Dallas is a young city with all the vigour of youth. Effigies of modern architecture rise like glass trees out of the downtown area. In 1841, it was simply a plan of 20 streets on the 256 hectares (640 acres) of south central America, claimed by a Tennessee lawyer, John Neely Bryan. Today, it is the ninth largest city in the USA, and including its western neighbour of Fort Worth, it is the nation's fastest growing metropolitan area.

History
As a frontier post of the Wild West, Dallas established its reputation as a place for entrepreneurs and go-getters. The infamous gambler and gunfighter, Doc Holliday, started out here as a dentist. In the 1870s, two major railroads met at Dallas and became the catalyst for the city's rapid development as a trade centre.

In 1907 the Neiman Marcus store put Dallas on the fashion map. The Federal Reserve Bank was established in 1914, and an old prospector struck oil (black gold) 160km (100 miles) east of Dallas in 1930, leading to the development of the East Texas Oilfield. Already a financial and business centre, Dallas was booming.  

Dallas will always be remembered for one, if not two, shootings. The first and most shocking occurred on 22 November 1963, when President J F Kennedy was assassinated in downtown Dallas. The second shooting may only have been fictional but, when J R Ewing was shot by an unknown killer in the TV series Dallas, fans across the world were devastated.

Dining and culture
Today the city is a mecca for dining, shopping, arts and entertainment. Large scale developments of urban lofts, apartments, condominiums, retail and both indoor and outdoor recreational facilities are springing up across the city. An impressive new Dallas Center for the Performing Arts opened in October 2009 to vie with New York's Lincoln Center.

Climate
Whether visited in the mild winters or hot summers (when air conditioning is an absolute necessity), Dallas offers true Southern hospitality, be it in a humble apartment or in the Mansion on Turtle Creek, recently ranked as one of the world's top hotels. And with a 10th of its workforce in the hospitality industry, Dallas is always a welcoming city.