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Dallas, called "Big D," is the eighth largest city in the United States and rests on 343 square miles of rolling prairie. To meet the growing recreational and cultural needs of its citizens, the Dallas Park and Recreation Department maintains more than 23,018 park acres--one of the largest municipal park systems in the country. Dallas has over 400 individual parks, including community centers, swimming pools, athletic fields, and a metropolitan zoo. From such well-known places as Fair Park, home of the State Fair of Texas and the Texas Centennial Exposition of 1936, to Dealey Plaza, and to lesser-known neighborhood parks, Dallas parks have a rich history stretching from the days when Dallas was a western boom town to a 21st century metropolis. Historic Dallas Parks explores the origins and early development of this nationally recognized system with interesting background stories and facts and illustrated with photographs and historical documents from the collections of the Dallas Municipal Archives.

Fort Worth sits on a blend of timber and prairie land that is transected by the Trinity River and its tributaries. These physical attributes invited the creation of parks to preserve scenic landscapes and to provide Fort Worth residents with access to nature. Generous land donations as well as the foresight of city leaders allowed for the acquisition of park land, particularly after the formation of the park department in 1909. Local architects and such well-known names as George E. Kessler, Hare and Hare, Philip Johnson, and Lawrence Halprin have left a rich legacy of nationally recognized parks and recreational amenities. These include the Fort Worth Zoo, Fort Worth Botanic Garden, the Water Gardens, Heritage Plaza, Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge, and Fort Woof, the city's first dog park.