History of Dallas facts for kids
This article tells the story of how the city of Dallas, Texas in the United States grew over time.
Contents
Early Days (1500s–1838)
Long ago, the Caddo people lived in the area where Dallas is today. In the 1500s, all of Texas became part of Spain's lands. France also claimed this area for a while. But in 1819, a deal called the Adams-Onís Treaty made it clear that Dallas was Spanish land. The Red River became the northern border of Spain's territory.
Dallas stayed under Spanish rule until 1821. That's when Mexico became independent from Spain. The Dallas area then became part of a Mexican state called Coahuila y Tejas. Later, in 1836, the Republic of Texas broke away from Mexico. It was its own country for almost 10 years.
How Dallas Started (1839–1855)
John Neely Bryan first explored the Dallas area in 1839. He was looking for a good spot for a trading post. This spot was special because it had a natural place to cross the wide Trinity River. It was also near a planned trail called the Preston Trail. These routes became even more important when the United States took over Texas in 1845.
Bryan went back to Arkansas for a bit. While he was gone, a treaty was signed that moved all Native Americans out of North Texas. When he returned in 1841, many of his customers were gone. So, he decided to start a permanent town instead of just a trading post. He founded Dallas in November 1841. In 1844, J. P. Dumas helped plan the streets and blocks near what is now downtown.
No one is completely sure how Dallas got its name. One idea is that it was named after Vice President George M. Dallas. But some people think it was named after his brother, Commodore Alexander James Dallas, or other family members.
Growing Up (1856–1873)
On February 2, 1856, Dallas officially became a town. Samuel Pryor was elected the first mayor. By 1860, about 678 people lived there. This included 97 African Americans, most of whom were enslaved. People from Belgium, France, Germany, and Switzerland also moved to Dallas. Railroads were getting closer, and stagecoach lines already passed through the town.
In July 1860, a big fire destroyed most of the businesses in Dallas. Many white residents wrongly blamed enslaved people. This led to a very difficult time known as the "Texas Troubles." Some African Americans were harmed, and others were whipped.
In 1861, as the American Civil War was about to begin, Dallas County voted to leave the United States. Dallas was far from the battles, so the town itself was not damaged by the war.
After the war, during the Reconstruction period, things changed. On June 19, 1865 (Juneteenth), enslaved Texans were freed. Many African Americans moved to Dallas for work. They wanted to build their own communities away from white control. However, some white groups, like the Ku Klux Klan, formed in 1868. They tried to keep white people in charge.
By 1871, Dallas officially became a city. In 1869, the state government started funding public education for the first time. This helped set up school districts across Texas.
Two important brothers, William W. and Andrew J. Ross, owned land in Dallas. Ross Avenue is named after them.
A huge change happened in 1873. The two main Texas railroad lines crossed in Dallas. This made Dallas a very important place for trade. The arrival of the trains caused the population to explode. It jumped from 3,000 people in early 1872 to over 7,000 by September of the same year. New buildings and businesses appeared every day. Dallas became a hub for sending crops like cotton and grains to other parts of the country. It was also the last stop for supplies for people heading west.
The Industrial Age (1874–1929)
During this time, Dallas grew from a farming and ranching area into a big industrial city. This growth happened partly because farmers in the Dallas area faced problems. It was expensive to ship their crops, and cotton prices were falling.
By 1880, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad reached Dallas. In 1885, Main Street got electric lights. In 1888, the Dallas Zoo opened, becoming the first zoo in Texas.
In 1890, Dallas added the city of East Dallas, which was even bigger than Dallas itself. This made Dallas the city with the most people in Texas. In 1893, a national money crisis caused many businesses and five banks in Dallas to fail. Cotton prices dropped very low, and many people left the city. But by 1898, Dallas started to get back on its feet and grow again. Parkland Memorial Hospital opened in 1894. In 1903, Oak Cliff, a city across the Trinity River, also joined Dallas.
By the early 1900s, Dallas was a top market for books, jewelry, and other goods in the Southwest. It also became a major center for trading cotton and grain. It was the world's leading inland cotton market. Dallas also led the world in making saddlery (horse gear) and cotton gin machines.
Dallas changed from a farming center to a hub for banking, insurance, and fashion stores. Famous stores like Neiman Marcus started here. The 14-story Praetorian Building was the first skyscraper west of the Mississippi River.
In 1902, a state law made it harder for African Americans and Mexican Americans to vote by requiring a special tax. Also, "Jim Crow" laws made racial separation legal.
In 1908, the Trinity River flooded badly. Five people died, and 4,000 people lost their homes. The city wanted to control the river and build a bridge to Oak Cliff. In 1911, a city planner named George Kessler made a plan for the river and the city. His ideas were used later, and by the 1930s, many of his plans were built.
More jobs in factories brought people from all over, including immigrants from Europe. After 1910, many Mexican immigrants came to Dallas because of the Mexican Revolution. They settled in an area called Little Mexico. They found jobs in factories, farms, and on the railroads.
In 1911, Dallas was chosen to be a branch of the Federal Reserve Bank. That same year, Dr. William Worthington Samuell bought the first ambulance for Dallas and later gave money to expand Parkland Hospital.
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During World War I, aviation (flying) grew in Dallas. Love Field was set up to train pilots. Fair Park also had a training facility. In 1927, the city bought Love Field to use as its airport. Southern Methodist University opened in 1915.
The Oil Boom (1930–1945)
Even with the start of the Great Depression, building was still busy in Dallas in 1930. That year, Columbus Marion "Dad" Joiner found oil about 100 miles east of Dallas. This started the East Texas oil boom. Dallas quickly became the money center for the oil industry in Texas and Oklahoma. Banks in Dallas gave loans to develop oil fields.
This oil boom helped Dallas avoid the worst of the Depression until mid-1931. Then, falling oil prices and too much oil being produced hurt the city's economy. More than 18,000 people in Dallas lost their jobs. Before the government's New Deal programs started, Dallas had a program where people could work for food.
After a long effort, Dallas was chosen to host the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition. This was a huge celebration of Texas's 100th birthday. More than fifty buildings were built in Fair Park for the event. Ten million visitors came to see the amazing show.
During World War II, Dallas became a manufacturing center for the war effort. In 1942, the Ford Motor plant in Dallas started making only jeeps and military trucks. In 1943, the city began rationing, which meant people had limits on how much food and other goods they could buy.
Mid-Century Changes (1946–1974)
In 1958, a new invention called the integrated circuit was created in Dallas by Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments. This helped Dallas become a major center for high-tech manufacturing. During the 1950s and 1960s, Dallas became one of the top technology centers in the country. Companies like Ling-Temco-Vought and Texas Instruments grew a lot.
In 1957, developers Trammell Crow and John M. Stemmons opened a Home Furnishings Mart. This grew into the Dallas Market Center, which is the largest wholesale trade complex in the world. The same year, the Dallas Memorial Auditorium (now the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center) opened.
On November 22, 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy was shot while his motorcade was passing through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas. He was declared dead at Parkland Memorial Hospital. The top two floors of the building where the shots came from are now a museum about President Kennedy's life.
Building Boom (1975–1985)
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dallas had a huge building boom. Many new skyscrapers were built, giving downtown a modern look. By the 1980s, the oil industry mostly moved to Houston. But Dallas started to benefit from a growing technology boom, especially in computers and telecom. It also continued to be a center for banking and business.
In 1983, people in Dallas voted to create Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) for public transportation. Dallas also added the areas of Audelia in 1981 and Renner in 1983. In 1984, the Dallas Museum of Art moved to the new Arts District downtown. Also in 1984, the Republican National Convention was held in Dallas.
In 1985, at the peak of the building boom, the 72-story Bank of America Plaza opened. It was the tallest building in Dallas at the time. However, from the mid-to-late 1980s, many banks in Dallas failed during a crisis. This almost ruined the city's economy and stopped plans for many new buildings.
Economic Challenges (1986–1995)
From the mid-1980s to 2005, no new tall buildings were built in downtown Dallas. Too much building and the banking crisis hurt the city's economy. In 1987, Annette Strauss became the first female mayor of Dallas. In 1989, the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center opened in the Arts District.
During this time (1991), Dallas celebrated its 150th anniversary. Dallas used to have two major newspapers. But the Dallas Times Herald stopped publishing in 1991. This left the Dallas Morning News as the only major newspaper covering Dallas news.
Dallas Today (1996–present)
In the late 1990s, the telecom industry grew very fast in Dallas, especially in areas like Las Colinas and the Telecom Corridor. Dallas became known as "Silicon Prairie" because of all the tech companies. Another economic slowdown, caused by the "dot-com bubble" bursting and the 2001 terrorist attacks, hurt some of the city's important industries.
By 2004, the economy started to improve. In 2005, three new towers began construction, along with many smaller housing projects. The Uptown area became a very popular place for real estate. In early 2006, nine tall residential buildings or hotels were being built there. A big project called Victory Park is also growing, with plans for thousands of homes and millions of square feet of offices and stores.
The Arts District downtown also became a major area of growth. New buildings like the Winspear Opera House and the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre joined the Nasher Sculpture Center and Meyerson Symphony Center. This made Dallas the only city in the world with four buildings in one block designed by famous architects who won the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
On May 31, 2016, Dallas experienced record-setting flooding.
On July 7, 2016, shots were fired at a protest in downtown Dallas. A gunman targeted white police officers, killing five and injuring nine. This was a very sad day for law enforcement in the U.S. Police used a robot to stop the gunman.
On June 17, 2019, a shooting happened outside the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse. The person who caused it died, and one other person was hurt.
Online Resources
- Handbook of Texas Online (2008), with many articles about Dallas-related people and topics
- Lost Dallas - by D Magazine
