Recreation

Parks

Dallas maintains and operates 406 parks on 21,000 acres (85 km²) of parkland.
The city's parks contain 17 separate lakes, including White Rock and Bachman lakes, spanning a total of 4,400 acres (17.81 km²). In addition, Dallas is traversed by 61.6 miles (99.1 km) of biking and jogging trails, including the Katy Trail, and is home to 47 community and neighborhood recreation centers, 276 sports fields, 60 swimming pools, 232 playgrounds, 173 basketball courts, 112 volleyball courts, 126 play slabs, 258 neighborhood tennis courts, 258 picnic areas, six 18-hole golf courses, two driving ranges, and 477 athletic fields.^[136]

Fair Park

Dallas' 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.

Hall of State building in Fair Park.

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.^[137]
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^[138] 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' first municipal pool.^[139]

Reverchon Park

In 1935, Dallas purchased 36 acres (15 ha) from John Cole's estate to develop Reverchon Park.^[140] 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.^[141] The baseball diamond was host to a 1953 exhibition game for the New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians.^[142]

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.^[31] 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 constructed 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 currently terminates at Central Expressway, however extensions are under way to extend the trail to the White Rock Lake Trail in Lakewood.^[139]
In 2015, the Katy Trail was awarded "Best Public Place" from the Urban Land Institute.^[143]

Preserves

Dallas also 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 all within the Dallas city limits. The Cedar Ridge Preserve was formerly known as the Dallas Nature Center, but management was turned over to Audubon Dallas group, which 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 contains 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' first and largest zoo, the 95 acres (0.38 km²) Dallas Zoo, which opened at its current location in 1888.^[144]

Sports

Football

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. Known widely as "America's Team", the Dallas Cowboys are financially the most valuable sports franchise in the world, worth approximately 4 billion dollars.^[125] In 2009, the Cowboys relocated to their new 80,000-seat stadium in Arlington, which was the site of Super Bowl XLV.^[126]

Major league

The Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball play at Globe Life Park in Arlington.^[127][128] The Rangers won the American League in 2010 and 2011. Currently the team is managed by Jeff Banister.^[129]

Dirk Nowitzki with the Mavericks

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.^[130] 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. 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.

Minor league

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.^[131] Currently Dallas is one of only 16 cities in the United States included in the Rugby Super League^[132] represented by Dallas Harlequins.^[133]

College

The Cotton Bowl hosts the annual Red River Showdown.

The only Division I sports program within the Dallas political boundary is the Dallas Baptist University Patriots baseball team ^[134][135] Although outside the city limits, the Mustangs of Southern Methodist University are located 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.

Culture

Cuisine

Dallas is known for its barbecue, authentic Mexican, and Tex-Mex cuisine. Famous products of the Dallas culinary scene include the frozen margarita.^[101] Fearing's restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton Dallas hotel in Uptown Dallas was named the best hotel restaurant in the US for 2009 by Zagat Survey. The Ritz-Carlton Dallas hotel was also named 2009 best US hotel by Zagat, and 2009 No. 2 hotel in the world by Zagat, trailing only the Four Seasons King George V in Paris, France. A number of nationally ranked steakhouses can be found in the Dallas area, including Bob's Steak & Chop House, currently ranked No. 1 according to the USDA Prime Steakhouses chart.^[102]

Arts and museums

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

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 continuous arts district in the United States.^[103] 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 located 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^[104][105] 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.^[106]
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 located 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.^[107]
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.^[108] 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.^[109] 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.^[110]
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 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.^[111] Current attractions include Gilley's Dallas and Poor David's Pub.^[112][113] Dallas Mavericks owner and local entrepreneur Mark Cuban purchased land along Lamar Avenue near Cedars Station in September 2005, and locals speculate that he is planning an entertainment complex for the site.^[114]
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.^[115]
Dallas has an Office of Cultural Affairs as a department of the city government. The office is responsible for six cultural centers located throughout the city, funding for local artists and theaters, initiating public art projects, and running the city-owned classical radio station WRR.^[116] The Los Angeles-class submarine USS Dallas (SSN-700) will become a museum ship located 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.

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, which 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 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.

Economy

In its beginnings, Dallas relied on farming, neighboring Fort Worth's Stockyards, and its prime location on Native American trade routes to sustain itself. Dallas' key to growth came in 1873 with the building of multiple rail lines through the city. As Dallas grew and technology developed, cotton became its boon and by 1900 Dallas was the largest inland cotton market in the world, becoming a leader in cotton gin machinery manufacturing. By the early 1900s Dallas was a hub for economic activity all over the Southern United States and was selected in 1914 as the seat of the Eleventh Federal Reserve District. By 1925 Texas churned out more than ⅓ of the nation's cotton crop, with 31% of Texas cotton produced within a 100-mile (160 km) radius of Dallas. In the 1930s petroleum was discovered east of Dallas near Kilgore, Texas. Dallas' proximity to the discovery put it immediately at the center of the nation's petroleum market. Petroleum discoveries in the Permian Basin, the Panhandle, the Gulf Coast, and Oklahoma in the following years further solidified Dallas' position as the hub of the market.^[84]
The end of World War II left Dallas seeded with a nexus of communications, engineering, and production talent by companies such as Collins Radio Corporation. Decades later, the telecommunications and information revolutions still drive a large portion of the local economy. The city is sometimes referred to as the heart of "Silicon Prairie" because of a high concentration of telecommunications companies in the region, the epicenter of which lies along the Telecom Corridor located in Richardson, a northern suburb of Dallas. The Corridor is home to more than 5,700 companies^[85] including Texas Instruments (headquartered in Dallas), Nortel Networks, Alcatel Lucent, AT&T, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Nokia, Rockwell Collins, Cisco Systems, Sprint, Verizon Communications, XO Communications and until recently^[when?] CompUSA (which is now headquartered in Miami,FL). Texas Instruments, a major manufacturer, employs 10,400 people at its corporate headquarters and chip plants in Dallas.^[86]
In the 1980s Dallas was a real estate hotbed, with the increasing metropolitan population bringing with it a demand for new housing and office space. Several of Downtown Dallas' largest buildings are the fruit of this boom, but over-speculation, the savings and loan crisis and an oil bust brought the 80's building boom to an end for Dallas as well as its city sister Houston. Between the late 1980s and the early 2000s, central Dallas went through a slow period of growth. However, since the early 2000s the central core of Dallas has been enjoying steady and significant growth encompassing both repurposing of older commercial buildings in downtown Dallas into residential and hotel uses as well as the construction of new office and residential towers. The opening of Klyde Warren Park, built across Woodall Rodgers Freeway seamlessly connecting the central Dallas CBD to Uptown/Victory Park, has acted synergistically with the highly successful Dallas Arts District so that both have become catalysts for significant new development in central Dallas.
The residential real estate market in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex has not only been resilient but has once again returned to a boom status. Dallas and the greater metro have been leading the nation in apartment construction and net leasing with rents reaching all time highs. Single family home sales, whether pre-owned or new construction, along with home price appreciation are leading the nation.^[87][88]
A sudden drop in the price of oil, starting in mid-2014 and accelerating throughout 2015, has not affected Dallas and its greater metro due to the highly diversified nature of its economy. Dallas, and the DFW metro, continue to see strong demand for housing, apartment and office leasing, shopping center space, warehouse and industrial space with overall job growth remaining very robust. Oil dependent cities and regions have felt significant effects from the downturn but Dallas growth has continued unabated, strengthening in 2015. Significant national headquarters relocations to the area (as exemplified by Toyota's decision to leave California and establish its new North American headquarters in the Dallas region) coupled with significant expansions of regional offices for a variety of corporations and along with company relocations to downtown Dallas are helping drive the current boom in the Dallas economy. Dallas leads Texas' largest cities in Forbes' 2015 ranking of "The Best Place for Business and Careers".^[89]
The Dallas-Fort Worth MSA has one of the largest concentrations of corporate headquarters for publicly traded companies in the United States. Fortune Magazine's 2015 annual list of the Fortune 500 in America indicates the city of Dallas has 9 Fortune 500 companies,^[90] and the DFW region as a whole has 21, reflecting the strong growth in the metro economy and up from 18 the year before.^[91] In 2007–08, Comerica Bank and AT&T located their headquarters in Dallas. Additional Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Dallas include Energy Transfer Equity, HollyFrontier, Southwest Airlines, Tenet Healthcare, Texas Instruments, Dean Foods, Trinity Industries, and Energy Future Holdings. Irving is home to 6 Fortune 500 companies of its own, including ExxonMobil, the most profitable company in the world and the second largest by revenue for 2015,^[90] Kimberly-Clark, Fluor (engineering), Commercial Metals, Celanese, and Pioneer Natural Resources.^[90] Additional companies headquartered in the Metroplex include American Airlines, Regency Energy Partners, Atmos Energy, Neiman Marcus, Think Finance, 7-Eleven, Brinker International, Primoris Services, Radio Shack, D.R. Horton, AMS Pictures, id Software, ENSCO Offshore Drilling, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Chuck E. Cheese's, Zales and Fossil. Corporate headquarters in the northern suburb of Plano include HP Enterprise Services, Frito Lay, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, and JCPenney. Many of these companies—and others throughout the DFW metroplex—comprise the Dallas Regional Chamber.
In October 2016, Jacobs Engineering, a Fortune 500 company (ranked at 235 in 2015) and one of the world’s largest engineering companies, relocated from Pasadena, California to Dallas.^[92]
Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world's largest breast cancer organization^[93] was founded and is headquartered in Dallas.
In addition to its large number of businesses, Dallas has more shopping centers per capita than any other city in the United States and is also home to the second shopping center ever built in the United States, Highland Park Village, which opened in 1931.^[94] Dallas is home of the two other major malls in North Texas, the Dallas Galleria and NorthPark Center, which is the 2nd largest mall in Texas. Both malls feature high-end stores and are major tourist draws for the region.^[95][96]
According to Forbes magazine's annual list of "The Richest People in America" published September 21, 2011, the city itself is now home to 17 billionaires, up from 14 in 2009. In 2009 (with 14 billionaires) the city placed 6th worldwide among cities with the most billionaires.^[97][98] The ranking does not even take into account the 8 billionaires who live in the neighboring city of Fort Worth. In 2013, Forbes also ranked Dallas No. 13 on its list of the Best Places for Business and Careers.^[99]
Dallas is currently the third most popular destination for business travel in the United States, and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is one of the largest and busiest convention centers in the country, at over 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m²), and the world's single-largest column-free exhibit hall.^[100]

Demographics

As of the 2010 Census Dallas had a population of 1,197,816. The median age was 31.8.
According to the 2010 Census, 50.7% of the population was White (28.8% non-Hispanic white), 24.8% was Black or African American, 0.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.9% Asian, 2.6% from two or more races. 42.4% of the total population was of Hispanic or Latino origin (they may be of any race).^[58]
At the 2006–2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, among the Hispanic population, 36.8% of Dallas was Mexican, 0.3% Puerto Rican, 0.2% Cuban and 4.3% other Hispanic or Latino.^[59][60][61]
There were 458,057 households at the 2010 census, out of which 29.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.1% were headed by married couples living together, 16.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.0% were classified as non-family households. 33.7% of all households had one or more people under 18 years of age, and 17.6% had one or more people who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.42.^[62]
At the 2010 census the city's age distribution of the population showed 26.5% under the age of 18 and 8.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31.8 years. 50.0% of the population was male and 50.0% was female.^[62]
According to the 2005–2007 American Community Survey, the median income for a household in the city was $40,147, and the median income for a family was $42,670. Male full-time workers had a median income of $32,265 versus $32,402 for female full-time workers. The per capita income for the city was $25,904. About 18.7% of families and 21.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 33.6% of those under age 18 and 13.4% of those aged 65 or over. The median price for a house was $129,600.^[63]
Dallas' population was historically predominantly white (non-Hispanic whites made up 82.8% of the population in 1930),^[56] but its population has diversified due to immigration policies and "white flight" over the 20th century. Today the non-Hispanic white population has declined to less than one-third of the city's population.^[64] In addition, recent data showed that 26.5% of Dallas' population and 17% of residents in the Metroplex as a whole were foreign-born.^[65]
Dallas is a major destination for Mexican immigrants. The southwestern portion of the city, particularly Oak Cliff is chiefly inhabited by Hispanic residents. The southeastern portion of the city Pleasant Grove is chiefly inhabited by black and Hispanic residents, while the southern portion of the city is predominantly black. The West and East sides of the city are predominantly Hispanic; Garland also has a large Spanish speaking population. North Dallas is many enclaves of predominantly white, black and especially Hispanic residents.
In addition, Dallas and its suburbs are home to a large number of Asian residents^[66] including those of Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Japanese, and other heritage.^[67] There are also a significant number of people from the Horn of Africa, immigrants from Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia. With so many immigrant groups, there are often multilingual signs in the linguistic landscape.

Trilingual sign on shop in multilingual neighborhood: English, Spanish, Amharic.

The Dallas-Fort-Worth Metroplex has an estimated 70,000 Russian-speakers, mostly immigrants from the former Soviet Bloc. Included in this population are Russians, Russian Jews, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Moldavians, Uzbek, Kirghiz, and others. The Russian-speaking population of Dallas has continued to grow in the sector of "American husbands-Russian wives". Russian DFW has its own newspaper The Dallas Telegraph.
About half of Dallas's population was born outside of Texas. Many residents have migrated to the city from other parts of the country, particularly the Midwest, Northeast, and California.^[68]
Recognized for having the sixth largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population in the nation, the Dallas metropolitan is widely noted for being home to a thriving and diverse LGBT community.^[69] Throughout the year there are many well-established LGBT events held in the area, most notably the annual Alan Ross Texas Freedom (Pride) Parade and Festival held every September since 1983 which draws tens of thousands from around the world.^[70] For decades, the Oak Lawn and Bishop Arts districts have been known as the epicenters of the LGBT community in Dallas.^[71]

Religion

Megachurches like First Baptist Dallas are common in the area.

According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, Christianity is the most prevalently practiced religion in Dallas (78%).^[72][73] 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 and many Bible schools including Christ For The Nations Institute.
The Christian creationist apologetics group Institute for Creation Research is headquartered in Dallas.
Dallas is called "Prison Ministry Capital of the World" by prison ministry community. It is a home for International Network of Prison Ministries, Coalition of Prison Evangelists, Bill Glass Champions for Life, for more than 30 years to Chaplain Ray's International Prison Ministry, and for more than 60 other prison ministries.
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 Guadalupe in the Arts District is home to the second-largest Catholic church membership in the United States, and oversees 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.^[74] 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.
Dallas' Jewish population of approximately 45,000 is the largest of any city in Texas.^[75] 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. See History of the Jews in Dallas, Texas for more information.

The Dallas Texas Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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.^[76] The Church built the Dallas Texas Temple, the first temple in Texas, in the city in 1984.^[77]
Jehovah's Witnesses also have a large number of members throughout Dallas and surrounding suburbs.
There are several Unitarian Universalist congregations, including First Unitarian Church of Dallas, founded in 1903.^[78]
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 located in Denton, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Downtown Dallas. The oldest mosque in Dallas is Masjid Al-Islam located just south of Downtown Dallas.
Dallas also has a large Buddhist community. Immigrants from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nepal, Tibet, Japan, China, Taiwan, 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.^[79][80][81]
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."^[82]

Climate

Dallas has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa) that is characteristic of the Southern Plains of the United States. Dallas experiences distinct four seasons. January is typically the coldest month, with an average low of 37.3 °F (3 °C) and an average high of 56.8 °F (14 °C). Winter is mild but snowfall during winter is not uncommon. On average, there are 2 snowy days per year. Summer is hot and humid. July and August are typically the hottest months, with an average low of 76.7 °F (25 °C) and an average high of 96.0 °F (36 °C). Located at the lower-end of the Tornado Alley, it is often prone to extreme weathers, tornadoes and severe hailstorms.
Winters in Dallas have a normal daily average temperature in January of 47.0 °F (8.3 °C) but sharp swings in temperature 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.^[38]
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,^[39] 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,^[specify] 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.^[39] 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 Dallas County Courthouse houses the Old Red Museum.

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 located near the heart of Tornado Alley.
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 neighbouring Ellis County.^[44]
The all-time record low temperature within the city itself is −3 °F (−19 °C), set on January 18, 1930, while 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 Airport.^[39][45] 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.

Topography

Dallas and its surrounding area are mostly flat; the city itself 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 Arboretum

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.^[32]
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 Dallas, 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,^[33] 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.^[34]
White Rock Lake, a reservoir constructed at the beginning of the 20th century, is Dallas' 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, located 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 located in an extension of Dallas surrounded by the suburbs of Garland, Rowlett, Rockwall, and Sunnyvale.^[35] 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.^[36] 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 that the lake's neighboring cities oppose.^[37]