Dallas is located in
Dallas County and it is the county seat. It lies on the Trinity River, 30 miles east of
Fort Worth.
The first Anglo-American settler built a log cabin on the original site in 1841. Two years later, the town had grown to two cabins, but by the 1870s, it had become a thriving commerce and business center. The first railroad was built to the area in 1872. In 1963, as he rode through Dallas, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald.
Today, Dallas, population 1,052,000, is the country's ninth largest city. It is the Southwest's leading business and financial center. Dallas boasts the world's largest wholesale market and claims to be one of the country's top convention cities as well as the state's premier visitor destination. January average high and low temperatures are 56 and 35 degrees; in July they are 95 and 74. The city is home to Southern Methodist University and numerous attractions.
Dallas is part of the Dallas, Texas metro area.