1841 | North Texas area containing the future Dallas becomes part of Peters Colony, land settlement grant made by the Republic of Texas to American and English investors led by William S. Peters; City founded by John Neely Bryan, who settled on the east bank of the Trinity near a natural ford (November). Two highways, the Central National Highway and the Military Road, proposed by the Republic of Texas soon converged near Dallas. |
| 1844 | J. P. Dumas surveyed and laid out a town site comprising a half mile square of blocks and streets. |
| 1846 | Dallas County formed; Dallas designated as the temporary county seat. |
| 1850 | Voters selected Dallas as the permanent county seat over Hord's Ridge (Oak Cliff) and Cedar Springs. Population about 430. |
| 1856 | The Texas legislature granted Dallas a town charter on February 2. Dr. Samuel Pryor, elected the first mayor, headed a town government consisting of six aldermen, a treasurer-recorder, and a constable. |
| 1860 | Population 678, including ninety-seven African Americans as well as French, Belgians, Swiss, and Germans. On July 8, 1860, a fire originating in the W. W. Peak Brothers Drugstore spread to the other buildings on the square and destroyed most of the businesses. Suspicion fell on slaves and Northern abolitionists; three slaves were hanged, and two Iowa preachers were whipped and run out of town. |
| 1861 | Dallas voted 741 to 237 to secede from the Union. Dallas selected as one of eleven quartermaster and commissary posts in Texas for the Trans-Mississippi Army of the Confederacy. After the war, freed slaves moved to Dallas in search of jobs. They settled in freedmen's towns, which grew in multiple locations around Dallas. |
| 1870 | Population about 3,000. |
| 1871 | Town of Dallas upgraded to City of Dallas. A new city charter is written. |
| 1872 | Houston and Texas Central Railroad arrives in Dallas; Dr. Matthew Cornelius appointed first City health officer. First firefighting unit, "Company Number One," established. |
| 1873 | Texas and Pacific Railroad arrived in Dallas making it one of the first rail crossroads in Texas. Cotton became the region's principal cash crop, and Elm Street in Dallas was its market. Dallas became the world center for the leather and buffalo-hide trade. |
| 1874 | Gaslight street illumination. |
| 1880 | Population 10,385. |
| 1881 | Telephone service begins in Dallas. |
| 1882 | Electricity service began in Dallas; first electricity plant opened; City acquired water works from Dallas Hydrant Company. |
| 1884 | First paved streets in Dallas, laid with bois d'arc blocks. |
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1889 | First electric streetcars in Dallas. |
| 1890 |
Dallas annexed the neighboring town of East Dallas, which was larger in both land and population than Dallas, on January 1; Dallas ranked as the most populous city in Texas, with 38,067 residents. |
| 1894 |
Parkland Hospital opened, City-County joint venture. |
| 1900 |
Population 42,638. |
| 1901 |
Dallas Public Library established. |
| 1902 |
First interurban electric lines began operation. |
| 1904 | City of Oak Cliff annexed to the City of Dallas; City purchased Fair Park from its owners in 1904; State Fair of Texas operated by a private organization. |
| 1907 |
Dallas voters adopted the commission form of city government (Mayor and four commissioners) to replace the alderman system. |
| 1908 | Disastrous flood of Trinity River. |
| 1909 |
Kessler Plan developed; White Rock Park acquired; lake created one year later. |
| 1910 |
Population 92,104 by 1910; city doubled in area to 18.31 square miles. |
| 1912 | Houston Street Viaduct opened, billed as "longest concrete bridge in the world"; Dallas Zoo opened in Marsalis Park. |
| 1914 | Municipal Building (Dallas City Hall 1914-1978) built. |
| 1915 |
City Welfare Department established. |
| 1916 | Union Terminal opened.
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| 1917 | Dallas votes for Prohibition; saloons close October 20; Love Field is created as US Army pilot training camp. |
| 1918 | Camp Dick, World War I Army training camp, established at Fair Park. |
| 1920 | Population 158,976; Dallas ranked as the forty-second-largest city in the nation. |
| 1921 | Station WRR, first municipal radio broadcasting station in America, established. |
| 1926 | Love Field incorporated into the national airmail flight routes. |
| 1927 | $23,900 Ulrickson Plan city bond issue approved by referendum; Love Field is purchased by the City as municipal airport; Charles Lindbergh participates in dedication. |
| 1928 | Ground broken for Trinity River levee and reclamation project. |
| 1930 | Population 260,475. Citizens Charter Association won voter approval for the council-manager form of city government (nine council places); Cotton Bowl built, seating 46,400. |
| 1932 | City applied jointly with County to Reconstruction Finance Corporation for $450,000 loan to provide relief work programs. |
| 1933 |
Great Depression put 15,000 Dallasites on relief roles by 1933. City voted to repeal Prohibition. |
| 1936 | Texas Centennial Exposition, held in Fair Park; Triple Underpass completed, linking Main, Commerce, and Elm Streets with Oak Cliff; Dallas Aquarium opened. |
| 1937 | Pan-American Exposition held at Fair Park; W. W. Samuell estate deeded to City. |
| 1940 | Population 294,734. |
| 1941 | Farmers Market (established 1939) became City entity. |
| 1949 | A Charter amendment provided for direct election of the mayor. |
| 1950 |
Population 434,462. |
| 1957 | Dallas Memorial Auditorium built (Dallas Convention Center, expanded in 1973, 1984, 1994, 2002). |
| 1960 | Population 679,684. |
| 1961 | Racial integration of public and private facilities began, the work of a biracial committee appointed by the Dallas and Negro Chambers of Commerce. |
| 1963 | Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. |
| 1969 | 10-1 Council (eleven council places, including mayor). |
| 1970 | Population 844,401. |
| 1971 | Lawsuit forced election by districts rather than at-large. |
| 1974 | Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport opened. The airport was a joint project of the City and other local municipal governments. |
| 1978 | New City Hall, designed by I. M. Pei, opens at 1500 Marilla Street.
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| 1980 |
Population 904,078. Reunion Arena, a 17,000-20,000-seat, $27-million, multi-purpose event space, built. |
| 1982 |
Dallas Arboretum and Samuell Farm opened. |
| 1984 | Dallas Convention Center hosted Republican National Convention. |
| 1989 | Morton Meyerson Symphony Hall opened. |
| 1990 |
Population 1,006,877. |
| 1992 | Amendment expanded the council to fourteen single-member districts, with the mayor elected at large.
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| 1994 | The Cotton Bowl at Fair Park hosted six World Cup soccer games. |
| 2000 | Population 1,188,580. |
| 2001 | American Airlines Center, an 18,000-21,000-seat, $420-million, multi-purpose event space, opened; it became home of Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars. |
| 2003 | Latino Cultural Center, designed by Ricardo Legorreta, is dedicated. |
| 2009 | Arts District completed. Reunion Arena, former home of Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars, demolished. |
| 2010 | Population 1,197,816. |
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2012 |
Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, designed by Santiago Calatrava and spanning the Trinity, completed. Klyde Warren Park opened. The park was a 5.2-acre public park built over Woodall Rodgers Freeway that connects uptown with downtown Dallas.
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2014 |
Wright Amendment repealed, renewing use of Dallas Love Field. |
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2015 |
Love Field $519-million major renovation and expansion – Phase I completed. |