Fair Park

Fair Park began in 1886, when the Dallas State Fair Association bought eighty acres east of town and held its first fair that October. A fire in 1902 destroyed the exhibition buildings, and in 1903 the legislature outlawed track betting, the fair's main income. In 1904 the directors offered the grounds to the city as a park, and the State Fair of Texas has run here ever since.

In 1936 Dallas, which had outbid San Antonio, Austin and Houston, hosted the Texas Centennial Exposition. Architect George L. Dahl directed the $25 million project, which opened on June 6, 1936, eight months after construction began; twenty-one of its fifty buildings were meant to last. Dahl wanted broad, low buildings with smooth walls, bold murals and massive sculpture, and called the style Texanic.

At the head of the esplanade stands the Hall of State, finished in 1936 and faced in Texas limestone. Its Great Hall carries Eugene Savage's murals of Texas history, and its Hall of Heroes holds Pompeo Coppini's bronze statues of Austin, Houston, Lamar, Fannin, Rusk and Travis. The Dallas Historical Society has run the building as a museum since 1938. Fair Park was named a National Historic Landmark in 1986. It is free to enter on days without an event and is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.