It's not surprising that a man, his dog, and a trusty guide founded the city of Dallas. After all, when James Neely Bryan, his dog Tubby, and his guide Ned arrived at the point where the three forks of the Trinity River came together, they envisioned a burgeoning trading post. Bryan and others built a settlement in Dallas, and it quickly grew.

Dallas is the ninth-largest city in the U.S., the third-largest in Texas, and is ranked among the nation's 100 Most Ethnically Diverse Communities. Dallas' overall population is young and diverse, with a median age of 32.1 and large Hispanic-, Asian-, and African-American populations. The city covers more than 378 square miles and is home to more than a million people.

Fort Worth, on the other hand, is much more than a smaller version of Dallas - and much different than Dallas, too. It's the 19th-largest city in the U.S. and was also named one of "America's Most Livable Communities." A thriving city of both rich culture and commerce, Fort Worth is home to museums (the Kimbell is world-renowned), universities (Texas Christian University), and more than 600,000 people call "Cowtown" home.

As for its history, Fort Worth began as an army outpost in 1849, established to protect settlers from Indian attacks, and eventually becoming the last major stop on the legendary Chisholm Trail, the road where millions of cattle were driven north to market.

Fort Worth was a party town back in the day, nicknamed "Hell's Half Acre" because of its gambling parlors, saloons, and dance halls, and now affectionately called Cowtown in homage to its rowdy cowboy roots. The Fort Worth Stockyards is the city's centerpiece, and is still a premier livestock center.

Together, the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area is the eighth-largest in the U.S. with more than five million people.

The Mystique Lives...
Dallas is big hair and big mansions, big cowboy hats and big bucks. Everything that has made the city famous over the years was embodied in the internationally known Dallas television series. It may have been a weekly drama series watched by millions, but the "drama" wasn't too far removed from reality. The idea of Dallas and its oil millionaires, backroom political deals and very active social scene is alive and well even today and, though it has been more than 20 years since the show was on the air, its mystique remains.

The Dallas area has grown and prospered from natural resources like cotton and oil, yet it has also been the center of national attention and controversy with the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The city has also been through fires and floods, yet has emerged consistently as a true survivor - just like a true Texan.

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