60 Fun Facts About Dallas

Who planted a stake near the Trinity River in 1839 and returned in 1841 to found Dallas?

He surveyed the site three years after Texas won independence, accompanied by his dog and a Cherokee he called Ned.

The official historical marker says the city is named after which US vice president?

Another theory traces the name to the village of Dallas in Moray, Scotland.

Dallas is the third most populous city in Texas after which two?

It ranks ninth in the whole United States.

Reunion Tower, the illuminated ball on the skyline, is how tall?

It opened in 1978 alongside the Hyatt Regency as part of an urban renewal project around Union Station.

The Reunion district takes its name from what?

La Réunion was founded by French settlers along the Trinity in what is now West Dallas.

The tallest building in Dallas, lit in neon at night, is which skyscraper?

It rises 921 feet and 72 storeys; a planned twin tower was never built.

President Kennedy was shot in 1963 as his motorcade passed along Elm Street through which downtown space?

He was pronounced dead at Parkland Memorial Hospital about half an hour later.

From which building did the Warren Commission conclude Lee Harvey Oswald fired?

Its sixth and seventh floors are now a museum.

Where was Lyndon Johnson sworn in as president two hours after the shooting?

DFW Airport did not open until 1974.

Who shot Oswald in the basement of Dallas police headquarters two days later?

Ruby was a local nightclub operator; he died in prison in 1967 awaiting a retrial.

In what year did the Sixth Floor Museum open in the former book depository?

It opened on Presidents' Day after a decade of local soul-searching about commemorating the site.

The plaza where Kennedy was shot was completed in what year as a WPA project?

It sits where Main, Elm and Commerce streets converge at the 'triple underpass'.

The State Fair of Texas has been held at Fair Park since what year?

It normally opens the last Friday in September and runs 24 days.

Fair Park's Art Deco buildings were mostly built for which 1936 event?

The 277-acre park is a National Historic Landmark.

How tall is Big Tex, the State Fair's cowboy mascot?

He has greeted fairgoers since 1952 and burned down in 2012 before being rebuilt.

Big Tex started life in 1949 in the town of Kerens as a giant what?

The 'World's Largest Santa' was built to boost holiday shopping and sold to the fair after two seasons.

What destroyed the original Big Tex in October 2012?

The fire started in his right boot and worked its way up.

The Red River Rivalry played at the Cotton Bowl each October pits Texas against which school?

It falls on the second weekend of the State Fair.

The Cotton Bowl opened in 1930 under what name?

The Cowboys played there from 1960 to 1971 before moving to Irving.

Which family owned Ewing Oil and Southfork on the TV series Dallas?

The show ran on CBS from 1978 to 1991 and produced 357 episodes.

Who shot J.R.?

She was Sue Ellen's scheming sister, played by Mary Crosby.

The entire ninth season of Dallas was revealed to have been whose dream?

It let the show bring Bobby back after his character had died.

The real Southfork Ranch used for the TV show is in which town 25 miles north of Dallas?

The house was built in 1970 as Duncan Acres.

Which spin-off of Dallas premiered in 1979 and also ran 14 seasons?

It followed middle brother Gary Ewing to California.

The Dallas Mavericks won their only NBA championship in which year?

Dirk Nowitzki led them; they lost the 2006 and 2024 Finals.

The Dallas Stars moved to Texas in 1993 from which city?

They were the Minnesota North Stars, an original 1967 expansion team.

In what year did the Stars win the Stanley Cup?

Joe Nieuwendyk took the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Which arena do the Mavericks and Stars share?

Reunion Arena was the previous home of both teams.

The Texas Rangers, based in Arlington, were originally which franchise?

They moved after the 1971 season and finally won a World Series in 2023.

How many Super Bowls have the Dallas Cowboys won?

They joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1960 and have reached eight Super Bowls.

Which NFL Films editor coined the nickname 'America's Team' for the Cowboys?

It came after a Super Bowl loss and has annoyed non-Cowboys fans ever since.

What is the official nickname of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders?

Their modern all-female dance squad dates from 1972.

Which restaurateur invented the frozen margarita machine in Dallas in 1971?

He adapted a soft-serve ice cream machine.

Jack Kilby invented the integrated circuit in 1958 while working at which Dallas company?

He shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics for it and co-invented the handheld calculator.

TI, the Dallas-based chipmaker, grew out of a 1930 company serving which industry?

Geophysical Service Incorporated was reorganised into TI in 1951.

7-Eleven began in 1927 in Dallas selling what from storefronts?

The stores were called Tote'm until 1946, when new 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. hours inspired the name.

Neiman Marcus's founders opened their Dallas store in 1907 after passing on what investment?

They dismissed it as an unknown 'sugary soda pop business'.

Highland Park Village, opened in 1931, is notable as what?

Dallas claims more shopping centers per capita than any other US city.

How many storeys did the 1909 Praetorian Building, an early western skyscraper, have?

It was the tallest building in Texas for some time.

Deep Ellum, east of downtown, first became famous in the 1920s and 30s for what?

Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson and Lead Belly all played there.

Klyde Warren Park, opened in 2012, is built over what?

It decks Woodall Rodgers Freeway and links downtown to Uptown.

Which architect designed the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge over the Trinity River?

It opened in 2012 as the first of a planned series of his bridges there.

The Dallas Arts District is claimed to be the largest contiguous arts district in what?

It includes the Meyerson Symphony Center, the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Winspear Opera House.

The Dallas Arboretum sits on the shore of which body of water?

Its DeGolyer estate has been part of the gardens since 1976.

Southern Methodist University's football programme received what unprecedented NCAA punishment in 1987?

The programme was shut down for repeated recruiting violations.

DFW Airport, opened in 1974, is the second-largest US airport by land area behind which?

It has its own ZIP code, police and fire services.

Which Dallas-born singer's 1997 debut Baduizm made her the 'Queen of Neo Soul'?

She attended the city's Booker T. Washington arts high school.

Bonnie of Bonnie and Clyde grew up in which West Dallas industrial suburb?

Her widowed mother moved the family there to work as a seamstress.

When John Neely Bryan planted his stake near the Trinity River in 1839, who accompanied him?

He returned in 1841 to found the settlement, which was formally incorporated as a city on February 2, 1856.

An alternative theory says Dallas is named, like Houston, after a village in which country?

Houston's namesake Sam Houston had ancestors from Houston, Renfrewshire; Dallas, Moray is the candidate here.

Whose 1930 oil strike at Kilgore turned Dallas into the financial centre of the Texas oil industry?

The East Texas oil boom hit 100 miles east of the city just as the Great Depression was setting in.

Roughly how many jeeps rolled out of the Ford plant in East Dallas during World War II?

North American Aviation's Dallas plant added more than 18,000 aircraft, including P-51 Mustangs and B-24 Liberators.

At which hospital was President Kennedy pronounced dead about 30 minutes after being shot?

Two days later Lee Harvey Oswald was taken to the same hospital after Jack Ruby shot him.

How did Dallas police end the standoff with the gunman who killed five officers on July 7, 2016?

It was the deadliest day for US law enforcement since the September 11 attacks, a few blocks from Dealey Plaza.

Which architect designed Dallas City Hall, a modernist landmark?

Dallas has twenty buildings over 490 feet, and its signature neon-lit tower is Bank of America Plaza.

The 230-foot limestone ridge running north-south through Dallas County is known by what name?

It is the western edge of the Austin Chalk Formation, most visible south of the Trinity in Oak Cliff and Cedar Hill.

How tall are the earthen levees flanking the Trinity River to protect Dallas from floods?

The river was rerouted in the late 1920s and became little more than a drainage ditch until the Trinity River Project began in the 2000s.

A grant from which steel baron let Dallas build its first public library branch in 1901?

The push came from the Dallas Federation of Women's Clubs under president May Dickson Exall; the system now has 30 branches.

A grant from which steel baron let Dallas build its first public library branch in 1901?

The push came from the Dallas Federation of Women's Clubs under president May Dickson Exall; by 2025 the system had grown to about 30 branches.

DART opened the first light rail system in Texas in which year?

It is now the largest light rail operator in the US, with about 55 stations on 72 miles of track.