History of Dallas (1839–1855)
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This article traces the
history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
of
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
( US) during the city's original settlement from 1839 to 1855.


Settlement

John Neely Bryan, looking for a good trading post to serve Native Americans and settlers, first surveyed the Dallas area in 1839.Dallas Historical Society


. Retrieved 20 April 2006.
Bryan, who shared Sam Houston's insight into the wisdom of Native American customs, must have realized that Caddo trails he came across intersected at one of the few natural fords for hundreds of kilometers along the wide
Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...
floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
. At what became known as "Bryan's Bluff", the river, which was an impassable barrier of mud and water between late fall and early spring, narrowed like an hourglass where it crossed a ridge of
Austin chalk The Austin Chalk is an upper Cretaceous geologic formation in the Gulf Coast region of the United States. It is named after type section outcrops near Austin, Texas. The formation is made up of chalk and marl. Fossils The putative galloanseran ...
, providing a hard rock ford that became the natural north–south route between Republic of Texas settlements and those of the expanding United States.. By Jackie McElhaney and Michael V. Hazel. Retrieved 20 April 2006 Bryan also knew that the planned
Preston Trail Preston Trail, later known as the Old Preston Road, was a road created by the Republic of Texas in 1841 from Preston, Texas on the Red River south to Austin, Texas. This road closely followed an existing trail that led across the area that had be ...
was to run near the ford — the north–south route and the ford at Bryan's Bluff became more important when the United States annexed Texas in 1845. After Bryan surveyed the area, he returned home to
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...
. While there, a treaty was signed removing all Native Americans from Northern Texas. When he returned in November 1841, half of his customers, the Native Americans, were gone. He decided that instead of creating a trading post, he would create a permanent settlement, which he founded the same month. About to the northwest of his settlement was a community called Bird's Fort — Bryan invited the settlers there to live in Dallas at his proposed city. John Beeman arrived in April 1842 and he planted the first corn. Other families soon followed suit, including members of the
Peter's Colony Peters ColonyHarry E. Wade, "PETERS COLONY," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/uep02), accessed May 15, 2015. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. (Peters' Colony ...
settlement nearby. John Neely Bryan was originally almost everything to Dallas: He was the postmaster, a storeowner, a ferry operator (he operated a ferry where Commerce Street crosses the Trinity River today), and his home served as the courthouse. In 1843, the first doctor arrived in Dallas; in 1845, the first lawyer made his home there. In 1845, the first election was held in Dallas over Texas' annexation into the United States. Of the 32 citizens eligible to vote, 29 voted for annexation and 3 voted against it.


Establishment

In 1844, John Neely Bryan convinced J. P. Dumas to survey and lay out a 0.5 square mile (1.3 km2) section of blocks and streets near what later became
downtown Dallas Downtown Dallas is the central business district (CBD) of Dallas, Texas, United States, located in the geographic center of the city. It is the second-largest business district in the state of Texas. The area termed "Downtown" has traditionally ...
. The establishment was named Dallas, and though it has been largely assumed that it was named after
George Mifflin Dallas George Mifflin Dallas (July 10, 1792 – December 31, 1864) was an American politician and diplomat who served as mayor of Philadelphia from 1828 to 1829, the 11th vice president of the United States from 1845 to 1849, and U.S. Minister to the ...
, who became
vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...
the following March, there are problems with this theory. George M. Dallas lived in Philadelphia and never traveled very far west of the city, and Bryan had never traveled very far east of Memphis. It is doubtful that the two ever met, and there are at least seven other candidates: * Named after George M. Dallas's brother Alexander James Dallas, a
U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
commodore who was stationed in the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
; * Named after George's and Alexander's father, Alexander James Dallas, who was the
United States Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...
around the end of the
War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
; * Named in a town-naming contest in 1842; * Named after a friend of founder John Neely Bryan. His son later stated that Bryan claimed to have named the town "after my friend Dallas" (a person whose identity is not certain). John Neely Bryan later died in a psychiatric ward, so his "friend" may not have been a real person. * Named after Joseph Dallas, who settled near Dallas in 1843 * Named after "Dallas", the modern version of the Scottish Gaelic word "Dalais" which means 'valley of water' * Named after the Scottish village of
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
, in Moray, after which a number of places worldwide are named.
Dallas County Dallas County may refer to: Places in the USA: * Dallas County, Alabama, founded in 1818, the first county in the United States by that name * Dallas County, Arkansas * Dallas County, Iowa * Dallas County, Missouri * Dallas County, Texas, the nin ...
was established in 1846 and the city of Dallas was set as the temporary county seat. In 1850, Dallas became the permanent seat over Cedar Springs and Hord's Ridge (
Oak Cliff Oak Cliff is a neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, that was formerly a separate town in Dallas County; Dallas annexed Oak Cliff in 1901. It has since retained a distinct neighborhood identity as one of Dallas' older established neighborhoods. Oak C ...
), both of which now lie within the city's limits.


La Reunion


References


External links

*
Dallas History
from th
Dallas Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:History of Dallas (1839-55) 1839-1855