 82.8% of the population in 1930), but its population has diversified as it has grown in size and importance over the 20th century to the point that non-Hispanic whites now represent less than one-third of the city's population. In addition, recent data showed that 26.5% of Dallas' population and 17% of residents in the Metroplex as a whole were foreign-born.

Dallas is a major destination for Mexican immigrants. The southwestern portion of the city, particularly Oak Cliff is chiefly inhabited by Hispanic residents. The southeastern portion of the city Pleasant Grove is chiefly inhabited by black and Hispanic residents, while the southern portion of the city is predominantly black. The West and East sides of the city are predominately Hispanic; Garland also has a large Spanish speaking population. North Dallas is many enclaves of predominantly white, black and especially Hispanic residents.

In addition, Dallas and its suburbs are home to a large number of Asian residents--Koreans, Taiwanese, Chinese, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Thai, Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Nepalese, and Arabs all have large presences in the area, particularly in the suburbs of Arlington, Garland, Richardson, Plano, Carrollton, Irving, Frisco, Flower Mound, and Allen. There is also a significant number of people from the Horn of Africa, immigrants from Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia. With so many immigrant groups, there are often multilingual signs in the linguistic landscape.

The Dallas-Fort-Worth Metroplex has an estimated 70,000 Russian-speakers, mostly immigrants from the former Soviet Bloc. Included in this population are Russians, Russian Jews, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Moldavians, Uzbek, Kirghiz, and others. The Russian-speaking population of Dallas has continued to grow in the sector of "American husbands-Russian wives". Russian DFW has its own newspaper The Dallas Telegraph.

About half of Dallas's population was born outside of Texas. Many residents have migrated to the city from other parts of the country, particularly the Midwest, Northeast, and California.

Recognized for having the sixth largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population in the nation, the Dallas metropolitan is widely noted for being home to a thriving and diverse LGBT community. Throughout the year there are many well-established LGBT events held in the area, most notably the annual Alan Ross Texas Freedom (Pride) Parade and Festival held every September since 1983 which draws tens of thousands from around the world. For decades, the Oak Lawn and Bishop Arts districts have been known as the epicenters of the LGBT community in Dallas.

Religion

There is a large Protestant Christian influence in the Dallas community. Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches are prominent in many neighborhoods and anchor two of the city's major private universities (Southern Methodist University and Dallas Baptist University). Dallas is also home to two evangelical seminaries, the Dallas Theological Seminary and Criswell College and many Bible schools including Christ For The Nations Institute.

The Christian creationist apologetics group Institute for Creation Research is headquartered in Dallas.

Dallas is called "Prison Ministry Capital of the World" by prison ministry community. It is a home for International Network of Prison Ministries, Coalition of Prison Evangelists, Bill Glass Champions for Life, for more than 30 years to Chaplain Ray's International Prison Ministry, and for more than 60 other prison ministries.

The Catholic Church is also a significant organization in the Dallas area and operates the University of Dallas, a liberal-arts university in the Dallas suburb of Irving. The Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe in the Arts District is home to the second-largest Catholic church membership in the United States, and oversees over 70 parishes in the Dallas Diocese. The Society of Jesus operates the Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas. Dallas is also home to three Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The city of Dallas and Dallas County have more Catholic than Protestant residents, while the converse is usually true for the suburban areas of Dallas.

Dallas' Jewish population of approximately 45,000 is the largest of any city in Texas. Since the establishment of the city's first Jewish cemetery in 1854 and its first congregation (which would eventually be known as Temple Emanu-El) in 1873, Dallas Jews have been well represented among leaders in commerce, politics, and various professional fields in Dallas and elsewhere. See History of the Jews in Dallas, Texas for more information.

The city is also home to a sizable Latter-day Saint community. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has seventeen stakes throughout Dallas and surrounding suburbs. The Church built the Dallas Texas Temple, the first temple in Texas, in the city in 1984.

Jehovah's Witnesses also have a large number of members throughout Dallas and surrounding suburbs.

There are several Unitarian Universalist congregations, including First Unitarian Church of Dallas, founded in 1903.

Furthermore, a large Muslim community exists in the north and northeastern portions of Dallas, as well as in the northern Dallas suburbs. The oldest mosque in Texas is located in Denton, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Downtown Dallas. The oldest mosque in Dallas is Masjid Al-Islam located just south of Downtown Dallas.

Dallas also has a large Buddhist community. Immigrants from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nepal, Tibet, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Sri Lanka have all contributed to the Buddhist population, which is concentrated in the northern suburbs of Garland, Plano and Richardson. Numerous Buddhist temples dot the Metroplex, including The Buddhist Center of Dallas, Lien Hoa Vietnamese Temple of Irving, and Kadampa Meditation Center Texas and Wat Buddhamahamunee of Arlington.

A sizable Sikh community resides in Dallas and its surrounding suburbs. There are at least three Sikh Gurudwaras in this metropolitan area.

There are several Hindu temples in DFW area in cities such as Irving and the Indian Community is growing in the DFW Metroplex. There's also a Jain Temple, ISKCON (Hare Krishna) Temple, Sai Baba Temple and other temples in DFW.

For the atheist, agnostic, nonbeliever and strictly spiritual individuals, there is "The Winter SolstiCelebration". After 15 years, this celebration has become a minor Dallas cultural tradition for the "spiritual but not religious" people of North Texas. "That gentle rejection of commonly held ideas fills many of those who will take part in the event. They are mostly people who refuse to be pigeonholed by any one religion - but who long for the sense of community that an organized faith supplies."

Economy

In its beginnings, Dallas relied on farming, neighboring Fort Worth's Stockyards, and its prime location on Native American trade routes to sustain itself. Dallas' key to growth came in 1873 with the building of multiple rail lines through the city. As Dallas grew and technology developed, cotton became its boon and by 1900 Dallas was the largest inland cotton market in the world, becoming a leader in cotton gin machinery manufacturing. By the early 1900s Dallas was a hub for economic activity all over the Southern United States and was selected in 1914 as the seat of the Eleventh Federal Reserve District. By 1925 Texas churned out more than 1/3 of the nation's cotton crop, with 31% of Texas cotton produced within a 100-mile (160 km) radius of Dallas. In the 1930s petroleum was discovered east of Dallas near Kilgore, Texas. Dallas' proximity to the discovery put it immediately at the center of the nation's petroleum market. Petroleum discoveries in the Permian Basin, the Panhandle, the Gulf Coast, and Oklahoma in the following years further solidified Dallas' position as the hub of the market.

The end of World War II left Dallas seeded with a nexus of communications, engineering, and production talent by companies such as Collins Radio Corporation. Decades later, the telecommunications and information revolutions still drive a large portion of the local economy. The city is sometimes referred to as the heart of "Silicon Prairie" because of a high concentration of telecommunications companies in the region, the epicenter of which lies along the Telecom Corridor located in Richardson, a northern suburb of Dallas. The Corridor is home to more than 5,700 companies including Texas Instruments (headquartered in Dallas), Nortel Networks, Alcatel Lucent, AT&T, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Nokia, Rockwell Collins, Cisco Systems, Sprint, Verizon Communications, XO Communications and until recently CompUSA (which is now headquartered in Miami,FL).

In the 1980s Dallas was a real estate hotbed, with the increasing metropolitan population bringing with it a demand for new housing and office space. Several of Downtown Dallas' largest buildings are the fruit of this boom, but over-speculation and the savings and loan crisis prevented any further additions to Dallas' skyline. Between the late 1980s and the early 2000s, central Dallas went through a slow period of growth and has only recently recovered. Since 2000, the real estate market in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex has been relatively resilient. However, Dallas is among the largest cities in the U.S. where rent declined significantly. Whereas the national decline in rent is approximately 4%, Dallas rent declined an average of 8% in early 2010.

Texas Instruments, a major manufacturer, employs 10,400 people at its corporate headquarters and chip plants in Dallas. Defense and aircraft manufacturing dominates the economy of nearby Fort Worth.

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, and 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. Additional companies headquartered in the Metroplex 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. Many of these companies--and others throughout the DFW metroplex--comprise the Dallas Regional Chamber.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world's largest breast cancer organization was founded and is headquartered in Dallas.

In addition to its large number of businesses, Dallas has more shopping centers per capita than any other city in the United States and is also home to the second shopping center ever built in the United States, Highland Park Village, which opened in 1931. Dallas is home of the two other major malls in North Texas, the Dallas Galleria and NorthPark Center, which is the 2nd largest mall in Texas. Both malls feature high-end stores and are major tourist draws for the region.

According to Forbes magazine's annual list of "The Richest People in America" published September 21, 2011, the city itself is now home to 17 billionaires, up from 14 in 2009. In 2009 (with 14 billionaires) the city placed 6th worldwide among cities with the most billionaires. The ranking does not even take into account the 8 billionaires who live in the neighboring city of Fort Worth. In 2013, Forbes also ranked Dallas No. 13 on its list of the Best Places for Business and Careers.

Dallas is currently the third most popular destination for business travel in the United States, and the Dallas Convention Center is one of the largest and busiest convention centers in the country, at over 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m²), and the world's single-largest column-free exhibit hall.

Culture

Cuisine

Dallas is known for its barbecue, authentic Mexican, and Tex-Mex cuisine. Famous products of the Dallas culinary scene include the frozen margarita. Fearing's restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton Dallas hotel in Uptown Dallas was named the best hotel restaurant in the US for 2009 by Zagat Survey. The Ritz-Carlton Dallas hotel was also named 2009 best US hotel by Zagat, and 2009 No. 2 hotel in the world by Zagat, trailing only the Four Seasons King George V in Paris, France. A number of nationally ranked steakhouses can be found in the Dallas area, including Bob's Steak & Chop House, currently ranked No. 1 according to the USDA Prime Steakhouses chart.

Arts

The Arts District in the northern section of 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 home to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Dallas Wind Symphony, The Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, and the Nasher Sculpture Center.

Venues that are part of the AT&T Dallas Center for the Performing Arts include the Winspear Opera House home to the Dallas Opera and Texas Ballet Theater, the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre home to the Dallas Theater Center and the Dallas Black Dance Theater, and City Performance Hall.

Also, not far north of downtown is the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University. In 2009 it joined up with "Prado on the Prairie" for a three-year partnership. The Prado focuses on Spanish visual art and boasts the best collection of Spain's art in North America, with works by Picasso, Goya, Velasquez, El Greco, Murillo, Zurbaran, Ribera, Fortuny, Rico, de Juanes, Plensa and plenty of other Spaniards. These works, as well as Non-Spanish highlights like sculptures by Rodin and Moore have been so successful of a collaboration that the Prado and Meadows have agreed upon an extension of the partnership.

The Arts District is also home to DISD's Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, a magnet school which was recently expanded.

City Center District, next to the Arts District is home to the The Dallas Contemporary.

Deep Ellum, immediately east of Downtown, originally became popular during the 1920s and 1930s as the prime jazz and blues hot spot in the South. Artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Huddie "Lead Belly" 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. A major art infusion in the area results from the city's lax stance on graffiti, and a number of public spaces 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.

Like Deep Ellum before it, the Cedars neighborhood to the south of Downtown has also seen 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, an old Sears warehouse converted into lofts, studios, and retail. Within this building, Southside on Lamar hosts the Janette Kennedy Gallery with rotating gallery exhibitions featuring many local, national, and international artists. Current attractions include Gilley's Dallas and Poor David's Pub. Dallas Mavericks owner and local 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.

South of the Trinity River, the flourishing 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 office is responsible for six cultural centers located throughout the city, funding for local artists and theaters, initiating public art projects, and running the city-owned classical radio station WRR.

Dallas is the setting of the TV series Dallas. Movies filmed there include The X Files and Dallas Buyers Club.

Events

The most notable event held in Dallas is the State Fair of Texas, which has been held annually at Fair Park since 1886. The fair is a massive event, bringing in an estimated $350 million to the city's economy annually. The Red River Shootout, which pits the University of Texas at Austin against The University of Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl also brings significant crowds to the city. The city also hosts the Heart of Dallas Bowl at the Cotton Bowl.

Other festivals in the area include several Cinco de Mayo celebrations hosted by the city's large Mexican American population, and Saint Patrick's Day parade along Lower Greenville Avenue, Juneteenth festivities, the Greek Food Festival of Dallas, the annual Halloween event "The Wake" featuring lots of local art and music, and two annual events on Halloween include; a Halloween parade on Cedar Springs Road and a "Zombie Walk" held in Downtown Dallas in the Arts District.

With the opening of Victory Park, WFAA Channel 8 has begun to host an annual New Year's Eve celebration in AT&T Plaza that the television station hopes will reminisce of celebrations in New York's Times Square, and on New Year's Eve 2011 set a new record of 32,000 people in attendance. Also, several Omni hotels in the Dallas area host large events to welcome in the new year including murder mystery parties, rave inspired events, and other events.

Places of interest

Array

Sports

The Dallas metropolitan area is home to five major league sports teams: the Dallas Cowboys (National Football League), Dallas Mavericks (National Basketball Association), Texas Rangers (Major League Baseball), Dallas Stars (National Hockey League), and FC Dallas (Major League Soccer).

Football

The Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League play in nearby Arlington, Texas. Since joining the league as an expansion team in 1960, the Cowboys have enjoyed substantial success, advancing to eight Super Bowls and winning five; according to profootballreference.com, as of the end of the 2009 season they were the winningest active NFL franchise. Known widely as "America's Team", the Dallas Cowboys are financially the most valuable sports 'franchise' in the United States, worth approximately 1.5 billion dollars. They are also the second most valuable sports organization in the world. The Cowboys are only out-valued by Manchester United, who are valued at 1.8 billion dollars. In 2009, the Cowboys relocated to their new 80,000-seat stadium in Arlington, which was the site of Super Bowl XLV.

Other major league sports

The Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball play at Globe Life Park in Arlington. The Rangers won the American League in 2010 and 2011.

The Dallas Mavericks play at the American Airlines Center. They won their first championship in 2011 led by Dirk Nowitzki.

FC Dallas of Major League Soccer play in Frisco at Toyota Stadium (formerly FC Dallas Stadium and Pizza Hut Park), a stadium that opened in 2005. The team was originally called the Dallas Burn and used to play in the Cotton Bowl. Although FC Dallas has not yet won a MLS Cup, they won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 1997.

The Dallas Stars are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Stars have won seven division titles in Dallas, two President's Trophies as the top regular season team in the NHL, the Western Conference championship twice, and in 1998-99, the Stanley Cup. The team plays at the American Airlines Center.

The Dallas Sidekicks (2012) are an American professional indoor soccer team based in Allen, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. They play their home games in the Allen Event Center. The team is named after the original Dallas Sidekicks that operated from 1984 to 2004.

Rugby union is a developing sport in Dallas as well as the whole of Texas. The multiple clubs, ranging from men's and women's clubs to collegiate and high school, are part of the Texas Rugby Football Union. Currently Dallas is one of only 16 cities in the United States included in the Rugby Super League represented by Dallas Harlequins.

College sports

The only Division I sports program within the Dallas political boundary is the Dallas Baptist University Patriots however, within the city limits, the Mustangs of Southern Methodist University are located in the enclave of University Park. Neighboring cities Fort Worth, Arlington, and Denton are home to the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs, University of Texas at Arlington Mavericks, and University of North Texas Mean Green respectively. The Dallas area hosted the Final Four of the 2014 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament at AT&T Stadium. The college Cotton Bowl Classic football game was played at the Cotton Bowl through its 2009 game, but has moved to AT&T Stadium.

Array

Recreation

The city of Dallas maintains and operates 406 parks on 21,000 acres (85 km²) of parkland. Its flagship park is the 260-acre (1.05 km²) Fair Park, which hosted the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936. The city is also home to Texas' first and largest zoo, the 95 acres (0.38 km²) Dallas Zoo, which opened at its current location in 1888.

The city's parks contain 17 separate lakes, including White Rock and Bachman lakes, spanning a total of 4,400 acres (17.81 km²). In addition, Dallas is traversed by 61.6 miles (99.1 km) of biking and 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.

As part of the ongoing Trinity River Project, the Great Trinity Forest, at 6,000 acres (24 km²), is the largest urban hardwood forest in the United States and is part of the largest urban park in the United States. The Trinity River Audubon Center is a new addition to the park. Opened in 2008, it serves as a gateway to many trails and other nature viewing activities in the area. The Trinity River Audubon Center is the first LEED-certified building constructed by the City of Dallas Parks and Recreation Department.

Dallas also hosts three of the twenty-one preserves of the extensive (3,200 acres (13 km²)) Dallas County Preserve System. Both the Joppa Preserve, the McCommas Bluff Preserve the Cedar Ridge Preserve are all within the Dallas city limits. The Cedar Ridge Preserve was formerly known as the Dallas Nature Center, but management was turned over to Audubon Dallas group, which now manages the 633-acre (2.56 km²) natural habitat park on behalf of the city of Dallas and Dallas County. The preserve sits at an elevation of 755 feet (230 m) above sea level, and contains a variety of outdoor activities, including 10 miles (16 km) of hiking trails and picnic areas.

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Government and politics

Government

The city uses a council-manager government, with Mike Rawlings serving as Mayor, A.C. Gonzalez serving as interim city manager, and 14 council members serving as representatives to the 14 council districts in the city. This organizational structure was recently contested by some in favor of a strong-mayor city charter, only to be rejected by Dallas voters. In 1969 Anita N. Martínez become the first Hispanic to sit as a council women in Dallas' city council.

Policing in Dallas is provided predominantly by the Dallas Police Department, which has around 3,500 officers. The Dallas chief of police is David Brown (effective May 5, 2010). The Police Headquarters are located in the Cedars neighborhood of South Dallas.

Fire protection and emergency medical services in the city are provided by Dallas Fire-Rescue, which has 1,670 firefighters and 56 working fire stations in the city limits. The Dallas Fire & Rescue chief is Eddie Burns, Sr. The department also operates the Dallas Firefighter's Museum built in 1907 along Parry Avenue near Fair Park. Dallas's oldest remaining fire station building still stands at the corner of McKinney Ave. and Leonard and was built in 1892. It was the home of Engine Co. Number 1, and is now a picture framing shop.

In the 2006-2007 fiscal year, the city's total budget (the sum of operating and capital budgets) was $2.3 billion. The city has seen a steady increase in its budget throughout its history due to sustained growth: the budget was $1.7 billion in 2002-2003, $1.9 billion in 2003-2004, $2.0 billion in 2004-2005, and $2.2 billion in 2005-2006.

Crime

According to the FBI, a city to city comparison of crime rates is not meaningful, because recording practices vary from city to city, citizens report different percentages of crimes from one city to the next, and the actual number of people physically present in a city is unknown. With that in mind, Dallas' violent crime rate (12.06 per 1,000 people) is lower than that of St Louis (24.81), Detroit (24.22), Baltimore (16.96), Philadelphia (15.62), Cleveland (15.47), Miami (15.09), Washington, D.C. (14.48), Kansas City (14.44) and Boston (13.39). However, Houston (11.69), Los Angeles (7.87), and New York City (6.38) have lower violent crime rates than Dallas.

Federal and state government

National and state legislators representing Dallas:

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, which exercises original jurisdiction over 100 counties in North and West Texas, convenes in the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse in the Government District of Downtown. The same building additionally houses United States Bankruptcy and Magistrate Courts and a United States Attorney office. Dallas also is the seat of the Fifth Court of Appeals of Texas.

Politics

As a city, present-day Dallas can be seen as moderate, with conservative Republicans dominating the wealthy 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' northern parts 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.

Jim Schutze of the Dallas Observer said in 2002 "the early vote in majority-black precincts in Southern Dallas is the city's only disciplined vote. Especially in citywide elections on issues that are not entwined in the internal politics of the black community, the Southern Dallas African-American vote has a history of responding obediently to the call of leadership."

In the 2004 U.S. Presidential elections, 57% of Dallas voters voted for John Kerry over George W. Bush. Dallas County as a whole was closely divided, with 50% of voters voting for Bush and 49% voting for Kerry.

In 2004, Lupe Valdez was elected Dallas County Sheriff. An open lesbian, Valdez is currently the only female sheriff in the state of Texas. Despite controversies in her handling of county jails, she won re-election in 2008 with a 10-point victory over Republican challenger Lowell Cannaday.

Conservative Republican Tom Leppert defeated liberal Democrat Ed Oakley in the city's 2007 mayoral race by a margin of 58% to 42%. Though candidates' political leanings are well publicized in the media, Dallas' elections are officially non-partisan. The city's previous mayor was Laura Miller, a liberal Jewish woman who had previously written for the Dallas Observer, the city's most popular alternative newspaper.

Cathie Adams, named chairman in October 2009 of the Republican Party of Texas, is a long-time conservative political activist from Dallas.

Education

There are 337 public schools, 89 private schools, 38 colleges, and 32 libraries in Dallas.

Colleges and universities

Dallas is a center of education for much of the south central United States. In addition to those located in the city, the surrounding area also contains a number of universities, colleges, trade schools, and other educational institutions. The following describes the various universities and their proximity to the city:

Colleges and universities in the Dallas city limits

• The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School is a medical school located in the city's Stemmons Corridor. It is part of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, one of the largest grouping of medical facilities in the world. The school is very selective, admitting only around 200 students a year. The facility enrolls 3,255 postgraduates and is home to five Nobel Laureates--four in physiology/medicine and one in chemistry. UTSW is part of the University of Texas System.

• Texas Woman's University (TWU) has operated a nursing school in Dallas at Parkland Memorial Hospital since 1966. The "T. Boone Pickens Institute of Health Sciences-Dallas Center" (IHSD) was opened in 2011 and is a purpose-built educational facility that replaced the original building that TWU had used since 1966. TWU also operated an occupational therapy school at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas from 1977 through 2011 before consolidating those functions into the new IHSD building at Parkland.

• Paul Quinn College is a private, historically black college located in southeast Dallas. Originally located in Waco, Texas, it moved to Dallas in 1993 and is housed on the campus of the former Bishop College, another private, historically black college. Dallas billionaire and entrepreneur Comer Cottrell, Jr., founder of ProLine Corporation, bought the campus of Bishop College and bequeathed it to Paul Quinn College in 1993.

• The University of North Texas at Dallas, located along Houston School Road. In 2009 UNT at Dallas became the first public university within Dallas city limits. The University of North Texas System has requested approval from the Texas Legislature and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for the State's first new public law school in more than 40 years. Plans are for the UNT College of Law to be based at the Old Municipal Building in downtown Dallas.

• Dallas Baptist University (DBU) is a private, coeducational university located in the Mountain Creek area of southwest Dallas. Originally located in Decatur, Texas, the school moved to Dallas in 1965. The school currently enrolls over 5,600 students, and offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees. Popular subjects include Biblical studies, business, and music degrees. DBU has been recognized by the National Council on Teacher Quality for their high quality teacher preparatory degrees. The school also maintains an Intensive English Program for international students wishing to enhance their knowledge of the English language. The campus is a Tree Campus USA and is recognized as one of the most beautiful university campuses in the southwest. The school has also become nationally recognized in the past few years for its baseball team which has made several playoff runs.

• Dallas Theological Seminary, also within the city limits, is recognized as one of the leading seminaries in the evangelical faith. Situated 3 miles (5 km) east of Downtown Dallas, it currently enrolls over 2,000 graduate students and has graduated over 12,000 alumni.

• Criswell College, (within two blocks of Dallas Theological Seminary). Criswell was started by First Baptist Church of Dallas in the early 1970s. It presently has around 400 students at both the undergraduate and graduate level studying different Biblical and Christian subjects.

• Dallas County Community College District, the 2-year educational institution of Dallas County; it has seven campuses located throughout the area with branches in Dallas as well as the surrounding suburbs. DCCCD serves portions of Dallas in Dallas County.

Colleges and universities near Dallas

• Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a private, coeducational university in University Park, an independent city that, together with the adjacent town of Highland Park, Dallas surrounds entirely. SMU was founded in 1911 by the Southern Methodist Church and now enrolls 6,500 undergraduates, 1,200 professional students in the law and theology departments, and 3,500 postgraduates. According to sources such as the U.S. News & World Report, SMU is the best overall undergraduate college in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and the third best in the State of Texas.

• The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), also part of the state public University of Texas System, is located in the city of Richardson, is adjacent to Dallas' Far North Dallas neighborhood, and is in the heart of the Telecom Corridor. UT Dallas, or UTD, is renowned for its work in combining the arts and technology, as well as for its programs in engineering, computer science, economics, international political economy, neuroscience, speech and hearing, pre-health, pre-law and management. The university has many collaborative research relationships with UT Southwestern Medical Center. UT Dallas is home to approximately 21,145 students.

• The University of Dallas (UD), in the suburb of Irving, is an enclave of traditional Roman Catholicism in the mostly Protestant religious landscape of Dallas. St. Albert the Great Dominican Priory and Holy Trinity Seminary are located on campus, while the Cistercian Monastery and Cistercian Preparatory School are located just north of the UD campus across Texas State Highway 114. The Highlands School, a PK-12 Legionary school, is just west of the UD campus and connects to campus by jogging trails. As a center for religious study, the Cistercian Monastery continues to be notable for scholastic developments in theology.

• Located in downtown Dallas, El Centro College is the flagship institution of the Dallas County Community College District. El Centro first opened its campus doors in 1966 and now enrolls over 10,000 students. El Centro was the first college of the DCCCD to offer a nursing program and has established relationships with several top-notch hospitals in the Dallas area. The college is also the only campus within DCCCD that offers a Food & Hospitality Program as well as renowned programs in fashion design and fashion marketing.

University Research Center

• Texas A&M-Dallas Research and Extension Center

Other area colleges and universities

Also in the nearby suburbs and neighboring cities are:

• The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA)
• The University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton
• Texas Woman's University (TWU) in Denton
• Tarleton State University - SW Metroplex at Fort Worth (Texas A&M University System)
• University of Phoenix, Dallas Campus in Dallas, Irving, Plano, Arlington, Hurst, and Cedar Hill
• Dallas Christian College (DCC) in Farmers Branch
• Collin College in Collin County
• Remington College in Garland, Texas, established in July 1997
• Remington College (Ft. Worth Campus)

Also, within the Dallas/Fort Worth area, about 30 miles (48 km) to the west of the city of Dallas, Fort Worth has two major universities within its city limits, and one health sciences/medical school:

• Texas Christian University (TCU)
• Texas Wesleyan University
• University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth

A number of colleges and universities are also located outside the immediate metropolitan area, including:

• Austin College in nearby Sherman
• Tarleton State University (Texas A&M University System) - Stephenville, Texas
• Texas A&M University-Commerce
• Southwestern Assemblies of God University in nearby Waxahachie
• Navarro College in nearby Corsicana
• Tarrant County College in Tarrant County

Primary and secondary schools

Most people in the city of Dallas are located within the Dallas Independent School District, the 12th-largest school district in the United States. The school district operates independently of the city and enrolls over 161,000 students. In 2006, one of the district's magnet schools, The School for the Talented and Gifted in Oak Cliff, was named the best school in the United States (among public schools) by Newsweek, retaining the title in 2007 and regaining the top spot in 2009. Another one of DISD's schools, the Science and Engineering Magnet, placed 8th in the same 2006 survey and moved up to the No. 2 spot the following year. Other Dallas high schools named to the list were Hillcrest, W. T. White, Williams Preparatory, and Woodrow Wilson high schools. Woodrow Wilson was also named the top comprehensive high school in Dallas by local publication D Magazine.

A few areas of Dallas also extend into other school districts, including Carrollton-Farmers Branch, Duncanville, Garland, Highland Park, Mesquite, Plano, and Richardson. The Wilmer-Hutchins Independent School District once served portions of southern Dallas, but it was shut down for the 2005-2006 year. WHISD students started attending other Dallas ISD schools during that time. Following the close, the Texas Education Agency consolidated WHISD into Dallas ISD.

Many school districts in Dallas County, including Dallas ISD, are served by a governmental agency called Dallas County Schools. The system provides busing and other transportation services, access to a massive media library, technology services, strong ties to local organizations for education/community integration, and staff development programs.

Private schools

There are many private schools in Dallas, such as St. Mark's School of Texas, The Hockaday School, Greenhill School, Burton Adventist Academy, Ursuline Academy of Dallas, Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas, The June Shelton School, Lakehill Preparatory School, Episcopal School of Dallas, The Lamplighter School, The da Vinci School, Parish Episcopal School, Bishop Dunne Catholic School, Bishop Lynch High School, Yavneh Academy of Dallas, Dallas Lutheran School, The Winston School, Dallas Christian School on the borders of Mesquite and Garland, First Baptist Academy of Dallas, and Tyler Street Christian Academy in Oak Cliff. Some Dallas residents attend Cistercian Preparatory School in adjacent Irving, The Highlands School in Irving, Trinity Christian Academy in Addison, and John Paul II High School in [Plano].

Libraries

The city is served by the Dallas Public Library system. The system was originally created by the Dallas Federation of Women's Clubs with efforts spearheaded by then-president Mrs. Henry (May Dickson) Exall. Her work in raising money led to a grant from philanthropist and steel baron Andrew Carnegie, which enabled the construction of the first branch of the library system in 1901. Today, the library operates 27 branch locations throughout the city, including the 8-story J. Erik Jonsson Central Library in the Government District of Downtown.

Museums

• The former Texas School Book Depository, from which, according to the Warren Commission Report, Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed president John F. Kennedy in 1963, has served since the 1980s as a county government office building, except for its sixth and seventh floors, which house The Sixth Floor Museum.
• The American Museum of the Miniature Arts is located at the Hall of State at Fair Park.
• In the near future, the Los Angeles-class submarine USS Dallas (SSN-700) will become a museum ship located near the Trinity River after her decommissioning in September 2014. She will be taken apart into massive sections in Houston and be transported by trucks to the museum site and will be put back together.

Media

Dallas has numerous local newspapers, magazines, television stations and radio stations that serve the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex as a whole, which is the 5th-largest media market in the United States. Dallas has one major daily newspaper, The Dallas Morning News, which was founded in 1885 by A. H. Belo and is A. H. Belo's flagship newspaper. The Dallas Times Herald, started in 1888, was the Morning News' major competitor until Belo purchased the paper on December 8, 1991 and closed the paper down the next day. Other daily newspapers are Al Día, a Spanish-language paper published by Belo, Quick, a free, summary-style version of the Morning News, and a number of ethnic newspapers printed in languages such as Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.

Other publications include the Dallas Weekly, the Oak Cliff Tribune and the Elite News, all weekly news publications. The Dallas Morning News also puts out a weekly publication, neighborsgo, which comes out every Friday and focuses on community news. Readers can post stories and contribute content at the Web site, [6]. The Dallas Observer and the North Texas Journal are also alternative weekly newspapers, D Magazine, is a notable monthly magazine about business, life, and entertainment in the Metroplex. Local visitor magazines include "WHERE Magazine" and "Travelhost" - available at hotel desks or in guest rooms. In addition, the Park Cities and suburbs such as Plano also have their own community newspapers. Also, THE magazine covers the contemporary arts scene.

In terms of the larger metro area, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is another significant daily newspaper, covering Fort Worth/Tarrant County and its suburbs. It also publishes a major Spanish-language newspaper for the entire Metroplex known as La Estrella. To the north of Dallas and Fort Worth, the Denton Record-Chronicle primarily covers news for the city of Denton and Denton County.

Area television stations affiliated with the major broadcasting networks include KDFW 4 (Fox), KXAS 5 (NBC), WFAA 8 (ABC) (which for many years was owned by Belo alongside the Morning News), KTVT 11 (CBS), KERA 13 (PBS), KUVN 23 (UNI), KDFI 27 (MNTV), KDAF 33 (The CW) and KXTX 39 (TMD). KTXA-21 is an independent station formerly affiliated with the now-defunct UPN network.

63 radio stations operate within range of Dallas. The city of Dallas operates WRR 101.1 FM, the area's main classical music station, from city offices in Fair Park. Its original sister station, licensed as WRR-AM in 1921, is the oldest commercially operated radio station in Texas and the second-oldest in the United States, after KDKA (AM) in Pittsburgh. Because of the city's centrally located geographical position and lack of nearby mountainous terrain, high-power class A medium-wave stations KRLD and WBAP can broadcast as far as southern Canada at night and can be used for emergency messages when broadcasting is down in other major metropolitan areas in the United States.

Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (HBC), the largest company in the Spanish-language radio station business, is based in Dallas. In 2003, HBC was acquired by Univision and became Univision Radio Inc., but the radio company remains headquartered in the city.

Slavic Voice of America media group serves Russian-speaking Americans out of Dallas, TX.

Infrastructure

Health systems

Dallas has many hospitals and a number of medical research facilities within its city limits. One major research center is the Dallas Medical District with the UT Southwestern Medical Center in the Stemmons Corridor, along with the affiliated UT Southwestern Medical School. The health care complex includes within its bounds Parkland Memorial Hospital, Children's Medical Center, St. Paul University Hospital, and the Zale Lipshy University Hospital.

Dallas also has a VA hospital in the southern portion of the city, the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The center is home to a Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy (CMOP), part of an initiative by the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide mail-order prescriptions to veterans using computerization at strategic locations throughout the United States.

U.S. News & World Report, in its 2004 edition on "America's Best Hospitals" gave Parkland Memorial Hospital one of the best overall ratings. The specialties at Parkland Memorial Hospital were also rated among the best in the nation, in seven different categories. Those categorie and the ratings were: Rheumatology- 23rd nationally; Orthopedics- 20th nationally; Kidney Disease- 17th nationally; Hormonal Disorders- 14th nationally; Heart and Heart Surgery- 18th nationally; Gynecology- 11th nationally; Ear, Nose, and Throat- 47th nationally.

Parkland Memorial Hospital is named one of Modern Healthcare's "25 busiest community hospital emergency departments". Parkland is a 2006 Professional Research Consultants Excellence in Healthcare award winner for Patient Perception and Overall Quality of Care.

Other hospitals in the city include Baylor University Medical Center in East Dallas, Methodist Dallas Medical Center in Oak Cliff, Methodist Charlton Medical Center near Duncanville, Medical City Dallas Hospital and Presbyterian Hospital in North Dallas, and the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Oak Lawn.

Transportation

Like many other major cities in the United States, the primary mode of local transportation in Dallas is the automobile, though efforts have been made to increase the availability of alternative modes of transportation, including the construction of light rail lines, biking and walking paths, wide sidewalks, a trolley system, and buses.Walk Score ranked Dallas the twenty third most walkable of fifty largest cities in the United States.

Highways

Dallas is at the confluence of four major interstate highways--Interstates 20, 30, 35E, and 45. The Dallas area freeway system is set up in the popular hub-and-spoke system, shaped much like a wagon wheel. Starting from the center of the city, a small freeway loop surrounds Downtown, followed by the Interstate 635 loop about 10 miles (16 km) outside Downtown, and ultimately the tolled President George Bush Turnpike. Inside these freeway loops are other boulevard- and parkway-style loops, including Loop 12 and Belt Line Road. Another beltway around the city upwards of 45 miles (72 km) from Downtown is under plan in Collin County.

Radiating out of Downtown Dallas' freeway loop are the spokes of the area's highway system--Interstates 30, 35E, and 45, U.S. Highway 75, U.S. Highway 175, State Spur 366, the Dallas North Tollway, State Highway 114, U.S. Highway 80, and U.S. Highway 67. Other major highways around the city include State Highway 183 and State Spur 408.

The recently completed interchange at the intersection of Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway (Interstate 635) and Central Expressway (U.S. Highway 75) contains 5 stacks and is aptly called the High Five Interchange. It is currently one of the few 5-level interchange in Dallas and is one of the largest freeway interchanges in the United States.

The following is a list of the freeways and tollways in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area:

Transit systems

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is the Dallas-area public transportation authority, providing rail, buses and HOV lanes to commuters. DART began operating the first light rail system in Texas in 1996 and is now the largest operator of light rail in the US. Today, the system is the seventh-busiest light rail system in the country with approximately 55 stations on 72 miles of light rail, and 10 stations on 35 miles of commuter rail. Four light rail lines and a commuter line are currently in service: the Red Line, the Blue Line, the Green Line, the Orange Line (peak-service only), and the Trinity Railway Express.

The Red Line travels through Oak Cliff, South Dallas, Downtown, Uptown, North Dallas, Richardson and Plano, while the Blue Line goes through Oak Cliff, Downtown, Uptown, East Dallas, Lake Highlands, and Garland. The Red and Blue lines are conjoined between 8th & Corinth Station in Oak Cliff through Mockingbird Station in North Dallas. The two lines service Cityplace Station, the only subway station in the Southwest. The Green Line serves Carrollton, Farmers Branch, Love Field Airport, Stemmons Corridor, Victory Park, Downtown, Deep Ellum, Fair Park, South Dallas, and Pleasant Grove.

The Orange Line initially operated as a peak-service line providing extra capacity on portions of the Green and Red Lines (Bachman Station on the Green Line, through the Downtown transit mall, to Parker Road Station on the Red Line making a "U"-shape). However, the first stage of the Orange Line is complete, extending its west end from Bachman to Belt Line Station in Irving.

The second and final phase will open in August 2014 and will provide DFW Airport with rail service. DFW Airport Station will be the terminus for the Orange Line and will connect to Skylink. This will provide passengers the convenience of disembarking the DART rail, proceeding to security check-in and immediately boarding Skylink to be quickly transported to their desired terminal. The Blue Line has also been extended by 4.5 miles to serve Rowlett at the Rowlett Park & Ride facility.

In August 2009, the Regional Transportation Council agreed to seek $96 million in federal stimulus dollars for a trolley project in Dallas and Fort Worth. The Oak Cliff Transit Authority took the lead with leaders envisioning a streetcar line that would link Union Station and the Dallas Convention Center in downtown to Oak Cliff, Methodist Medical Center, and the Bishop Arts District via the Houston Street Viaduct. Dallas was awarded a $23 million TIGER grant towards the $58 million Dallas Streetcar Project in February 2010. The Dallas Streetcar Project will link up with the current McKinney Avenue Transit Authority (MATA) trolley line (also known as the M-Line) in Uptown with a new alignment on Olive Street.

In addition to light rail, Amtrak's Texas Eagle also serves Union Station, providing long-distance train service to Chicago, San Antonio and Los Angeles once daily. The Trinity Rail Express terminates at Union Station and T&P Station.

Air

Dallas is served by two commercial airports: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Dallas Love Field (DAL). In addition, Dallas Executive Airport (formerly Redbird Airport), serves as a general aviation airport for the city, and Addison Airport functions similarly just outside the city limits in the suburb of Addison. Two more general aviation airports are located about 35 miles (56 km) north of Dallas in McKinney, and another two are located in Fort Worth, on the west side of the Metroplex.

DFW International Airport is located in the suburbs slightly north of and equidistant to Downtown Fort Worth and Downtown Dallas. In terms of size, DFW is the largest airport in the state, the 2nd largest in the United States, and 9th largest in the world; DFW International Airport is larger than the island of Manhattan.

In terms of traffic, DFW is the busiest airport in the state, 5th busiest in the United States, and 6th busiest in the world. The headquarters of American Airlines, the largest air carrier in the world ahead of United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, is located less than a mile from DFW within the city limits of Fort Worth. Similarly, Love Field is located within the city limits of Dallas about 6 miles (10 km) northwest of Downtown, and is headquarters to Southwest Airlines, the largest domestic airline in the United States.

Utilities

Dallas is served by Dallas Water Utilities, which operates several waste treatment plants and pulls water from several area reservoirs. The city's electric system is maintained by several companies, including Stream Energy, Cirro Energy and TXU, whose parent company, Energy Future Holdings Corporation, has headquarters in the city.

The city offers garbage pickup and recycling service weekly through its Sanitation Services department. Telephone networks, broadband internet, and cable television service are available from several companies, including AT&T, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon FiOS.

Notable people

Sister cities

Dallas has six Sister cities and five Friendship cities.

• Brno, Czech Republic
• Dijon, France
• Monterrey, Mexico
• Riga, Latvia
• Saratov, Russia
• Taipei, Taiwan

• Sendai, Japan
• Tianjin, People's Republic of China
• Qingdao, Shandong Province, People's Republic of China
• Dalian, Liaoning Province, People's Republic of China
• Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, People's Republic of China

See also

• Dallas (1978 TV series)
• Dallas (disambiguation)
• I-35 Corridor
• List of museums in North Texas
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Dallas County, Texas
• Texaplex
• Texas Triangle

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

• City of Dallas official website
• Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau
• Dallas from the Handbook of Texas Online

Interesting Informations

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