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'Downtown Dallas' is the main business district in Dallas, Texas (USA), located in the geographic center of the city. The area officially termed "downtown" is bounded by the downtown freeway loop: made up on the east by I-345 (although known and signed as the northern terminus of I-45 and the southern terminus of US 75 (Central Expressway)), on the west by I-35E, on the south by I-30, and on the north by SH Spur 366 (Woodall Rodgers Freeway).

Contents

History

Overview

Culture

Nightlife

Neighborhoods

Within Loop

Adjacent Neighborhoods

Tallest structures

Transportation

Education

References

External links

History

Downtown Dallas achieved notoriety on November 22 1963, with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy and Governor John Connally (who survived) were shot as their motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in the West End Historic District. Part of the former Texas School Book Depository is now the Sixth Floor Museum, with exhibits about Kennedy and the assassination. Nearby is the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Memorial.
The building boom of the 1970s and 1980s produced a distinctive contemporary profile for the downtown skyline, influenced by nationally prominent architects. At the same time, the establishment of the West End Historic District in the 1980s preserved a group of late-nineteenth-century brick warehouses that have been adapted for use as restaurants and shops.
With the construction of the Dallas Center for Performing Arts in the Arts District of downtown, Dallas will be the only city in the world that has four buildings within one contiguous block designed by Pritzker Architecture Prize winners.

'August 1912': The tallest building is the Adolphus Hotel, which was completed earlier in the year. 150°, centered at From the northwest.		'1 April 1913': 180°, centered at south-southwest.
'20 April 1920': Very few of the tallest buildings in this photo still exist: Immediately obvious are The Adolphus Hotel and the Interurban Building. Every single-family house, the Medical Arts Building and the Baker Hotel have all since been razed and replaced.		'17 September 2005': The skyline from a levee on the Trinity River.

Overview

Though it has been likened to a glorified office park with no cultural character, the area is undergoing a transition as dozens of residential conversions and new high rise condos bring more 24/7 residents to the downtown area. (See: NCTCOG Downtown Dallas Population Forecasts.) Its redeveloped Main Street has recently become the place for Dallasites to play after several restaurants, hotels, and residential towers opened their doors along the strip. Downtown's growth can partially be attributed to DART's two (soon to be 4) LRT lines and the one commuter line that run through Downtown and an aggressive stance taken by the city to drive development at all costs. The city has spent $160 million of public funds in downtown Dallas for residential development that attracted $650 million of private investment.Two of the first new-construction office building projects downtown in over 20 years broke ground in 2005—One Arts Plaza, a mixed use office, retail, residential development in the Arts District which will be the new home of 7-Eleven’s headquarters; and the Hunt Consolidated office building.
The city, along with several non-profit organizations, has recently pushed for the development of the deck park over Spur-366 (Woodall Rodgers Freeway)
to create a seamless Uptown/downtown district, hoping the Uptown real estate market would help further redevelop downtown.
Most important, The Trinity River Corridor is undergoing transformation (the Trinity River Project) into a giant urban park. The park is expected to include an equestrian center, lakes, trails and three bridges designed by Santiago Calatrava.

'Central Business District Population, Household, and Employment Projections'
	2000	2005	2010	2015	2020	2025	2030
Population	1,654	5,646	10,446	12,139	13,781	15,098	16,337
Households	1,122	3,318	6,015	7,029	7,868	8,611	9,340
Employment	130,473	135,148	138,224	140,961	149,936	155,966	160,733

Culture

Nightlife

★ Club Purgatory in the Main Street District

Neighborhoods

Within Loop

★ Arts District

★ City Center District

★ Convention Center District

★ Farmers Market District

★ Government District

★ Main Street District

★ Reunion District

★ West End Historic District

Adjacent Neighborhoods

★ Deep Ellum (also considered part of east Dallas - ''outside loop'').

★ Victory Park (also considered part of the Stemmons Corridor or Oak Lawn - ''outside loop'').

Tallest structures

Transportation

Downtown Dallas is surrounded by a major highway loop composed of, from the north and clockwise, State Highway Spur 366 (Woodall Rodgers Freeway), unsigned Interstate 345 (connecting U.S. Route 75 (Central Expressway) to the north and Interstate 45 to the south), Interstate 30, and Interstate 35E. The loop is the center of Dallas's hub-and-spoke highway system which can be likened to a wagon wheel. U.S. Route 67 is carried through downtown on Interstate 35E to the south and Interstate 30 to the east, and U.S. Route 175 and the Dallas North Tollway join with other major highways within a mile of downtown.
Downtown is the center of Dallas Area Rapid Transit's (DART) light rail system. The and lines run through, from south to north, Convention Center, Union, West End, Akard, St. Paul, and Pearl stations. The commuter train, which connects downtown Fort Worth with downtown Dallas, terminates at Union Station. Union Station also has Amtrak service.
The McKinney Avenue Transit Authority (MATA) operates the M-Line, a free trolley service that runs down St. Paul Street from Uptown and terminates at Ross Avenue. North from downtown, it travels to McKinney Avenue from St. Paul, runs through the LoMac neighborhood, and finally loops around the West Village along Blackburn and Cole Avenues. A spur adjacent to the West Village runs to Cityplace Station.^[1]
Greyhound Lines operates a terminal in downtown at Commerce and Lamar and DART operates the West and East Transfer Centers as hubs for its public bus system.^[2]
The Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) operates an express commuter bus route that serves two stops in Denton, one stop in Lewisville, and another that makes two stops, one in Denton and another in Carrollton.

Education

Downtown Dallas is served by the Dallas Independent School District.
Three schools: Middle College High School at El Centro College, the Pegasus School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, are located in downtown. The Pegasus Complex is also in downtown.
The neighborhood schools for Downtown are outside of the loop.
Four elementary schools—City Park, Sam Houston, Hope Medrano, and Ignacio Zaragoza; three middle schools—Billy Earl Dade, Thomas J. Rusk, and Alex W. Spence; and two high schools—James Madison and North Dallas, serve downtown.^[3][4]
Holy Trinity Catholic School is a nearby centrally located private school providing early education to three year olds through eighth grade.

References

1. DART.org - M-Line Service. Retrieved 18 September 2006.
2. Greyhound.com - Locations : Dallas, Texas. Retrieved 18 September 2006.
3. Dallas ISD - 2006 School Feeder Patterns - James Madison High School. (Maps: 'ES:' City Park; 'MS:' Dade; 'HS:' Madison.) Retrieved 31 December 2006.
4. Dallas ISD - 2006 School Feeder Patterns - North Dallas High School. (Maps: 'ES:' Houston, Medrano, Zaragoza; 'MS:' Rusk, Spence; 'HS:' North Dallas.) Retrieved 31 December 2006.

External links

★ City of Dallas web site

★ Central Dallas Association web site