Fair Park is a recreational and educational complex in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, United States, located immediately east of

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

. The area is registered as a Dallas Landmark and

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

; many of the buildings were constructed for the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936. Fair Park has been designated a Great Place in America by the

American Planning Association The American Planning Association (APA) is a professional organization representing the field of urban planning in the United States. APA was formed in 1978, when two separate professional planning organizations, the American Institute of Pla ...

History

The site was established as an fairground on the outskirts of East Dallas for the Dallas

State Fair A state fair is an annual competitive and recreational gathering of a U.S. state's population, usually held in late summer or early fall. It is a larger version of a county fair, often including only exhibits or competitors that have won in t ...

in 1886. After a fire and financial loss by the fair association in 1904, voters approved the "Reardon Plan". It became Dallas' second public park, known as "Fair Park". An important figure in Fair Park's development was landscape architect and city planner George Kessler. In 1906, he was responsible for the first formal plan for the park influenced by the

City Beautiful Movement The City Beautiful movement was a reform philosophy of North American architecture and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of introducing beautification and monumental grandeur in cities. It was a part of th ...

. The City Beautiful Movement advocated well planned public spaces, tree-lined boulevards, monuments, public art, and fountains which would 'beautify' the city. A milestone in Fair Park's history was 1936, when the Texas Centennial Exposition was held there. In preparation for the six-month event, the appearance of the park was dramatically altered by architect George Dahl and consulting architect Paul Cret. The park was transformed from an early 20th-century fairground into an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

showcase. While many of the exposition's buildings were meant to be temporary, several have survived and have been restored to some extent. Over the years, the park was expanded to its current . Fair Park was declared a

in 1986 as one of the nation's largest surviving assemblages of buildings related to an exposition. and Administration of the park was transferred to the Dallas Parks Department in 1988. Today, the cultural facilities and annual events attract an unsubstantiated estimate of 5 million visitors annually, the bulk of which attend during the 24-day State Fair of Texas.

Restoration and future

Many of the existing Art Deco buildings have been restored visually to their 1936 appearance and upgraded to modern building standards. In anticipation of the

Dallas Area Rapid Transit Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is a transit agency serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex of Texas. It operates buses, light rail, commuter rail, and high-occupancy vehicle lanes in Dallas and twelve of its suburbs. In , the system had a r ...

(DART) light rail service expansion to the area, the historic Parry Avenue entrance gates were restored in 2009. The four cameo reliefs on Centennial Building underwent a professional conservation treatment in 2000 and the Esplanade fountain pylons and six monumental sculptures in 2004. Several sculptures were reconstructed and feature a dramatic light and water show. In 2003, the Fair Park Comprehensive Development plan was produced by Hargreaves Associates. This comprehensive plan included recommendations for the physical site, park programs, activities, funding options, and management alternatives. The park received a $72 million city bond allocation in 2006 for repairs and improvements. In September 2014, a blue ribbon task force appointed by Mayor

Mike Rawlings Michael Scott Rawlings (born August 25, 1954) is an American businessman and politician who was the 59th Mayor of Dallas, Mayor of Dallas, Texas. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he won the nonpartisan 2011 Dall ...

submitted a report on the rejuvenation of Fair Park. The Mayor's Task Force plan envisioned a public-private partnership led by a non profit organization to be charged with over arching powers to control the revitalization of Fair Park, including the State Fair of Texas. Architect/City planner Antonio Di Mambro, with international experience in infrastructure planning and neighborhood revitalization, encouraged the Mayor to use the Task Force report as a building block for constructive dialogue with residents, stakeholders and the neighborhoods around Fair Park. Following the presentation of the Task Force Plan, Mayor Mike Rawlings said, "I felt passion by all the council and park board members that they want Fair Park to be all it can be and they're interested in taking this big challenge on". In March 2015, the State Fair pushed back on any notion of tightening up the footprint of its current operation. ''Dallas Morning News'' reporter Robert Wilonsky called the State Fair's response "rather dramatic" The article also quoted Stephen Page of the closed Texas Museum of Automotive History from 2012 as saying, "The City's requirement that tenants vacate the majority of the buildings in Fair Park during the State Fair is the principal reason for Fair Park's ongoing decline." Wilonsky also quoted a 'prominent member of the Mayor's Task Force' as suggesting privately "that the State Fair's presence at Fair Park also needs to be greatly reduced." On November 18, 2015, Dallas City Council considered Mayor

' proposal to turn over management of Fair Park to a non-profit corporation headed up by the "Father of DART" Walt Humann. Under the Mayor's plan, the city would still own the 277-acre site, but a non-profit foundation would manage the grounds and assets. In 2016 Mayor Mike Rawlings' proposal to turn the park over to a non-profit corporation headed by Humann was defeated by the Dallas City Attorney and a lack of support by Dallas City Council. In October 2018, the Dallas City Council voted unanimously to approve a management contract with Fair Park First. According to the plan, Fair Park First would receive $35 million over 10 years and would implement plans to rejuvenate the park and surrounding community. At the time, some within the city parks board expressed concern that a contract between the non-profit Fair Park First and its for-profit subcontractor, Oak View Group, excluded the city from oversight of park operations. Following a whistleblower report in early 2024 about spending irregularities, a review by the city found that more than $5 million in donor-restricted funds had been improperly used for park operations.

Cultural district

Many Dallas cultural institutions call Fair Park home. Fair Park Lake Monster

Texas State Fair Cotton Bowl from skyway 2

;Hall of State The Hall of State is managed by the Dallas Historical Society, which hosts exhibits inside about Dallas history and culture. ;Old Mill Inn The Old Mill Inn was one of the few Texas Centennial Exposition buildings not to incorporate Art Deco styling. Clad in fieldstone with heavy-timber construction, this was the exhibit building for the flour milling industry. It now sporadically serves Fair Park as a restaurant. ;Magnolia Lounge and (former) Hall of Religion This little-known project by New York architect William Lescaze introduced European Modernism to Texas in 1936. The design of this hospitality lounge for the Magnolia Petroleum Company included elements commonly found in

architecture. However, the building's overall image was radically different from that of any other structure at the Texas Centennial Exposition. Site of Theatre '47, the first professional, regional theater company in the United States, the small performing space, th
Margo Jones Theatre
pays tribute to the visionary founder of America's regional theater movement

Margo Jones Margo Jones (December 12, 1911 – July 24, 1955), nicknamed the "Texas Tornado", was an American stage director and producer, best known for launching the American regional theater movement and for introducing the theater-in-the-round concep ...

. Immediately adjacent to the Magnolia Lounge is the former Hall of Religion. ;African American Museum The current museum building occupies virtually the same site as the Texas Centennial Exposition's Hall of Negro Life. It boasts a permanent collection that consists of the works of such highly regarded African American artists as

Romare Bearden Romare Bearden (, ) (September 2, 1911 – March 12, 1988) was an American artist, author, and songwriter. He worked with many types of media including cartoons, oils, and collages. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden grew up in New York C ...

Jacob Lawrence Jacob Armstead Lawrence (September 7, 1917 – June 9, 2000) was an American painter known for his portrayal of African-American historical subjects and contemporary life. Lawrence referred to his style as "dynamic cubism", an art form populariz ...

, Larry D. Alexander, John T. Biggers, Clementine Hunter,

Benny Andrews Benny Andrews (November 13, 1930 – November 10, 2006) was an African-American artist, activist and educator. Born in Plainview, Georgia, Andrews earned a BFA in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1958, and soon after ...

, Edward Mitchell Bannister and Arthello Beck ;The Leonhardt Lagoon South of the Midway, George Dahl arranged Dallas's future cultural institutions informally around a tranquil lagoon, offering Texas Centennial exposition visitors a peaceful, naturalistic counterpoint to the activity of the exposition. In 1981, Patricia Johanson was commissioned to redesign and restore the badly degraded lagoon. Since reopening in 1986, the redesigned lagoon has become recognized as a major earth sculpture and one of the earliest examples of art as

bioremediation Bioremediation broadly refers to any process wherein a biological system (typically bacteria, microalgae, fungi in mycoremediation, and plants in phytoremediation), living or dead, is employed for removing environmental pollutants from air, wate ...

. ;Museum of Nature and Science The Museum of Nature & Science occupied two buildings around the lagoon (one named "The Science Place"), and a planetarium next to the WRR building, before moving most of its operations to the new Perot campus at Victory Park in December 2012. The former History Building remains open on weekends as a secondary campus of the Perot Museum. The IMAX theatre and planetarium at the Fair Park campus are shuttered. The History Building, once the Museum of Natural History, was designed for the Texas Centennial Exposition as a monolithic, rectangular box. The entrance features three vertical window bays with decorative aluminum mullions. Flanking it are paired pilasters with shell-motif capitals. The rest of the building is clad in limestone. In 1988, the northeast corner of the building was excavated, creating a series of landscaped terraces. ;Fair Park Band Shell The concentric plaster arches of the Band Shell comprise an essentially Art Deco composition. Elements of the

Streamline Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by Aerodynamics, aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In indu ...

style are present in the reinforced concrete backstage building. Lighting pylons surround the sloping 5,000-seat amphitheater. ;Texas Discovery Gardens This was the original Horticulture Building for the Texas Centennial Exposition. It has since been altered by exterior renovations and additions, including the minimalist glass Blachly Conservatory. In the gardens behind the main structure is a model home that the Portland Cement Company originally built for the Exposition. ;Cotton Bowl The Cotton Bowl stadium was built in below-grade in 1930, and was originally known as "Fair Park Stadium." Subsequent expansions resulted in a present capacity of 92,200. The

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its Cotton Bowl (stadium), namesake ...

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

was played there from 1937 to 2009. Annually during the State Fair of Texas, it hosts the OU–TX game between the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

and the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

, along with the Southwest Airlines State Fair Classic game between

Grambling State University Grambling State University (GSU, Grambling, or Grambling State) is a public historically black university in Grambling, Louisiana, United States. Grambling State is home of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum and is listed on the Louisiana African ...

(

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

) and

Prairie View A&M University Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU or PV) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas, United States. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two lan ...

. It was also the first home of the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

, from

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

until their move to

Texas Stadium Texas Stadium was an American football stadium located in Irving, Texas, a suburb west of Dallas. Opened on October 24, 1971, it was known for its distinctive hole in the roof, the result of abandoned plans to construct a retractable roof. Th ...

in Irving in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

. ;Music Hall at Fair Park Music Hall, built in Spanish colonial revival style, was the

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

Building during the Centennial Exposition. It underwent extensive remodeling in 1972. It was home of the

Dallas Opera The Dallas Opera is an American opera company located in Dallas, Texas. The company performs at the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, one venue of the AT&T Performing Arts Center. History The company was founded in 1957 as the Dallas Civic ...

until 2009 and is the current home for Dallas Summer Musicals. ;Women's Building The Women's building was originally built in 1910 as a park coliseum. It was remodeled as an Art Deco structure for the Centennial Exposition during which it was known as the Hall of Administration. The building was operated as The Women's Museum from 2000 to 2011, but now is only used for special events and exhibits.

Midway and other structures

*The Texas Star, opened in 1985, is the fourth-largest

Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a big wheel, giant wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondola ...

in North America. *Among political infighting, lawsuits and community unrest, Starplex Amphitheatre (f/k/a Smirnoff Music Centre, Coca-Cola Starplex, and Gexa Energy Pavilion, and n/k/a Dos Equis Pavilion) was built. Former Park Board member Jim Graham said the City's agreement with PACE Entertainment "stinks". *The Texas Skyway, opened in 2007, is an art deco-styled gondola ride that transports visitors above the ground for a ride that is one-third of a mile. *The Top o' Texas Tower, opened in 2013, is a observation tower ride. The tower's base may eventually house a museum devoted to the State Fair and Texas Centennial Exposition collection. At a cost of more than $12,000,000, the Tower was to be the featured ride of the failed Summer Adventures program. Summer Adventures, while planned as an annual event, was open for one year and shuttered, despite a $30,000,000 investment. *Fair Park is home to the Texas State Vietnam Memorial.

Annual events

*The complex's signature event is the annual State Fair of Texas, which has been held there since 1886. It currently lasts 24 days and begins in the last Friday in September and runs to the third Sunday in October.

Summer Adventures in Fair Park (initially called Summer Place Park)

*The State Fair had plans to unveil Summer Place Park in 2012. These plans would eventually turn into Summer Adventures in Fair Park, a beach-themed amusement park, that operated from May to August 2013. Despite a $30,000,000 investment in Summer Adventures, the event was shuttered after just one season.

Other events

*The North Texas Irish Festival takes place the first weekend in March each year. *Earth Day Texas takes place annually in April. *Fair Park Fourth is the annual

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

celebration for the City of Dallas.

Other notable events

*The 1936 film '' The Big Show'', starring

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...

, was filmed at Fair Park and much of its architecture is heavily featured. *In 1961, the

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serv ...

'' was filmed in Fair Park. *In July 1984, Fair Park was transformed into a Formula One circuit for a weekend to host the Dallas Grand Prix and

Can-Am The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an SCCA/ CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1974, and again from 1977 to 1987. The Can-Am rules were deliberately simple and placed few limits on the entries. This led to a wide variet ...

race. The event was conceived as a way to demonstrate Dallas's status as a "world-class city", but the track was unsuccessful. *In May 1988, Fair Park also hosted

Trans-Am Series The Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of ...

race with a different layout. *On March 8–11, 1990, the

Nintendo World Championships The Nintendo World Championships (NWC) is a nationwide Electronic sports, video game competition series, organized by Nintendo of America at no particular interval. The first Nintendo World Championships was in 1990, touring 29 American cities ...

were held within the Fair Park's Automobile Building. *In the early 2000s, Fair Park and many of its cultural institutions (The Science Place, The Dallas Museum of Natural History, Texas Discovery Gardens, and others) were featured heavily on the TV series ''North Texas Explorer''. *The 18th episode of season 2 of ''

Prison Break ''Prison Break'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Paul Scheuring for Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox. The series revolves around two brothers: Lincoln Burrows (Dominic P ...

'' has scenes that take place in Fair Park and feature "Jumbo" the mammoth statue, The Women's Museum, the Leonhardt Lagoon, and other attractions. *In December 2013, the Chanel Paris–Dallas pre-fall show was held at Fair Park. *In January 2021, Fair Park became a mass

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

vaccination hub operated by Dallas County Health and Human Services. FEMA also opened a hub at the park for vaccinations of 17 underserved zip codes.

Lap records

The fastest official race lap records at the Dallas Fair Park Circuit are listed as:

Transportation

*Fair Park is easily accessible from I-30, the major east-west interstate through

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. *Fair Park is served by several bus routes by DART. * DART's Green Line connects Fair Park to southeast and downtown Dallas with Fair Park station and MLK Jr. station. During the State Fair of Texas DART runs "special event" trains from the Red Line and Blue Line to Fair Park Station.

Education

Irma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School is located in Fair Park.Our Schools
." Foundation for the Education of Young Women. Retrieved on May 23, 2011. "The school is located in Fair Park at 1718 Robert B. Cullum Boulevard."

References

Other sources

*Rob Walker (October, 1984). "1st Dallas Grand Prix: Cool Keke". ''Road & Track'', 178-182. *Mike S. Lang (1992). ''Grand Prix!: Race-by-race account of Formula 1 World Championship motor racing. Volume 4: 1981 to 1984''. Haynes Publishing Group.

External links

City of Dallas: Fair Park

Friends of Fair Park

Dallasparks.org: Fair Park Comprehensive Development Plan
{{NRHP in Texas Parks in Dallas Amusement parks in Texas Fairgrounds in the United States World's fair sites in Texas Dallas Landmarks National Register of Historic Places in Dallas Dallas (Fair Park) Dallas (Fair Park) Dallas (Fair Park) Tourist attractions in Dallas Paul Philippe Cret buildings World's fair architecture in Texas Art Deco architecture in Texas Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas Event venues on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas National Historic Landmarks in Texas 1936 establishments in Texas