Dallas - Fort Worth Area Facts, Highlights, Weather and General Info

Location and Geography

• Dallas and Fort Worth make up a two-city Metroplex in North Texas. The total Metroplex population is 5,222,000, with over one million of these people living in Dallas. Dallas is the county seat of Dallas County, and the 10th largest city in the U.S.
• The terrain is mostly flat with a slight elevation rise toward the neighborhoods of Oak Cliff, Cockrell Hill and Cedar Hill. Within 100 miles of Dallas/ Fort Worth there are more than 60 lakes, 50,000 acres of parks and 200 golf courses, offering superbly scenic recreation opportunities.

Climate

• Classified as a humid sub-tropic climate, Dallas/Fort Worth experiences hot, dry winds in the summers and cool winds with occasional sub-freezing temperatures during the winter.
• Spectacular thunderstorms with striking lightning displays are common during the summer months, while winters typically receive only 1 or 2 inches of snow for the entire cold season.
• Spring and fall are more moderate, but short-lived seasons.

City Backgrounds

• Dallas has a history rooted in money and commerce. In 1841, it began as a prairie trading post, and later, oil and cattle served as resources to build wealth for the city's entrepreneurs.
• Today, Dallas is an affluent, cosmopolitan city, with glitzy high-rises and skyscrapers. It is also a center for arts and culture. Fort Worth, on the other hand, only 30 miles west of Dallas, provides quite a contrast.
• As one of the most "Western" cities in Texas still today, Fort Worth began in the 1870s as the final stop on the big cattle drive to Kansas, known as the Chisolm Trail. Fort Worth's history lies in its cowboys, outlaws and cattle traders, and the city is still proud of its western heritage, as its age-old and aptly-chosen nickname is "Cowtown."

Cowtown Coliseum

• The Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, completed in only 88 days, was the answer to a call for the city: "Texas will have at Fort Worth the largest, most elegant and perfectly appointed livestock exhibition building in the South and without superior in the United States."
• Opening in 1908, the Coliseum has lived up to those expectations. It was the birthplace of the first indoor rodeo and is today the site of the Stockyards Championship Rodeo.
• In 1911 President Teddy Roosevelt spoke in the Coliseum, and in 1956 Elvis Presley rocked and rolled during a concert at the Coliseum.

Dallas Delights

• The Dallas Public Library houses one of the original signed copies of the Declaration of Independence.
• Texas Motor Speedway, northwest of Dallas, is the second largest sports facility in America.
• Some famous Dallasites include Stevie Ray Vaughan, Norah Jones, Owen Wilson, Jessica Simpson and Dr. Phil McGraw.