Dallas

DALLAS

DALLAS is the second-largest municipality in Texas (2000 population 1,188,580), though the Dallas–Fort Worth "Metroplex" is the state's largest urban area.

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The city was established in 1841 as a trading post near an easy crossing of the Trinity River, as the Republic of Texas was encouraging settlers to populate the area. After Texas joined the Union in 1845, Dallas was named the county seat. A nearby French utopian settlement called La Réunion founded in 1855 disbanded within a few years, but some of the colony's tradesmen and artisans settled in Dallas, distinguishing the young town (incorporated in 1856) from similar agricultural trade centers across North Texas.

Some pioneer settlers had been recruited from Ohio and the Old Northwest, but many more came from the American South. City residents voted heavily in favor of state secession in 1861, and the city became a commissary post for the Confederate army.

A subsidy of cash and land persuaded the Houston and Texas Central Railroad to divert its planned north-south route through the town in 1872. The Texas and Pacific line from St. Louis made the town a rail crossroads the next year, and, more importantly, the railroad ended there for four years before being extended to Fort Worth. By that time, merchants and industrial concerns had established Dallas as the regional capital. By 1890, it was the largest city in Texas, with 38,000 residents.

As the plantation system declined in the Old South, the rich blackland prairie surrounding Dallas became the nation's premier cotton-growing region, and Dallas the market center for this commodity. The city was designated in 1914 for a Federal Reserve Bank. Discovery of oil in nearby East Texas in 1930 spurred further growth, and the willingness of Dallas banks to lend money secured by oilfield reserves made the city the financial capital of the region. Petroleum companies established their headquarters in Dallas, though no oil is produced in the metropolitan area. Dallas also achieved a reputation as a fashion center, home of the Neiman Marcus department store.

The growing city absorbed several adjacent municipalities, most notably (in 1903) Oak Cliff, across the Trinity River. A mayor-commission form of government was adopted in 1907, and for decades that system's apolitical efficiency was prized by civic leaders. A 1911 city plan calling for river levees, new bridges, parks, and boulevards was largely accomplished after a 1920 update, testimony to civic aspirations. Making the Trinity River navigable has been discussed from the city's founding to the present day, but only a few boats have ever managed to reach the city. Instead, the river became notorious for springtime floods. A huge inundation in 1908 prompted construction of levees, completed in 1931, to protect the business district.

The city's business community cemented its booster reputation by having Dallas—a city that hadn't even existed during the Texas Revolution—chosen for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition. The Art Deco exposition buildings built at Fair Park remain as the site of the annual State Fair, and expositions and trade shows became an

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important part of the economy, with the Dallas Market Center eventually becoming the world's largest wholesale merchandise mart. Having organized to build the Centennial Exposition, city business leaders came to dominate local politics. Unions were strongly discouraged as the city became more industrial, and for sixty years the city's mayors were in practice selected by the downtown business establishment's Citizen Charter Association.

World War II defense plants brought the aviation industry to the area, and manufacturing employment grew rapidly in postwar decades. Apparel firms were attracted by the nonunion labor force, and the city also became a major headquarters center for insurance firms. Electronics firms such as Texas Instruments prospered in the 1970s and 1980s, spawning and attracting other high-tech firms. A bold move to create a huge regional airport (opened in 1974) between Dallas and Fort Worth paid off, attracting both distribution facilities and corporate headquarters to the region.

The city's reputation for conservatism became the subject of much civic soul-searching in the wake of President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination in downtown Dallas. Racial integration of downtown stores and public facilities was accomplished quietly in the 1960s, but forced busing for school integration spurred white flight from Dallas into adjacent suburbs in the 1970s. Forced to adopt single-member districts, the city council became more demographically representative in the 1970s and 1980s, but also more confrontational, highlighting disparities between well-off, booming North Dallas and the poorer underdeveloped areas of South and West Dallas.

Office and retail development followed the suburban dispersion, diminishing downtown Dallas's role as the region's hub. In the 1990s, a light-rail system centered on downtown Dallas opened with hopes that it could refocus regional patterns. Areas near downtown have recently attracted new residential projects while the West End entertainment area and Arts Center ensure downtown's place as the region's cultural center.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Greene, A. C. Dallas, USA. Austin: Texas Monthly Press, 1984.

Hazel, Michael V. Dallas: A History of "Big D." Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1997.

Hill, Patricia Evridge. Dallas: The Making of a Modern City. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996.

Dennis McClendon

See also Cotton ; Midcontinent Oil Region ; Oil Fields .