EARLY YEARS / PREHISTORY TO 1873

Pioneer Settlement

In November 1841 a Tennessee backwoods lawyer named John Neely Bryan staked a claim on the east bank of the Trinity River at a point where a hard-rock ford provided the best crossing within miles. He recognized that the ford would attract many travellers, and a town nearby could grow and flourish. He even hoped that the Trinity River might someday take goods and people by ship all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, which never proved feasible. He became the first resident of a new town he named “Dallas,” although its namesake is unclear.