Dallas, the third-largest city in Texas, is the seat of Dallas County and the cultural and economic center of the 12-county Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area known colloquially as the "Metroplex." A cosmopolitan city, Dallas has a reputation as the well-dressed cousin of Houston and San Antonio. Cowboy hats aren't all that uncommon, but they're hardly the norm.

Dallas began as a trading post on the Upper Trinity River, established in 1841 by John Neely Bryan (just five years after the Republic of Texas broke off from Mexico and became an independent country). The city was named for one of Bryan's friends, but to this day no one knows for certain who that was. Dallas might have remained just another small frontier town if not for the foresight of the city leaders. They paid the Houston and Central Texas Railroad to shift its north-south route through Dallas. They attempted to negotiate a similar deal with the Texas and Pacific Railroad's east-west route, but Texas and Pacific turned down the offer. In the end, the Dallas leaders tricked the railroad by attaching a rider to a state law, stipulating that the tracks had to run through Browder Springs (which, as it turned out, was just south of Main Street). With the intersection of major north-south and east-west railroad routes, Dallas' future as a commercial center was ensured.