1839,
John Neely Bryan visited the soon to be named Dallas
area.
In April of 1842 John Beeman arrived
and planted his first corn.
In 1845 Dallas became a part of
the state of Texas.
In 1856 Dallas was incorporated
as a town and Samuel Pryor was elected the first mayor.
Two thousand people lived in Dallas by 1860.
On July 16, 1872, the first passenger
train, the Houston and Texas Central arrived and in
1873, the Texas and Pacific came, with the population
growing from 3,000 in early 1872 to more than 7,000.
Floods occurred in 1844, 1866, 1871 and 1890,
but none were as disastrous as the flood of 1908.
Five people die and four thousand were homeless The
damages were estimated at $2.5 million.
After rebuilding World War I brought
Dallas to the forefront of aviation.
By 1931, more than 18,000 people
were unemployed in the Dallas area.
In 1930, Columbus Marion "Dad"
Joiner struck oil 100 miles east of Dallas, which
led to the oil boom and Dallas was in a position to
benefit from this.
By 1974, more than 626 companies,
including Texas Instruments, EDS, and Mary Kay Cosmetics
Inc., were headquartered in the Dallas area. The opening
of the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in
1974 helped the city to become even more prosperous
and attract even more companies to the city.
In 1960, Dallas had two professional
football teams: the Dallas Cowboys and the Dallas
Texans. In 1962, the Texans were moved to Kansas City,
but the Dallas Cowboys remain until this day.
November 22, 1963, President John
F. Kennedy was assassinated. Lee Harvey Oswald was
arrested for the murder and two days later he was
killed by Jack Ruby a Dallas nightclub owner.
In 1970, the Kennedy Memorial was
erected, and in 1989, the Sixth Floor Museum opened.