Dallas is the third largest city in the state of Texas & the ninth-largest in the United States.

Founded in 1841 & incorporated as a city in 1856, the city's economy is based on banking, commerce, telecommunications, computer technology, energy & transportation. 

Dallas offers a blend of Southern hospitality, Old West charm & modern sophistication.  Dallas offers a variety culture & attractions including art galleries, museums, amusement parks & natural parks.  

Dallas relied on farming in its early days, along with Fort Worth's Stockyards & used its location on Indian trade routes to develop. Dallas's main growth came in 1873 with the building of multiple rail lines through the city.

By 1900 Dallas was the largest inland cotton market in the world & a leader in cotton gin machinery manufacturing. In the 1930s petroleum was discovered east of Dallas & it quickly become the center of the nation's petroleum market. Petroleum discoveries in the Permian Basin, the Panhandle & the Gulf Coast expanded Dallas's position as the hub of the market.

Today Dallas is sometimes referred to as the heart of "Silicon Prairie" because of a high concentration of telecommunications companies in the region based around the Telecom Corridor located in the northern Dallas suburb of Richardson. The area is home to more than 5,700 companies.

The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex as a whole has one of the largest concentration of corporate headquarters in the United States. The city of Dallas has 12 Fortune 500 companies, the 3rd most in the United States while DFW as a whole has 25. In addition to its large number of businesses, Dallas has more shopping centers per capita than any other city in the United States.