2007 Forbes study named Frisco as the eighth-fastest growing suburb in the United States. For more information visit the Frisco community website.

History
When the Dallas area was being settled by European immigrants, many of the settlers traveled by wagon trains along the old Shawnee Trail. This trail was also used for cattle drives north from Austin. This trail later became the Preston Trail, and later, Preston Road. With all of this activity, the community of Lebanon was founded along this trail and granted a U.S. post office in 1860. In 1902, a line of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway was being built through the area, and periodic watering holes were needed along the rails for the steam engines. The current settlement of Lebanon was on the Preston Ridge and was thus too high in elevation, so the watering hole was placed about four miles to the west on lower ground. A community grew around this train stop. Residents of Lebanon actually moved their houses to the new community on logs. The new town was originally named Emerson, but that name was rejected by the U.S. Postal Service as being too similar to another town in Texas. In 1904, the residents chose Frisco City in honor of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway on which the town was founded, later shortened to its present name.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 33,714 people, 12,065 households, and 9,652 families residing in the city. The population density was 186.3/km² (482.4/mi²). There were 13,683 housing units at an average density of 75.6/km² (195.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 87.25% White, 3.76% African American, 0.38% Native American, 2.35% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 4.34% from other races, and 1.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11.02% of the population.

There were 12,065 households out of which 46.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 71.3% were married couples living together, 6.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.0% were non-families. 15.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 1.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.78 and the average family size was 3.13.

The age distribution is 30.7% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 45.9% from 25 to 44, 14.5% from 45 to 64, and 3.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 98.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.2 males.

According to a 2006 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was $95,591, and the median income for a family was $103,306. Males had a median income of $58,620 versus $37,440 for females. The per capita income for the city was $34,089. About 2.2% of families and 3.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.0% of those under age 18 and 3.9% of those age 65 or over.

Economy
Like many Dallas suburbs, Frisco is accumulating a tremendous number of retail properties, including Stonebriar Centre, a 165-store regional mall, and IKEA, a furniture store with an area of 28,800 square meters (310,000 sq ft). Retail establishments and restaurant chains line Preston Road, which is one of the major north-south-running traffic arteries in the city.

Frisco took a different economic tack than many surrounding cities and elected to use a fractional percent of local sales tax to fund the Frisco Economic Development Corporation (FEDC) rather than DART, the regional transportation body. The effectiveness of the FEDC, whose primary purpose is to reallocate such tax dollars to commercial ventures, is a matter of public debate.

Frisco also built Frisco Square, a mixed-use development that will become the new downtown. Frisco Square has about 250 rental residential units, 7 restaurants, about 40,000 square feet of commercial office space and a few personal service locations. The retail component has never really caught on and there are no retail locations in Frisco Square at this time. The major development in the project is the new City Hall and main library and a public commons.

Attractions
Cuisine
Dallas is renowned for barbecue, authentic Mexican, and Tex-Mex cuisine. Famous products of the Dallas culinary scene include the frozen margarita and the restaurants La Calle Doce, Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse, Enchilada's, Mi Cocina, Bone Daddy's Barbecue, and The Mansion on Turtle Creek. The French Room at the Hotel Adolphus in downtown Dallas was named the best hotel restaurant in the US by Zagat. Several nationally ranked steak and chop houses can be found in the Dallas area including Bob's Steak & Chop House which is currently ranked #3 according to the USDA Prime Steakhouses chart. On average, Dallasites eat out about four times every week, which is the third highest rate in the country, behind Houston and Austin, and Dallas has more restaurants per capita than New York City.

Arts
The Arts District in downtown is home to several arts venues, both existing and proposed. Notable venues in the district include the Dallas Museum of Art, the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, The Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, the Nasher Sculpture Center,The Dallas Contemporary, The Dallas Children's Theatre. Venues under construction or planned include the Winspear Opera House and the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts. The district is also home to DISD's Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, which is currently being expanded.

Deep Ellum originally became popular during the 1920s and 1930s as the prime jazz and blues hotspot in the south. Artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Huddie “Leadbelly” 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. One major art infusion in the area is the city's lax stance on graffiti; consequently, several public ways 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.

The Cedars has 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, a Sears warehouse converted into lofts, studios, and retail. Current attractions include Gilley's Dallas and Poor David's Pub. Entrepreneur Mark Cuban purchased land along Lamar Avenue near Cedars Station in September 2005 and locals speculate that he is planning an entertainment complex for the site.

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.

Dallas has an Office of Cultural Affairs as a department of the city government. The City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs is responsible for six cultural centers located throughout the city, funding for local artists and theatres, public art projects and running the city owned radio station WRR.

Parks and Recreation
The City of Dallas maintains and operates 406 parks on 21,000 acres (85 km²) of parkland. Its flagship park is the 260 acre (1.05 km²) Fair Park which was originally developed to host the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936. The city is also home to Texas's first and largest zoo at 95 acres (0.38 km²) — the Dallas Zoo, which opened in 1888.

The city's parks contain 17 separate lakes, including White Rock and Bachman lakes, spanning a total of 4,400 acres (17.81 km²). The city is traversed by 61.6 miles (99.1 km) of bike & 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.

To the west of Dallas in Arlington is Six Flags Over Texas. Hurricane Harbor, a large water park, is also in Arlington.

Events
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 for the state of Texas and brings an estimated US$350 million to the city's economy annually. The Red River Shootout (UT-OU) game at the Cotton Bowl and other Cotton Bowl games also bring significant crowds to the city.

Other festivals in the area include Cinco de Mayo festivities hosted by the city's large Mexican population, Saint Patrick's Day parades in Irish communities especially along east Dallas's Lower Greenville Avenue, Juneteenth festivities, the Greek Food Festival of Dallas, and an annual Halloween parade on Cedar Springs Road.

Education
Most of Frisco is a part of the Frisco Independent School District. Some parts extend into Lewisville Independent School District, Little Elm Independent School District, and Prosper Independent School District.

Frisco ISD has four high schools Frisco Centennial High School, Frisco High School, Frisco Liberty High School, and Frisco Wakeland High School. The latter two are 3A schools for the first two years they are open. By 2008, the number of students should qualify both as 4A. Frisco ISD has the stated intention of keeping all high schools at a class 4A level to maximize student participation in school activities. Additional bond measures have been approved to construct three additional High Schools, and plans for an 8th High School to be drawn.

As far as higher education goes, the Preston Ridge campus of the Collin County Community College District is located on Wade Boulevard in Frisco, and the Dallas Baptist University has a regional academic center in Frisco's Hall Office Park, located at Warren Parkway and Internet Boulevard.

Transportation
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is the Dallas area public transportation authority, providing buses, rail, and HOV lanes. DART began operating the first light rail system in the Southwest United States in 1996 and continues to expand its coverage. Currently, two light rail lines are in service. The Red Line travels through Oak Cliff, South Dallas, downtown, Uptown, north Dallas, Richardson and Plano. The Blue Line goes through south Dallas, downtown, Uptown, east Dallas, Lake Highlands, and Garland. The Red and Blue lines are conjoined in between 8th & Corinth Station in Oak Cliff and Mockingbird Station in north Dallas. The two lines service Cityplace Station, the only subway station in the Southwest. DART has also begun construction on its Green and Orange lines, which will serve DFW Airport, Irving and Las Colinas, Carrollton, Farmers Branch, the Stemmons Corridor, Victory Park, downtown, Deep Ellum, Fair Park, south Dallas and Pleasant Grove.

Dallas is served by two commercial airports: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (known as DFW International) and Dallas Love Field. In addition, Dallas Executive Airport (formerly Redbird Airport), is a general aviation airport located within the city limits, and Addison Airport is another general aviation airport located just outside the city limits in the suburb of Addison. Two more general aviation airports are located in the outer suburb of McKinney, and two more general aviation airports are in Fort Worth, on the west side of the Metroplex.

DFW International Airport is located in the suburbs north of and equidistant to downtown Fort Worth and downtown Dallas. In terms of size, DFW is the largest airport in the state, the second largest in the United States, and third largest in the world. In terms of traffic, DFW is the busiest in the state, third busiest in the United States, and sixth busiest in the world. The headquarters of American Airlines, the largest air carrier in the world, is located less than a mile from DFW, in Fort Worth. Love Field is located within the city limits of Dallas, 6 miles (10 km) northwest of downtown, and is headquarters to Southwest Airlines.