1. Caddo Parish School Board Drivers Ed Summer Programs

Caddo Parish schools are losing vital funding through the Industrial Tax Exemption Program (ITEP). Through ITEP, businesses can apply for school tax exemptions. Recent changes to the rules have given the school board input on whether or not these exemptions are granted. Teachers are buying supplies out of pocket. Paraprofessionals are poorly paid. The Caddo Parish School Board Dr.Theodis Lamar Goree Superintendent O ur Mission In the Caddo Parish Public School System our mission is to improve the academic achievement of students and overall district effectiveness. We have high expectations for everyone – students, teachers, administrators, parents, community volunteers and support groups. Lists & reviews of Drivers Ed & driver training in Caddo County, Louisiana. Find addresses, days & hours of operation, websites, & phone numbers.

Dallas (/ˈdæləs/), officially the City of Dallas, is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Dallas County, with portions extending into Collin, Denton, Kaufman and Rockwall counties. With an estimated 2017 population of 1,341,075,^[8] it is the ninth most-populous city in the U.S.^[9] and third in Texas after Houston and San Antonio.^[10] It is also the eighteenth most-populous city in North America as of 2015. Located in North Texas, the city of Dallas is the main core of the largest metropolitan area in the Southern United States and the largest inland metropolitan area in the U.S. that lacks any navigable link to the sea.^[11] It is the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country at 7.5 million people as of 2018.^[12] The city's combined statistical area is the seventh-largest in the U.S. as of 2017, with 7,846,293 residents.^[13]

Dallas and nearby Fort Worth were initially developed due to the construction of major railroad lines through the area allowing access to cotton, cattle and later oil in North and East Texas. The construction of the Interstate Highway System reinforced Dallas's prominence as a transportation hub, with four major interstate highways converging in the city and a fifth interstate loop around it. Dallas then developed as a strong industrial and financial center and a major inland port, due to the convergence of major railroad lines, interstate highways and the construction of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, one of the largest and busiest airports in the world.^[14]

A 'beta(+)' global city,^[15] the economy of Dallas has been considered diverse with dominant sectors including defense, financial services, information technology, telecommunications, and transportation.^[16] Dallas is home to 9 Fortune 500 companies within the city limits. The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex hosts additional Fortune 500 companies, including American Airlines (Fort Worth), ExxonMobil (Irving), and J. C. Penney (Plano). Over 41 colleges and universities are in its metropolitan area which is the most of any metropolitan area in Texas. The city has a population from a myriad of ethnic and religious backgrounds and the one of the largest LGBT communities in the U.S.^[17]WalletHub named Dallas the fifth most-diverse city in the U.S. in 2018.^[18]

• 2Geography
  • 2.2Neighborhoods
• 3Demographics
• 5Arts and culture
• 6Sports
• 7Parks and recreation
• 8Government
• 9Education
  • 9.1Colleges and universities
  • 9.2Primary and secondary schools
• 11Infrastructure
• 12Transportation

History[edit]

Preceded by thousands of years of varying cultures, the Caddopeople inhabited the Dallas area before Spanish colonists claimed the territory of Texas in the 18th century as a part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Later, France also claimed the area but never established much settlement.

In 1819, the Adams-Onís Treaty between the United States and Spain defined the Red River as the northern boundary of New Spain, officially placing the future location of Dallas well within Spanish territory.^[19] The area remained under Spanish rule until 1821, when Mexico declared independence from Spain, and the area was considered part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. In 1836, Texians, with a majority of Anglo-American settlers, gained independence from Mexico and formed the Republic of Texas.^[20]

Three years after Texas achieved independence, John Neely Bryan surveyed the area around present-day Dallas.^[21] In 1839, accompanied by his dog Tubby & a Cherokee he called Ned, he planted a stake in the ground on a bluff located near three forks of the Trinity River and left.^[22]

Two years later he returned to establish a permanent settlement named Dallas in 1841. The origin of the name is uncertain. The official historical marker states it was named after Vice President George M. Dallas of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. However, this is disputed. Other potential theories for the origin include his brother, Commodore Alexander James Dallas, as well as brothers Walter R. Dallas or James R. Dallas.^[23][24] A further theory gives the origin as the village of Dallas, Moray, Scotland, similar to the way Houston, Texas was named after Sam Houston whose ancestors came from the Scottish village of Houston, Renfrewshire. The Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845 and Dallas County was established the following year. Dallas was formally incorporated as a city on February 2, 1856.^[14]

In the mid-1800s, a group of French Socialists established La Reunion, a short-lived utopian community, along the Trinity River in what is now West Dallas.^[25]

With the construction of railroads, Dallas became a business and trading center and was booming by the end of the 19th century. It became an industrial city, attracting workers from Texas, the South, and the Midwest.

The Praetorian Building in Dallas of 15 stories, built in 1909, was the first skyscraper west of the Mississippi and the tallest building in Texas for some time. It marked the prominence of Dallas as a city. A racetrack for thoroughbreds was built and their owners established the Dallas Jockey Club. Trotters raced at a track in Fort Worth, where a similar drivers club was based. The rapid expansion of population increased competition for jobs and housing.

In 1921, the Mexican president Álvaro Obregón along with the former revolutionary general visited Downtown Dallas's Mexican Park in Little Mexico; the small park was on the corner of Akard and Caruth Street, site of the current Fairmont Hotel.^[26] The small neighborhood of Little Mexico was home to a Latin American population that had been drawn to Dallas by factors including the American Dream, better living conditions, and the Mexican Revolution.^{[citation needed]}

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Elm Street while his motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in Downtown Dallas. The upper two floors of the building from which alleged assassinLee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy, the Texas School Book Depository, have been converted into a historical museum covering the former president's life and accomplishments.

On July 7, 2016, multiple shots were fired at a peaceful protest in Downtown Dallas, held against the police killings of two black men from other states. The gunman, later identified as Micah Xavier Johnson, began firing at police officers at 8:58 p.m., killing five officers and injuring nine. Two bystanders were also injured. This marked the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since the September 11 attacks. Johnson told police during a standoff that he was upset about recent police shootings of black men and wanted to kill whites, especially white officers.^[27][28] After hours of negotiation failed, police resorted to a robot-delivered bomb, killing Johnson inside El Centro College. The shooting occurred in an area of hotels, restaurants, businesses, and residential apartments only a few blocks away from Dealey Plaza.

Geography[edit]

Dallas is situated in the Southern United States, in North Texas. It is the county seat of Dallas County and portions of the city extend into neighboring Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties. Many suburbs surround Dallas; three enclaves are within the city boundaries—Cockrell Hill, Highland Park, and University Park. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 385.8 square miles (999.3 km²). 340.5 square miles (881.9 km²) of Dallas is land and 45.3 square miles (117.4 km²) of it (11.75%) is water.^[29] Dallas makes up one-fifth of the much larger urbanized area known as the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, in which one quarter of all Texans live.

Architecture[edit]

Dallas's skyline has several buildings over 700 feet (210 m) in height. Although some of Dallas's architecture dates from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most of the notable architecture in the city is from the modernist and postmodernist eras. Iconic examples of modernist architecture include Reunion Tower, the JFK Memorial, I. M. Pei's Dallas City Hall and the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. Good examples of postmodernist skyscrapers are Fountain Place, Bank of America Plaza, Renaissance Tower, JPMorgan Chase Tower, and Comerica Bank Tower.

Several smaller structures are fashioned in the Gothic Revival style, such as the Kirby Building, and the neoclassical style, as seen in the Davis and Wilson Buildings. One architectural 'hotbed' in the city is a stretch of historic houses along Swiss Avenue, which has all shades and variants of architecture from Victorian to neoclassical.^[30] The Dallas Downtown Historic District protects a cross-section of Dallas commercial architecture from the 1880s to the 1940s.

Neighborhoods[edit]

The city of Dallas is home to many areas, neighborhoods, and communities. Dallas can be divided into several geographical areas which include larger geographical sections of territory including many subdivisions or neighborhoods, forming macroneighborhoods.

Central Dallas[edit]

Central Dallas is anchored by Downtown, the center of the city, along with Oak Lawn and Uptown, areas characterized by dense retail, restaurants, and nightlife. Downtown Dallas has a variety of named districts, including the West End Historic District, the Arts District, the Main Street District, Farmers Market District, the City Center Business District, the Convention Center District, and the Reunion District. 'Hot spots' in this area include Uptown, Victory Park, Harwood, Oak Lawn, Dallas Design District, Trinity Groves, Turtle Creek, Cityplace, Knox/Henderson, Greenville, and West Village.

East Dallas[edit]

East Dallas is home to Deep Ellum, a trendy arts area close to Downtown, the homey Lakewood neighborhood (and adjacent areas, including Lakewood Heights, Wilshire Heights, Lower Greenville, Junius Heights, and Hollywood Heights/Santa Monica), historic Vickery Place and Bryan Place, and the architecturally significant neighborhoods of Swiss Avenue and Munger Place. Its historic district has one of the largest collections of Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired prairie-style homes in the United States. In the northeast quadrant of the city is Lake Highlands, one of Dallas's most unified middle-class neighborhoods.^[31]

South Dallas[edit]

South Dallas, a distinct neighborhood southeast of Downtown, lays claim to the Cedars, an eclectic artist hotbed, and Fair Park, home of the annual State Fair of Texas, held from late September through mid-October.^[32] Southwest of Downtown lies Oak Cliff, a hilly area that has undergone gentrification in recent years, in neighborhoods such as the Bishop Arts District. Oak Cliff was a township founded in the mid-1800s and annexed in 1903 by Dallas.^[33] Today, most of the area's northern residents are Hispanic and Latin American. The ghost town of La Reunion once occupied the north tip of Oak Cliff. South Oak Cliff's population is a mix of African American, Hispanic, and Native American.

South Side Dallas is a popular location for nightly entertainment at the NYLO rooftop patio and lounge,^[34] The Cedars Social.^[35] The neighborhood has undergone extensive development and community integration. What was once an area characterized by high rates of poverty and crime is now one of the city's most attractive social and living destinations.^[36]

Further east, in the southeast quadrant of the city, is the large neighborhood of Pleasant Grove. Once an independent city, it is a collection of mostly lower-income residential areas stretching to Seagoville in the southeast. Though a city neighborhood, Pleasant Grove is surrounded by undeveloped land on all sides. Swampland and wetlands separating it from South Dallas are part of the Great Trinity Forest,^[37] a subsection of the city's Trinity River Project, newly appreciated for habitat and flood control.

Districts[edit]

Topography[edit]

Dallas and its surrounding area are mostly flat; the city lies at elevations ranging from 450 to 550 feet (137 to 168 m). The western edge of the Austin Chalk Formation, a limestoneescarpment (also known as the 'White Rock Escarpment'), rises 230 feet (70 m) and runs roughly north-south through Dallas County. South of the Trinity River, the uplift is particularly noticeable in the neighborhoods of Oak Cliff and the adjacent cities of Cockrell Hill, Cedar Hill, Grand Prairie, and Irving. Marked variations in terrain are also found in cities immediately to the west in Tarrant County surrounding Fort Worth, as well as along Turtle Creek north of Downtown.

Dallas, like many other cities, was founded along a river. The city was founded at the location of a 'white rock crossing' of the Trinity River, where it was easier for wagons to cross the river in the days before ferries or bridges. The Trinity River, though not usefully navigable, is the major waterway through the city. Interstate 35E parallels its path through Dallas along the Stemmons Corridor, then south alongside the western portion of Downtown and past South Dallas and Pleasant Grove, where the river is paralleled by Interstate 45 until it exits the city and heads southeast towards Houston. The river is flanked on both sides by 50 feet (15 m) tall earthen levees to protect the city from frequent floods.^[38]

Since it was rerouted in the late 1920s, the river has been little more than a drainage ditch within a floodplain for several miles above and below Downtown, with a more normal course further upstream and downstream, but as Dallas began shifting towards postindustrial society, public outcry about the lack of aesthetic and recreational use of the river ultimately gave way to the Trinity River Project,^[39] which was begun in the early 2000s.

The project area reaches for over 20 miles (32 km) in length within the city, while the overall geographical land area addressed by the Land Use Plan is approximately 44,000 acres (180 km²) in size—about 20% of the land area in Dallas. Green space along the river encompasses approximately 10,000 acres (40 km²), making it one of the largest and diverse urban parks in the world.^[40]

White Rock Lake, a reservoir built at the beginning of the 20th century, is Dallas's other significant water feature. The lake and surrounding park is a popular destination for boaters, rowers, joggers, and bikers, as well as visitors seeking peaceful respite from the city at the 66-acre (267,000 m²) Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, on the lake's eastern shore. White Rock Creek feeds into White Rock Lake, and then exits on to the Trinity River southeast of Downtown Dallas. Trails along White Rock Creek are part of the extensive Dallas County Trails System.

Bachman Lake, just northwest of Love Field Airport, is a smaller lake also popularly used for recreation. Northeast of the city is Lake Ray Hubbard, a vast 22,745-acre (92 km²) reservoir in an extension of Dallas surrounded by the suburbs of Garland, Rowlett, Rockwall, and Sunnyvale.^[41] To the west of the city is Mountain Creek Lake, once home to the Naval Air Station Dallas (Hensley Field) and a number of defense aircraft manufacturers.^[42]North Lake, a small body of water in an extension of the city limits surrounded by Irving and Coppell, initially served as a water source for a nearby power plant but is now being targeted for redevelopment as a recreational lake due to its proximity to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, a plan the lake's neighboring cities oppose.^[43]

Climate[edit]

Dallas has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa) characteristic of the Southern Plains of the United States. It is also continental, characterized by a relatively wide annual temperature range. Located at the lower end of Tornado Alley, it is prone to extreme weather, tornadoes, and hailstorms.

Summers in Dallas are very hot with humidity ranging from mild to high. July and August are typically the hottest months, with an average high of 96.0 °F (36 °C) and an average low of 76.7 °F (25 °C). The all-time record high is 113 °F (45 °C), set on June 26 and 27, 1980 during the Heat Wave of 1980 at nearby Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.^[44][45]

Winters in Dallas are cool to mild, with occasional cold spells. The average date of first frost is November 12, and the average date of last frost is March 12.^[46] January is typically the coldest month, with an average daytime high of 56.8 °F (14 °C) and an average nighttime low of 37.3 °F (3 °C). The normal daily average temperature in January is 47.0 °F (8 °C) but sharp swings in temperature can occur, as strong cold fronts known as 'Blue Northers' pass through the Dallas region, forcing daytime highs below the 50 °F (10 °C) mark for several days at a time and often between days with high temperatures above 80 °F (27 °C). Snow accumulation is seen in the city in about 70% of winter seasons, and snowfall generally occurs 1–2 days out of the year for a seasonal average of 1.5 inches (4 cm). Some areas in the region, however, receive more than that, while other areas receive negligible snowfall or none at all.^[47] The all-time record low temperature within the city is −3 °F (−19 °C), set on January 18, 1930.

Spring and autumn are transitional seasons with moderate and pleasant weather. Vibrant wildflowers (such as the bluebonnet, Indian paintbrush and other flora) bloom in spring and are planted around the highways throughout Texas.^[48] Springtime weather can be quite volatile, but temperatures themselves are mild. The weather in Dallas is also generally pleasant from late September to early December and on many winter days. Autumn often brings more storms and tornado threats, but they are usually fewer and less severe than in spring.

Each spring, cold fronts moving south from the North will collide with warm, humid air streaming in from the Gulf Coast, leading to severe thunderstorms with lightning, torrents of rain, hail, and occasionally, tornadoes. Over time, tornadoes have probably been the most significant natural threat to the city, as it is near the heart of Tornado Alley.

A few times each winter in Dallas, warm and humid air from the south will override cold, dry air, resulting in freezing rain or ice and causing disruptions in the city if the roads and highways become slick. Temperatures reaching 70 °F (21 °C) on average occur on at least four days each winter month. Dallas averages 26 annual nights at or below freezing,^[44] with the winter of 1999–2000 holding the record for the fewest freezing nights with 14. During this same span of 15 years,^[specify] the temperature in the region has only twice dropped below 15 °F (−9 °C), though it will generally fall below 20 °F (−7 °C) in most (67%) years.^[44] In sum, extremes and variations in winter weather are more readily seen in Dallas and Texas as a whole than along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, due to the state's location in the interior of the North American continent. The lack of any mountainous terrain to the north leaves it open to the sweep of Arctic weather systems.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture places Dallas in Plant Hardiness Zone 8a.^[49][50] However, mild winter temperatures in the past 15 to 20 years have encouraged the horticulture of some cold-sensitive plants such as Washingtonia filifera and Washingtonia robustapalms. According to the American Lung Association, Dallas has the 12th highest air pollution among U.S. cities, ranking it behind Los Angeles and Houston.^[51] Much of the air pollution in Dallas and the surrounding area comes from a hazardous materials incineration plant in the small town of Midlothian and from concrete installations in neighboring Ellis County.^[52]

The average daily low in Dallas is 57.4 °F (14 °C), and the average daily high is 76.9 °F (25 °C). Dallas receives approximately 37.6 inches (955 mm) of rain per year. The record snowfall for Dallas was 11.2 inches (28 cm) on February 11, 2010.

Demographics[edit]

Dallas is the ninth most-populous city in the United States^[9] and third in Texas after the cities of Houston and San Antonio. Its metropolitan area encompasses one-quarter of the population of Texas, and is the largest in the Southern U.S. and Texas followed by the Greater Houston metropolitan area. In July 2017, the population estimate of the city of Dallas was 1,341,075, an increase of 143,259 since the 2010 United States Census.^[8]

There were 552,711 households at the 2017 estimates,^[61] up from 2010's 458,057 households, out of which 29.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them. In 2010, 36.1% were headed by married couples living together, 16.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.0% were classified as non-family households. 33.7% of all households had one or more people under 18 years of age, and 17.6% had one or more people who were 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.42.^[62] As of 2017 the owner-occupied housing unit rate was 41.5%.^[63]

At the 2010 census, the city's age distribution of the population showed 26.5% under the age of 18 and 8.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31.8 years. 50.0% of the population was male and 50.0% was female.^[62]

According to the 2017 American Community Survey, the median income for a household in the city was $47,285.^[63] In 2003-2007's survey, male full-time workers had a median income of $32,265 versus $32,402 for female full-time workers. The per capita income for the city was $25,904. About 18.7% of families and 21.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 33.6% of those under age 18 and 13.4% of those aged 65 or over. Per 2007's survey, the median price for a house was $129,600.^[64]

Race and ethnicity[edit]

Dallas's population was historically predominantly white (non-Hispanic whites made up 82.8% of the population in 1930),^[66] but its population has diversified due to immigration and white flight over the 20th century. Today the non-Hispanic white population has declined to less than one-third of the city's population.^[68]

According to the 2010 census, 50.7% of the population was White (28.8% non-Hispanic white), 24.8% was Black or African American, 0.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.9% Asian, and 2.6% from two or more races. 42.4% of the total population was of Hispanic or Latino origin (they may be of any race).^[69] In the United States Census Bureau's 2017 estimates, 61.8% was White (29.1% non-Hispanic white), 24.3% Black or African American, 0.3% American Indian or Alaska Native, 3.4% Asian, and 2.6% from two or more races. Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders make up a total of 606 residents according to 2017's estimates.^[70] Hispanics or Latinos of any race made up 41.7% of the estimated population.

At the 2006–2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, among the Hispanic or Latin American population, 36.8% of Dallas was Mexican, 0.3% Puerto Rican, 0.2% Cuban and 4.3% other Hispanic or Latino.^[71][72][73] In 2017's American Community Survey estimates among the demographic 36% were Mexican, 0.5% Puerto Rican, 0.3% Cuban, and 4.9% other Hispanic or Latino.^[70]

Dallas is a major destination for Mexican immigrants. The southwestern portion of the city, particularly Oak Cliff is chiefly inhabited by Hispanic and Latin American residents. The southeastern portion of the city Pleasant Grove is chiefly inhabited by black and Hispanic or Latino residents, while the southern portion of the city is predominantly black. The west and east sides of the city are predominantly Hispanic or Latino; Garland also has a large Spanish speaking population. North Dallas has many enclaves of predominantly white, black and especially Hispanic or Latino residents.

The Dallas–Fort-Worth metro has an estimated 70,000 Russian-speakers (as of November 6, 2012) mostly immigrants from the former Soviet Bloc.^[74] Included in this population are Russians, Russian Jews, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Moldavians, Uzbek, Kirghiz, and others. The Russian-speaking population of Dallas has continued to grow in the sector of 'American husbands-Russian wives'. Russian DFW has its own newspaper, The Dallas Telegraph.

In addition, Dallas and its suburbs are home to a large number of Asian Americans^[75] including those of Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese,Korean, Filipino, Japanese, and other heritage.^[76] Among large-sized cities in the United States, Plano, the northern suburb of Dallas, has the 6th largest Chinese-American population.

There are also a significant number of people from the Horn of Africa, immigrants from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. With so many immigrant groups, there are often multilingual signs in the linguistic landscape.

According to U.S. Census American Community Survey data released in December 2013, 23 percent of Dallas County residents were foreign-born, while 16 percent of Tarrant County residents were foreign-born.^[77]

Sexual orientation and gender identity[edit]

Recognized for having one of the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations in the nation, DFW is widely noted for being home to a thriving and diverse LGBT community.^[17] Throughout the year there are many well-established LGBT events held in the area, most notably the annual Alan Ross Texas Freedom (Pride) Parade and Festival in June which draws tens of thousands from around the world.^[78] For decades, the Oak Lawn and Bishop Arts districts have been known as the epicenters of the LGBT community in Dallas.^[79]

Religion[edit]

Christianity is the most prevalently practiced religion in Dallas according to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center (78%).^[80][81] There is a large Protestant Christian influence in the Dallas community. Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches are prominent in many neighborhoods and anchor two of the city's major private universities (Southern Methodist University and Dallas Baptist University). Dallas is also home to two evangelical seminaries: the Dallas Theological Seminary and Criswell College. Many Bible schools including Christ For The Nations Institute are also headquartered in the city. The Christian creationist apologetics group Institute for Creation Research is headquartered in Dallas.

Dallas is called 'Prison Ministry Capital of the World' by the prison ministry community. It is a home for the International Network of Prison Ministries, the Coalition of Prison Evangelists, Bill Glass Champions for Life, Chaplain Ray's International Prison Ministry, and 60 other prison ministries.^[82]

The Catholic Church is also a significant organization in the Dallas area and operates the University of Dallas, a liberal-arts university in the Dallas suburb of Irving. The Cathedral Santuario de la Virgen de Guadalupe in the Arts District is home to the second-largest Catholic church membership in the United States and overseas,^[83] consisting over 70 parishes in the Dallas Diocese. The Society of Jesus operates the Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas. Dallas is also home to numerous Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches.^[84] The city of Dallas and Dallas County have more Catholic than Protestant residents, while the converse is usually true for the suburban areas of Dallas and the city of Fort Worth.^{[citation needed]}

The city is also home to a sizable Latter-day Saint community. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has twenty-six stakes throughout Dallas and surrounding suburbs.^[85] The organization built the Dallas Texas Temple, the first temple in Texas, in the city in 1984.^[86]Jehovah's Witnesses also have a large number of members throughout Dallas and surrounding suburbs. In addition, there are several Unitarian Universalist congregations, including First Unitarian Church of Dallas, founded in 1903.^[87] A large community of the United Church of Christ exists in the city. The most prominent UCC-affiliated church is the Cathedral of Hope, a predominantly LGBT-affirming church.

Dallas's Jewish population of approximately 45,000 is the largest of any city in Texas.^[88] Since the establishment of the city's first Jewish cemetery in 1854 and its first congregation (which would eventually be known as Temple Emanu-El) in 1873, Dallasite Jews have been well represented among leaders in commerce, politics, and various professional fields in Dallas and elsewhere.

Furthermore, a large Muslim community exists in the north and northeastern portions of Dallas, as well as in the northern Dallas suburbs. The oldest mosque in Texas is in Denton, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Downtown Dallas. The oldest mosque in Dallas is Masjid Al-Islam just south of Downtown. There is also a SunniIslamic Center in Irving.

Dallas also has a large Buddhist community. Immigrants from East Asia, Southeast Asia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka have all contributed to the Buddhist population, which is concentrated in the northern suburbs of Garland, Plano and Richardson. Numerous Buddhist temples dot the Metroplex including The Buddhist Center of Dallas, Lien Hoa Vietnamese Temple of Irving, and Kadampa Meditation Center Texas and Wat Buddhamahamunee of Arlington.

A sizable Sikh community resides in Dallas and its surrounding suburbs. There are at least three SikhGurudwaras in this metropolitan area.^[89][90][91]

For the atheist, agnostic, nonbeliever, and strictly spiritual individuals, there is 'The Winter SolstiCelebration'. After 15 years, this celebration has become a minor Dallas cultural tradition for the 'spiritual but not religious' people of North Texas. 'That gentle rejection of commonly held ideas fills many of those who will take part in the event. They are mostly people who refuse to be pigeonholed by any one religion – but who long for the sense of community that an organized faith supplies.'^[92]

Crime[edit]

According to the FBI, a city to city comparison of crime rates is not meaningful, because recording practices vary from city to city, citizens report different percentages of crimes from one city to the next, and the actual number of people physically present in a city is unknown.^[93] With that in mind, Dallas's violent crime rate (12.06 per 1,000 people) is lower than St Louis (24.81), Detroit (24.22), Baltimore (16.96), Philadelphia (15.62), Cleveland (15.47), Miami (15.09), Washington, D.C. (14.48), Kansas City (14.44) and Boston (13.39). However, Houston (11.69), Los Angeles (7.87), and New York City (6.38) have lower violent crime rates than Dallas.^[94]

Economy[edit]

In its beginnings, Dallas relied on farming, neighboring Fort Worth's Stockyards, and its prime location on Native American trade routes to sustain itself. Dallas' key to growth came in 1873 with the construction of multiple rail lines through the city. As Dallas grew and technology developed, cotton became its boon and by 1900, Dallas was the largest inland cotton market in the world, becoming a leader in cotton gin machinery manufacturing. By the early 1900s, Dallas was a hub for economic activity all over the Southern United States and was selected in 1914 as the seat of the Eleventh Federal Reserve District. By 1925, Texas churned out more than ⅓ of the nation's cotton crop, with 31% of Texas cotton produced within a 100-mile (160 km) radius of Dallas. In the 1930s, petroleum was discovered east of Dallas, near Kilgore. Dallas' proximity to the discovery put it immediately at the center of the nation's petroleum market. Petroleum discoveries in the Permian Basin, the Panhandle, the Gulf Coast, and Oklahoma in the following years further solidified Dallas' position as the hub of the market.^[96]

The end of World War II left Dallas seeded with a nexus of communications, engineering, and production talent by companies such as Collins Radio Corporation. Decades later, the telecommunications and information revolutions still drive a large portion of the local economy. The city is sometimes referred to as the heart of 'Silicon Prairie' because of a high concentration of telecommunications companies in the region, the epicenter of which lies along the Telecom Corridor in Richardson, a northern suburb of Dallas. The Corridor is home to more than 5,700 companies^[97] including Texas Instruments (headquartered in Dallas), Nortel Networks, Alcatel Lucent, AT&T, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Nokia, Rockwell Collins, Cisco Systems, Sprint, Verizon Communications, XO Communications and until recently^[when?]CompUSA (which is now headquartered in Miami, Florida). Texas Instruments, a major manufacturer, employs 10,400 people at its corporate headquarters and chip plants in Dallas.^[98]

In the 1980s Dallas was a real estate hotbed, with the increasing metropolitan population bringing with it a demand for new housing and office space. Several of Downtown Dallas' largest buildings are the fruit of this boom, but over-speculation, the savings and loan crisis and an oil bust brought the 80's building boom to an end for Dallas as well as its city sister Houston. Between the late 1980s and the early 2000s, central Dallas went through a slow period of growth. However, since the early 2000s the central core of Dallas has been enjoying steady and significant growth encompassing both repurposing of older commercial buildings in Downtown Dallas into residential and hotel uses, as well as the construction of new office and residential towers. The opening of Klyde Warren Park, built across Woodall Rodgers Freeway seamlessly connecting the central Dallas CBD to Uptown/Victory Park, has acted synergistically with the highly successful Dallas Arts District, so both have become catalysts for significant new development in central Dallas.

The residential real estate market in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex has not only been resilient but has once again returned to a boom status. Dallas and the greater metro area have been leading the nation in apartment construction and net leasing, with rents reaching all-time highs. Single family home sales, whether pre-owned or new construction, along with home price appreciation, are leading the nation.^[99][100]

A sudden drop in the price of oil, starting in mid-2014 and accelerating throughout 2015, has not significantly affected Dallas and its greater metro due to the highly diversified nature of its economy. Dallas, and the DFW metro, continue to see strong demand for housing, apartment and office leasing, shopping center space, warehouse and industrial space with overall job growth remaining very robust. Oil-dependent cities and regions have felt significant effects from the downturn, but Dallas' growth has continued unabated, strengthening in 2015. Significant national headquarters relocations to the area (as exemplified by Toyota's decision to leave California and establish its new North American headquarters in the Dallas region) coupled with significant expansions of regional offices for a variety of corporations and along with company relocations to Downtown Dallas are helping drive the current boom in the Dallas economy. Dallas leads Texas's largest cities in Forbes' 2015 ranking of 'The Best Place for Business and Careers'.^[101]

The Dallas–Fort Worth area has one of the largest concentrations of corporate headquarters for publicly traded companies in the United States. Fortune Magazine's 2017 annual list of the Fortune 500 in America indicates the city of Dallas has 9 Fortune 500 companies,^[102] and the DFW region as a whole has 22,^[95] reflecting the continued strong growth in the metro economy and up from 20 the year before.^[103] Dallas–Fort Worth now represents the largest concentration of Fortune 500 headquarters in Texas, followed by Greater Houston with its count of 20, down from 24 the year before.^[104]

In 2008, AT&T relocated their headquarters to Downtown Dallas;^[105] AT&T is the largest telecommunications company in the world^[106] and the ninth largest company in the nation by revenue for 2017. Additional Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Dallas in order of ranking include Energy Transfer Equity, Tenet Healthcare, Southwest Airlines, Texas Instruments, Jacobs Engineering, HollyFrontier, Dean Foods, and Builders FirstSource. In October 2016, Jacobs Engineering, one of the world's largest engineering companies, relocated from Pasadena, California to Downtown Dallas.^[107]

Irving is home to six Fortune 500 companies of its own, including ExxonMobil, the largest oil company in the world^[108] and the fourth largest company in the nation by revenue for 2017,^[102]Fluor (engineering), Kimberly-Clark, Celanese, Michaels Companies, and Vistra Energy.^[102]Plano is home to four Fortune 500 companies, including J.C. Penney, Alliance Data Systems, Yum China Holdings, and Dr. Pepper Snapple.^[102] Fort Worth is home to two Fortune 500 companies, including American Airlines, the largest airline in the world by revenue, fleet size, profit, passengers carried and revenue passenger mile and D.R. Horton, the largest homebuilder in America.^[102] One Fortune 500 company, Gamestop, is based in Grapevine.

Additional major companies headquartered in Dallas and its metro area include Comerica, which relocated its national headquarters to Downtown Dallas from Detroit in 2007,^[109] NTT DATA Services, Regency Energy Partners, Atmos Energy, Neiman Marcus, Think Finance, 7-Eleven, Brinker International, Primoris Services, AMS Pictures, id Software, EnscoRowan, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Chuck E. Cheese's, Zale Corporation, and Fossil, Inc. Many of these companies—and others throughout the DFW metroplex—comprise the Dallas Regional Chamber.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world's largest breast cancer organization^[110] was founded and is headquartered in Dallas.

In addition to its large number of businesses, Dallas has more shopping centers per capita than any other city in the United States and is also home to the second shopping center ever built in the United States, Highland Park Village, which opened in 1931.^[111] Dallas is home of the two other major malls in North Texas, the Dallas Galleria and NorthPark Center, which is the second largest mall in Texas. Both malls feature high-end stores and are major tourist draws for the region.^[112][113]

According to Forbes magazine's annual list of 'The Richest People in America' published September 21, 2011, the city is now home to 17 billionaires, up from 14 in 2009. In 2009 (with 14 billionaires) the city placed sixth worldwide among cities with the most billionaires.^[114][115] The ranking does not even take into account the eight billionaires who live in the neighboring city of Fort Worth. In 2013, Forbes also ranked Dallas No. 13 on its list of the 'Best Places for Business and Careers'.^[116]

Dallas is the third most popular destination for business travel in the United States, and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is one of the largest and busiest convention centers in the country, at over 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m²), and the world's single-largest column-free exhibit hall.^[117]

Arts and culture[edit]

Cuisine[edit]

Dallas is known for its barbecue, authentic Mexican, and Tex-Mex cuisine. Famous products of the Dallas culinary scene include the frozen margarita.^[118]

Arts and museums[edit]

The Arts District in the northern section of Downtown is home to several arts venues and is the largest contiguous arts district in the United States.^[119] Notable venues in the district include the Dallas Museum of Art; the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, home to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Dallas Wind Symphony; the Nasher Sculpture Center; and the Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art. The Perot Museum of Nature and Science, also in Downtown Dallas, is a natural history and science museum. Designed by 2005 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Thom Mayne and his firm Morphosis Architects, the 180,000-square-foot facility has six floors and stands about 14 stories high.

Venues that are part of the AT&T Dallas Center for the Performing Arts^[120][121] include City Performance Hall; the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, home to the Dallas Theater Center and the Dallas Black Dance Theater; and the Winspear Opera House, home to the Dallas Opera and Texas Ballet Theater.

Also, not far north of the area is the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University. In 2009, it joined up with Madrid's Prado Museum for a three-year partnership. The Prado focuses on Spanish visual art and has a collection of Spanish art in North America, with works by de Juanes, El Greco, Fortuny, Goya, Murillo, Picasso, Pkensa, Ribera, Rico, Velasquez, Zurbaran, and other Spaniards. These works, as well as non-Spanish highlights like sculptures by Rodin and Moore, have been so successful of a collaboration that the Prado and Meadows have agreed upon an extension of the partnership.^[122]

The former Texas School Book Depository, from which, according to the Warren Commission Report, Lee Harvey Oswaldshot and killed President John F. Kennedy in 1963, has served since the 1980s as a county government office building, except for its sixth and seventh floors, which house the Sixth Floor Museum.

The American Museum of the Miniature Arts is at the Hall of State in Fair Park.

The Arts District is also home to DISD's Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, a magnet school that was recently expanded.^[123]

City Center District, next to the Arts District, is home to the Dallas Contemporary.

Deep Ellum, immediately east of Downtown, originally became popular during the 1920s and 1930s as the prime jazz and blues hot spot in the South.^[124] Artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Huddie 'Lead Belly' Ledbetter, and Bessie Smith played in original Deep Ellum clubs such as the Harlem and the Palace. Today, Deep Ellum is home to hundreds of artists who live in lofts and operate in studios throughout the district alongside bars, pubs, and concert venues.^[125] A major art infusion in the area results from the city's lax stance on graffiti, and a number of public spaces, including tunnels, sides of buildings, sidewalks, and streets, are covered in murals. One major example, the Good-Latimer tunnel, was torn down in late 2006 to accommodate the construction of a light rail line through the site.^[126]

Like Deep Ellum before it, the Cedars neighborhood to the south of Downtown has also seen a growing population of studio artists and an expanding roster of entertainment venues. The area's art scene began to grow in the early 2000s with the opening of Southside on Lamar, an old Sears Roebuck and Company warehouse converted into lofts, studios, and retail. Within this building, Southside on Lamar hosts the Janette Kennedy Gallery with rotating gallery exhibitions featuring many local, national, and international artists.^[127] Current attractions include Gilley's Dallas and Poor David's Pub.^[128][129]Dallas Mavericks owner and local entrepreneur Mark Cuban purchased land along Lamar Avenue near Cedars Station in September 2005, and locals speculate he is planning an entertainment complex for the site.^[130]

South of the Trinity River, the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff is home to a number of studio artists living in converted warehouses. Walls of buildings along alleyways and streets are painted with murals, and the surrounding streets contain many eclectic restaurants and shops.^[131]

Dallas has an Office of Cultural Affairs as a department of the city government. The office is responsible for six cultural centers throughout the city, funding for local artists and theaters, initiating public art projects, and running the city-owned classical radio station WRR.^[132] The Los Angeles-class submarineUSS Dallas was planned to become a museum ship near the Trinity River after her decommissioning in September 2014, but this has since been delayed.^[133] She will be taken apart into massive sections in Houston and be transported by trucks to the museum site and will be put back together.

Libraries[edit]

The city is served by the Dallas Public Library system. The system was created by the Dallas Federation of Women's Clubs with efforts spearheaded by then president May Dickson Exall. Her fundraising efforts led to a grant from philanthropist and steel baron Andrew Carnegie, which allowed the library system to build its first branch in 1901.^[134] Today, the library operates 29 branch locations throughout the city, including the 8-story J. Erik Jonsson Central Library in the Government District of Downtown.^[135]

Events[edit]

The most notable event held in Dallas is the State Fair of Texas, which has been held annually at Fair Park since 1886. The fair is a massive event, bringing in an estimated $350 million to the city's economy annually. The Red River Shootout, a football game that pits the University of Texas at Austin against the University of Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl, also brings significant crowds to the city. The city also hosts the State Fair Classic, Texas State Fair Classic Showdown, and Heart of Dallas Bowl at the Cotton Bowl.

Other well-known festivals in the area include several Cinco de Mayo celebrations hosted by the city's large Mexican-American population and a Saint Patrick's Day parade along Lower Greenville Avenue, Juneteenth festivities, Taste of Dallas, the Deep Ellum Arts Festival, the Greek Food Festival of Dallas, the annual Halloween event 'The Wake', featuring lots of local art and music, and two annual events on Halloween, including a Halloween parade on Cedar Springs Road and a 'Zombie Walk' held in Downtown Dallas in the Arts District.

With the opening of Victory Park, WFAA Channel 8 has begun to host an annual New Year's Eve celebration in AT&T Plaza that the television station hopes will reminisce of celebrations in New York's Times Square and on New Year's Eve 2011 set a new record of 32,000 people in attendance. Also, several Omni hotels in the Dallas area host large events to welcome in the new year, including murder mystery parties, rave-inspired events, and other events.

Places of interest[edit]

• Dallas Hilton, the world's first modern Hilton
• Kalita Humphreys Theater, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
• Southfork Ranch as seen on Dallas (1978) and Dallas (2012)
• Swiss Avenue, Dallas historical district

Sports[edit]

The Dallas—Fort Worth metropolitan area is home to eight major league sports teams: the Dallas Cowboys (National Football League), Dallas Mavericks (National Basketball Association), Texas Rangers (Major League Baseball), Dallas Stars (National Hockey League), FC Dallas (Major League Soccer), Dallas Wings (Women's National Basketball Association), the Dallas Rattlers (Major League Lacrosse), and XFL Dallas (Xtreme Football League).

Major league[edit]

The Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League play in nearby Arlington. Since joining the league as an expansion team in 1960, the Cowboys have enjoyed substantial success, advancing to eight Super Bowls and winning five; according to profootballreference.com, as of the end of the 2009 season, they were the 'winningest' active NFL franchise (based on winning percentage; other teams have more wins). Noted as 'America's Team', the Cowboys are financially the most valuable sports franchise in the world, worth approximately $4 billion.^[136] In 2009, the Cowboys relocated to their new 80,000-seat stadium in Arlington, which was the site of Super Bowl XLV.^[137]

Dallas will soon host a franchise in the XFL in 2020, playing at the Globe Life Park in Arlington.

The Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball play at Globe Life Park in Arlington.^[138][139] The Rangers won the American League pennant in 2010 and 2011. Chris Woodward is the team's manager.^[140]

The Dallas Mavericks play at the American Airlines Center. They won their first National Basketball Association championship in 2011 led by Dirk Nowitzki. The Dallas Wings is the first Women's National Basketball Association franchise in the metroplex. All home games are played at the College Park Center.

FC Dallas of Major League Soccer play in Frisco at Toyota Stadium (formerly FC Dallas Stadium and Pizza Hut Park), a stadium that opened in 2005.^[141] The team was originally called the Dallas Burn and used to play in the Cotton Bowl. Although FC Dallas has not yet won a MLS Cup, they won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 1997 and 2016 and the Supporters' Shield in 2016. Previously, the Dallas Tornado played the North American Soccer League from 1968 to 1981.

The Dallas Stars are members of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Stars have won eight division titles in Dallas, two President's Trophies as the top regular season team in the NHL, the Western Conference championship twice, and in 1998–99, the Stanley Cup. The team plays at the American Airlines Center.

The Dallas Rattlers are members of Major League Lacrosse and became the first professional lacrosse team in the state of Texas in November 2017 when the league announced its Rochester, New York franchise was relocating. The Rattlers play at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco.^[142]

Minor league[edit]

The Dallas Sidekicks (2012) are an American professional indoor soccer team based in Allen, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. They play their home games in the Allen Event Center. The team is named after the original Dallas Sidekicks that operated from 1984 to 2004. The MLS-affiliated North Texas SC team is a member of USL League One and plays in Frisco at Toyota Stadium. It is the reserve team of FC Dallas.

The Dallas Mavericks own a NBA G League team, the Texas Legends.

Rugby union is a developing sport in Dallas as well as the whole of Texas. The multiple clubs, ranging from men's and women's clubs to collegiate and high school, are part of the Texas Rugby Football Union.^[143] Dallas was one of only 16 cities in the United States included in the Rugby Super League^[144] represented by Dallas Harlequins.^[145] Australian rules football is also growing in Dallas. The Dallas Magpies, founded in 1998, compete in the United States Australian Football League.

College[edit]

The only Division I sports program within the Dallas political boundary is the Dallas Baptist UniversityPatriots baseball team.^[146][147] Although outside the city limits, the Mustangs of Southern Methodist University are in the enclave of University Park. Neighboring cities Fort Worth, Arlington, and Denton are home to the Texas Christian UniversityHorned Frogs, University of Texas at ArlingtonMavericks, and University of North TexasMean Green respectively. The Dallas area hosted the Final Four of the 2014 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament at AT&T Stadium. The college Cotton Bowl Classic football game was played at the Cotton Bowl through its 2009 game, but has moved to AT&T Stadium.

The Red River Showdown, is an American college footballrivalry game played annually at the Cotton Bowl Stadium during the second weekend of the State Fair of Texas in October. The game is played by the Oklahoma Sooners football team of the University of Oklahoma and the Texas Longhorns football team of the University of Texas at Austin.

Parks and recreation[edit]

Dallas maintains and operates 406 parks on 21,000 acres (85 km²) of parkland.

The city's parks contain 17 separate lakes, including White Rock and Bachman lakes, spanning a total of 4,400 acres (17.81 km²). In addition, Dallas is traversed by 61.6 miles (99.1 km) of biking and jogging trails, including the Katy Trail, and is home to 47 community and neighborhood recreation centers, 276 sports fields, 60 swimming pools, 232 playgrounds, 173 basketball courts, 112 volleyball courts, 126 play slabs, 258 neighborhood tennis courts, 258 picnic areas, six 18-hole golf courses, two driving ranges, and 477 athletic fields.^[148]

Fair Park[edit]

Dallas's flagship park is Fair Park. Built in 1936 for the Worlds Fair and the Texas Centennial Exposition, Fair Park is the world's largest collection of Art Deco exhibit buildings, art, and sculptures; Fair Park is also home to the State Fair of Texas, the largest state fair in the United States.

Klyde Warren Park[edit]

Named after Klyde Warren, the young son of billionaire Kelcy Warren, Klyde Warren Park was built above Woodall Rodgers Freeway and connects Uptown and Downtown, specifically the Arts District.

Klyde Warren Park is home to countless amenities, including an amphitheater, jogging trails, a children's park, My Best Friend's Park (dog park), a putting green, croquet, ping pong, chess, an outdoor library, and two restaurants: Savor and Relish. Food trucks give hungry people another option of dining and are lined along the park's downtown side.

There are also weekly planned events, including yoga, Zumba, skyline tours, Tai Chi, and meditation.^[149]

Klyde Warren Park is home to a free trolley stop on Olive St., which riders can connect to Downtown, McKinney Avenue, and West Village.

Turtle Creek Parkway park[edit]

Built in 1913, Turtle Creek Parkway park is a 23.7-acre linear park^[150] in between Turtle Creek and Turtle Creek Boulevard in the aptly named Turtle Creek neighborhood.

Archaeological surveys discovered dart points and flint chips dating 3,000 years to 1,000 BC. This site was later discovered to be home to Native Americans who cherished the trees and natural spring water. The park is across Turtle Creek from Kalita Humphreys Theater, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Lake Cliff Park[edit]

Opened on July 4, 1906, Lake Cliff Park was called 'the Southwest's Greatest Playground'. The park was home to an amusement park, a large pool, waterslides, the world's largest skating rink, and three theaters, the largest being the 2,500-seat Casino Theater. After the streetcar bridge that brought most of the park visitors collapsed, Lake Cliff Park was sold. The Casino Theater moved and the pool was demolished after a polio scare in 1959. The pool was Dallas's first municipal pool.^[151]

Reverchon Park[edit]

In 1935, Dallas purchased 36 acres (15 ha) from John Cole's estate to develop Reverchon Park.^[152] Reverchon Park was named after botanist Julien Reverchon, who left France to live in the La Reunion colony, which was founded in the mid-1800s^[153] and was situated in present-day West Dallas. Reverchon Park was planned to be the crown jewel of the Dallas park system and was even referred to as the 'Central Park' of Dallas. Improvements were made throughout the years, including the Iris Bowl, picnic settings, a baseball diamond, and tennis courts. The Iris Bowl celebrated many Greek pageants, dances, and other performances. The Gill Well was installed for nearby residents and drew people all across Texas who wanted to experience the water's healing powers.^[154] The baseball diamond was host to a 1953 exhibition game for the New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians.^[155]

Trinity River Project[edit]

As part of the ongoing Trinity River Project, the Great Trinity Forest, at 6,000 acres (24 km²), is the largest urban hardwood forest in the United States and is part of the largest urban park in the United States.^[37] The Trinity River Audubon Center is a new addition to the park. Opened in 2008, it serves as a gateway to many trails and other nature-viewing activities in the area. The Trinity River Audubon Center is the first LEED-certified building built by the City of Dallas Parks and Recreation Department.

Katy Trail[edit]

Named after its former railroad name, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (or 'MKT' Railroad), the 3.5-mile stretch of railroad was purchased by the City of Dallas and transformed into the city's premier trail. Stretching from Victory Park, the 30-acre Katy Trail passes through the Turtle Creek and Knox Park neighborhoods and runs along the east side of Highland Park. The trail ends at Central Expressway, but extensions are underway to extend the trail to the White Rock Lake Trail in Lakewood.^[151]

In 2015, the Katy Trail was awarded 'Best Public Place' from the Urban Land Institute.^[156]

Preserves[edit]

Dallas hosts three of the twenty-one preserves of the extensive (3,200 acres (13 km²)) Dallas County Preserve System. The Joppa Preserve, the McCommas Bluff Preserve, and the Cedar Ridge Preserve are within the Dallas city limits. The Cedar Ridge Preserve was known as the Dallas Nature Center, but the Audubon Dallas group now manages the 633-acre (2.56 km²) natural habitat park on behalf of the city of Dallas and Dallas County. The preserve sits at an elevation of 755 feet (230 m) above sea level and offers a variety of outdoor activities, including 10 miles (16 km) of hiking trails and picnic areas.

Dallas Zoo[edit]

The city is also home to Texas's first and largest zoo, the 106-acre (0.43 km²) Dallas Zoo, which opened at its current location in 1888.^[157][158]

Government[edit]

Local[edit]

The city uses a council-manager government, with Mike Rawlings serving as Mayor, T.C. Broadnax serving as city manager,^[159] and 14 council members serving as representatives to the 14 council districts in the city.^{[160][161][162]} This organizational structure was recently contested by some in favor of a strong-mayor city charter, only to be rejected by Dallas voters.

In 1969 Anita N. Martínez become the first Hispanic to sit as a council women in Dallas's city council.^[163]

In the 2017–2018 fiscal year, the city's total budget (the sum of operating and capital budgets) was $3.3 billion.^[164] The city has seen a steady increase in its budget due to sustained growth: the budget was $1.7 billion in 2002–2003,^[165] $1.9 billion in 2003–2004,^[165] $2.0 billion in 2004–2005,^[166] and $2.2 billion in 2005–2006.^[166]

Federal and state[edit]

National and state legislators representing Dallas:

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, which exercises original jurisdiction over 100 counties in North and West Texas, convenes in the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse in the Government District of Downtown. The same building additionally houses United States Bankruptcy and Magistrate Courts and a United States Attorney office. Dallas also is the seat of the Fifth Court of Appeals of Texas.

Politics[edit]

Overall, Dallas is a Democratic-leaning city, with Democratic voters spreading the majority of the city, especially the central and southern sectors, and conservative Republicans dominating a sliver of suburban neighborhoods in North Dallas.

Jim Schutze of the Dallas Observer said in 2002 'the early vote in majority-black precincts in Southern Dallas is the city's only disciplined vote. Especially in citywide elections on issues that are not entwined in the internal politics of the black community, the Southern Dallas African-American vote has a history of responding obediently to the call of leadership.'^[168]

In the 2004 U.S. Presidential elections, 57% of Dallas voters voted for John Kerry over George W. Bush.^[169] Dallas County was closely divided, with 50% of voters voting for Bush and 49% voting for Kerry.^[170]

Results in the 2008 and 2012 elections favored Barack Obama, with the 44th President receiving 57% of Dallas County voters in both years, with greater margins in the city of Dallas.

In the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, approximately 66% of Dallas voters voted for Hillary Clinton, with 28% of city voters voting for Donald Trump.^[171] Dallas County as a whole saw 61% of voters voting for Clinton, with 35% support for Trump.^[171]

In 2004, Lupe Valdez was elected Dallas County Sheriff. An open lesbian, Valdez was the only female sheriff in the state of Texas until her resignation. Despite controversies in her handling of county jails, she won re-election in 2008 with a 10-point victory over Republican challenger Lowell Cannaday.^[172]

Education[edit]

There are 337 public schools, 89 private schools, 38 colleges, and 32 libraries in Dallas.^[173] Dallas-Fort Worth is also home to six Nobel Laureates.^[174]

Colleges and universities[edit]

The Dallas area has the highest concentration of colleges and universities in Texas. In addition to those in the city, the surrounding cities also has a number of universities, colleges, trade schools, and other educational institutions. The following describes the universities and their proximity to the city:

Colleges and universities in the Dallas city limits[edit]

• The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School is a medical school in the city's Stemmons Corridor. It is part of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, one of the largest grouping of medical facilities in the world. The school is very selective, admitting only around 200 students a year. The facility enrolls 3,255 postgraduates and is home to five Nobel Laureates—four in physiology/medicine and one in chemistry. UTSW is part of the University of Texas System.
• Texas Woman's University (TWU) has operated a nursing school in Dallas at Parkland Memorial Hospital since 1966. The 'T. Boone Pickens Institute of Health Sciences-Dallas Center' (IHSD) was opened in 2011 and is a purpose-built educational facility that replaced the building TWU had used since 1966. TWU also operated an occupational therapy school at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas from 1977 through 2011 before consolidating those functions into the new IHSD building at Parkland.^[175]
• Paul Quinn College is a private, historically black college in southeast Dallas. Originally located in Waco, Texas, it moved to Dallas in 1990 and is housed on the campus of the former Bishop College, another private, historically black college. Dallas billionaire and entrepreneur Comer Cottrell, Jr., founder of ProLine Corporation, bought the campus of Bishop College and bequeathed it to Paul Quinn College in 1990 making it the only historically black college in the Dallas area.^[176]
• The University of North Texas at Dallas, along Houston School Road.^[177] In 2009 UNT at Dallas became the first public university within Dallas city limits.^[178] The University of North Texas System has requested approval from the Texas Legislature and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for the State's first new public law school in more than 40 years. Plans are for the University of North Texas at Dallas College of Law to be based at the Old Municipal Building in downtown Dallas.^[179]

• Dallas Baptist University (DBU) is a private, coeducational university in the Mountain Creek area of southwest Dallas. Originally in Decatur, Texas, the school moved to Dallas in 1965.^[180] The school enrolls over 5,600 students,^[181] and offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees. Popular subjects include Biblical studies, business, and music degrees. DBU has been recognized by the National Council on Teacher Quality for their high-quality teacher preparatory degrees.^[182] The school also maintains an Intensive English Program for international students wishing to enhance their knowledge of the English language. The campus is a Tree Campus USA and is recognized as one of the most beautiful university campuses in the southwest.^[183] The school has also become nationally recognized in the past few years for its baseball team which has made several playoff runs.
• Dallas Theological Seminary, also within the city limits, is recognized as one of the leading seminaries in the evangelical faith. Situated 3 miles (5 km) east of Downtown Dallas, it has over 2,000 graduate students and has graduated over 12,000 alumni.
• Criswell College, (within two blocks of Dallas Theological Seminary). Criswell was started by First Baptist Church of Dallas in the early 1970s. It presently has around 400 students at both the undergraduate and graduate level studying different Biblical and Christian subjects.
• Dallas County Community College District, the 2-year educational institution of Dallas County; it has seven campuses throughout the area with branches in Dallas as well as the surrounding suburbs. DCCCD serves portions of Dallas in Dallas County.

Colleges and universities in Dallas County[edit]

• Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a private, coeducational university in University Park, an independent city that, together with the adjacent town of Highland Park, Dallas surrounds entirely. SMU was founded in 1911 by the Southern Methodist Church, and is now run by R. Gerald Turner. SMU currently enrolls 6,500 undergraduates, 1,200 professional students in the law and theology departments, and 3,500 postgraduates.^[184][185] According to sources such as the U.S. News & World Report, SMU is the best overall undergraduate college in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and the third best in the State of Texas.
• The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), is a part of the University of Texas System. It is in the city of Richardson, about 15 miles north of Downtown Dallas. It is in the heart of the Telecom Corridor. UT Dallas is an R1 or Tier-1 University, classified by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education as a doctoral-granting university with the highest research activity (it is among 115 universities in the US with this classification). Among universities under the age of 50 years old, UTD ranks No. 1 in the United States and 21st in the world in the 2017 Times Higher Education Young University Rankings.^[186] The university has many collaborative research relationships with UT Southwestern Medical Center. UT Dallas is home to approximately 26,797^[187] students.
• The University of Dallas (UD), in the suburb of Irving, is an enclave of traditional Roman Catholicism in the mostly Protestant religious landscape of Dallas. St. Albert the Great Dominican Priory and Holy Trinity Seminary are on campus, while the Cistercian Monastery and Cistercian Preparatory School are just north of the UD campus across Texas State Highway 114. The Highlands School, a PK–12 Legionary school, is just west of the UD campus and connects to campus by jogging trails. As a center for religious study, the Cistercian Monastery continues to be notable for scholastic developments in theology.
• Located in downtown Dallas, El Centro College is the flagship institution of the Dallas County Community College District. El Centro first opened its campus doors in 1966 and now enrolls over 10,000 students. El Centro was the first college of the DCCCD to offer a nursing program and has established relationships with several top-notch hospitals in the Dallas area. The college is also the only campus within DCCCD that offers a Food & Hospitality Program as well as renowned programs in fashion design and fashion marketing.^[188]

University Research Center[edit]

• Texas A&M-Dallas Research and Extension Center^[189]

Other area colleges and universities[edit]

Also in the nearby suburbs and neighboring cities are:

• The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA)
• The University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton
• Texas Woman's University (TWU) in Denton
• University of Phoenix, Dallas Campus in Dallas, Irving, Plano, Arlington, Hurst, and Cedar Hill
• Dallas Christian College (DCC) in Farmers Branch
• Collin College in Collin County
• Remington College in Garland, Texas, established in July 1997
• Remington College (Ft. Worth Campus)

Also, within the Dallas/Fort Worth area, about 30 miles (48 km) to the west of the city of Dallas, Fort Worth has two major universities within its city limits, and one health sciences/medical school:

• Texas Christian University (TCU)

A number of colleges and universities are also outside the immediate metropolitan area, including:

• Austin College in nearby Sherman
• Southwestern Assemblies of God University in nearby Waxahachie
• Navarro College in nearby Corsicana
• Tarrant County College in Tarrant County

Primary and secondary schools[edit]

Most people in the city of Dallas are within the Dallas Independent School District, the 12th-largest school district in the United States and second largest in Texas.^[190] The school district operates independently of the city and enrolls over 161,000 students.^[190] As of 2003 DISD has the majority of K-12 students in the city of Dallas, and a proportionately larger number of students who are not non-Hispanic white.^[191] One of the district's magnet schools, The School for the Talented and Gifted in Oak Cliff, is consistently named the best public school in the United States by Newsweek, retaining the title for five consecutive years (2012–2016).^[192] Another one of DISD's schools, the Science and Engineering Magnet, consistently ranks in the top 10 in the same publication.^[193][194] Other Dallas high schools named to the list were Hillcrest, W. T. White, Williams Preparatory, and Woodrow Wilson high schools. Woodrow Wilson was also named the top comprehensive high school in Dallas by local publication D Magazine.^[when?]

A few areas of Dallas also extend into other school districts, including Carrollton-Farmers Branch, Coppell, Duncanville, Garland,^[195]Highland Park, Mesquite, Plano, and Richardson. The Plano and Richardson school districts have the largest numbers of public school students in Dallas who are not in Dallas ISD.^[191] The Wilmer-Hutchins Independent School District once served portions of southern Dallas, but it was shut down for the 2005–2006 year. WHISD students started attending other Dallas ISD schools during that time. Following the close, the Texas Education Agency consolidated WHISD into Dallas ISD.

Many school districts in Dallas County, including Dallas ISD, are served by a governmental agency called Dallas County Schools. The system provides busing and other transportation services, access to a massive media library, technology services, strong ties to local organizations for education/community integration, and staff development programs.^[196]

Private schools[edit]

There are many private schools in Dallas, such as Bishop Dunne Catholic School, Bishop Lynch High School, Burton Adventist Academy, Calvary Lutheran School,^[197] Dallas Christian Adventist Academy, Dallas Lutheran School, The da Vinci School, Greenhill School, Episcopal School of Dallas, First Baptist Academy of Dallas, The Hockaday School, Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas, June Shelton School, Lakehill Preparatory School, The Lamplighter School, Parish Episcopal School, St. Mark's School of Texas, Ursuline Academy of Dallas, The Winston School, and Yavneh Academy of Dallas and Dallas Christian School is on the borders of Mesquite and Garland, and Tyler Street Christian Academy in Oak Cliff. Some Dallas residents attend Cistercian Preparatory School in adjacent Irving, The Highlands School in Irving, Trinity Christian Academy in Addison, and John Paul II High School in Plano.

Media[edit]

Dallas has several local newspapers, magazines, television stations and radio stations that serve the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, which is the 5th-largest media market in the United States.^[198] Dallas has one major daily newspaper, The Dallas Morning News, which was founded in 1885 by A. H. Belo and is A. H. Belo's flagship newspaper. The Dallas Times Herald, started in 1888, was the Morning News' major competitor until Belo purchased it on December 8, 1991 and closed the paper down the next day. Other daily newspapers are Al Día, a Spanish-language paper published by Belo, and a number of ethnic newspapers printed in languages such as Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.

Other publications include the Dallas Weekly and the Elite News, all weekly news publications. The Dallas Observer and the North Texas Journal are also alternative weekly newspapers. The Dallas Morning News formerly had a weekly publication, Neighborsgo, which came out every Friday and focused on community news. Readers could post stories and contribute content to the website. D Magazine is a notable monthly magazine about business, life, and entertainment in Dallas-Fort Worth. Local visitor magazines include 'WHERE Magazine' and 'Travelhost'–available at hotel desks or in guest rooms. In addition, the Park Cities and suburbs such as Plano also have their own community newspapers. Also, THE Magazine covers the contemporary arts scene.

In terms of the larger metro area, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is another major daily newspaper, covering Fort Worth/Tarrant County and its suburbs. It also publishes a major Spanish-language newspaper for the entire metro area known as La Estrella. To the north of Dallas and Fort Worth, the Denton Record-Chronicle primarily covers news for the city of Denton and Denton County.

Area television stations affiliated with the major broadcasting networks (network O&O's highlighted in bold) include KDFW 4 (Fox), KXAS 5 (NBC), WFAA 8 (ABC) (which for many years was owned by Belo alongside the Morning News), KTVT 11 (CBS), KERA 13 (PBS), KUVN 23 (UNI), KDFI 27 (MNTV), KDAF 33 (The CW), and KXTX 39 (TMD). KTXA-21 is an independent station formerly affiliated with the now-defunct UPN network.

Over 101 radio stations operate within range of Dallas.^[199] The city of Dallas operates WRR 101.1 FM, the area's main classical music station, from city offices in Fair Park.^[200] Its original sister station, licensed as WRR-AM in 1921, is the oldest commercially operated radio station in Texas and the second-oldest in the United States, after KDKA (AM) in Pittsburgh.^[201] Because of the city's central geographical position and lack of nearby mountainous terrain, high-power class Amedium-wave stations KRLD and WBAP can broadcast as far as southern Canada at night and can be used for emergency messages when broadcasting is down in other major metropolitan areas in the United States.

Slavic Voice of America media group serves Russian-speaking Americans out of Dallas.

Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (HBC), the largest company in the Spanish-language radio station business, is based in Dallas.^[202] In 2003, HBC was acquired by Univision and became Univision Radio Inc., but the radio company remains headquartered in the city.^[203]

Infrastructure[edit]

Health care[edit]

Dallas has many hospitals and several medical research facilities within its city limits. One major research center is the Dallas Medical District with the UT Southwestern Medical Center in the Stemmons Corridor, along with the affiliated UT Southwestern Medical School. The healthcare complex includes within its bounds Parkland Memorial Hospital, Children's Medical Center, William P. Clements University Hospital (formerly St. Paul University Hospital), and the Zale Lipshy University Hospital.

Dallas also has a VA hospital in the southern portion of the city, the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The center is home to a Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy (CMOP), part of an initiative by the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide mail-order prescriptions to veterans using computerization at strategic locations throughout the United States.

Other hospitals in the city include Baylor University Medical Center in East Dallas, Methodist Dallas Medical Center in Oak Cliff, Methodist Charlton Medical Center near Duncanville, Medical City Dallas Hospital and Presbyterian Hospital in North Dallas, and the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Oak Lawn.

Public Safety[edit]

The 3,100-officer Dallas Police Department provides most policing in Dallas.^[204] The Dallas chief of police is U. Renee Hall (effective Sept. 5, 2017).^[205] The police headquarters are in the Cedars neighborhood of South Dallas.

Fire protection and emergency medical services in the city are provided by Dallas Fire-Rescue Department, which has 1,800 firefighters^[206] and 58 working fire stations in the city limits.^[207] The Dallas Fire & Rescue chief is David Coatney^[208] The department operates the Dallas Firefighter's Museum built in 1907 along Parry Avenue near Fair Park. Dallas's oldest remaining fire station building still stands at the corner of McKinney Ave. and Leonard and was built in 1892. It was the home of Engine Co. Number 1, and is now a picture framing shop.

Transportation[edit]

Like many other major cities in the United States, the automobile is the primary mode of local transportation, though efforts have been made to increase the availability of alternative modes of transportation, including the construction of light rail lines, biking and walking paths, wide sidewalks, a trolley system, and buses. Walk Score ranked Dallas the twenty-third most walkable of fifty largest cities in the United States.^[209]

In 2009, 78.5% of Dallas (city) commuters drive to work alone. The 2009 mode share for Dallas (city) commuters are 10.7% for carpooling, 3.9% for transit, 1.9% for walking, and .1% for cycling.^[210] In 2015, the American Community Survey estimated modal shares for Dallas (city) commuters of 75.4% for driving alone, 12.8% for carpooling, 3.5% for riding transit, 1.9% for walking, and .2% for cycling.^[211] The city of Dallas has a higher than average percentage of households without a car. In 2015, 10.2 percent of Dallas households lacked a car, and decreased to 9.1 percent in 2016. The national average was 8.7 percent in 2016. Dallas averaged 1.59 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8.^[212]

Highways[edit]

Dallas is at the confluence of four major interstate highways—Interstates 20, 30, 35E, and 45. The Dallas area freeway system is set up in the popular hub-and-spoke system, shaped much like a wagon wheel. Starting from the center of the city, a small freeway loop surrounds Downtown, followed by the Interstate 635 loop about 10 miles (16 km) outside Downtown, and ultimately the tolled President George Bush Turnpike. Inside these freeway loops are other boulevard- and parkway-style loops, including Loop 12 and Belt Line Road. Another beltway around the city upwards of 45 miles (72 km) from Downtown is under plan in Collin County.

Radiating out of Downtown Dallas's freeway loop are the spokes of the area's highway system—Interstates 30, 35E, and 45, U.S. Highway 75, U.S. Highway 175, State Spur 366, the Dallas North Tollway, State Highway 114, U.S. Highway 80, and U.S. Highway 67. Other major highways around the city include State Highway 183 and State Spur 408.

The recently completed interchange at the intersection of Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway (Interstate 635) and Central Expressway (U.S. Highway 75) has 5 stacks and is aptly called the High Five Interchange. It is one of the few 5-level interchanges in Dallas and is one of the largest freeway interchanges in the United States.

The following is a list of the freeways and tollways in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area:

• Interstate 20
• Interstate 30
• Interstate 35E
• Interstate 35W
• Interstate 45
• Interstate 635
• Interstate 820
• U.S. Highway 67
• U.S. Highway 75
• U.S. Highway 80
• U.S. Highway 175
• U.S. Highway 287
• State Highway 114
• State Highway 121
• State Highway 161
• State Highway 183
• State Highway 190
• State Highway 360
• Loop 12
• Spur 366
• Spur 408
• Spur 482
• Dallas North Tollway
• President George Bush Turnpike
• Sam Rayburn Tollway

Transit systems[edit]

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is the Dallas-area public transportation authority that provides rail, buses and HOV lanes to commuters. DART began operating the first light rail system in Texas in 1996, and it is now the largest operator of light rail in the US.^[213] Today, the system is the seventh-busiest light rail system in the country with approximately 55 stations on 72 miles of light rail, and 10 stations on 35 miles of commuter rail.^[214] It includes four light rail lines and a commuter line: the Red Line, the Blue Line, the Green Line, the Orange Line, and the Trinity Railway Express.

The Red Line travels through Oak Cliff, South Dallas, Downtown, Uptown, North Dallas, Richardson and Plano, while the Blue Line goes through Oak Cliff, Downtown, Uptown, East Dallas, Lake Highlands, and Garland. The Red and Blue lines are conjoined between 8th & Corinth Station in Oak Cliff through Mockingbird Station in North Dallas. The two lines service Cityplace Station, the only subway station in the Southwest. The Green Line serves Carrollton, Farmers Branch, Love Field Airport, Stemmons Corridor, Victory Park, Downtown, Deep Ellum, Fair Park, South Dallas, and Pleasant Grove.

The Orange Line initially operated as a peak-service line providing extra capacity on portions of the Green and Red Lines (Bachman Station on the Green Line, through the Downtown transit mall, to Parker Road Station on the Red Line making a 'U'-shape). However, the first stage of the Orange Line opened on December 6, 2010, extending its west end from Bachman to Belt Line Station in Irving. The second and final phase opened in August 2014 and provided DFW Airport with rail service. DFW Airport Station is the terminus for the Orange Line and connects Skylink.^[215] This provides passengers the convenience of disembarking the DART rail, proceeding to security check-in and immediately boarding Skylink to be quickly transported to their desired terminal. The Blue Line has also been extended by 4.5 miles to serve Rowlett at the Rowlett Park & Ride facility.^[216]

In August 2009, the Regional Transportation Council agreed to seek $96 million in federal stimulus dollars for a trolley project in Dallas and Fort Worth. The Oak Cliff Transit Authority took the lead with leaders envisioning a streetcar line that would link Union Station and the Dallas Convention Center in downtown to Oak Cliff, Methodist Medical Center, and the Bishop Arts District via the Houston Street Viaduct.^[217] Dallas was awarded a $23 million TIGER grant towards the $58 million Dallas Streetcar Project in February 2010.^[218] The Dallas Streetcar Project will link up with the current McKinney Avenue Transit Authority (MATA) trolley line (also known as the M-Line) in Uptown with a new alignment on Olive Street.

In addition to light rail, Amtrak's Texas Eagle also serves Union Station, providing daily service east to Chicago and west to San Antonio, and thrice-weekly service west to Los Angeles. The Trinity Rail Express terminates at Union Station and T&P Station.

Airports[edit]

Two commercial airports serve Dallas: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Dallas Love Field (DAL). In addition, Dallas Executive Airport (formerly Redbird Airport), serves as a general aviation airport for the city, and Addison Airport functions similarly just outside the city limits in the suburb of Addison. Two more general aviation airports are about 35 miles (56 km) north of Dallas in McKinney, and another two are in Fort Worth, on the west side of the Metroplex. Alliance Airport, in far North Fort Worth, is a cargo reliever airport to DFW and general aviation facility.

DFW International Airport is in the suburbs slightly north of and equidistant to Downtown Fort Worth and Downtown Dallas. In terms of size, DFW is the largest airport in the state, the 2nd largest in the United States, and 9th largest in the world; DFW International Airport is larger than the island of Manhattan.

In terms of traffic, DFW is the busiest airport in the state, 4th busiest in the United States, and 11th busiest in the world. The headquarters of American Airlines, the largest air carrier in the world ahead of United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, is less than a mile from DFW within Fort Worth's city limits. Similarly, Love Field is within Dallas' city limits, about 6 miles (10 km) northwest of Downtown, and is headquarters to Southwest Airlines, the largest domestic airline in the United States.

Utilities[edit]

Dallas is served by Dallas Water Utilities, which operates several waste treatment plants and pulls water from several area reservoirs.^[219] Several companies maintain the city's electric system, including Stream Energy, Cirro Energy and Oncor Electric Delivery,^[220] whose parent company, Energy Future Holdings Corporation, has headquarters in the city.^[221]

The city offers garbage pickup and recycling service weekly through its Sanitation Services department.^[222] Telephone networks, broadband internet, and cable television service are available from several companies, including AT&T, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon FiOS.

Sister cities[edit]

Dallas has six sister cities and five friendship cities.^[223]

Sister cities:

• Brno, Czech Republic^[224]
• Dijon, Côte-d'Or, France
• Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
• Riga, Latvia
• Saratov, Russia
• Taipei, Taiwan^[225]

Friendship cities:

• Sendai, Japan
• Tianjin, People's Republic of China
• Qingdao, Shandong, People's Republic of China
• Dalian, Liaoning, People's Republic of China
• Nanjing, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China

See also[edit]

• Dallas (1978 TV series) and 2012 TV series)

Notes[edit]

1. ^Mean monthly maxima and minima (i.e. the expected highest and lowest temperature readings at any point during the year or given month) calculated based on data at said location from 1981 to 2010.
2. ^Official records for Dallas were kept at the Weather Bureau Office in downtown from 15 October 1913 to August 1940, and at Love Field since September 1940.^[53]
3. ^Sunshine normals are based on only 24 years of data.

References[edit]

1. ^'American FactFinder'. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
2. ^Bureau, US Census. 'American FactFinder'. Census.gov. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
3. ^'Zip Code Lookup'. USPS. Archived from the original on November 23, 2010. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
4. ^'Area Code Lookup (NPA NXX)'. Area-codes.com. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
5. ^'Area Code Lookup (NPA NXX)'. Area-codes.com. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
6. ^'American FactFinder'. United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on September 11, 2013. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
7. ^'US Board on Geographic Names'. United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
8. ^ ^ab'U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Dallas city, Texas'. Census Bureau QuickFacts. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
9. ^ ^ab'Population'.
10. ^'Facts Texas Almanac'. texasalmanac.com. November 20, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
11. ^side note: In ascending order from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex (in terms of metropolitan population): Chicago via Lake Michigan, Los Angeles via the Pacific Ocean and New York City via the Atlantic Ocean. For attempts to render the Trinity River navigable to the Gulf of Mexico, see TRINITY RIVER NAVIGATION PROJECTS The Handbook of Texas Online Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ett01 (last visited September 16, 2013); The Trinity River Authority of Texas (TRA), 'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on September 16, 2013. Retrieved September 16, 2013.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link) (last visited September 16, 2013); Living with the Trinity: The Trinity River in Dallas, Fort Worth, North Texas and Beyond (Video Documentary), http://trinityrivertexas.org/video_full.php (last visited September 16, 2013). See also Trinity River (Texas).
12. ^Bureau, U.S. Census. 'American FactFinder – Results'. factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
13. ^Bureau, U. S. Census. 'American FactFinder – Results'. factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
14. ^ ^ab Jackie McElhaney and Michael V. Hazel: DALLAS, TX from the Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved April 20, 2006.
15. ^'GaWC – The World According to GaWC 2018'. www.lboro.ac.uk. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
16. ^'Dallas: Economy – Major Industries and Commercial Activity, Incentive ProgramsNew and Existing Companies'. www.city-data.com. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
17. ^ ^ab'About Dallas LGBT Community'. www.visitdallas.com. Visit Dallas. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
18. ^McCann, Adam. '2018's Most Diverse Cities in the U.S.'WalletHub. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
19. ^Bolton, Herbert E. (1914). Athanase de Mezieres and the Louisiana-Texas Frontier 1768–1780. Cleveland: Arthur H Clark Company.
20. ^ Joseph Milton Nance: Republic of Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved September 25, 2006.
21. ^'Dallas Historical Society: Dallas History'. April 22, 2006. Archived from the original on April 22, 2006. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
22. ^McPherson, Edward (May 17, 2017). 'The story of how Dallas became Dallas you probably haven't heard'. Dallas Morning News. Retrieved May 23, 2019 – via dallasnews.com.
23. ^Stringer, Dr. Tommy. 'Stringer – How did Dallas get its name?'. Corsicana Daily Sun. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
24. ^Dallas City Hall. 'Origin of the Name Dallas'. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
25. ^Kuo, Stephanie. 'In The 1800s, French Socialists Came To Dallas And Built A Utopia That Collapsed Immediately'. www.keranews.org. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
26. ^Villasana, Sol. Dallas's Little Mexico. Arcadia. p. 71. ISBN978-0-7385-7979-5.
27. ^'Five officers killed in downtown Dallas ambush'. WFAA. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
28. ^Dart, Oliver Laughland Tom; Dallas, Jon Swaine in; Washington, David Smith in (July 8, 2016). 'Dallas shooting suspect stated he wanted to 'kill white officers''. The Guardian. ISSN0261-3077. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
29. ^'U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Dallas city, Texas'. Census Bureau QuickFacts. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
30. ^Swissavenue.comArchived July 3, 2006, at the Wayback Machine – Retrieved June 13, 2006.'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on February 7, 2006. Retrieved October 21, 2010.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: Unfit url (link)
31. ^Lake Highlands Area Improvement Association – Map. Retrieved October 3, 2006. Archived August 11, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
32. ^'Things To Do in Dallas: Find Dallas Events & Attractions: GuideLive'. GuideLive. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
33. ^Oak Cliff, Texas – Early HistoryArchived May 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 1, 2008.
34. ^'New Dallas YP group aims high for Parkland at rooftop kickoff party'. Dallas.culturemap.com. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
35. ^'The Cedars Social – South Dallas – Dallas, TX, United States'. Yelp. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
36. ^Dallas Morning News – 'Dallas at the Tipping PointArchived June 27, 2010, at the Wayback Machine' – Costs of Crime. Retrieved October 25, 2006. Archived August 25, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
37. ^ ^ab'The Great Trinity Forest-Dallas'. The Great Trinity Forest. City of Dallas Trinity River Corridor Project. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
38. ^John N. Furlong; Greg Ajemian; Tommie McPherson (2003). 'History of the Dallas Floodway'(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on March 25, 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
39. ^'Discover The Trinity-Dallas'. Discover The Trinity. Discoverthetrinity.org. Archived from the original on September 25, 2009. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
40. ^Trinity River Corridor Project Management Office. 'Trinity River Corridor Project Frequently Asked Questions'. Archived from the original on October 11, 2006. Retrieved October 19, 2006.
41. ^Bobby Farquhar and Mark McDonald. 'Lake Ray Hubbard'. Set the Hook Guide to Lone Star Lakes and Lunkers. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
42. ^'NAS Dallas / Hensley Field'. GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
43. ^Aasen, Eric (May 18, 2005). 'Foes say North Lake development a threat to lifestyle'. Dallas Morning News. Coppell.
44. ^ ^abc'NowData – NOAA Online Weather Data'. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
45. ^'Dallas/Fort Worth – All-Time Maximum and Minimum Temperatures'. National Weather Service Fort Worth. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
46. ^'DFW – Freeze Summary'. National Weather Service. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
47. ^DFW Climate. Retrieved on March 26, 2006. Archived October 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
48. ^TXDOTArchived August 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine – Wildflower and Fall FoliageArchived April 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
49. ^'Texas USDA Hardiness Zone Map'. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
50. ^Jordan, Ramon (January 24, 2012). 'Plant Hardiness Zone Map: South-Midwest US'. Usna.usda.gov. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
51. ^Lungusa.com. Retrieved on March 2, 2006. Archived May 29, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
52. ^Downwindersatrisk.org – Pollution in Midlothian. Retrieved on April 17, 2006. Archived August 10, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
53. ^ThreadEx
54. ^'Station Name: TX DALLAS LOVE FLD'. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. January 2013. Retrieved March 27, 2014.
55. ^'NOWData - NOAA Online Weather Data'. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
56. ^'WMO Climate Normals for FORT WORTH/GREATER SW INT'L A,TX 1961–1990'. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
57. ^'American FactFinder'. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
58. ^'Population Estimates'. United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
59. ^ Jackie McElhaney and Michael V. Hazel: DALLAS, TX from the Handbook of Texas Online 1860 & 1870 populations.
60. ^United States Census BureauArchived April 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine – Dallas population in 1880 (pg.40), 1890 (pg.3), 1900 (pg.4), 1910 (pg.3), 1920 (pg.79), 1930 (pg.68), 1940 (pg.106), 1950 (pg.106), 1960 (pg.23), 1970 (pg.12), 1980 (pg.38), 1990 (pg.114), 2010. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
61. ^Bureau, U. S. Census. 'American FactFinder – Community Facts'. factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
62. ^ ^ab'Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (DP-1): Dallas city, Texas'. U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Archived from the original on September 11, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2012.
63. ^ ^ab'U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Dallas city, Texas; UNITED STATES'. www.census.gov. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
64. ^United States Census Bureau. 'Dallas (city) QuickFacts from the U.S. Census Bureau'. United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on November 18, 2013. Retrieved November 13, 2013.
65. ^'Dallas (city), Texas'. State & County QuickFacts. U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on November 18, 2013.
66. ^ ^abcd'Race and Hispanic Origin for Selected Cities and Other Places: Earliest Census to 1990'. U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on August 6, 2012. Retrieved December 18, 2011.
67. ^ ^abFrom 15% sample
68. ^'Cordell, Dennis D., Southern Methodist University (Dallas) and Garcia y Griego, Manuel, University of Texas at Arlington, 'The Integration of Nigerian and Mexican immigrants in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas', working paper, 2005'. Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved August 14, 2010.
69. ^'Dallas (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau'. Quickfacts.census.gov. Archived from the original on May 6, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
70. ^ ^abBureau, U. S. Census. 'American FactFinder – Results'. factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
71. ^Data Access and Dissemination Systems (DADS). 'American FactFinder – Results'. Archived from the original on August 15, 2014.
72. ^2010 general profile of population and housing characteristics for Dallas from the US Census
73. ^'American Factfinder'. census.gov. Archived from the original on February 12, 2011. Retrieved August 27, 2011.
74. ^'70,000 Russian-speakers in Dallas, According to Mayor of Dallas'. Russian Dallas – Руский Даллас. April 18, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
75. ^Schnyder, Mark. 'Asian-American Growth Steady in North Texas'. nbcdfw.com. nbcdfw.com. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
76. ^'Dallas Population and Demographics'. areaconnect.com. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
77. ^Corrie Maclaggan, Share of Foreign-Born Texans Growing, Texas Tribune (January 2, 2014).
78. ^'Dallas' annual gay pride parade draws thousands, spreads the love'. Dallasnews.com. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
79. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on July 8, 2016. Retrieved January 24, 2014.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
80. ^Major U.S. metropolitan areas differ in their religious profiles, Pew Research Center
81. ^'America's Changing Religious Landscape'. Pew Research Center: Religion & Public Life. May 12, 2015.
82. ^Bibles, Free. 'Prison Ministry Directory — International Network of Prison Ministries'. prisonministry.net. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
83. ^'About : Cathedral Virgin of Guadalupe Shrine Catholic Church'. www.cathedralguadalupe.org. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
84. ^'Orthodox churches in Dallas, Texas'. Superpages.com. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
85. ^'Dallas Texas Temple District'. Ldschurchtemples.org. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
86. ^'Dallas Texas LDS (Mormon) Temple'. Ldschurchtemples.com. Archived from the original on April 12, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
87. ^'First Unitarian Church of Dallas official site'. Dallasuu.org. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
88. ^Jewish population small in number, large in influence in TexasArchived May 12, 2012, at the Wayback Machine by Glenn Dromgoole. Abilene Reporter-News, March 11, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2012. This article is a review of Lone Stars of David: The Jews of Texas, ed. Hollace Ava Weiner and Rabbi Kenneth D. Roseman (Brandeis University Press).
89. ^'Sikh Temple of North Texas'. Sikhtempledallas.org. Archived from the original on April 11, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
90. ^'Gurdwara Singh Sabha of North Texas, Richardson'. Gurdwararichardson.org. Archived from the original on April 17, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
91. ^'Sikh Gurdwaras in USA – Sikh Gurdwara in USA'. Gurdwara.us. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
92. ^'Dallas solstice celebration fills a void for the nonreligious'. Archived from the original on December 25, 2007. Retrieved December 21, 2007.
93. ^'Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report, January–December, 2006'. Fbi.gov. June 4, 2007. Archived from the original on January 14, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
94. ^'Table 4, Offenses Reported to Law Enforcement by State by City 100,000 and over in Population, Index'. Fbi.gov. Archived from the original on January 14, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
95. ^ ^ab'Dallas-Fort Worth lands 22 companies on this year's Fortune 500'. Dallas Morning News. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
96. ^Payne, Darwin (1982). 'Chapter VII: The Emergence of 'Big D''. Dallas, an illustrated history. Woodland Hills, California: Windsor Publications. pp. 189–221. ISBN0-89781-034-1.
97. ^Telecom Corridor website. Retrieved February 21, 2006.
98. ^Texas Instruments – Fact Sheet. Retrieved October 1, 2006.
99. ^'DFW Apartment Boom Hits Region'. Dallas Business Journal. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
100. ^'Dallas Area Home Price Growth Dwarfs National Gains'. Dallas Morning News. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
101. ^'Forbes Reveals Best Places in America for Business and Careers'. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
102. ^ ^abcde'Fortune 500'. Fortune Magazine. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
103. ^'39 FORTUNE 1000 HEADQUARTERS IN DALLAS-FORT WORTH(2016)'(PDF). Dallas Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
104. ^'More Houston Companies Fall Off Fortune 500 List'. Houston Business Journal. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
105. ^'AT&T Making a Move'. New York Times. Retrieved June 30, 2008.
106. ^'The World's Largest Telecom Companies: AT&T And Verizon Top China Mobile'. Forbes.com. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
107. ^'Global engineering firm to relocate headquarters from California to Dallas'. Bizjournals.com. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
108. ^'The World's Largest Oil And Gas Companies 2017: Exxon Reigns Supreme, While Chevron Slips'. Forbes. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
109. ^'Comerica Inc. to relocate headquarters from Detroit to Dallas'. toledoblade.com. Retrieved March 6, 2007.
110. ^'Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker, Founder of the World's Largest (March 27, 2007)'. Jerusalem.usconsulate.gov. March 27, 2007. Archived from the original on August 17, 2009. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
111. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on July 3, 2016. Retrieved June 26, 2016.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
112. ^'NorthPark Center History – Luxury Shopping in Dallas'. Northparkcenter.com. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
113. ^'Shopping'. Galleriadallas.com. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
114. ^'The Richest People in America, September 21, 2011'. Forbes Magazine. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
115. ^'Top World Cities for Billionaires, April 22, 2009'. Overseas Property Mall, Guide to International Real Estate Investment. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
116. ^'Best Places For Business and Careers – Forbes'. Forbes. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
117. ^'Meeting Professionals – Why Dallas?'. Dallascvb.com. Archived from the original on April 13, 2008. Retrieved August 14, 2010.
118. ^Nelson, Colleen McCain (October 5, 2005). 'One Man's Invention, Forever Frozen In Time – Dallas: Margarita Machine Takes Its Rightful Place In History'. Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on March 2, 2006. Retrieved February 7, 2007.
119. ^'ArtPlace names the Dallas Arts District one of the nation's top 12 ArtPlaces'. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
120. ^The Winspear Opera HouseArchived December 15, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
121. ^Building the CenterArchived March 15, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
122. ^'Prado and Meadows Museum announce expansion of partnership – SMU'. Smu.edu. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
123. ^'Artsmagnet.org'. Artsmagnet.org. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
124. ^Payne, Darwin (1982). 'Chapter VI: The Spirit of Enterprise'. Dallas, an illustrated history. Woodland Hills, California: Windsor Publications. pp. 157–185. ISBN0-89781-034-1.
125. ^The Deep Ellum Association – Time Line. Retrieved on October 19, 2006. Archived September 18, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
126. ^Hobson Real Estate Group. 'Thinking of Relocating to Dallas'. Hobson Real Estate Group. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
127. ^Southside on Lamar – [http://southsideonlamar.com/ Southside on Lamar.
128. ^Gilley's Dallas – 'The Legend Returns: Gilley's Brings New Life to Downtown DallasArchived April 3, 2005, at the Wayback Machine.' (PDF). Retrieved on October 19, 2006. 'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on April 3, 2005. Retrieved November 16, 2006.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
129. ^Poor David's Pub – Find Us. Retrieved on October 19, 2006.
130. ^The Dallas Morning News – September 6, 2005. Mark Cuban snaps up tracks near downtown by Steve Brown. Retrieved on April 20, 2006. Archived August 25, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
131. ^'Bishop Arts District'. Bishop Arts District. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
132. ^City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs – Cultural CentersArchived October 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
133. ^Macon, Alex. 'Could the Nuclear Submarine USS Dallas Finally Come to Dallas?'. Could the Nuclear Submarine USS Dallas Finally Come to Dallas? – D Magazine. A Magazine. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
134. ^DallasLibrary.org – History. Retrieved May 1, 2006. Archived May 16, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
135. ^DallasLibrary.org. Retrieved March 13, 2006.
136. ^'Dallas Cowboys Head The World's 50 Most Valuable Sports Teams Of 2016'. Forbes.com. July 16, 2016. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
137. ^Dallas Cowboys HistoryArchived March 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on October 20, 2006.
138. ^'Rangers Ballpark in Arlington texasrangers.com: Ballpark'. Texas.rangers.mlb.com. April 1, 1994. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
139. ^'Rangers Ballpark in Arlington texasrangers.com: Ballpark'. Texas.rangers.mlb.com. April 1, 1994. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
140. ^'2010/2011 ALCS Champion'. Mlb.mlb.com. March 12, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
141. ^FC Dallas AboutArchived July 2, 2007, at Archive.today. Retrieved on October 20, 2006.
142. ^'MLL Announces Rattlers Relocation to Dallas'. www.uslaxmagazine.com.
143. ^'Rugby Football Union'. Texasrugbyunion.com. Retrieved August 14, 2010.
144. ^'2008 Rugby Super League'. Web.archive.org. September 5, 2008. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
145. ^'Dallas Harlequins – Welcome'. Quins.com. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
146. ^'Super season places Dallas Baptist baseball on national radar'. Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
147. ^Dallas Baptist University – Facts and Statistics.
148. ^'Facilities'. Dallasparks.org. Archived from the original on April 5, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
149. ^'Things to Do – Klyde Warren Park'. Klydewarrenpark.org. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
150. ^'Turtle Creek Parkway'. Dallas Parks, TX. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
151. ^ ^ab'Untangling the White Rock area trail system updates: Katy Trail Extension and SoPac – Lake Highlands'. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
152. ^'Neighborhood'. www.turtlecreekassociation.org. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
153. ^Kuo, Stephanie. 'In The 1800s, French Socialists Came To Dallas And Built A Utopia That Collapsed Immediately'. www.keranews.org. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
154. ^'The History of Reverchon Park & the Iris Bowl Arborilogical'. www.arborilogical.com. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
155. ^'Neighborhood'. www.turtlecreekassociation.org. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
156. ^'Katy Trail Wins Urban Land Institute Award for 'Best Public Place' Candy's Dirt'. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
157. ^'Dallas Zoo Among Nation;s Top 10'. Dallas Zoo. May 23, 2014. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
158. ^'About Us'. Dallas Zoo. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
159. ^Martinez, Krystina. 'New City Manager T.C. Broadnax Says 'It's A Great Time' To Come To Dallas'. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
160. ^City of Dallas – MayorArchived January 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 16, 2006.
161. ^City of Dallas – City ManagerArchived July 24, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 13, 2007.
162. ^City of Dallas – GovernmentArchived October 19, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 16, 2006.
163. ^Villasana, Sol. Dallas's Little Mexico. Arcadia. p. 116. ISBN978-0-7385-7979-5.
164. ^City of Dallas FY18-19 Adopted Budget Overview. (PDF). Retrieved February 14, 2019.
165. ^ ^abCity of Dallas FY03-04 Adopted Budget OverviewArchived May 24, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. (PDF). Retrieved May 9, 2006.
166. ^ ^abCity of Dallas FY05-06 Adopted Budget OverviewArchived May 24, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. (PDF). Retrieved May 9, 2006.
167. ^ ^abState of Texas - Who Represents me?. Retrieved 3 June 2006.
168. ^Schutze, Jim. 'Absentee Minded.' Dallas Observer. August 30, 2001. 2. Retrieved on January 12, 2010.
169. ^'DemocraticResearch Blog'. Pages.sbcglobal.net. July 4, 2001. Archived from the original on May 8, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
170. ^'Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections – State Data'. Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved August 14, 2010.
171. ^ ^ab'Dallas – Election Results'. Dallas County Elections. November 21, 2016. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
172. ^[1]. Retrieved on November 10, 2008. Archived December 28, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
173. ^'suva wiki content software at'. Mywikicity.com. Archived from the original on January 15, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
174. ^'Dallas-Fort Worth Is Home to Six Nobel Laureates'.
175. ^A Brief History of Texas Woman's UniversityArchived March 29, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
176. ^The History Makers – Comer Cottrell, Jr.Archived September 10, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 18, 2006.
177. ^University of North Texas Dallas Campus. New Campus. Retrieved October 4, 2006. Archived August 15, 2000, at the Wayback Machine
178. ^University of North Texas Dallas Campus – Location. Retrieved October 4, 2006. Archived August 15, 2000, at the Wayback Machine
179. ^Dallas Morning NewsArchived July 18, 2013, at the Wayback Machine – [2]. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
180. ^Dallas Baptist University – History. Retrieved October 18, 2006.
181. ^'Christian University, Christian College, Undergraduate Degree Online'. Dbu.edu. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
182. ^'Dallas Baptist University earns high marks for teacher prep program, Texas Tech criticized'. Educationblog.dallasnews.com. June 18, 2013. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
183. ^'Dallas Baptist campus is recognized as a botanical beauty'. Dallasnews.com. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
184. ^SMU.edu – Facts About SMU History. Retrieved May 9, 2006. Archived August 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
185. ^SMU.edu – Facts About Demographics. Retrieved May 9, 2006. Archived August 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
186. ^'UT Dallas Ranks 1st in U.S. Among Universities Under 50 Years Old'.
187. ^'UT Dallas Fast Facts'.
188. ^'About El Centro'. El Centro College.
189. ^'TAMU-Dallas'. Urbansolutionscenter.tamu.edu. Archived from the original on May 25, 2011. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
190. ^ ^abDallasISD.org – Inside DISDArchived May 10, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 1, 2006.
191. ^ ^abHanson, Royce. Civic Culture and Urban Change: Governing Dallas. Wayne State University Press, April 1, 2003. ISBN0814337473, 9780814337479. p. 82.
192. ^'Recognition – TAG Magnet School for the Talented and Gifted'.
193. ^'Best U.S. High Schools'. U.S. News & World Report. 2018.
194. ^Newsweek America's Best High Schools – MSNBC.comArchived June 16, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 1, 2006.
195. ^'Contact.' Garland Independent School District. February 7, 2005. Retrieved on August 24, 2009.
196. ^Dallas Count Schools ISDArchived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved May 29, 2006.
197. ^'School – Calvary Lutheran Church + School'.
198. ^'Fall 2006 Market Ratings'. Arbitron.com. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
199. ^'Dallas, Texas'. Radio-locator.com. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
200. ^'Dallas' Fair Park Newsletter'. Dallascityhall.com. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
201. ^WRR Classical 101.1 FM: The First Radio Station In Texas, est. 1921 – About WRR. Retrieved on May 9, 2006. Archived July 4, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
202. ^Emailwire.com – 'Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation Announces Renan Almendarez Coello, El Cucuy De La Mañana, 'is Taking His Career to New Heights'Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine'. Originally published January 30, 2003. Retrieved on October 19, 2006. 'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on August 10, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2006.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
203. ^Business.com – Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved on October 19, 2006. Archived August 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
204. ^'Stimulus Money Will Put More Cops on Dallas Streets'. Dallas Morning News. 2009. Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
205. ^'About – Biography'. www.dallaspolice.net.
206. ^'Dallas – Serving you!'. City of Dallas. 2006. Retrieved May 4, 2006.
207. ^Dallas Fire-RescueArchived September 19, 2006, at the Wayback Machine – Station List – Note stations 40 and 50 do not exist, thus listing of 57–2 = 55. Retrieved May 4, 2006.
208. ^'City of Dallas: Dallas Fire-Rescue Department'. Dallasfirerescue.com. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
209. ^'2011 City and Neighborhood Rankings'. Walk Score. 2011. Retrieved August 28, 2011.
210. ^Yonah Freemark (October 13, 2010). 'Transit Mode Share Trends Looking Steady; Rail Appears to Encourage Non-Automobile Commutes'. Transport Politic. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
211. ^'2015 American Community Survey, 1-year estimates: Commuting Characteristics by Sex'. American Fact Finder. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
212. ^'Car Ownership in U.S. Cities Data and Map'. Governing. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
213. ^'DART becomes nation's largest light rail system today Irving Blog'. Irvingblog.dallasnews.com. December 6, 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
214. ^'DART.org – Expansion Information'. dart.org. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
215. ^'Orange Line Expansion Information'. DART.org. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
216. ^'Blue Line Expansion Information'. DART.org. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
217. ^Dallas Morning News. Retrieved September 27, 2009.^{[dead link]}
218. ^Wilonsky, Robert (February 17, 2010). 'Downtown Dallas Streetcar Project Takes the TIGER By the Tail to Tune of $23 Million – Dallas – News – Unfair Park'. Blogs.dallasobserver.com. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
219. ^Dallas Water UtilitiesArchived November 7, 2006, at the Wayback Machine – FunctionsArchived January 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 15, 2006.
220. ^TXU Electric Delivery – Service Territory. Retrieved October 14, 2006. Archived August 11, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
221. ^Energy Future Holdings CorporationArchived November 11, 2006, at the Wayback Machine – Contact UsArchived November 11, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 14, 2006.
222. ^City of Dallas Sanitation Services FAQArchived October 19, 2006, at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved October 14, 2006.
223. ^'Sister Cities'. Dallas-ecodev.org. Archived from the original on May 28, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
224. ^'City of Brno Foreign Relations: Partnership agreements – Dallas'. City of Brno – Brno.cz. Archived from the original on January 15, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
225. ^'Taipei – International Sister Cities'. Taipei City Council. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved August 23, 2013.

Further reading[edit]

• Herbert E. Bolton, Athanase de Mezieres and the Louisiana-Texas Frontier 1768–1780, Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1914. ISBN1290690731
• Patricia Evridge Hill, Dallas: The Making of a Modern City, Denton, Texas: University of North Texas Press, 1996. ISBN0292731043
• Maxine Holmes, The WPA Dallas Guide and History, Denton, Texas: University of North Texas Press, 1992. ISBN0929398319
• Darwin Payne, Big D: Triumphs and Troubles of an American Supercity in the 20th Century, Dallas: Three Forks Press, 2000. ISBN1893451046
• John William Rogers, The Lusty Texans of Dallas, E. P. Dutton, 1951.
• Jim Schutze, The Accommodation: The Politics of Race in an American City, New York: Citadel Press, 1987. ISBN0806510463
• Nancy Smith, Dallas International with J.R. Ewing: History of Real Dallasites in the Spotlight of 'Dallas,' Southfork and the 1980's Gold Rush, Outskirts Press, 2012. ISBN1432756990
• Nancy Smith, Dallas Celebrity in the Glamorous 1980s Era of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Denver: Outskirts, 2016. ISBN147876242X
• Roy H. Williams and Kevin James Shay, And Justice for All! The Untold History of Dallas, Fort Worth: CGS, 1999. ISBN0965050572

External links[edit]

• Dallas from the Handbook of Texas Online

Louisiana(/luˌiːziˈænə/(listen), /ˌluːzi-/(listen))^[a] is a state in the Deep South region of the South CentralUnited States. It is the 31st most extensive and the 25th most populous of the 50 United States. Louisiana is bordered by the state of Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, Mississippi to the east, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. A large part of its eastern boundary is demarcated by the Mississippi River. Louisiana is the only U.S. state with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are equivalent to counties. The state's capital is Baton Rouge, and its largest city is New Orleans.

Much of the state's lands were formed from sediment washed down the Mississippi River, leaving enormous deltas and vast areas of coastal marsh and swamp.^{[9][self-published source]} These contain a rich southern biota; typical examples include birds such as ibis and egrets. There are also many species of tree frogs, and fish such as sturgeon and paddlefish. In more elevated areas, fire is a natural process in the landscape, and has produced extensive areas of longleaf pine forest and wet savannas. These support an exceptionally large number of plant species, including many species of terrestrial orchids and carnivorous plants.^[9] Louisiana has more Native American tribes than any other southern state, including four that are federally recognized, ten that are state recognized, and four that have not received recognition.^[10]

Some Louisiana urban environments have a multicultural, multilingual heritage, being so strongly influenced by a mixture of 18th-century French, Haitian, Spanish, Native American, and African cultures that they are considered to be exceptional in the US. Before the American purchase of the territory in 1803, present-day Louisiana State had been both a French colony and for a brief period a Spanish one. In addition, colonists imported numerous African people as slaves in the 18th century. Many came from peoples of the same region of West Africa, thus concentrating their culture. In the post-Civil War environment, Anglo-Americans increased the pressure for Anglicization, and in 1921, English was for a time made the sole language of instruction in Louisiana schools before a policy of multilingualism was revived in 1974.^[11][12] There has never been an official language in Louisiana, and the state constitution enumerates 'the right of the people to preserve, foster, and promote their respective historic, linguistic, and cultural origins.'^[11]

• 3Geography
• 4Publicly owned land
• 5Transportation
• 6History
• 7Demographics
• 8Economy
• 9Law and government
• 14Culture
• 19External links

Etymology[edit]

Louisiana was named after Louis XIV, King of France from 1643 to 1715. When René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle claimed the territory drained by the Mississippi River for France, he named it La Louisiane.^[13] The suffix -ana (or -ane) is a Latin suffix that can refer to 'information relating to a particular individual, subject, or place.' Thus, roughly, Louis + ana carries the idea of 'related to Louis.' Once part of the French Colonial Empire, the Louisiana Territory stretched from present-day Mobile Bay to just north of the present-day Canada–United States border, including a small part of what is now the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Geology[edit]

The Gulf of Mexico did not exist 250 million years ago when there was but one supercontinent, Pangea. As Pangea split apart, the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico opened. Louisiana slowly developed, over millions of years, from water into land, and from north to south.^[9] The oldest rocks are exposed in the north, in areas such as the Kisatchie National Forest. The oldest rocks date back to the early Cenozoic Era, some 60 million years ago. The history of the formation of these rocks can be found in D. Spearing's Roadside Geology of Louisiana.^[14]

The youngest parts of the state were formed during the last 12,000 years as successive deltas of the Mississippi River: the Maringouin, Teche, St. Bernard, Lafourche, the modern Mississippi, and now the Atchafalaya.^[15] The sediments were carried from north to south by the Mississippi River.

In between the Tertiary rocks of the north, and the relatively new sediments along the coast, is a vast belt known as the Pleistocene Terraces. Their age and distribution can be largely related to the rise and fall of sea levels during past ice ages. In general, the northern terraces have had sufficient time for rivers to cut deep channels, while the newer terraces tend to be much flatter.^[16]

Salt domes are also found in Louisiana. Their origin can be traced back to the early Gulf of Mexico, when the shallow ocean had high rates of evaporation. There are several hundred salt domes in the state; one of the most familiar is Avery Island.^[17] Salt domes are important not only as a source of salt; they also serve as underground traps for oil and gas.^[18]

Geography[edit]

Louisiana is bordered to the west by Texas; to the north by Arkansas; to the east by Mississippi; and to the south by the Gulf of Mexico.

The state may properly be divided into two parts, the uplands of the north, and the alluvial along the coast.

The alluvial region includes low swamp lands, coastal marshlands and beaches, and barrier islands that cover about 20,000 square miles (52,000 km²). This area lies principally along the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River, which traverses the state from north to south for a distance of about 600 mi (970 km)) and empties into the Gulf of Mexico; the Red River; the Ouachita River and its branches; and other minor streams (some of which are called bayous).

The breadth of the alluvial region along the Mississippi is from 10 to 60 miles (15 to 100 km), and along the other rivers, the alluvial region averages about 10 miles (15 km) across. The Mississippi River flows along a ridge formed by its own natural deposits (known as a levee), from which the lands decline toward a river beyond at an average fall of six feet per mile (3 m/km). The alluvial lands along other streams present similar features.

The higher and contiguous hill lands of the north and northwestern part of the state have an area of more than 25,000 square miles (65,000 km²). They consist of prairie and woodlands. The elevations above sea level range from 10 feet (3 m) at the coast and swamp lands to 50 and 60 feet (15–18 m) at the prairie and alluvial lands. In the uplands and hills, the elevations rise to Driskill Mountain, the highest point in the state at only 535 feet (163 m) above sea level. From years 1932 to 2010 the state lost 1,800 sq. miles due to rises in sea level and erosion. The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) spends around $1 billion per year to help shore up and protect Louisiana shoreline and land in both federal and state funding.^[19]

Besides the waterways already named, there are the Sabine, forming the western boundary; and the Pearl, the eastern boundary; the Calcasieu, the Mermentau, the Vermilion, Bayou Teche, the Atchafalaya, the Boeuf, Bayou Lafourche, the Courtableau River, Bayou D'Arbonne, the Macon River, the Tensas, Amite River, the Tchefuncte, the Tickfaw, the Natalbany River, and a number of other smaller streams, constituting a natural system of navigable waterways, aggregating over 4,000 miles (6,400 km) long.

The state also has political jurisdiction over the approximately 3-mile (4.8 km)-wide portion of subsea land of the inner continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico. Through a peculiarity of the political geography of the United States, this is substantially less than the 9-mile (14 km)-wide jurisdiction of nearby states Texas and Florida, which, like Louisiana, have extensive Gulf coastlines.^[20]

The southern coast of Louisiana in the United States is among the fastest-disappearing areas in the world. This has largely resulted from human mismanagement of the coast (see Wetlands of Louisiana). At one time, the land was added to when spring floods from the Mississippi River added sediment and stimulated marsh growth; the land is now shrinking. There are multiple causes.^[21][22]

Artificial levees block spring flood water that would bring fresh water and sediment to marshes. Swamps have been extensively logged, leaving canals and ditches that allow saline water to move inland. Canals dug for the oil and gas industry also allow storms to move sea water inland, where it damages swamps and marshes. Rising sea waters have exacerbated the problem. Some researchers estimate that the state is losing a land mass equivalent to 30 football fields every day. There are many proposals to save coastal areas by reducing human damage, including restoring natural floods from the Mississippi. Without such restoration, coastal communities will continue to disappear.^[23] And as the communities disappear, more and more people are leaving the region.^[24] Since the coastal wetlands support an economically important coastal fishery, the loss of wetlands is adversely affecting this industry.

Climate[edit]

Louisiana has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classificationCfa). It has long, hot, humid summers and short, mild winters. The subtropical characteristics of the state are due to its low latitude, low lying topography, and the influence of the Gulf of Mexico, which at its farthest point is no more than 200 mi (320 km) away.

Rain is frequent throughout the year, although the summer is slightly wetter than the rest of the year. There is a dip in precipitation in October. In summer, thunderstorms build during the heat of the day, and bring intense but brief, tropical downpours. In winter, rainfall is more frontal and less intense.

Summers in southern Louisiana have high temperatures from June through September averaging 90 °F (32 °C) or more, and overnight lows averaging above 70 °F (22 °C). At times, temperatures in the 90s F, combined with dew points in the upper 70s F, create sensible temperatures over 120 °F. The humid, thick, jungle-like heat in southern Louisiana is a famous subject of countless stories and movies.

Temperatures are generally warm in the winter in the southern part of the state, with highs around New Orleans, Baton Rouge, the rest of south Louisiana, and the Gulf of Mexico averaging 66 °F (19 °C). The northern part of the state is mildly cool in the winter, with highs averaging 59 °F (15 °C). The overnight lows in the winter average well above freezing throughout the state, with 46 °F (8 °C) the average near the Gulf and an average low of 37 °F (3 °C) in the winter in the northern part of the state.

On occasion, cold fronts from low pressure centers to the north, reach Louisiana in winter. Low temperatures near 20 °F (−8 °C) occur on occasion in the northern part of the state, but almost never do so in the southern part of the state. Snow is rare near the Gulf of Mexico, although residents in the northern parts of the state might receive dusting of snow a few times each decade. Louisiana's highest recorded temperature is 114 °F (46 °C) in Plain Dealing on August 10, 1936, while the coldest recorded temperature is −16 °F (−27 °C) at Minden on February 13, 1899.

Louisiana is often affected by tropical cyclones and is very vulnerable to strikes by major hurricanes, particularly the lowlands around and in the New Orleans area. The unique geography of the region, with the many bayous, marshes and inlets, can result in water damage across a wide area from major hurricanes. The area is also prone to frequent thunderstorms, especially in the summer.^[26]

The entire state averages over 60 days of thunderstorms a year, more than any other state except Florida. Louisiana averages 27 tornadoes annually. The entire state is vulnerable to a tornado strike, with the extreme southern portion of the state slightly less so than the rest of the state. Tornadoes are more common from January to March in the southern part of the state, and from February through March in the northern part of the state.^[26]

Hurricanes since 1950[edit]

• August 28–29, 2012, Isaac (Category 1 at landfall) hits southeast Louisiana 7 years after Katrina (2005).
• September 1, 2008, Gustav (Category 2 at landfall) made landfall along the coast near Cocodrie in southeastern Louisiana. As late as August 31 it had been projected by the National Hurricane Center that the hurricane would remain at Category 3 or above on September 1, but in the event the center of Gustav made landfall as a strong Category 2 hurricane (1 mph below Category 3), and dropped to Category 1 soon after.^[30] As a result of NHC's forecasts, a massive evacuation of New Orleans took place after many residents having failed to leave for Katrina in 2005.^[31] A significant number of deaths were caused by or attributed to Gustav.^[32] Around 1.5 million people were without power in Louisiana on September 1.^[33]
• September 24, 2005, Rita (Category 3 at landfall) struck southwestern Louisiana, flooding many parishes and cities along the coast, including Cameron Parish, Lake Charles, and other towns. The storm's winds weakened the damaged levees in New Orleans and caused renewed flooding in parts of the city.
• August 29, 2005, Katrina (Category 3 at landfall)^[34] struck and devastated southeastern Louisiana, where it breached and undermined levees in New Orleans, causing 80% of the city to flood. Most people had been evacuated, but the majority of the population became homeless. The city was virtually closed until October. It is estimated that more than two million people in the Gulf region were displaced by the hurricane, and that more than 1,500 fatalities resulted in Louisiana alone. A public outcry criticized governments at the local, state, and federal levels, for lack of preparation and slowness of response. Louisiana residents relocated across the country for temporary housing, and many have not returned.

• October 3, 2002, Lili (Category 1 at landfall)
• August 1992, Andrew (Category 3 at landfall) struck south-central Louisiana. It killed four people; knocked out power to nearly 150,000 citizens; and destroyed crops worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
• August 1969, Camille (Category 5) caused a 23.4 ft (7.1 m) storm surge and killed 250 people. Although Camille officially made landfall in Mississippi and the worst damage occurred there, it also had effects in Louisiana. New Orleans remained dry, with the exception of mild rain-generated flooding in the most low-lying areas.
• September 9, 1965, Betsy (Category 3 at landfall) came ashore in Louisiana, causing massive destruction as the first hurricane in history to cause one billion dollars in damage (over ten billion in inflation-adjusted US$). The storm hit New Orleans and flooded nearly 35% of the city (including the Lower 9th Ward, Gentilly, and parts of Mid-City). The death toll in the state was 76.
• June 1957, Audrey (Category 3) devastated southwest Louisiana, destroying or severely damaging 60–80 percent of the homes and businesses from Cameron to Grand Chenier. 40,000 people were left homeless and more than 300 people in the state died.
• August 15–17, 1915: A hurricane made landfall just west of Galveston. Gales howled throughout Cameron and Vermilion Parishes and as far east as Mobile. It produced storm surge of 11 feet at Cameron (called Leesburg at the time), 10 feet at Grand Cheniere, and 9.5 feet at Marsh Island; Grand Isle reported water 6 feet deep across the city. The lightkeeper at the Sabine Pass lighthouse had to turn the lens by hand, as vibrations caused by the wave action put the clockwork out of order. At Sabine Bank, 17 miles offshore the Mouth of the Sabine, damage was noted. Damage estimates for Louisiana and Texas totaled around $50 million.^[35]
  • Over 300 people drowned below Montegut – four can be identified as white, none of the others have been identified and are assumed to be Indians. The Indian settlement was about 10 miles below Montegut, called by the Indians – Taire-bonne – is now in swamp and can only be reached by boat. This hurricane caused the survivors to move to higher ground.

Publicly owned land[edit]

Owing to its location and geology, the state has high biological diversity. Some vital areas, such as southwestern prairie, have experienced a loss in excess of 98 percent. The pine flatwoods are also at great risk, mostly from fire suppression and urban sprawl.^[9] There is not yet a properly organized system of natural areas to represent and protect Louisiana's biological diversity. Such a system would consist of a protected system of core areas linked by biological corridors, such as Florida is planning.^[36]

Louisiana contains a number of areas which, to varying degrees, prevent people from using them.^[37] In addition to National Park Service areas and a United States National Forest, Louisiana operates a system of state parks, state historic sites, one state preservation area, one state forest, and many Wildlife Management Areas.

One of Louisiana's largest government-owned areas is Kisatchie National Forest. It is some 600,000 acres in area, more than half of which is flatwoods vegetation, which supports many rare plant and animal species.^[9] These include the Louisiana pine snake and Red-cockaded woodpecker. The system of government-owned cypress swamps around Lake Pontchartrain is another large area, with southern wetland species including egrets, alligators, and sturgeon. At least 12 core areas would be needed to build a 'protected areas system' for the state; these would range from southwestern prairies, to the Pearl River Floodplain in the east, to the Mississippi River alluvial swamps in the north.^[9]

National Park Service[edit]

Historic or scenic areas managed, protected, or otherwise recognized by the National Park Service include:

• Atchafalaya National Heritage Area in Ascension Parish;
• Cane River National Heritage Area near Natchitoches;
• Cane River Creole National Historical Park near Natchitoches;
• Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, headquartered in New Orleans, with units in St. Bernard Parish, Barataria (Crown Point), and Acadiana (Lafayette);
• Poverty Point National Monument at Delhi, Louisiana; and
• Saline Bayou, a designated National Wild and Scenic River near Winn Parish in northern Louisiana.

US Forest Service[edit]

• Kisatchie National Forest is Louisiana's only national forest. It includes 600,000 acres in central and north Louisiana with large areas of flatwoods and longleaf pine forest.

State parks and recreational areas[edit]

Louisiana operates a system of 22 state parks, 17 state historic sites and one state preservation area.

Wildlife management areas[edit]

Louisiana has 955,973 acres, in four ecoregions under the wildlife management of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheriess. The Nature Conservancy also owns and manages a set of natural areas.

Natural and Scenic Rivers[edit]

The Louisiana Natural and Scenic Rivers System provides a degree of protection for 51 rivers, streams and bayous in the state. It is administered by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.^[38]

Transportation[edit]

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development is the state government organization in charge of maintaining public transportation, roadways, bridges, canals, select levees, floodplain management, port facilities, commercial vehicles, and aviation which includes 69 airports.

The Intracoastal Waterway is an important means of transporting commercial goods such as petroleum and petroleum products, agricultural produce, building materials and manufactured goods.

In 2011, Louisiana ranked among the five deadliest states for debris/litter-caused vehicle accidents per total number of registered vehicles and population size. Figures derived from^[39] the NTSHA show at least 25 persons in Louisiana were killed per year in motor vehicle collisions with non-fixed objects, including debris, dumped litter, animals and their carcasses.

History[edit]

Pre-colonial history[edit]

Louisiana was inhabited by Native Americans for many millennia before the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century. During the Middle Archaic period, Louisiana was the site of the earliest mound complex in North America and one of the earliest dated, complex constructions in the Americas, the Watson Brake site near present-day Monroe. An 11-mound complex, it was built about 5400 BP (3500 BC).^[40] The Middle Archaic sites of Caney and Frenchman's Bend have also been securely dated to 5600–5000 BP (3700–3100 BC), demonstrating that seasonal hunter-gatherers organized to build complex earthwork constructions in present-day northern Louisiana. These discoveries overturned previous assumptions in archaeology that such complex mounds were built only by cultures of more settled peoples who were dependent on maize cultivation. The Hedgepeth Site in Lincoln Parish is more recent, dated to 5200–4500 BP (3300–2600 BC).^[41]

Nearly 2,000 years later, Poverty Point was built; it is the largest and best-known Late Archaic site in the state. The city of modern-day Epps developed near it. The Poverty Point culture may have reached its peak around 1500 BC, making it the first complex culture, and possibly the first tribal culture in North America.^[42] It lasted until approximately 700 BC.

The Poverty Point culture was followed by the Tchefuncte and Lake Cormorant cultures of the Tchula period, local manifestations of Early Woodland period. The Tchefuncte culture were the first people in the area of Louisiana to make large amounts of pottery.^[43] These cultures lasted until AD 200. The Middle Woodland period started in Louisiana with the Marksville culture in the southern and eastern part of the state, reaching across the Mississippi River to the east around Natchez^[44] and the Fourche Maline culture in the northwestern part of the state. The Marksville culture was named after the Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site in Avoyelles Parish.

These cultures were contemporaneous with the Hopewell cultures of present-day Ohio and Illinois, and participated in the Hopewell Exchange Network. Trade with peoples to the southwest brought the bow and arrow.^[45] The first burial mounds were built at this time.^[46] Political power began to be consolidated, as the first platform mounds at ritual centers were constructed for the developing hereditary political and religious leadership.^[46]

By 400 the Late Woodland period had begun with the Baytown culture, Troyville culture, and Coastal Troyville during the Baytown Period and were succeeded by the Coles Creek cultures. Where the Baytown peoples built dispersed settlements, the Troyville people instead continued building major earthwork centers.^[47][48][49] Population increased dramatically and there is strong evidence of a growing cultural and political complexity. Many Coles Creek sites were erected over earlier Woodland period mortuary mounds. Scholars have speculated that emerging elites were symbolically and physically appropriating dead ancestors to emphasize and project their own authority.^[50]

The Mississippian period in Louisiana was when the Plaquemine and the Caddoan Mississippian cultures developed, and the peoples adopted extensive maize agriculture, cultivating different strains of the plant by saving seeds, selecting for certain characteristics, etc. The Plaquemine culture in the lower Mississippi River Valley in western Mississippi and eastern Louisiana began in 1200 and continued to about 1600. Examples in Louisiana include the Medora Site, the archaeological type site for the culture in West Baton Rouge Parish whose characteristics helped define the culture,^[51] the Atchafalaya Basin Mounds in St Mary Parish,^[52] the Fitzhugh Mounds in Madison Parish,^[53] the Scott Place Mounds in Union Parish,^[54] and the Sims Site in St Charles Parish.^[55]

Plaquemine culture was contemporaneous with the Middle Mississippian culture that is represented by its largest settlement, the Cahokia site in Illinois east of St. Louis, Missouri. At its peak Cahokia is estimated to have had a population of more than 20,000. The Plaquemine culture is considered ancestral to the historic Natchez and Taensa peoples, whose descendants encountered Europeans in the colonial era.^[56]

By 1000 in the northwestern part of the state, the Fourche Maline culture had evolved into the Caddoan Mississippian culture. The Caddoan Mississippians occupied a large territory, including what is now eastern Oklahoma, western Arkansas, northeast Texas, and northwest Louisiana. Archaeological evidence has demonstrated that the cultural continuity is unbroken from prehistory to the present. The Caddo and related Caddo-language speakers in prehistoric times and at first European contact were the direct ancestors of the modern Caddo Nation of Oklahoma of today.^[57] Significant Caddoan Mississippian archaeological sites in Louisiana include Belcher Mound Site in Caddo Parish^[58] and Gahagan Mounds Site in Red River Parish.^[59]

Many current place names in Louisiana, including Atchafalaya, Natchitouches (now spelled Natchitoches), Caddo, Houma, Tangipahoa, and Avoyel (as Avoyelles), are transliterations of those used in various Native American languages.

Exploration and colonization by Europeans[edit]

The first European explorers to visit Louisiana came in 1528 when a Spanish expedition led by Pánfilo de Narváez located the mouth of the Mississippi River. In 1542, Hernando de Soto's expedition skirted to the north and west of the state (encountering Caddo and Tunica groups) and then followed the Mississippi River down to the Gulf of Mexico in 1543. Spanish interest in Louisiana faded away for a century and a half.

In the late 17th century, French and French Canadian expeditions, which included sovereign, religious and commercial aims, established a foothold on the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast. With its first settlements, France laid claim to a vast region of North America and set out to establish a commercial empire and French nation stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada.

In 1682, the French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle named the region Louisiana to honor King Louis XIV of France. The first permanent settlement, Fort Maurepas (at what is now Ocean Springs, Mississippi, near Biloxi), was founded in 1699 by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, a French military officer from Canada. By then the French had also built a small fort at the mouth of the Mississippi at a settlement they named La Balise (or La Balize), 'seamark' in French. By 1721 they built a 62-foot (19 m) wooden lighthouse-type structure here to guide ships on the river.^[60]

A royal ordinance of 1722—following the Crown's transfer of the Illinois Country's governance from Canada to Louisiana—may have featured the broadest definition of Louisiana: all land claimed by France south of the Great Lakes between the Rocky Mountains and the Alleghenies.^[61] A generation later, trade conflicts between Canada and Louisiana led to a more defined boundary between the French colonies; in 1745, Louisiana governor general Vaudreuil set the northern and eastern bounds of his domain as the Wabash valley up to the mouth of the Vermilion River (near present-day Danville, Illinois); from there, northwest to le Rocher on the Illinois River, and from there west to the mouth of the Rock River (at present day Rock Island, Illinois).^[61] Thus, Vincennes and Peoria were the limit of Louisiana's reach; the outposts at Ouiatenon (on the upper Wabash near present-day Lafayette, Indiana), Chicago, Fort Miamis (near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana), and Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, operated as dependencies of Canada.^[61]

The settlement of Natchitoches (along the Red River in present-day northwest Louisiana) was established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis, making it the oldest permanent European settlement in the modern state of Louisiana. The French settlement had two purposes: to establish trade with the Spanish in Texas via the Old San Antonio Road, and to deter Spanish advances into Louisiana. The settlement soon became a flourishing river port and crossroads, giving rise to vast cotton kingdoms along the river that were worked by imported African slaves. Over time, planters developed large plantations and built fine homes in a growing town. This became a pattern repeated in New Orleans and other places, although the commodity crop in the south was primarily sugar cane.

Louisiana's French settlements contributed to further exploration and outposts, concentrated along the banks of the Mississippi and its major tributaries, from Louisiana to as far north as the region called the Illinois Country, around present-day St. Louis, Missouri. The latter was settled by French colonists from Illinois.

Initially, Mobile and then Biloxi served as the capital of La Louisiane. Recognizing the importance of the Mississippi River to trade and military interests, and wanting to protect the capital from severe coastal storms, France developed New Orleans from 1722 as the seat of civilian and military authority south of the Great Lakes. From then until the United States acquired the territory in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, France and Spain jockeyed for control of New Orleans and the lands west of the Mississippi.

In the 1720s, German immigrants settled along the Mississippi River, in a region referred to as the German Coast.

France ceded most of its territory to the east of the Mississippi to Great Britain in 1763, in the aftermath of Britain's victory in the Seven Years' War (generally referred to in North America as the French and Indian War). The rest of Louisiana, including the area around New Orleans and the parishes around Lake Pontchartrain, had become a colony of Spain by the Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762). The transfer of power on either side of the river would be delayed until later in the decade.

In 1765, during Spanish rule, several thousand French-speaking refugees from the region of Acadia (now Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, Canada) made their way to Louisiana after having been expelled from their homelands by the British during the French and Indian War. They settled chiefly in the southwestern Louisiana region now called Acadiana. The Spanish, eager to gain more Catholic settlers, welcomed the Acadian refugees, the ancestors of Louisiana's Cajuns.

Spanish Canary Islanders, called Isleños, emigrated from the Canary Islands of Spain to Louisiana under the Spanish crown between 1778 and 1783.

In 1800, France's Napoleon Bonaparte reacquired Louisiana from Spain in the Treaty of San Ildefonso, an arrangement kept secret for two years.

Expansion of slavery[edit]

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville brought the first two African slaves to Louisiana in 1708, transporting them from a French colony in the West Indies. In 1709, French financier Antoine Crozat obtained a monopoly of commerce in La Louisiane, which extended from the Gulf of Mexico to what is now Illinois. 'That concession allowed him to bring in a cargo of blacks from Africa every year,' the British historian Hugh Thomas wrote.^[62] Physical conditions, including disease, were so harsh there was high mortality among both the colonists and the slaves, resulting in continuing demand and importation of slaves.

Starting in 1719, traders began to import slaves in higher numbers; two French ships, the Du Maine and the Aurore, arrived in New Orleans carrying more than 500 black slaves coming from Africa. Previous slaves in Louisiana had been transported from French colonies in the West Indies. By the end of 1721, New Orleans counted 1,256 inhabitants, of whom about half were slaves.

In 1724, the French government issued a law called the Code Noir ('Black Code' in English) which 'regulate[d] the interaction of whites [blancs] and blacks [noirs] in its colony of Louisiana^[63] (which was much larger than the current state of Louisiana). The law consisted of 57 articles, which regulated religion in the colony, outlawed 'interracial' marriages (those between people of different skin color, the varying shades of which were also defined by law), restricted manumission, outlined legal punishment of slaves for various offenses, and defined some obligations of owners to their slaves. The main intent of the French government was to assert control over the slave system of agriculture in Louisiana and to impose restrictions on slaveowners there. In practice, the Code Noir was exceedingly difficult to enforce from afar. Some priests continued to perform interracial marriage ceremonies, for example, and some slaveholders continued to manumit slaves without permission while others punished slaves brutally.

Article II of the Code Noir of 1724 required owners to provide their slaves with religious education in the state religion, Roman Catholicism. Sunday was to be a day of rest for slaves. On days off, slaves were expected to feed and take care of themselves. During the 1740s economic crisis in the colony, owners had trouble feeding their slaves and themselves. Giving them time off also effectively gave more power to slaves, who started cultivating their own gardens and crafting items for sale as their own property. They began to participate in the economic development of the colony while at the same time increasing independence and self-subsistence.

Article VI of the Code Noir forbade mixed marriages, forbade but did little to protect slave women from rape by their owners, overseers or other slaves. On balance, the Code benefitted the owners but had more protections and flexibility than did the institution of slavery in the southern Thirteen Colonies.

The Louisiana Black Code of 1806 made the cruel punishment of slaves a crime, but owners and overseers were seldom prosecuted for such acts.^[64]

Fugitive slaves, called maroons, could easily hide in the backcountry of the bayous and survive in small settlements. The word 'maroon' comes from the French 'marron,' meaning 'feral' or 'fugitive.'

In the late 18th century, the last Spanish governor of the Louisiana territory wrote:

Truly, it is impossible for lower Louisiana to get along without slaves and with the use of slaves, the colony had been making great strides toward prosperity and wealth.^[65]

When the United States purchased Louisiana in 1803, it was soon accepted that enslaved Africans could be brought to Louisiana as easily as they were brought to neighboring Mississippi, though it violated U.S. law to do so.^[65] Despite demands by United States Rep. James Hillhouse and by the pamphleteer Thomas Paine to enforce existing federal law against slavery in the newly acquired territory,^[65] slavery prevailed because it was the source of great profits and the lowest-cost labor.

At the start of the 19th century, Louisiana was a small producer of sugar with a relatively small number of slaves, compared to Saint-Domingue and the West Indies. It soon thereafter became a major sugar producer as new settlers arrived to develop plantations. William C. C. Claiborne, Louisiana's first United States governor, said that African slave labor was needed because white laborers 'cannot be had in this unhealthy climate.'^[66] Hugh Thomas wrote that Claiborne was unable to enforce the abolition of the African slave trade, which the US and Great Britain adopted in 1808. The United States continued to protect the domestic slave trade, including the coastwise trade – the transport of slaves by ship along the Atlantic Coast and to New Orleans and other Gulf ports.

By 1840, New Orleans had the biggest slave market in the United States, which contributed greatly to the economy of the city and of the state. New Orleans had become one of the wealthiest cities, and the third largest city, in the nation.^[67] The ban on the African slave trade and importation of slaves had increased demand in the domestic market. During the decades after the American Revolutionary War, more than one million enslaved African Americans underwent forced migration from the Upper South to the Deep South, two thirds of them in the slave trade. Others were transported by their owners as slaveholders moved west for new lands.^[68][69]

With changing agriculture in the Upper South as planters shifted from tobacco to less labor-intensive mixed agriculture, planters had excess laborers. Many sold slaves to traders to take to the Deep South. Slaves were driven by traders overland from the Upper South or transported to New Orleans and other coastal markets by ship in the coastwise slave trade. After sales in New Orleans, steamboats operating on the Mississippi transported slaves upstream to markets or plantation destinations at Natchez and Memphis.

As the Deep South was developed for cotton and sugar in the first half of the nineteenth century, demand for slaves increased. This resulted in a massive forced migration (through the slave trade) of more than one million African Americans from the Upper South to the Deep South. Many traders brought slaves to New Orleans for domestic sale, and by 1840, New Orleans had the largest slave market in the country, was the third-largest city, and was one of the wealthiest cities.

Haitian migration and influence[edit]

Spanish occupation of Louisiana lasted from 1769 to 1800. Beginning in the 1790s, waves of immigration took place from Saint-Domingue, following a slave rebellion that started in 1791. Over the next decade, thousands of migrants landed in Louisiana from the island, including ethnic Europeans, free people of color, and African slaves, some of the latter brought in by each free group. They greatly increased the French-speaking population in New Orleans and Louisiana, as well as the number of Africans, and the slaves reinforced African culture in the city. The process of gaining independence in Saint-Domingue was complex, but uprisings continued. In 1803, France pulled out its surviving troops from the island, having suffered the loss of two-thirds sent to the island two years before, mostly to yellow fever. In 1804, Haiti, the second republic in the western hemisphere, proclaimed its independence, achieved by slave leaders.^[70]

Pierre Clément de Laussat (Governor, 1803) said: 'Saint-Domingue was, of all our colonies in the Antilles, the one whose mentality and customs influenced Louisiana the most.'^[71]

Purchase by the United States (1803)[edit]

When the United States won its independence from Great Britain in 1783, one of its major concerns was having a European power on its western boundary, and the need for unrestricted access to the Mississippi River. As American settlers pushed west, they found that the Appalachian Mountains provided a barrier to shipping goods eastward. The easiest way to ship produce was to use a flatboat to float it down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to the port of New Orleans, where goods could be put on ocean-going vessels. The problem with this route was that the Spanish owned both sides of the Mississippi below Natchez.

Napoleon's ambitions in Louisiana involved the creation of a new empire centered on the Caribbeansugar trade. By the terms of the Treaty of Amiens of 1802, Great Britain returned ownership of the islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe to the French. Napoleon looked upon Louisiana as a depot for these sugar islands, and as a buffer to U.S. settlement. In October 1801 he sent a large military force to take back Saint-Domingue, then under control of Toussaint Louverture after a slave rebellion.

When the army led by Napoleon's brother-in-law Leclerc was defeated, Napoleon decided to sell Louisiana.

Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, was disturbed by Napoleon's plans to re-establish French colonies in America. With the possession of New Orleans, Napoleon could close the Mississippi to U.S. commerce at any time. Jefferson authorized Robert R. Livingston, U.S. Minister to France, to negotiate for the purchase of the City of New Orleans, portions of the east bank of the Mississippi, and free navigation of the river for U.S. commerce. Livingston was authorized to pay up to $2 million.

An official transfer of Louisiana to French ownership had not yet taken place, and Napoleon's deal with the Spanish was a poorly kept secret on the frontier. On October 18, 1802, however, Juan Ventura Morales, Acting Intendant of Louisiana, made public the intention of Spain to revoke the right of deposit at New Orleans for all cargo from the United States. The closure of this vital port to the United States caused anger and consternation. Commerce in the west was virtually blockaded. Historians believe that the revocation of the right of deposit was prompted by abuses by the Americans, particularly smuggling, and not by French intrigues as was believed at the time. President Jefferson ignored public pressure for war with France, and appointed James Monroe a special envoy to Napoleon, to assist in obtaining New Orleans for the United States. Jefferson also raised the authorized expenditure to $10 million.

However, on April 11, 1803, French Foreign Minister Talleyrand surprised Livingston by asking how much the United States was prepared to pay for the entirety of Louisiana, not just New Orleans and the surrounding area (as Livingston's instructions covered). Monroe agreed with Livingston that Napoleon might withdraw this offer at any time (leaving them with no ability to obtain the desired New Orleans area), and that approval from President Jefferson might take months, so Livingston and Monroe decided to open negotiations immediately. By April 30, they closed a deal for the purchase of the entire Louisiana territory of 828,000 square miles (2,100,000 km²) for 60 million Francs (approximately $15 million).

Part of this sum, $3.5 million, was used to forgive debts owed by France to the United States.^[73] The payment was made in United States bonds, which Napoleon sold at face value to the Dutch firm of Hope and Company, and the British banking house of Baring, at a discount of 87½ per each $100 unit. As a result, France received only $8,831,250 in cash for Louisiana.English banker Alexander Baring conferred with Marbois in Paris, shuttled to the United States to pick up the bonds, took them to Britain, and returned to France with the money – which Napoleon used to wage war against Baring's own country.

When news of the purchase reached the United States, Jefferson was surprised. He had authorized the expenditure of $10 million for a port city, and instead received treaties committing the government to spend $15 million on a land package which would double the size of the country. Jefferson's political opponents in the Federalist Party argued the Louisiana purchase was a worthless desert,^[74] and that the Constitution did not provide for the acquisition of new land or negotiating treaties without the consent of the Senate. What really worried the opposition was the new states which would inevitably be carved from the Louisiana territory, strengthening Western and Southern interests in Congress, and further reducing the influence of New England Federalists in national affairs. President Jefferson was an enthusiastic supporter of westward expansion, and held firm in his support for the treaty. Despite Federalist objections, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana treaty on October 20, 1803.

By statute enacted on October 31, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson was authorized to take possession of the territories ceded by France and provide for initial governance.^[75] A transfer ceremony was held in New Orleans on November 29, 1803. Since the Louisiana territory had never officially been turned over to the French, the Spanish took down their flag, and the French raised theirs. The following day, General James Wilkinson accepted possession of New Orleans for the United States. A similar ceremony was held in St. Louis on March 9, 1804, when a French tricolor was raised near the river, replacing the Spanish national flag. The following day, CaptainAmos Stoddard of the First U.S. Artillery marched his troops into town and had the American flag run up the fort's flagpole. The Louisiana territory was officially transferred to the United States government, represented by Meriwether Lewis.

The Louisiana Territory, purchased for less than 3 cents an acre, doubled the size of the United States overnight, without a war or the loss of a single American life, and set a precedent for the purchase of territory. It opened the way for the eventual expansion of the United States across the continent to the Pacific.

Shortly after the United States took possession, the area was divided into two territories along the 33rd parallel north on March 26, 1804, thereby organizing the Territory of Orleans to the south and the District of Louisiana (subsequently formed as the Louisiana Territory) to the north.^[76]

Statehood (1812)[edit]

Louisiana became the eighteenth U.S. state on April 30, 1812; the Territory of Orleans became the State of Louisiana and the Louisiana Territory was simultaneously renamed the Missouri Territory.^[77] An area known as the Florida Parishes was soon annexed into the state of Louisiana on April 14, 1812.^[78]

From 1824 to 1861, Louisiana moved from a political system based on personality and ethnicity to a distinct two-party system, with Democrats competing first against Whigs, then Know Nothings, and finally only other Democrats.^[79]

Secession and the Civil War (1860–1865)[edit]

According to the 1860 census, 331,726 people were enslaved, nearly 47% of the state's total population of 708,002.^[80] The strong economic interest of elite whites in maintaining the slave society contributed to Louisiana's decision to secede from the Union in January 26, 1861.^[81] It followed other Southern states in seceding after the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States. Louisiana's secession was announced on January 26, 1861, and it became part of the Confederate States of America.

The state was quickly defeated in the Civil War, a result of Union strategy to cut the Confederacy in two by seizing the Mississippi. Federal troops captured New Orleans on April 25, 1862. Because a large part of the population had Union sympathies (or compatible commercial interests), the Federal government took the unusual step of designating the areas of Louisiana under Federal control as a state within the Union, with its own elected representatives to the U.S. Congress.^{[citation needed]}

Post-Civil War to mid-20th century (1865–1945)[edit]

Following the Civil War and emancipation of slaves, violence rose in the South as the war was carried on by insurgent private and paramilitary groups. Initially state legislatures were dominated by former Confederates, who passed Black Codes to regulate freedmen and generally refused to give the vote. They refused to extend voting rights to African Americans who had been free before the war and had sometimes obtained education and property (as in New Orleans.) Following the Memphis riots of 1866 and the New Orleans riot the same year, the Fourteenth Amendment was passed that provided suffrage and full citizenship for freedmen. Congress passed the Reconstruction Act, establishing military districts for those states where conditions were considered the worst, including Louisiana. It was grouped with Texas in what was administered as the Fifth Military District.

African Americans began to live as citizens with some measure of equality before the law. Both freedmen and people of color who had been free before the war began to make more advances in education, family stability and jobs. At the same time, there was tremendous social volatility in the aftermath of war, with many whites actively resisting defeat and the free labor market. White insurgents mobilized to enforce white supremacy, first in Ku Klux Klan chapters.

By 1877, when federal forces were withdrawn, white Democrats in Louisiana and other states had regained control of state legislatures, often by paramilitary groups such as the White League, which suppressed black voting through intimidation and violence. Following Mississippi's example in 1890, in 1898, the white Democratic, planter-dominated legislature passed a new constitution that effectively disenfranchised blacks and people of color, by raising barriers to voter registration, such as poll taxes, residency requirements and literacy tests. The effect was immediate and long lasting. In 1896, there were 130,334 black voters on the rolls and about the same number of white voters, in proportion to the state population, which was evenly divided.^[82]

The state population in 1900 was 47% African-American: a total of 652,013 citizens. Many in New Orleans were descendants of Creoles of color, the sizeable population of free people of color before the Civil War.^[83] By 1900, two years after the new constitution, only 5,320 black voters were registered in the state. Because of disfranchisement, by 1910 there were only 730 black voters (less than 0.5 percent of eligible African-American men), despite advances in education and literacy among blacks and people of color.^[84] Blacks were excluded from the political system and also unable to serve on juries. White Democrats had established one-party Democratic rule, which they maintained in the state for decades deep into the 20th century until after Congressional passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act provided federal oversight and enforcement of the constitutional right to vote.

In the early decades of the 20th century, thousands of African Americans left Louisiana in the Great Migration north to industrial cities for jobs and education, and to escape Jim Crow society and lynchings. The boll weevil infestation and agricultural problems cost many sharecroppers and farmers their jobs. The mechanization of agriculture also reduced the need for laborers. Beginning in the 1940s, blacks went West to California for jobs in its expanding defense industries.^[85]

During some of the Great Depression, Louisiana was led by Governor Huey Long. He was elected to office on populist appeal. His public works projects provided thousands of jobs to people in need, and he supported education and increased suffrage for poor whites, but Long was criticized for his allegedly demogogic and autocratic style. He extended patronage control through every branch of Louisiana's state government. Especially controversial were his plans for wealth redistribution in the state. Long's rule ended abruptly when he was assassinated in the state capitol in 1935.

Post-World War II (1945–)[edit]

Mobilization for World War II created jobs in the state. But thousands of other workers, black and white alike, migrated to California for better jobs in its burgeoning defense industry. Many African Americans left the state in the Second Great Migration, from the 1940s through the 1960s to escape social oppression and seek better jobs. The mechanization of agriculture in the 1930s had sharply cut the need for laborers. They sought skilled jobs in the defense industry in California, better education for their children, and living in communities where they could vote.^[86]

In the 1950s the state created new requirements for a citizenship test for voter registration. Despite opposition by the States Rights Party, downstate black voters had begun to increase their rate of registration, which also reflected the growth of their middle classes. In 1960 the state established the Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission, to investigate civil rights activists and maintain segregation.^[87]

Despite this, gradually black voter registration and turnout increased to 20% and more, and it was 32% by 1964, when the first national civil rights legislation of the era was passed.^[88] The percentage of black voters ranged widely in the state during these years, from 93.8% in Evangeline Parish to 1.7% in Tensas Parish, for instance, where there were white efforts to suppress the vote in the black-majority parish.^[89]

Violent attacks on civil rights activists in two mill towns were catalysts to the founding of the first two chapters of the Deacons for Defense and Justice in late 1964 and early 1965, in Jonesboro and Bogalusa, respectively. Made up of veterans of World War II and the Korean War, they were armed self-defense groups established to protect activists and their families. Continued violent white resistance in Bogalusa to blacks trying to use public facilities in 1965, following passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, caused the federal government to order local police to protect the activists.^[90] Other chapters were formed in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

By 1960 the proportion of African Americans in Louisiana had dropped to 32%. The 1,039,207 black citizens were still suppressed by segregation and disfranchisement.^[91] African Americans continued to suffer disproportionate discriminatory application of the state's voter registration rules. Because of better opportunities elsewhere, from 1965 to 1970, blacks continued to migrate out of Louisiana, for a net loss of more than 37,000 people. Based on official census figures, the African-American population in 1970 stood at 1,085,109, a net gain of more than 46,000 people compared to 1960. During the latter period, some people began to migrate to cities of the New South for opportunities.^[92] Since that period, blacks entered the political system and began to be elected to office, as well as having other opportunities.

On May 21, 1919, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, giving women full rights to vote, was passed at a national level, and was made the law throughout the United States on August 18, 1920. Louisiana finally ratified the amendment on June 11, 1970.

2000 to present[edit]

Due to its location on the Gulf Coast, Louisiana has regularly suffered the effects of tropical storms and damaging hurricanes. On August 29, 2005, New Orleans and many other low-lying parts of the state along the Gulf of Mexico were hit by the catastrophic Hurricane Katrina. It caused widespread damage due to breaching of levees and large-scale flooding of more than 80% of the city. Officials had issued warnings to evacuate the city and nearby areas, but tens of thousands of people, mostly African Americans, stayed behind, many of them stranded. Many people died and survivors suffered through the damage of the widespread floodwaters.

In August 2016, an unnamed storm dumped trillions of gallons of rain on southern Louisiana, including the cities of Denham Springs, Baton Rouge, Gonzales, St. Amant and Lafayette, causing catastrophic flooding.^[93] An estimated 110,000 homes were damaged^[94] and thousands of residents were displaced.^[95]

Demographics[edit]

The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Louisiana was 4,659,978 on July 1, 2018, a 2.79% increase since the 2010 United States Census.^[97] The population density of the state is 104.9 people per square mile.^[96]

The center of population of Louisiana is located in Pointe Coupee Parish, in the city of New Roads.^[98]

According to the 2010 United States Census, 5.4% of the population aged 5 and older spoke Spanish at home, up from 3.5% in 2000; and 4.5% spoke French (including Louisiana French and Louisiana Creole), down from 4.8% in 2000.^[99][100]

Race and ethnicity[edit]

According to the US census estimates, the population of Louisiana in 2014 was:^[101]

• White Americans – 63.4% (59.3% non-Hispanic white, 4.1% White Hispanic)
• Black or African American – 32.5%
• Asian – 1.8%
• Multiracial American – 1.5%
• Native American – 0.8%
• Hispanic or Latino of any race – 4.8%

The major ancestry groups of Louisiana are African American (30.4%), French (16.8%), American (9.5%), German (8.3%), Irish (7.5%), English (6.6%), Italian (4.8%) and Scottish (1.1%).^[102]

As of 2011, 49.0% of Louisiana's population younger than age 1 were minorities.^[103]

Religion[edit]

The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2010 were the Catholic Church with 1,200,900; Southern Baptist Convention with 709,650; and the United Methodist Church with 146,848. Non-denominational Evangelical Protestant congregations had 195,903 members.^[108]

As in other Southern states, the majority of Louisianians, particularly in the north of the state, belong to various Protestant denominations, with Protestants comprising 57% of the state's adult population. Protestants are concentrated in the northern and central parts of the state and in the northern tier of the Florida Parishes. Because of French and Spanish heritage, and their descendants the Creoles, and later Irish, Italian, Portuguese and German immigrants, southern Louisiana and the greater New Orleans area are predominantly Catholic.^[109]

Since Creoles were the first settlers, planters and leaders of the territory, they have traditionally been well represented in politics. For instance, most of the early governors were Creole Catholics.^[110] Because Catholics still constitute a significant fraction of Louisiana's population, they have continued to be influential in state politics. As of 2008 both Senators and the Governor were Catholic. The high proportion and influence of the Catholic population makes Louisiana distinct among Southern states.^[111]

Jewish communities are established in the state's larger cities, notably New Orleans and Baton Rouge.^[112][113] The most significant of these is the Jewish community of the New Orleans area. In 2000, before the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, its population was about 12,000. Louisiana was among the southern states with a significant Jewish population before the 20th century; Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia also had influential Jewish populations in some of their major cities from the 18th and 19th centuries. The earliest Jewish colonists were Sephardic Jews who immigrated with English colonists from London. Later in the 19th century, German Jews began to immigrate, followed by those from eastern Europe and the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Prominent Jews in Louisiana's political leadership have included Whig (later Democrat) Judah P. Benjamin (1811–1884), who represented Louisiana in the U.S. Senate before the American Civil War and then became the Confederate Secretary of State; Democrat-turned-Republican Michael Hahn who was elected as governor, serving 1864–1865 when Louisiana was occupied by the Union Army, and later elected in 1884 as a US Congressman;^[114] Democrat Adolph Meyer (1842–1908), Confederate Army officer who represented the state in the U.S. House from 1891 until his death in 1908; RepublicanSecretary of StateJay Dardenne (1954–), and Republican (Democrat before 2011) Attorney GeneralBuddy Caldwell (1946–).

Major cities[edit]

Economy[edit]

The total gross state product in 2010 for Louisiana was US$213.6 billion, placing it 24th in the nation. Its per capita personal income is $30,952, ranking 41st in the United States.^[117][118]

In 2014, Louisiana was ranked as one of the most small business friendly states, based on a study drawing upon data from over 12,000 small business owners.^[119]

The state's principal agricultural products include seafood (it is the biggest producer of crawfish in the world, supplying approximately 90%), cotton, soybeans, cattle, sugarcane, poultry and eggs, dairy products, and rice. Industry generates chemical products, petroleum and coal products, processed foods and transportation equipment, and paper products. Tourism is an important element in the economy, especially in the New Orleans area.

The Port of South Louisiana, located on the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, is the largest volume shipping port in the Western Hemisphere and 4th largest in the world, as well as the largest bulk cargo port in the world.^[120]

New Orleans, Shreveport, and Baton Rouge are home to a thriving film industry.^[121] State financial incentives since 2002 and aggressive promotion have given Louisiana the nickname 'Hollywood South'. Because of its distinctive culture within the United States, only Alaska is Louisiana's rival in popularity as a setting for reality television programs.^[122] In late 2007 and early 2008, a 300,000-square-foot (28,000 m²) film studio was scheduled to open in Tremé, with state-of-the-art production facilities, and a film training institute.^[123]Tabasco sauce, which is marketed by one of the United States' biggest producers of hot sauce, the McIlhenny Company, originated on Avery Island.^[124]

Louisiana has three personal income tax brackets, ranging from 2% to 6%. The sales tax rate is 4%: a 3.97% Louisiana sales tax and a .03% Louisiana Tourism Promotion District sales tax. Political subdivisions also levy their own sales tax in addition to the state fees. The state also has a use tax, which includes 4% to be distributed by the Department of Revenue to local governments. Property taxes are assessed and collected at the local level. Louisiana is a subsidized state, receiving $1.44 from the federal government for every dollar paid in.

Tourism and culture are major players in Louisiana's economy, earning an estimated $5.2 billion per year.^[125] Louisiana also hosts many important cultural events, such as the World Cultural Economic Forum, which is held annually in the fall at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center.^[126]

As of July 2017, the state's unemployment rate was 5.3%.^[127]

Federal subsidies and spending[edit]

Louisiana taxpayers receive more federal funding per dollar of federal taxes paid compared to the average state. Per dollar of federal tax collected in 2005, Louisiana citizens received approximately $1.78 in the way of federal spending. This ranks the state fourth highest nationally and represents a rise from 1995 when Louisiana received $1.35 per dollar of taxes in federal spending (ranked seventh nationally). Neighboring states and the amount of federal spending received per dollar of federal tax collected were: Texas ($0.94), Arkansas ($1.41), and Mississippi ($2.02). Federal spending in 2005 and subsequent years since has been exceptionally high due to the recovery from Hurricane Katrina.Tax Foundation.

Energy[edit]

Louisiana is rich in petroleum and natural gas. Petroleum and gas deposits are found in abundance both onshore and offshore in State-owned waters. In addition, vast petroleum and natural gas reserves are found offshore from Louisiana in the federally administered Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the Gulf of Mexico. According to the Energy Information Administration, the Gulf of Mexico OCS is the largest U.S. petroleum-producing region. Excluding the Gulf of Mexico OCS, Louisiana ranks fourth in petroleum production and is home to about 2 percent of total U.S. petroleum reserves.

Louisiana's natural gas reserves account for about 5 percent of the U.S. total. The recent discovery of the Haynesville Shale formation in parts of or all of Caddo, Bossier, Bienville, Sabine, De Soto, Red River, and Natchitoches parishes have made it the world's fourth largest gas field with some wells initially producing over 25 million cubic feet of gas daily.^[128]

Louisiana was the first site of petroleum drilling over water in the world, on Caddo Lake in the northwest corner of the state. The petroleum and gas industry, as well as its subsidiary industries such as transport and refining, have dominated Louisiana's economy since the 1940s. Beginning in 1950, Louisiana was sued several times by the U.S. Interior Department, in efforts by the federal government to strip Louisiana of its submerged land property rights. These control vast stores of reservoirs of petroleum and natural gas.

When petroleum and gas boomed in the 1970s, so did Louisiana's economy. The Louisiana economy as well as its politics of the last half-century cannot be understood without thoroughly accounting for the influence of the petroleum and gas industries. Since the 1980s, these industries' headquarters have consolidated in Houston, but many of the jobs that operate or provide logistical support to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico crude-oil-and-gas industry remained in Louisiana as of 2010.

Law and government[edit]

In 1849, the state moved the capital from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. Donaldsonville, Opelousas, and Shreveport have briefly served as the seat of Louisiana state government. The Louisiana State Capitol and the Louisiana Governor's Mansion are both located in Baton Rouge. The Louisiana Supreme Court, however, did not move to Baton Rouge but remains headquartered in New Orleans.

Louisiana and California (whose supreme court is seated in San Francisco) are the only two states whose high courts are not headquartered in the state capital.

The current Louisiana governor is DemocratJohn Bel Edwards. The current United States Senators are Republicans John Neely Kennedy and Bill Cassidy. Louisiana has six congressional districts and is represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by five Republicans and one Democrat. Louisiana had eight votes in the Electoral College for the 2012 election. It lost one House seat due to stagnant population growth in the 2010 Census.

Administrative divisions[edit]

Louisiana is divided into 64 parishes (the equivalent of counties in most other states).^[129]

Most parishes have an elected government known as the Police Jury, dating from the colonial days. It is the legislative and executive government of the parish, and is elected by the voters. Its members are called Jurors, and together they elect a President as their chairman.

A more limited number of parishes operate under home rule charters, electing various forms of government. This include mayor–council, council–manager (in which the council hires a professional operating manager for the parish), and others.

Civil law[edit]

The Louisiana political and legal structure has maintained several elements from the times of French and Spanish governance. One is the use of the term 'parish' (from the French: paroisse) in place of 'county' for administrative subdivision. Another is the legal system of civil law based on French, German, and Spanish legal codes and ultimately Roman law, as opposed to English common law.

Louisiana's civil law system is what the majority of nations in the world use, especially in Europe and its former colonies, excluding those that derive from the British Empire. However, it is incorrect to equate the Louisiana Civil Code with the Napoleonic Code. Although the Napoleonic Code and Louisiana law draw from common legal roots, the Napoleonic Code was never in force in Louisiana, as it was enacted in 1804, after the United States had purchased and annexed Louisiana in 1803.

While the Louisiana Civil Code of 1808 has been continuously revised and updated since its enactment, it is still considered the controlling authority in the state. Differences are found between Louisianan civil law and the common law found in the other U.S. states. While some of these differences have been bridged due to the strong influence of common law tradition,^[130] the civil law tradition is still deeply rooted in most aspects of Louisiana private law. Thus property, contractual, business entities structure, much of civil procedure, and family law, as well as some aspects of criminal law, are still based mostly on traditional Roman legal thinking.

Marriage[edit]

In 1997, Louisiana became the first state to offer the option of a traditional marriage or a covenant marriage.^[131] In a covenant marriage, the couple waives their right to a 'no-fault' divorce after six months of separation, which is available in a traditional marriage. To divorce under a covenant marriage, a couple must demonstrate cause. Marriages between ascendants and descendants, and marriages between collaterals within the fourth degree (i.e., siblings, aunt and nephew, uncle and niece, first cousins) are prohibited.^[132]Same-sex marriages were prohibited by statute,^[133][134] but the Supreme Court declared such bans unconstitutional in 2015, in its ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. Same-sex marriages are now performed statewide. Louisiana is a community property state.^[135]

Elections[edit]

From 1898 to 1965, a period when Louisiana had effectively disfranchised most African Americans and many poor whites by provisions of a new constitution,^[136] this was essentially a one-party state dominated by white Democrats. Elites had control in the early 20th century, before populist Huey Long came to power as governor.^[137] In multiple acts of resistance, blacks left behind the segregation, violence and oppression of the state and moved out to seek better opportunities in northern and western industrial cities during the Great Migrations of 1910–1970, markedly reducing their proportion of population in Louisiana. The franchise for whites was expanded somewhat during these decades, but blacks remained essentially disfranchised until after the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century, gaining enforcement of their constitutional rights through passage by Congress of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Since the 1960s, when civil rights legislation was passed under President Lyndon Johnson to protect voting and civil rights, most African Americans in the state have affiliated with the Democratic Party. In the same years, many white social conservatives have moved to support Republican Party candidates in national, gubernatorial and statewide elections. In 2004, David Vitter was the first Republican in Louisiana to be popularly elected as a U.S. Senator. The previous Republican Senator, John S. Harris, who took office in 1868 during Reconstruction, was chosen by the state legislature under the rules of the 19th century.

Louisiana is unique among U.S. states in using a system for its state and local elections similar to that of modern France. All candidates, regardless of party affiliation, run in a nonpartisan blanket primary (or 'jungle primary') on Election Day. If no candidate has more than 50% of the vote, the two candidates with the highest vote totals compete in a runoff election approximately one month later. This run-off method does not take into account party identification; therefore, it is not uncommon for a Democrat to be in a runoff with a fellow Democrat or a Republican to be in a runoff with a fellow Republican.

Congressional races have also been held under the jungle primary system. All other states (except Washington, California, and Maine) use single-party primaries followed by a general election between party candidates, each conducted by either a plurality voting system or runoff voting, to elect Senators, Representatives, and statewide officials. Between 2008 and 2010, federal congressional elections were run under a closed primary system – limited to registered party members. However, upon the passage of House Bill 292, Louisiana again adopted a nonpartisan blanket primary for its federal congressional elections.

Louisiana has six seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, five of which are currently held by Republicans and one by a Democrat. The state lost a House seat at the end of the 112th Congress due to stagnant population growth as recorded by the 2010 United States Census. Louisiana is not classified as a 'swing state' for future presidential elections, as since the late 20th century, it has regularly supported Republican candidates. The state's two U.S. senators are Bill Cassidy (R) John Neely Kennedy (R).

Law enforcement[edit]

Louisiana's statewide police force is the Louisiana State Police. It began in 1922 with the creation of the Highway Commission. In 1927, a second branch, the Bureau of Criminal Investigations, was formed. In 1932, the State Highway Patrol was authorized to carry weapons.

On July 28, 1936, the two branches were consolidated to form the Louisiana Department of State Police; its motto was 'courtesy, loyalty, service'. In 1942, this office was abolished and became a division of the Department of Public Safety, called the Louisiana State Police. In 1988, the Criminal Investigation Bureau was reorganized.^[138] Its troopers have statewide jurisdiction with power to enforce all laws of the state, including city and parish ordinances. Each year, they patrol over 12 million miles (20 million km) of roadway and arrest about 10,000 impaired drivers. The State Police are primarily a traffic enforcement agency, with other sections that delve into trucking safety, narcotics enforcement, and gaming oversight.

The elected sheriff in each parish is the chief law enforcement officer in the parish. They are the keepers of the local parish prisons, which house felony and misdemeanor prisoners. They are the primary criminal patrol and first responder agency in all matters criminal and civil. They are also the official tax collectors in each parish. The sheriffs are responsible for general law enforcement in their respective parishes. Orleans Parish is an exception, as the general law enforcement duties fall to the New Orleans Police Department. Before 2010, Orleans parish was the only parish to have two sheriff's offices. Orleans Parish divided sheriffs' duties between criminal and civil, with a different elected sheriff overseeing each aspect. In 2006, a bill was passed which eventually consolidated the two sheriff's departments into one parish sheriff responsible for both civil and criminal matters.^{[citation needed]}

In 2015, Louisiana had a higher murder rate (10.3 per 100,000) than any other state in the country for the 27th straight year. Louisiana is the only state with an annual average murder rate (13.6 per 100,000) at least twice as high as the U.S. annual average (6.6 per 100,000) during that period, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics from FBI Uniform Crime Reports. In a different kind of criminal activity, the Chicago Tribune reports that Louisiana is the most corrupt state in the United States.^[139]

According to the Times Picayune, Louisiana is the prison capital of the world. Many for-profit private prisons and sheriff-owned prisons have been built and operate here. Louisiana's incarceration rate is nearly five times Iran's, 13 times China's and 20 times Germany's. Minorities are incarcerated at rates disproportionate to their share of the state's population.^[140]

Judiciary[edit]

The judiciary of Louisiana is defined under the Constitution and law of Louisiana and is composed of the Louisiana Supreme Court, the Louisiana Circuit Courts of Appeal, the District Courts, the Justice of the Peace Courts, the Mayor's Courts, the City Courts, and the Parish Courts. The Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court is the chief administrator of the judiciary. Its administration is aided by the Judiciary Commission of Louisiana, the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board, and the Judicial Council of the Supreme Court of Louisiana.

National Guard[edit]

Louisiana has more than 9,000 soldiers in the Louisiana Army National Guard, including the 225th Engineer Brigade and the 256th Infantry Brigade. Both these units have served overseas during the War on Terror in either Iraq, Afghanistan, or both. The Louisiana Air National Guard has over 2,000 airmen and its 159th Fighter Wing has likewise seen overseas service in combat theaters.

Training sites in the state include Camp Beauregard near Pineville, Camp Villere near Slidell, Camp Minden near Minden, England Air Park (formerly England Air Force Base) near Alexandria, Gillis Long Center near Carville, and Jackson Barracks in New Orleans.

Media[edit]

Education[edit]

Louisiana is home to several notable colleges and universities, which include Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and Tulane University in New Orleans. Louisiana State University is the largest and most comprehensive university in Louisiana.^[141] Tulane University is a major private research university and the wealthiest university in Louisiana with an endowment over $1.1 billion.^[142] Tulane is also highly regarded for its academics nationwide, ranked fortieth on U.S. News & World Report's2018 list of best national universities.^[143]

The Louisiana Science Education Act^[144] is a controversial law passed by the Louisiana Legislature on June 11, 2008, and signed into law by Governor Bobby Jindal on June 25. The act allows public school teachers to use supplemental materials in the science classroom which are critical of established science on such topics as the theory of evolution and global warming.^[145][146]

Sports[edit]

Louisiana is nominally the least populous state with more than one major professional sports league franchise: the National Basketball Association's New Orleans Pelicans and the National Football League's New Orleans Saints. Louisiana has a AAA Minor League baseball team, the New Orleans Baby Cakes. The Baby Cakes are currently affiliated with the Miami Marlins.

Louisiana has 12 collegiate NCAA Division I programs, a high number given its population. The state has no NCAA Division II teams and only two NCAA Division III teams. The LSU Tigers football team has won 11 Southeastern Conference titles, six Sugar Bowls and three national championships.

Each year New Orleans plays host to the Sugar Bowl and the New Orleans Bowl college football games, and Shreveport hosts the Independence Bowl. Also, New Orleans has hosted the Super Bowl a record seven times, as well as the BCS National Championship Game, NBA All-Star Game and NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.

Caddo Parish School Board Drivers Ed Summer Programs

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans, is a PGA Tour golf tournament held since 1938. The Rock 'n' Roll Mardi Gras Marathon and Crescent City Classic are two road running competitions held at New Orleans.

As of 2016, Louisiana was the birthplace of the most NFL players per capita for the eighth year in a row.^[147]

Culture[edit]

Louisiana is home to many, especially notable are the distinct culture of the Louisiana Creoles, typically people of color, descendants of free mixed-race families of the colonial and early statehood periods.

African culture[edit]

The French colony of La Louisiane struggled for decades to survive. Conditions were harsh, the climate and soil were unsuitable for certain crops the colonists knew, and they suffered from regional tropical diseases. Both colonists and the slaves they imported had high mortality rates. The settlers kept importing slaves, which resulted in a high proportion of native Africans from West Africa, who continued to practice their culture in new surroundings. As described by historian Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, they developed a marked Afro-Creole culture in the colonial era.^[148][149]

At the turn of the 18th century and in the early 1800s, New Orleans received a major influx of white and mixed-race refugees fleeing the violence of the Haitian Revolution, many of whom brought their slaves with them. This added another infusion of African culture to the city, as more slaves in Saint-Domingue were from Africa than in the United States. They strongly influenced the African-American culture of the city in terms of dance, music and religious practices.

Louisiana Creole culture[edit]

Creole culture is an amalgamation of French, African, Spanish (and other European), and Native American cultures.^[150] Creole comes from the Portuguese word crioulo; originally it referred to a colonist of European (specifically French) descent who was born in the New World, in comparison to immigrants from France.^[151] The oldest Louisiana manuscript to use the word 'Creole,' from 1782, applied it to a slave born in the French colony.^[152] But originally it referred more generally to the French colonists born in Louisiana.

Over time, there developed in the French colony a relatively large group of Creoles of Color (gens de couleur libres), who were primarily descended from African slave women and French men (later other Europeans became part of the mix, as well as some Native Americans.) Often the French would free their concubines and mixed-race children, and pass on social capital to them. They might educate sons in France, for instance, and help them enter the French Army for a career. They also settled capital or property on their mistresses and children. The free people of color gained more rights in the colony and sometimes education; they generally spoke French and were Roman Catholic. Many became artisans and property owners. Over time, the term 'Creole' became associated with this class of Creoles of Color, many of whom achieved freedom long before the Civil War.

Wealthy French Creoles generally maintained town houses in New Orleans as well as houses on their large sugar plantations outside town along the Mississippi River. New Orleans had the largest population of free people of color in the region; they could find work there and created their own culture, marrying among themselves for decades.

Acadian culture[edit]

The ancestors of Cajuns immigrated from west central France to New France, where they settled in the Atlantic provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, known originally as Acadia. After the British defeated France in the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War) in 1763, France ceded its territory east of the Mississippi River to Britain. The British forcibly separated families and evicted them from Acadia because they refused to vow loyalty to the new British regime. The Acadians were deported to England, New England, and France. Some escaped the British remained in French Canada.

Others scattered, to France, Canada, Mexico, or the Falkland Islands. Many Acadian refugees settled in south Louisiana in the region around Lafayette and the LaFourche Bayou country. They developed a distinct rural culture there that was different from that of the French Creole colonists in the New Orleans area. Intermarrying with others in the area, they developed what was called Cajun music, cuisine and culture. Until the 1970s, the term 'Cajun' was considered somewhat derogatory.

Isleño culture[edit]

A third distinct culture in Louisiana is that of the Isleños, descendants of Spanish Canary Islanders who migrated from the Canary Islands of Spain under the Spanish crown beginning in the mid-1770s. They developed four main communities, but many relocated to what is modern-day St. Bernard Parish. This is where the majority of the Isleño population is still concentrated. An annual festival called Fiesta celebrates the heritage of the Isleños.

St Bernard Parish has an Isleños museum, cemetery and church, as well as many street names with Spanish words and Spanish surnames from this heritage. Some members of the Isleño community still speak Spanish – with their own Canary Islander accent. Numerous Isleño identity organizations, and many members of Isleños society keep contact with the Canary Islands of Spain.

Languages[edit]

According to a 2010 study by the Modern Language Association, among persons five years old and older,^[153] 91.26% of Louisiana residents speak only English at home, 3.45% speak French (standard French, French Creole, or Cajun French), 3.30% speak Spanish, and 0.59% speak Vietnamese.

Historically, Native American peoples in the area at the time of European encounter were seven tribes distinguished by their languages: Caddo, Tunica, Natchez, Houma, Choctaw, Atakapa, and Chitimacha. Of these, only Tunica, Caddo and Choctaw still have living native speakers, although several other tribes are working to teach and revitalize their languages. Other Native American peoples migrated into the region, escaping from European pressure from the east. Among these were Alabama, Biloxi, Koasati, and Ofo peoples.

Starting in the 1700s, French colonists began to settle along the coast and founded New Orleans. They established French culture and language institutions. They imported thousands of slaves from tribes of West Africa, who spoke several different languages. In the creolization process, the slaves developed a Louisiana Creole dialect incorporating both French and African forms, which colonists adopted to communicate with them, and which persisted beyond slavery. In the 20th century, there were still people of mixed race, particularly, who spoke Louisiana Creole French.

During the 19th century after the Louisiana Purchase by the United States, English gradually gained prominence for business and government due to the shift in population with settlement by numerous Americans who were English speakers. Many ethnic French families continued to use French in private. Slaves and some free people of color also spoke Louisiana Creole French. The State Constitution of 1812 gave English official status in legal proceedings, but use of French remained widespread. Subsequent state constitutions reflect the diminishing importance of French. The 1868 constitution, passed during the Reconstruction era before Louisiana was re-admitted to the Union, banned laws requiring the publication of legal proceedings in languages other than English. Subsequently, the legal status of French recovered somewhat, but it never regained its pre-Civil War prominence.^[154]

Several unique dialects of French, Creole, and English are spoken in Louisiana. Dialects of the French language are: Colonial French and Houma French. Louisiana Creole French is the term for one of the Creole languages. Two unique dialects developed of the English language: Louisiana English, a French-influenced variety of English; and what is informally known as Yat, which resembles the New York City dialect, particularly that of historical Brooklyn. Both accents were influenced by large communities of immigrant Irish and Italians, but the Yat dialect, which developed in New Orleans, was also influenced by French and Spanish.

Colonial French was the dominant language of white settlers in Louisiana during the French colonial period; it was spoken primarily by the French Creoles (native-born). In addition to this dialect, the mixed-race people and slaves developed Louisiana Creole, with a base in West African languages. The limited years of Spanish rule at the end of the 18th century did not result in widespread adoption of the Spanish language. French and Louisiana Creole are still used in modern-day Louisiana, often in family gatherings. English and its associated dialects became predominant after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, after which the area became dominated by numerous English speakers. In some regions, English was influenced by French, as seen with Louisiana English. Colonial French, although mistakenly named Cajun French by some Cajuns, has persisted alongside English.

Renewed interest in the French language in Louisiana has led to the establishment of Canadian-modeled French immersion schools, as well as bilingual signage in the historic French neighborhoods of New Orleans and Lafayette. Organizations such as CODOFIL promote use of the French language in the state.

Literature[edit]

Music[edit]

See also[edit]

• Outline of Louisiana – organized list of topics about Louisiana

Notes[edit]

1. ^Louisiana French: La Louisiane, [la lwizjan, luz-];^[8]Louisiana Creole: Léta de la Lwizyàn; Standard French: État de Louisiane[lwizjan](listen); Spanish: Luisiana

References[edit]

1. ^'United States'. Modern Language Association. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
2. ^'New Orleans a 'ghost town' after thousands flee Gustav: mayor', AFP, August 31, 2008, archived from the original on May 16, 2013
3. ^'Expert: N.O. population at 273,000'. WWL-TV. August 7, 2007. Archived from the original on September 26, 2007. Retrieved August 14, 2007.
4. ^'Relocation'. Baton rouge. Connecting U.S. Cities. May 3, 2007. Archived from the original on February 9, 2014.
5. ^'Median Annual Household Income'. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
6. ^ ^ab'Elevations and Distances in the United States'. United States Geological Survey. 2001. Archived from the original on October 15, 2011. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
7. ^ ^abElevation adjusted to North American Vertical Datum of 1988.
8. ^Valdman, Albert; Kevin J. Rottet, eds. (2009). Dictionary of Louisiana French: As Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian Communities. University Press of Mississippi. p. 98. ISBN978-1-60473-404-1.
9. ^ ^abcdefKeddy, Paul A. (2008). Water, Earth, Fire: Louisiana's Natural Heritage. Philadelphia: Xlibris. p. 229. ISBN978-1-4363-6234-4.
10. ^Dayna Bowker Lee, 'Louisiana Indians in the 21st Century', Louisiana Folklife Program, 2013
11. ^ ^abLouisiana Official Site on Languages, accessed August 22, 2016
12. ^Murphy, Alexander B. (2008). 'Placing Louisiana in the Francophone World: Opportunities and Challenges'(PDF). Atlantic Studies. 5 (3): 11. Archived from the original(PDF) on May 10, 2013. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
13. ^Baker, Lea Flowers. 'Louisiana Purchase'. Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. Retrieved September 18, 2010.
14. ^Spearing, D. (1995). Roadside Geology of Louisiana. Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula, MT. 225 pp. 5–19
15. ^Coleman, J. M., Roberts, H. H., and Stone, G. W. (1998). 'Mississippi River Delta: an overview', Journal of Coastal Research, 14, 698–716.
16. ^Holland, W.C. 1944. 'Physiographic divisions of the Quaternary lowlands of Louisiana', Proceedings of the Louisiana Academy of Sciences VIII: 10–24.
17. ^Kniffen, F.B. and Hilliard, S.B. 1988. Louisiana: Its Land and People. Revised edition. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge. p. 66-68.
18. ^Spearing (1995), Roadside Geology, pp. 19–30
19. ^'Louisiana fights the sea, and loses'. The Economist. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
20. ^Rivet, Ryan (Summer 2008). 'Petroleum Dynamite'. Tulanian. Tulane University: 20–27. Archived from the original on June 13, 2010. Retrieved September 7, 2009.
21. ^Keddy, Paul (2010). Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 497. ISBN978-0-521-51940-3.
22. ^Ricardo A. Olea and James L Coleman., Jr. (2014), A synoptic examination of causes of land loss in southern Louisiana as they relate to the exploitation of subsurface geologic resources. Journal of Coastal Research, v. 30, no. 5, p. 1025−1044.
23. ^Boesch, D. F., Josselyn, M. N., Mehta, A. J., Morris, J. T., Nuttle, W. K., Simenstad, C. A., and Swift, D. P. J. (1994). 'Scientific assessment of coastal wetland loss, restoration and management in Louisiana', Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 20.
24. ^Tidwell, Michael. Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast. Vintage Departures: New York, 2003 ISBN978-0-375-42076-4.
25. ^'Louisiana Weather'. Archived from the original on June 30, 2007. Retrieved May 20, 2007.
26. ^ ^ab'NOAA National Climatic Data Center'. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
27. ^ ^abc'NowData – NOAA Online Weather Data'. National Weather Service Forecast Office, Shreveport, LA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
28. ^ ^ab'NowData – NOAA Online Weather Data'. National Weather Service Forecast Office, Lake Charles, LA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
29. ^ ^ab'NowData – NOAA Online Weather Data'. National Weather Service Forecast Office, New Orleans/Baton Rouge, LA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
30. ^Hurricane Gustav makes landfall, weakens to Category 1 stormArchived May 17, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Fox News, September 2, 2008.
31. ^Mandatory evacuations to begin Sunday morning in New Orleans CNN, August 31, 2008.
32. ^'Sixteen deaths connected to Gustav'. KTBS. Associated Press. September 3, 2008. Archived from the original on September 18, 2008. Retrieved September 8, 2008.
33. ^Rowland, Michael (September 2, 2008). 'Louisiana cleans up after Gustav'. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved September 8, 2008.
34. ^Stewart, Stacy (August 23, 2005). 'Tropical Depression Twelve, Discussion No. 1, 5:00 pm. EDT'. National Hurricane Center. Retrieved July 25, 2007.
35. ^'Cajun and Cajuns: Genealogy site for Cajun, Acadian and Louisiana genealogy, history and culture'. www.thecajuns.com.
36. ^Florida Greenways Commission. 1994. Report to the Governor. Creating a statewide greenways system: For people ... for wildlife ... for Florida. Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Tallahassee, FL.
37. ^Lester, G. D., S.G. Sorensen, P. L. Faulkner, C. S. Reid and I. E. Maxit. 2005. Louisiana Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy. Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Baton Rouge, LA
38. ^Appendix B: Descriptions of Louisiana's Natural and Scenic Rivers: pp B-2 (list)- Retrieved 2017-03-18
39. ^National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
40. ^Amélie A. Walker, 'Earliest Mound Site', Archaeology Magazine, Volume 51 Number 1, January/February 1998
41. ^Preucel, Robert W; Mrozowski, Stephen A (May 10, 2010). Robert W. Preucel, Stephen A. Mrozowski, Contemporary Archaeology in Theory: The New Pragmatism, John Wiley and Sons, 2010, p. 177. ISBN9781405158329. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
42. ^Jon L. Gibson, PhD, 'Poverty Point: The First Complex Mississippi Culture', 2001, Delta Blues, accessed October 26, 2009 Archived December 7, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
43. ^'Tchefuncte'. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
44. ^'Louisiana Prehistory-Marksville, Troyville-Coles Creek, and Caddo'. Archived from the original on December 15, 2008. Retrieved February 4, 2010.
45. ^'OAS-Oklahomas Past'. Archived from the original on May 31, 2010. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
46. ^ ^ab'Tejas-Caddo Ancestors-Woodland Cultures'. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
47. ^Raymond Fogelson (September 20, 2004). Handbook of North American Indians : Southeast. Smithsonian Institution. ISBN978-0-16-072300-1.
48. ^'Southeastern Prehistory : Late Woodland Period'. NPS.GOV. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
49. ^Timothy P Denham; José Iriarte; Luc Vrydaghs, eds. (December 10, 2008). Rethinking Agriculture: Archaeological and Ethnoarchaeological Perspectives. Left Coast Press. pp. 199–204. ISBN978-1-59874-261-9.
50. ^Kidder, Tristram (1998). R. Barry Lewis; Charles Stout (eds.). Mississippian Towns and Sacred Spaces. University of Alabama Press. ISBN978-0-8173-0947-3.
51. ^'Mississippian and Late Prehistoric Period'. Archived from the original on June 7, 2008. Retrieved September 8, 2008.
52. ^Rees, Mark A. (2007). 'Plaquemine Mounds of the western Atchafalaya Basin'. In Rees, Mark A.; Livingood, Patrick C. (eds.). Plaquemine Archaeology. University of Alabama Press. pp. 84–93.
53. ^'Indian Mounds of Northeast Louisiana:Fitzhugh Mounds'. Archived from the original on December 24, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
54. ^'Indian Mounds of Northeast Louisiana:Scott Place Mounds'. Archived from the original on December 25, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
55. ^Weinstein, Richard A.; Dumas, Ashley A. (2008). 'The spread of shell-tempered ceramics along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico'(PDF). Southeastern Archaeology. 27 (2). Archived from the original(PDF) on April 25, 2012.
56. ^'The Plaquemine Culture, A.D 1000'. Retrieved September 8, 2008.
57. ^'Tejas-Caddo Fundamentals-Caddoan Languages and Peoples'. Retrieved February 4, 2010.
58. ^'Historical-Belcher'. Retrieved February 22, 2010.^{[permanent dead link]}
59. ^'Notice of Inventory Completion for Native American Human Remains and Associated Funerary Objects in the Possession of the Louisiana State University Museum'. Retrieved February 22, 2010.
60. ^David Roth, 'Louisiana Hurricane History: 18th century (1722–1800)', Tropical Weather – National Weather Service – Lake Charles, LA, 2003, accessed May 7, 2008 Archived August 5, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
61. ^ ^abcEkberg, Carl (2000). French Roots in the Illinois Country: The Mississippi Frontier in Colonial Times. Urbana and Chicago, Ill.: University of Illinois Press. pp. 32–33. ISBN9780252069246. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
62. ^The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440–1870 by Hugh Thomas. 1997: Simon and Schuster. p. 242-43
63. ^'Code Noir of Louisiana – Know Louisiana'.
64. ^'The law of slavery – Master–slave legal relationships'. Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on October 7, 2014.
65. ^ ^abcHugh Thomas, The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440–1870, Simon and Schuster, 1997, p. 548.
66. ^Thomas (1997), The Slave Trade, p. 549.
67. ^Walter Johnson, Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999, p.2
68. ^In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience- The Domestic Slave Trade, New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Study of Black Culture, 2002, accessed April 27, 2008
69. ^Peter Kolchin, American Slavery: 1619–1877, New York: Hill and Wang, 1994, pp. 96–98
70. ^'The Slave Rebellion of 1791'. Library of Congress Country Studies.
71. ^Sieur de Bienville, 'In Motion', African American Migration Experience, accessed July 22, 2012
72. ^Saving New OrleansArchived May 30, 2012, at Archive.today, Smithsonian magazine, August 2006. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
73. ^Peter Kastor,The Nation's Crucible: The Louisiana Purchase and the Creation of America, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004) 40
74. ^Bailey, Thomas A; Kennedy, David M (1994). The American pageant: a history of the republic – Thomas A. Bailey, David M. Kennedy – Google Books. ISBN9780669339055. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
75. ^'A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 – 1875'. memory.loc.gov.
76. ^'A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 – 1875'. rs6.loc.gov.
77. ^'A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 – 1875'. memory.loc.gov.
78. ^'A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 – 1875'. memory.loc.gov.
79. ^John M. Sacher, A Perfect War of Politics: Parties, Politicians, and Democracy in Louisiana, 1824–1861, 0807128481, 9780807128480, Louisiana State University Press, 2003.
80. ^Historical Census Browser, 1860 US Census, University of Virginia, accessed October 31, 2007
81. ^'Louisiana's Secession from the Union – Know Louisiana'. Know Louisiana. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
82. ^Pildes, Richard H (2000). 'Richard H. Pildes, Democracy, Anti-Democracy, and the Canon, Constitutional Commentary, Vol.17, 2000, p.12-13, Accessed 10 Mar 2008'. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.224731. SSRN224731.
83. ^Historical Census Browser, 1900 US Census, University of Virginia, accessed March 15, 2008 Archived August 23, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
84. ^Richard H. Pildes, 'Democracy, Anti-Democracy and the Canon', Constitutional Commentary, Vol. 17, p.12, accessed March 10, 2008
85. ^'African American Migration Experience: The Great Migration', In Motion, New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, accessed April 24, 2008
86. ^'African American Migration Experience: The Second Great Migration', In Motion, New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, accessed April 24, 2008
87. ^Adam Fairclough, Race & Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana, 1915–1972, University of Georgia Press, 1999
88. ^Debo P. Adegbile, 'Voting Rights in Louisiana: 1982–2006,' March 2006, p. 7Archived June 26, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, accessed March 19, 2008
89. ^Edward Blum and Abigail Thernstrom, 'Executive Summary'Archived April 17, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Bullock-Gaddie Expert Report on Louisiana, February 10, 2006, p.1, American Enterprise Institute, accessed March 19, 2008
90. ^Douglas Martin (April 24, 2010). 'Robert Hicks, Leader in Armed Rights Group, Dies at 81'. The New York Times.
91. ^Historical Census Browser, 1960 US Census, University of Virginia, accessed March 15, 2008 Archived August 23, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
92. ^William H. Frey, 'The New Great Migration: Black Americans' Return to the South, 1965–2000'; May 2004, p. 3, The Brookings InstitutionArchived January 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, accessed March 19, 2008
93. ^Jason Samenow (August 19, 2016). 'No-name storm dumped three times as much rain in Louisiana as Hurricane Katrina'. Washington Post. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
94. ^Baton Rouge Area Chamber (August 18, 2016). 'BRAC's preliminary analysis of potential magnitude of flooding's impact on the Baton Rouge region'(PDF). Baton Rouge Area Chamber. Baton Rouge Area Chamber. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
95. ^Cusick, Ashley (August 16, 2016). 'This man bought 108 pounds of brisket to cook for the displaced Baton Rouge victims'. The Washington Post. ISSN0190-8286. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
96. ^ ^ab2010 Census Data. '2010 Census Data – 2010 Census'. 2010.census.gov. Archived from the original on February 15, 2012. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
97. ^ ^ab'QuickFacts Louisiana; UNITED STATES'. 2018 Population Estimates. United States Census Bureau, Population Division. February 21, 2019. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
98. ^'Population and Population Centers by State – 2000'. United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on September 18, 2008. Retrieved December 5, 2008.
99. ^Bureau, U.S. Census. 'American FactFinder – Results'. factfinder2.census.gov.
100. ^Bureau, U.S. Census. 'American FactFinder – Results'. factfinder2.census.gov.
101. ^Louisiana QuickFacts from the US Census BureauArchived January 19, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Quickfacts.census.gov. Retrieved on March 20, 2016.
102. ^'2010 US Census – SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS IN THE UNITED STATES – Louisiana'. Factfinder2.census.gov. October 5, 2010. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
103. ^Exner, Rich (June 3, 2012). 'Americans under age 1 now mostly minorities, but not in Ohio: Statistical Snapshot'. The Plain Dealer.
104. ^'Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990, and By Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, For The United States, Regions, Divisions, and States'. Census.gov. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
105. ^Population of Louisiana: Census 2010 and 2000 Interactive Map, Demographics, Statistics, Quick Facts^{[dead link]}
106. ^2010 Census Data. '2010 Census Data'. Census.gov. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
107. ^'Religious Landscape Study'. May 11, 2015.
108. ^'The Association of Religion Data Archives State Membership Report'. www.thearda.com. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
109. ^For Louisiana's position in a larger religious context, see Bible Belt.
110. ^Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). 'Louisiana' . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
111. ^Other Southern states – such as Maryland and Texas – have longstanding indigenous Catholic populations, and Florida's largely Catholic population of Cuban emigres has been influential since the 1960s. Yet, Louisiana is still unusual or exceptional in its extent of aboriginal Catholic settlement and influence. Among states in the Deep South (discounting Florida's Panhandle and much of Texas) the historic role of Catholicism in Louisiana is unparalleled and unique. Among the states of the Union, Louisiana's unique use of the term parish (French la parouche or 'la paroisse') for county is rooted in the pre-statehood role of Catholic church parishes in the administration of government.
112. ^Isaacs, Ronald H. The Jewish Information Source Book: A Dictionary and Almanac, Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, Inc., 1993. p. 202.
113. ^'Sinai Scholars Seek Students'. Tulane University. January 12, 2010. Archived from the original on July 12, 2015. Registration is open for the spring session of the Sinai Scholars Society, Tulane chapter. The national organization provides funding for a course on Judaism each semester at more than 50 campuses nationwide.
114. ^''Michael Hahn.' KnowLA Encyclopedia of Louisiana. Ed. David Johnson. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, 27 Jul 2011. Web. 2 Mar. 2016, accessed 2 March 2016'. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
115. ^'U.S. Census Bureau Quick Facts'. City Population. July 1, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
116. ^'U.S. Census Bureau Quick Facts'. City Population. July 1, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
117. ^'US Government Revenue'. US Government Revenue. April 6, 2014. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
118. ^'Katrina Effect: LA Tops Nation in Income Growth'. 2theadvocate.com. 2007. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011.
119. ^MIKE MACIAG. 'The Most Small Business-Friendly States, Metro Areas'. Governing. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
120. ^[1]Archived January 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine linked from [2], accessed September 28, 2006
121. ^Troeh, Eve (February 1, 2007). 'Louisiana to be Southern Filmmaking Capital?'. VOA News. Voice of America. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved December 25, 2008.
122. ^Robertson, Campbell (May 16, 2013). 'Seeking Fame in the Bayou? Get Real'. The New York Times. pp. A13. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
123. ^'New Jersey Local Jobs –'. Nj.com. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
124. ^Shevory, Kristina. 'The Fiery Family,' The New York Times, March 31, 2007, p. B1.
125. ^'Economy'. Doa.louisiana.gov. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
126. ^'WCEF Culture'. wcefculture.com. Archived from the original on March 14, 2016.CS1 maint: Unfit url (link)
127. ^[3];Bureau of Labor Statistics
128. ^'EIA State Energy Profiles: Louisiana'. June 12, 2008. Archived from the original on February 6, 2011. Retrieved June 24, 2008.
129. ^Native Americans from the Handbook of Texas Online
130. ^Kinsella, Norman (1997). 'A Civil Law to Common Law Dictionary'(PDF). KinsellaLaw.com. Archived from the original(PDF) on December 7, 2010. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
131. ^'Covenant Marriage – Pros and Cons'. Marriage.about.com. January 1, 2012. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
132. ^'Louisiana Law Search'. www.legis.state.la.us.
133. ^'Louisiana Law Search'. www.legis.state.la.us.
134. ^
135. ^'Louisiana Law Search'. www.legis.state.la.us.
136. ^'Reading the Fine Print: The Grandfather Clause in Louisiana'. History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web. George Washington University. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
137. ^Cashman, Sean Dennis (1991). African-Americans and the Quest for Civil Rights, 1900–1990. New York University Press. p. 8. ISBN9780814714416.
138. ^'Louisiana State Police – About Us – LSP History'. Lsp.org. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
139. ^Witt, Howard (March 27, 2009). 'Most corrupt state: Louisiana ranked higher than Illinois'. Chicago Tribune.
140. ^Cindy Chang. 'Louisiana is the world's prison capital'. The Times-Picayune. Nola.com. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
141. ^(LSU), Louisiana State University. 'About Us'. www.lsu.edu.
142. ^'Archived copy'(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on April 2, 2017. Retrieved March 23, 2017.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
143. ^https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities
144. ^Senator Ben Nevers. 'SB733'. Louisiana Legislature. Retrieved June 25, 2008.
145. ^Dvorsky, George (January 15, 2013). 'How 19-year-old Zack Kopplin is making life hell for Louisiana's creationists'. Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. Archived from the original on February 25, 2013. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
146. ^Weiss, Joanna (January 29, 2013). 'Jindal's creationism problem'. Boston Globe. via HighBeam Research(subscription required). Archived from the original on June 11, 2014. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
147. ^'Woodland Hills High School in Pittsburgh has most NFL players; California leads states; Houston leads hometowns'. Usafootball.com. September 24, 2010. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
148. ^Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Africans in Colonial Louisiana: The Development of Afro-Creole Culture in the Eighteenth Century (1992)
149. ^Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, comp. Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy, 1719–1820. Database http://www.ibiblio.org/laslave/, 2003.
150. ^'French Creole Heritage'. Laheritage.org. Archived from the original on August 30, 2014. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
151. ^Delehanty, Randolph.New Orleans: Elegance and Decadence, Chronicle Books, 1995, pg. 14
152. ^Kein, Sybil. Creole: The History and Legacy of Louisiana's Free People of Color, Louisiana State University Press, 2009, p. 73.
153. ^'United States'. Modern Language Association. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
154. ^Ward, Roger K (Summer 1997). 'The French Language in Louisiana Law and Legal Education: A Requiem'. Louisiana Law Review. 57 (4).

Bibliography[edit]

• The Sugar Masters: Planters and Slaves in Louisiana's Cane World, 1820–1860 by Richard Follett, Louisiana State University Press, 2007. ISBN978-0-8071-3247-0
• The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440–1870 by Hugh Thomas. 1997: Simon and Schuster. p. 548.
• Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World by David Brion Davis 2006: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-533944-4
• Yiannopoulos, A.N., The Civil Codes of Louisiana (reprinted from Civil Law System: Louisiana and Comparative law, A Coursebook: Texts, Cases and Materials, 3d Edition; similar to version in preface to Louisiana Civil Code, ed. by Yiannopoulos)
• Rodolfo Batiza, 'The Louisiana Civil Code of 1808: Its Actual Sources and Present Relevance,' 46 TUL. L. REV. 4 (1971); Rodolfo Batiza, 'Sources of the Civil Code of 1808, Facts and Speculation: A Rejoinder,' 46 TUL. L. REV. 628 (1972); Robert A. Pascal, Sources of the Digest of 1808: A Reply to Professor Batiza, 46 TUL. L. REV. 603 (1972); Joseph M. Sweeney, Tournament of Scholars Over the Sources of the Civil Code of 1808,46 TUL. L. REV. 585 (1972).
• The standard history of the state, though only through the Civil War, is Charles Gayarré's History of Louisiana' (various editions, culminating in 1866, 4 vols., with a posthumous and further expanded edition in 1885).
• A number of accounts by 17th- and 18th-century French explorers: Jean-Bernard Bossu, François-Marie Perrin du Lac, Pierre-François-Xavier de Charlevoix, Dumont (as published by Fr. Mascrier), Fr. Louis Hennepin, Lahontan, Louis Narcisse Baudry des Lozières, Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe, and Laval. In this group, the explorer Antoine Simon Le Page du Pratz may be the first historian of Louisiana with his Histoire de la Louisiane (3 vols., Paris, 1758; 2 vols., London, 1763)
• François Xavier Martin's History of Louisiana (2 vols., New Orleans, 1827–1829, later ed. by J. F. Condon, continued to 1861, New Orleans, 1882) is the first scholarly treatment of the subject, along with François Barbé-Marbois' Histoire de la Louisiane et de la cession de colonie par la France aux Etats-Unis (Paris, 1829; in English, Philadelphia, 1830).
• Alcée Fortier's A History of Louisiana (N.Y., 4 vols., 1904) is the most recent of the large-scale scholarly histories of the state.
• The official works of Albert Phelps and Grace King, the publications of the Louisiana Historical Society and several works on the history of New Orleans (q.v.), among them those by Henry Rightor and John Smith Kendall provide background.

External links[edit]

• Louisiana at Curlie

Geology links[edit]

• Geology
  • Generalized Geology of Louisiana (text to Generalized Geologic Map of Louisiana)

Government[edit]

• Louisiana State Databases – Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Louisiana state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association.

U.S. government[edit]

• 1st district: Steve Scalise – Website
• 2nd district: Cedric Richmond – Website & Campaign Website
• 3rd district: Charles Boustany – Website
• 4th district: John C. Fleming – Website
• 5th district: Ralph Abraham – Website
• 6th district: Garret Graves – Website

News media[edit]

• The Times-Picayune major Louisiana newspaper
• WWL-TV Louisiana television station

Ecoregions[edit]

Tourism[edit]

• Geographic data related to Louisiana at OpenStreetMap

Coordinates: 31°N92°W / 31°N 92°W