Dallas

Architecture

Dallas's skyline from Reunion Tower

Dallas's skyline has several buildings over 700 feet (210 m) in height. Although some of Dallas's 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 has all shades and variants of architecture from Victorian to neoclassical.^[22] The Dallas Downtown Historic District protects a cross-section of Dallas commercial architecture from the 1880s to the 1940s.

Neighborhoods

Klyde Warren Park and Dallas' Skyline

Central Dallas

Central Dallas is anchored by Downtown, the center of the city, 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" in this area include Uptown, Victory Park, Harwood, Oak Lawn, Dallas Design District, Trinity Groves, Turtle Creek, Cityplace, Knox/Henderson, Greenville and West Village.

Skyline of Dallas from the Stemmons Corridor, just northwest of Downtown Dallas

McKinney Avenue trolley, with the I.M. Pei-designed Fountain Place in the background

East Dallas

East Dallas is home to Deep Ellum, a trendy arts area close to Downtown, the homey Lakewood neighborhood (and adjacent areas, including Lakewood Heights, Wilshire Heights, Lower Greenville, Junius Heights, and Hollywood Heights/Santa Monica), 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's most unified middle-class neighborhoods.^[23]

Named after Dallas philanthropist, the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge spans the Trinity River

Southern 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 late September and through mid-October.^[24] 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.^[25] 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's population is a mix of African American, Hispanic, and Native American.

View of Downtown Dallas

South Side Dallas is a popular location for nightly entertainment at the NYLO rooftop patio and lounge,^[26] The Cedars Social,^[27] and the famous country bar Gilley's.^[28] The neighborhood 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 city's most attractive social and living destinations.^[29]

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,^[30] 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.

Dallas Arts District

Districts

Topography

Dallas and its surrounding area are mostly flat; the city 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, 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.^[31]

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, 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,^[32] which was begun in the early 2000s and was 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.^[33]

White Rock Lake, a reservoir built at the beginning of the 20th century, is Dallas's 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, 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 in an extension of Dallas surrounded by the suburbs of Garland, Rowlett, Rockwall, and Sunnyvale.^[34] 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.^[35] 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 the lake's neighboring cities oppose.^[36]

White Rock Lake

Climate

Dallas has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa) characteristic of the Southern Plains of the United States. It is also continental, characterized by a relatively wide annual temperature range. Located at the lower end of Tornado Alley, it is prone to extreme weather, tornadoes and hailstorms.

Summers in Dallas are very hot and humid. July and August are typically the hottest months, with an average high of 96.0 °F (36 °C) and an average low of 76.7 °F (25 °C). 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 International Airport.^[37][38]

Winters in Dallas are mild to cool, with occasional cold spells. January is typically the coldest month, with an average daytime high of 56.8 °F (14 °C) and an average nighttime low of 37.3 °F (3 °C). The normal daily average temperature in January is 47.0 °F (8.3 °C) but sharp swings in temperature can occur, 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.^[39] The all-time record low temperature within the city is −3 °F (−19 °C), set on January 18, 1930.

Spring and autumn are transitional seasons with moderate and pleasant weather. Vibrant wildflowers (such as the bluebonnet, Indian paintbrush and other flora) bloom in spring and are planted around the highways throughout Texas.^[40] 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 near the heart of Tornado Alley.

A few 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,^[37] 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.^[37] 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.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture places Dallas in Plant Hardiness Zone 8a.^[41][42] 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.^[43] 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 neighboring Ellis County.^[44]

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. The record snowfall for Dallas was 11.2 inches (28 cm) on February 11, 2010.

Religion

First Baptist Church Dallas

According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, Christianity is the most prevalently practiced religion in Dallas (78%).^[69][70] 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. Many Bible schools including Christ For The Nations Institute are also headquartered in the city. The Christian creationist apologetics group Institute for Creation Research is headquartered in Dallas.

Dallas is called "Prison Ministry Capital of the World" by the prison ministry community. It is a home for the International Network of Prison Ministries, the Coalition of Prison Evangelists, Bill Glass Champions for Life, Chaplain Ray's International Prison Ministry, and 60 other prison ministries.^[71]

Cathedral Santuario de la Virgen de Guadalupe

Saint Seraphim Cathedral

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 la Virgen de Guadalupe in the Arts District is home to the second-largest Catholic church membership in the United States and overseas, consisting 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.^[72] 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.

The city is also home to a sizable Latter-day Saint community. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has twenty two stakes throughout Dallas and surrounding suburbs.^[73] The organization built the Dallas Texas Temple, the first temple in Texas, in the city in 1984.^[74] Jehovah's Witnesses also have a large number of members throughout Dallas and surrounding suburbs. In addition, there are several Unitarian Universalist congregations, including First Unitarian Church of Dallas, founded in 1903.^[75]

Dallas's Jewish population of approximately 45,000 is the largest of any city in Texas.^[76] 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.

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 in Denton, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Downtown Dallas. The oldest mosque in Dallas is Masjid Al-Islam just south of downtown. There is also an Islamic Center in Irving.

Dallas also has a large Buddhist community. Immigrants from East Asia, Southeast Asia, Nepal, 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.^[77][78][79]

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."^[80]

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.^[81] With that in mind, Dallas's violent crime rate (12.06 per 1,000 people) is lower than 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.^[82]

Cuisine

Dallas is known for its barbecue, authentic Mexican, and Tex-Mex cuisine. Famous products of the Dallas culinary scene include the frozen margarita.^[106]

Arts and museums

The Winspear Opera House and the Meyerson Symphony Center in the Downtown Dallas Arts District

Composit image of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in downtown Dallas

Big Tex, a statue at the Texas State Fair in Fair Park

The Arts District in the northern section of Downtown is home to several arts venues and is the largest contiguous arts district in the United States.^[107] 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. The Perot Museum of Nature and Science, also downtown, is a natural history and science museum. Designed by 2005 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Thom Mayne and his firm Morphosis Architects, the 180,000 square feet facility has six floors and stands about 14 stories high.

Venues that are part of the AT&T Dallas Center for the Performing Arts^[108][109] 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 has a collection of Spanish art in North America, with works by Picasso, Goya, Velasquez, El Greco, Murillo, Zurbaran, Ribera, Fortuny, Rico, de Juanes, Plensa and 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.^[110]

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 at the Hall of State in Fair Park.

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.^[111]

City Center District, next to the Arts District is home to 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.^[112] 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.^[113] 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.^[114]

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 Roebuck and Company 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.^[115] Current attractions include Gilley's Dallas and Poor David's Pub.^[116][117] Dallas Mavericks owner and local entrepreneur Mark Cuban purchased land along Lamar Avenue near Cedars Station in September 2005, and locals speculate he is planning an entertainment complex for the site.^[118]

South of the Trinity River, the 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.^[119]

Dallas has an Office of Cultural Affairs as a department of the city government. The office is responsible for six cultural centers throughout the city, funding for local artists and theaters, initiating public art projects, and running the city-owned classical radio station WRR.^[120] The Los Angeles-class submarine USS Dallas (SSN-700) will become a museum ship 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.

Libraries

The city is served by the Dallas Public Library system. The system was created by the Dallas Federation of Women's Clubs with efforts spearheaded by then-president May Dickson Exall. Her fundraising efforts led to a grant from philanthropist and steel baron Andrew Carnegie, which allowed the library system to build its first branch in 1901.^[121] Today, the library operates 29 branch locations throughout the city, including the 8-story J. Erik Jonsson Central Library in the Government District of Downtown.^[122]

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, a football game that 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 State Fair Classic, Texas State Fair Classic Showdown, and Heart of Dallas Bowl at the Cotton Bowl.

Other well-known 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, Taste of Dallas, the Deep Ellum Arts Festival, 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

Major league

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 (based on winning percentage; other teams have more wins). Noted as "America's Team", the Cowboys are financially the most valuable sports franchise in the world, worth approximately 4 billion dollars.^[123] In 2009, the Cowboys relocated to their new 80,000-seat stadium in Arlington, which was the site of Super Bowl XLV.^[124]

The Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball play at Globe Life Park in Arlington.^[125][126] The Rangers won the American League pennant in 2010 and 2011. Jeff Banister is the team's manager.^[127]

The Dallas Mavericks play at the American Airlines Center. They won their first National Basketball Association championship in 2011 led by Dirk Nowitzki. The Dallas Wings is the first Women's National Basketball Association franchise in the metroplex. All home games are played at the College Park Center.

Dallas Stars

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.^[128] 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 and 2016 and the Supporters' Shield in 2016. Previously, the Dallas Tornado played the North American Soccer League from 1968 to 1981.

The Dallas Stars are members of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Stars have won eight 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 Rattlers are members of Major League Lacrosse and became the first professional lacrosse team in the state of Texas in November 2017 when the league announced its Rochester, New York franchise was relocating. The Rattlers play at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco.^[129]

Minor league

The Cotton Bowl hosts the annual Red River Showdown

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.^[130] Dallas is one of only 16 cities in the United States included in the Rugby Super League^[131] represented by Dallas Harlequins.^[132]

College

The only Division I sports program within the Dallas political boundary is the Dallas Baptist University Patriots baseball team ^[133][134] Although outside the city limits, the Mustangs of Southern Methodist University are 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.

The Red River Showdown, is an American college football rivalry game played annually at the Cotton Bowl Stadium during the second weekend of the State Fair of Texas in October. The game is played by the Oklahoma Sooners football team of the University of Oklahoma and the Texas Longhorns football team of the University of Texas at Austin.

Fair Park

Dallas's flagship park is Fair Park. Built in 1936 for the Worlds Fair and the Texas Centennial Exposition, Fair Park is the world's largest collection of Art Deco exhibit buildings, art, and sculptures; Fair Park is also home to the State Fair of Texas, the largest state fair in the United States.

Klyde Warren Park

Klyde Warren Park

Named after Klyde Warren, the young son of billionaire Kelcy Warren, Klyde Warren Park was built above Woodall Rodgers Freeway and connects Uptown and Downtown, specifically the Arts District.

Klyde Warren Park is home to countless amenities including: an amphitheater, jogging trails, children's park, My Best Friend's Park (dog park), a putting green, croquet, ping pong, chess, an outdoor library, and two restaurants: Savor and Relish. Food trucks give hungry people another option of dining and are lined along the park's downtown side.

There are also weekly planned events including yoga, Zumba, skyline tours, Tai Chi, and meditation.^[136]

Klyde Warren Park is home to a free trolley stop on Olive St., which riders can connect to Downtown, McKinney Avenue, and West Village.

Turtle Creek Park

Built in 1913, Turtle Creek Park is a 23.7 acre linear park^[137] in-between Turtle Creek and Turtle Creek Boulevard in the aptly named Turtle Creek neighborhood.

Archaeological surveys discovered dart points and flint chips dating 3,000 years to 1,000 B.C. This site was later discovered to be home to Native Americans who cherished the trees and natural spring water. The park is across Turtle Creek from Kalita Humphreys Theater, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Lake Cliff Park

Opened on July 4, 1906, Lake Cliff Park was called "the Southwest's Greatest Playground". The park was home to an amusement park, a large pool, waterslides, the world's largest skating rink, and three theaters, the largest being the 2,500-seat Casino Theater. After the streetcar bridge which brought most of the park visitors collapsed, Lake Cliff Park was sold. The Casino Theater moved and the pool was demolished after a polio scare in 1959. The pool was Dallas's first municipal pool.^[138]

Reverchon Park

In 1935, Dallas purchased 36 acres (15 ha) from John Cole's estate to develop Reverchon Park.^[139] Reverchon Park was named after botanist Julien Reverchon, who left France to live in the La Reunion colony in present-day West Dallas. Reverchon Park was planned to be the crown jewel of the Dallas park system and was even referred to as the "Central Park" of Dallas. Improvements were made throughout the years including the Iris Bowl, picnic settings, a baseball diamond, and tennis courts. The Iris Bowl celebrated many Greek pageants, dances, and other performances. The Gill Well was installed for nearby residents and drew people all across Texas who wanted to experience the water's healing powers.^[140] The baseball diamond was host to a 1953 exhibition game for the New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians.^[141]

Trinity River Project

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.^[30] 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 built by the City of Dallas Parks and Recreation Department.

View of Turtle Creek and Turtle Creek Boulevard from a Katy Trail overpass

Katy Trail

Named after its former railroad name, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (or "MKT" Railroad), the 3.5 mile stretch of railroad was purchased by the City of Dallas and transformed into the city's premier trail. Stretching from Victory Park, the 30-acre Katy Trail passes through the Turtle Creek and Knox Park neighborhoods and runs along the east side of Highland Park. The trail ends at Central Expressway, however, extensions are underway to extend the trail to the White Rock Lake Trail in Lakewood.^[138]

In 2015, the Katy Trail was awarded "Best Public Place" from the Urban Land Institute.^[142]

Preserves

Dallas 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 within the Dallas city limits. The Cedar Ridge Preserve was known as the Dallas Nature Center, but the Audubon Dallas group 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 offers a variety of outdoor activities, including 10 miles (16 km) of hiking trails and picnic areas.

Dallas Zoo

The city is also home to Texas's first and largest zoo, the 95 acres (0.38 km²) Dallas Zoo, which opened at its current location in 1888.^[143]

Local

Dallas Municipal Building. Built in 1913, this was Dallas's old City Hall and was where Lee Harvey Oswald was shot.

Dallas City Hall.

The Dallas County Courthouse houses the Old Red Museum.

The city uses a council-manager government, with Mike Rawlings serving as Mayor, T.C. Broadnax serving as city manager,^[144] and 14 council members serving as representatives to the 14 council districts in the city.^{[145][146][147]} 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's city council.^[148]

In the 2006–2007 fiscal year, the city's total budget (the sum of operating and capital budgets) was $2.3 billion.^[149] The city has seen a steady increase in its budget due to sustained growth: the budget was $1.7 billion in 2002–2003,^[150] $1.9 billion in 2003–2004,^[150] $2.0 billion in 2004–2005,^[151] and $2.2 billion in 2005–2006.^[151]

Federal and state

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

Overall, Dallas is a Democratic-leaning city, with Democratic voters spreading the majority of the city, especially the central and southern sectors, and conservative Republicans dominating a sliver of suburban neighborhoods in North Dallas.

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."^[153]

In the 2004 U.S. Presidential elections, 57% of Dallas voters voted for John Kerry over George W. Bush.^[154] Dallas County was closely divided, with 50% of voters voting for Bush and 49% voting for Kerry.^[155]

Results in the 2008 and 2012 elections favored Barack Obama, with the 44th President receiving 57% of Dallas County voters in both years, with greater margins in the city of Dallas.

In the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, approximately 66% of Dallas voters voted for Hillary Clinton, with 28% of city voters voting for Donald Trump.^[156] Dallas County as a whole saw 61% of voters voting for Clinton, with 35% support for Trump.^[156]

In 2004, Lupe Valdez was elected Dallas County Sheriff. An open lesbian, Valdez was the only female sheriff in the state of Texas until her resignation. Despite controversies in her handling of county jails, she won re-election in 2008 with a 10-point victory over Republican challenger Lowell Cannaday.^[157]

Colleges and universities

The Dallas area has the highest concentration of colleges and universities in Texas. In addition to those in the city, the surrounding cities also has a number of universities, colleges, trade schools, and other educational institutions. The following describes the 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 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 building 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.^[160]
• Paul Quinn College is a private, historically black college in southeast Dallas. Originally located in Waco, Texas, it moved to Dallas in 1990 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 1990 making it the only historically black college in the Dallas area.^[161]
• The University of North Texas at Dallas, along Houston School Road.^[162] In 2009 UNT at Dallas became the first public university within Dallas city limits.^[163] 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.^[164]

Dallas Baptist University

• Dallas Baptist University (DBU) is a private, coeducational university in the Mountain Creek area of southwest Dallas. Originally in Decatur, Texas, the school moved to Dallas in 1965.^[165] The school enrolls over 5,600 students,^[166] 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.^[167] 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.^[168] 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 has 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 throughout the area with branches in Dallas as well as the surrounding suburbs. DCCCD serves portions of Dallas in Dallas County.

Colleges and universities in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area

Dallas Hall at Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas

Campus Mall at The University of Texas at Dallas (actually in Richardson)

• 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 is now run by R. Gerald Turner. SMU currently enrolls 6,500 undergraduates, 1,200 professional students in the law and theology departments, and 3,500 postgraduates.^[169][170] 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), is a part of the University of Texas System. It is in the city of Richardson, about 15 miles north of Downtown Dallas. It is in the heart of the Telecom Corridor. UT Dallas is an R1 or Tier-1 University, classified by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education as a doctoral-granting university with the highest research activity (it is among 115 universities in the US with this classification). Among universities under the age of 50 years old, UTD ranks No. 1 in the United States and 21st in the world in the 2017 Times Higher Education Young University Rankings.^[171] The university has many collaborative research relationships with UT Southwestern Medical Center. UT Dallas is home to approximately 26,797^[172] 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 on campus, while the Cistercian Monastery and Cistercian Preparatory School are 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.^[173]

Other area colleges and universities

Chemistry & Physics building with planetarium at The University of Texas at Arlington

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
• Arlington Baptist College
• Collin College in Collin County
• Remington College in Garland, Texas, established in July 1997
• Remington College (Ft. Worth Campus)

SB Hall with Braniff Tower in the background at the University of Dallas (actually in Irving).

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 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

Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in the Arts District

Most people in the city of Dallas are within the Dallas Independent School District, the 12th-largest school district in the United States and second largest in Texas.^[175] The school district operates independently of the city and enrolls over 161,000 students.^[175] As of 2003 DISD has the majority of K-12 students in the city of Dallas, and a proportionately larger number of students who are not non-Hispanic White.^[176] One of the district's magnet schools, The School for the Talented and Gifted in Oak Cliff, is consistently named the best public school in the United States by Newsweek, retaining the title for five consecutive years (2012 - 2016).^[177] Another one of DISD's schools, the Science and Engineering Magnet, consistently ranks in the top 10 in the same publication.^[178][179] 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, Coppell, Duncanville, Garland,^[180] Highland Park, Mesquite, Plano, and Richardson. The Plano and Richardson school districts have the largest numbers of public school students in Dallas who are not in Dallas ISD.^[176] 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.^[181]

Health care

Dallas has many hospitals and several 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 healthcare complex includes within its bounds Parkland Memorial Hospital, Children's Medical Center, William P. Clements University Hospital (formerly 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.

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.

Police and fire

The Dallas Police headquarters in the Cedars neighborhood.

The 3,100-officer Dallas Police Department provides most policing in Dallas.^[189] The Dallas chief of police is U. Renee Hall (effective Sept. 5, 2017).^[190] The police headquarters are in the Cedars neighborhood of South Dallas.

Fire protection and emergency medical services in the city are provided by Dallas Fire-Rescue, which has 1,800 firefighters^[191] and 58 working fire stations in the city limits.^[192] The Dallas Fire & Rescue chief is David Coatney^[193] The department 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.

Highways

The Central Expressway and I-635 interchange, commonly known as the High Five Interchange.

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's 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) has 5 stacks and is aptly called the High Five Interchange. It is one of the few 5-level interchanges 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

A northbound train at the Mockingbird Station

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is the Dallas-area public transportation authority that provides rail, buses and HOV lanes to commuters. DART began operating the first light rail system in Texas in 1996, and it is now the largest operator of light rail in the US.^[198] 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.^[199] It includes four light rail lines and a commuter line: the Red Line, the Blue Line, the Green Line, the Orange Line, 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.

DART train in Downtown.

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 opened on December 6, 2010, extending its west end from Bachman to Belt Line Station in Irving. The second and final phase opened in August 2014 and provided DFW Airport with rail service. DFW Airport Station is the terminus for the Orange Line and connects Skylink.^[200] This provides 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.^[201]

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.^[202] Dallas was awarded a $23 million TIGER grant towards the $58 million Dallas Streetcar Project in February 2010.^[203] 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.

Airports

In 2015, the DFW International Airport was the 10th busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic.

Two commercial airports serve Dallas: 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 about 35 miles (56 km) north of Dallas in McKinney, and another two are in Fort Worth, on the west side of the Metroplex. Alliance Airport, in far North Fort Worth, is a cargo reliever airport to DFW and general aviation facility.

DFW International Airport is 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, 4th busiest in the United States, and 11th 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 less than a mile from DFW within Fort Worth's city limits. Similarly, Love Field is within Dallas' city limits, 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.^[204] Several companies maintain the city's electric system, including Stream Energy, Cirro Energy and Oncor Electric Delivery,^[205] whose parent company, Energy Future Holdings Corporation, has headquarters in the city.^[206]

The city offers garbage pickup and recycling service weekly through its Sanitation Services department.^[207] Telephone networks, broadband internet, and cable television service are available from several companies, including AT&T, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon FiOS.