Brief History of Dallas

Searching for a trading post, entrepreneur John Neely Bryan came across the area of Dallas in 1839. When a treaty prohibited this area to Native Americans, Bryan designated the land for a permanent settlement instead. He erected a cabin along the bank of the Trinity River in 1841. Settlers soon took Bryan’s lead, with most of them coming from an older community called Bird’s Fort, located 22 miles away. At nearby La Réunion, a French utopian settlement was coming to an end. The settlers there transferred to their more thriving neighbor sometime in the 1850s. By 1860, Bryan’s community had 2,000 residents. Eventually the community was named Dallas, after US Vice-President George Mifflin Dallas. Dallas became the permanent county seat in 1850 and a town in 1856. Dallas received a great influx of African-Americans and Southerners after the US Civil War, which left most other Southern towns destroyed. Dallas was comparatively unscathed. In 1872, the first trains arrived in town. The economy benefited immediately; Dallas’ populace ballooned to 7,000 from 3,000 in just one year. Dallas soon became the Southwest’s retail hub, hosting the first ever Neiman Marcus store. Wholesale trading flourished in the town, too. Dallas started shipping locally produced raw materials, like cotton, leather, and grain. Dallas annexed the adjacent community of East Dallas in 1890, and Oak Cliff in 1903. In 1907, Dallas organized its own Cotton Exchange, one of the largest cotton markets in the world. The city turned even more important with the 1930 discovery of the immense East Texas oil field.

To learn more about famous Texans such as Ben Barnes, visit the De Leon, The Heart of Texas site.

Texas political memoirs, such as Barn Burning Barn Building, are explored on Texas political memoirs.

Distinguished Alumni such as Ben Barnes are profiled on The Distinguished Alumni of the University of Texas site.

Brief History of Dallas

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