History
The earliest white settlement in what is now Lewisville occurred in the 1840s. Basdeal Lewis purchased the land around which Lewisville would be formed and named the town after himself.

Growth was very slow during the 19th century, with population rising to only about 500 by 1900. The settlement did boast several agriculture-related industries, including a grist mill, a cotton gin, and a livery stable and feed mill. In 1885 the building currently housing the Greater Lewisville Community Theater was constructed on the city's principal thoroughfare, Main Street. It remains Lewisville's oldest standing structure.

Lewisville High School opened in 1897, and in 1909 the first bank robbery in Denton County history occurred at the First National Bank of Lewisville. In 1925 residents voted to incorporate the area as a city. Lewisville slowly grew with its first automobile dealership and traffic light appearing over the next two decades. The single signal light, at the intersection of Main and Mill Streets, remained the only one in the city until the 1970s. Another notable bank robbery occurred in 1934 at the First National Bank, this time engineered by the Barrow gang (minus leaders Bonnie and Clyde, who had visited the city earlier that year).

Construction of the Lewisville Dam began in 1948 and concluded six years later, which expanded the Garza-Little Elm Reservoir into the current 30,000-acre Lewisville Lake. Population growth began to accelerate, and the 1970 census counted 9,264 residents. In 1963 Lewisville became one of the first Texas cities to integrate its school system, with the first two African-American graduates from Lewisville High School in 1965 and a third in 1966. In September 1969 the city hosted the Texas International Pop Festival on Labor Day weekend, with Janis Joplin, B.B. King and Led Zeppelin performing. Just four weeks after Woodstock the festival drew over 250,000 rock and jazz fans.

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport opened in 1974, and the population of cities like Lewisville and Flower Mound, north of the airport, began to explode. The census figures tell the story: 24,273 in 1980, 46,521 in 1990, and 77,737 in 2000. Rapid growth continues, though the city has tried to maintain a small-town ambiance.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 77,737 people, 30,043 households, and 19,828 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,112.8 people per square mile (815.8/km²). There were 31,764 housing units at an average density of 863.3/sq mi (333.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 77.20% White, 7.39% African American, 0.70% Native American, 3.90% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 8.32% from other races, and 2.46% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 17.75% of the population.

There were 30,043 households out of which 36.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.3% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.0% were non-families. 25.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 2.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.13.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.6% under the age of 18, 11.8% from 18 to 24, 41.2% from 25 to 44, 16.1% from 45 to 64, and 4.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 99.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $54,771, and the median income for a family was $63,719. Males had a median income of $41,058 versus $31,705 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,703. About 3.9% of families and 6.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.8% of those under age 18 and 9.2% of those age 65 or over.

Economy
In its beginnings, Dallas relied on farming, neighboring Fort Worth's cattle market, and its prime location on trade routes with Indians to sustain itself. Dallas's real key to growth came in 1873 though with the building of multiple rail lines through the city. As Dallas grew and technology developed, cotton became its boon—by 1900 Dallas was the largest inland cotton market on Earth and led the world in cotton gin machinery manufacturing. By the early 1900s, Dallas was a hub for economic activity all over the Southwestern 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, and 31% of Texas cotton was produced within a 100 mile (161 km) radius of Dallas. In the 1930s, oil was discovered east of Dallas near Kilgore, Texas, and Dallas's proximity to the discovery put it at the center of the nation's oil market. Oil discoveries in the Permian Basin, the Panhandle, the Gulf Coast, and Oklahoma in the following years further solidified Dallas's position as the hub of the market as it was roughly the geographic center of all 5 regions.

After World War II, Dallas was seeded with a nexus of communications engineering and production talent by companies such as Collins Radio Corp. The telecommunication and information revolutions that ensued still drive a great deal of the local economy. The city is sometimes referred to as Texas's Silicon Valley or the Silicon Prairie because of a high concentration of telecommunications companies—the epicenter of which lies along the “Telecom Corridor”, home to more than 5,700 companies. The corridor is also home to Texas Instruments and regional offices for Alcatel Lucent, AT&T, Ericsson, Fujitsu, MCI, Nokia, Rockwell, Sprint, and Verizon, as well as the national offices of CompUSA and Canadian Nortel.

In the 1980s, Dallas was a real estate hotbed, with populations skyrocketing and the demand for housing and jobs soaring along with it. Downtown Dallas's largest buildings are the fruit of this boom, but over-speculation and the Savings and Loan crisis knocked the area to its knees. Between the late 1980s and the early 2000s, Dallas suffered a lengthy recession and has only recently bounced back—like much of the country, the real estate market has improved significantly in recent years.

Dallas is no longer a hotbed for manufacturing like it was in the early 20th century—partially due to constraints placed by the DFW Ozone Nonattainment Area—but plenty of goods are still manufactured in the city. Texas Instruments employs 10,400 people at its corporate headquarters and chip plants in Dallas and neighboring Richardson. Oak Farms Dairy also headquarters and has a plant in the city.

Companies headquartered in Dallas, Irving or Mesquite include ExxonMobil, the largest company in the world (by revenue), 7-Eleven, Brinker International, id Software, Blockbuster, ENSCO Offshore Drilling, Kimberly-Clark, Energy Future Holdings Corporation, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Southwest Airlines, CompUSA, Texas Instruments, Fluor, Zales and Comerica Bank. Corporate headquarters in the northern suburb of Plano include EDS, Frito Lay, Dr Pepper, and JCPenney.

The Dallas metroplex has more shopping centers per capita than any other United States city or metro, and is also home to the second shopping center in the United States, Highland Park Village, which opened in 1931. The city itself is also home to 12 billionaires—concentrated in the Preston Hollow area of north Dallas—placing it 9th worldwide among cities with the most billionaires. When combined with the 8 billionaires who live in Dallas's neighboring city of Fort Worth, the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is one of the greatest concentrations of billionaires in the world.

Attractions
The City of Lewisville operates 23 parks, a Senior Center, the Hedrick House, two recreation centers, two swimming pools, two libraries, ten soccer fields, thirteen baseball/softball fields and the Vista Ridge Amphitheater that seats 800 people which features outdoor concerts and activities. Lewisville is home to 3 private golf courses, several marinas and over 250 restaurants. Nestled between Lewisville Lake, a 29,700 acre lake, and Lake Grapevine, a 12,740 acre lake, Lewisville is a destination spot for Metroplex residents for all types of lake recreation. Both lakes have six million-plus vistors annually. A wide variety of professional sports teams are less than 30 miles away, including the NFL Dallas Cowboys, the NBL Texas Rangers, the NHL Dallas Stars, the NBA Dallas Mavericks, the MLS Dallas Burn and a host of professional drivers that visit and compete at the Texas Motor Speedway.

Lewisville enjoys the benefits of a wide variety of shopping opportunities. Vista Ridge Mall is conveniently located at IH35E at Round Grove Road. Vista Ridge Mall has 1,000,000 sq.ft. of shopping, including anchor stores such as Dillard's, Foley's, J.C. Penney, and Sears, making it one of the largest malls in the north Dallas area. In addition, Vista Ridge Mall features beautiful atriums, a food court, a 12 screen movie theater, and over 160 specialty shops. Lewisville is also home to over 15 shopping centers located throughout the City including, Vista Ridge Village, Valley Square, Old Orchard East and West, and Lakeland Plaza Centers.

Education
Public elementary/middle schools:

• Huffines Middle School
• Lewisville High School-North
• Central Elementary
• Marshall Durham Middle School
• Lakeland Elementary
• Degan Elementary
• Valley Ridge Elementary
• Rockbrook Elementary
• Delay Middle School
• Hedrick Middle School

Private elementary/middle schools:

• Christian Child Dev Center
• Blossom Valley Academy
• Montessori Episcopal School
• Windmill Private School
• Miller Adventist School

Transportation
The area 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.