|
||||||
|
||||||
![]() Welcome to Downtown Dallas Hotels; the shining star of Texas! We offer over a great selection hotels and accommodations in and around the downtown area and are your single source for the best local rates available. Whether you're here for a day, a week or a month, our downtown Dallas hotel guide will help you find the perfect accommodation, suited expressly to your needs. All of our hotels are approved by AAA and Mobile Travel Guide, the authorities in hotel inspection. All hotels offer a generous savings off of regular hotel rack rates. Book securely online for great rates on hotels near Dallas!
To outsiders Dallas represents Texas, displaying the characteristics associated with the state-individualism, affluence and sheer size. Through a combination of big thinking and swashbuckling free enterprise, a dusty river crossing with no discernible assets was transformed into modern Dallas, a leading commercial and financial center and the country's ninth largest city.
The town began slowly. John Neely Bryan chose the site in 1841 and erected a single cabin. He believed that the Trinity River was navigable for trade all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. He was mistaken, and 3 years later the site consisted of only two cabins. Bryan then realized that he would have to settle for ferrying emigrants across the river. A steamboat reached Dallas from Galveston in 1868, but the journey took more than a year, and Bryan's new settlement languished until after the Civil War. <<more |
To outsiders Dallas represents Texas, displaying the characteristics associated with the state-individualism, affluence and sheer size. Through a combination of big thinking and swashbuckling free enterprise, a dusty river crossing with no discernible assets was transformed into modern Dallas, a leading commercial and financial center and the country's ninth largest city.
The town began slowly. John Neely Bryan chose the site in 1841 and erected a single cabin. He believed that the Trinity River was navigable for trade all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. He was mistaken, and 3 years later the site consisted of only two cabins. Bryan then realized that he would have to settle for ferrying emigrants across the river. A steamboat reached Dallas from Galveston in 1868, but the journey took more than a year, and Bryan's new settlement languished until after the Civil War. In 1872, through bribes and gifts of land, Dallas' leaders convinced the Texas Central Railroad to divert its tracks to the community. A year later the Texas Pacific arrived, and because of a nationwide financial panic the town became the temporary railhead for both lines. The effect was immediate. The population doubled to 6,000, and soon wagonloads of wheat, wool and other products crowded in to be shipped via the railroad. By 1900 Dallas was a regional banking center for north Texas farmers and one of the world's largest inland cotton markets. Its financial role was enhanced when many insurance firms, prompted by a 1908 Texas law requiring them to keep a major part of their reserves in the state, established headquarters in the city. The catalyst for modern Dallas was the 1930 oil strike in east Texas. The city became a conduit for the wealth generated by the nearby oil fields. Many Dallas citizens became millionaires as the community became more affluent. Persuasion and occasional machinations brought such prestigious commercial plums as the regional Federal Reserve Bank and the 1936 Texas Centennial Exhibition to Dallas. The latter provided the city with a windfall of buildings as well as the lucrative Texas State Fair. As early as 1908 congestion and the frequent flooding of the Trinity River had forced city fathers to consider rebuilding. George Kessler, a planning engineer, proposed straightening the Trinity River, removing the railroad tracks beyond the city limits, widening the streets and developing business and residential zones. To many these proposals were too radical, but over time Kessler's plan was carried out. Kessler's ideas are visible in the modern cityscape, where the largest buildings are concentrated in the downtown area. One Dallas Center, the Plaza of the Americas and the Reunion Complex are mixed-use buildings incorporating offices, hotels and retail outlets. The Dallas Arts District comprises 60 acres on downtown's north side and includes the Dallas Museum of Art, the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, includes art museums and a symphony center. Such nearby oases of calm as the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Memorial at Main and Market streets, and Thanks-Giving Square at Pacific and Bryan avenues offer a chance to escape and reflect amid the frenetic inner city. Many historic buildings have been preserved as well. The West End Historic District, bounded by Elm, Record and Lamar streets and the Woodall Rodgers Freeway, preserves a turn-of-the-20th-century business district that is now a lively retail area. Another such area is the Swiss Avenue Historic District, where Georgian, Prairie, Spanish and other architectural styles are reflected in the 200 houses concentrated in several blocks of Bryan Parkway, Swiss Avenue and La Vista, Live Oak and Bryan streets. One of the city's outstanding individual historic restoration projects is Union Station at Houston Street between Wood and Young. Vaulted ceilings and a glazed terra-cotta walk are highlights of this 1914 building, which houses the Amtrak station. Dallas is known for its progressive architecture, giving its skyline a recognizable image, but it's also surrounded by historic districts that have been transformed into entertainment, dining and retail areas. I.M. Pei designed the distinctive City Hall, an immense triangle balancing on one edge; Frank Lloyd Wright inspired the Dallas Theatre Center, the only theater built to his design; and William D. Cook, designer of Beverly Hills, laid out the fashionable suburb of Highland Park. The educational and cultural resources of Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas at Dallas, the University of Texas at Arlington and nearby Baylor as well as other colleges, enhance Dallas' entrepreneurial ability and enrich the lives of its citizens. T.R. Fehrenbach, noted Texas historian, once suggested a Texas motto: "We chose this land; we took it; we made it bear fruit." Fehrenbach was speaking about Texas in general, but his quote could apply equally well to Dallas. On the remote prairie, in the shadow of a cattle boomtown, John Neely Bryan staked his land claim. Now Bryan's reconstructed one-room cabin sits neatly in Historic Square in the shadow of a towering skyscraper in the cosmopolitan heart of Dallas. |
|||||
| Home Hotels Customer Service Contact Us Low Rate Guarantee FAQ Travel Resources | ||||||
| All Rights Reserved © Copyright 2009 | ||||||