Richardson is an affluent inner suburb of Dallas and home of The University of Texas at Dallas and the Telecom Corridor with a high concentration of telecommunications companies including many of the world’s largest telecommunications/networking companies: AT&T, Ericsson, Verizon, Cisco Systems, Samsung, MetroPCS, Texas Instruments, TriQuint Semiconductor, and Fujitsu.
Richardson was ranked as the 15th best place to live in the United States by Money magazine. This ranked Richardson the 3rd best place to live in Texas. The Morgan Quitno 14th Annual America’s Safest and Most Dangerous Cities Awards pronounced Richardson the 69th safest city in America. In the same study Richardson ranked the 5th safest city in Texas. In 2008, Richardson was ranked as the 18th best place to live in the United States by Money magazine. This ranked Richardson the 4th best place to live in Texas. Business Week’s annual report on the “Best Places to Raise Kids,” ranked Richardson 2nd in Texas. Richardson was the first North Texas city recognized as a best workplace for commuters. As of 2010 the city has continued to be recognized every year since 2004. In 2011 the Texas Recreation and Park Society awarded Richardson with the Texas Gold Medal for excellence in the field of recreation and park management and education.
This city has won many economic awards, including “Best Real Estate Deal of the Year”, International Economic Development Council’s “Technology-Based Economic Development Award”, and Texas Economic Development Council’s “Texas Economic Excellence Award”.
In the overall economic downturn or the late-2000s recession, Richardson has not been affected as adversely as other cities in the nation, Texas or even the North Texas region. Always a technology-centric city, Richardson has fully recovered from the tech downturn of 2001-2003. The city has diversified its business base with financial service firms and has adopted a live-work-play approach to future mixed-use and transit-oriented developments.
HISTORY
Settlers from Kentucky and Tennessee came to the Richardson area in the 1840s. Through the 1850s the settlement was located around the present-day site of Richland College. After the Civil War a railroad was built northwest of the original settlement, shifting the village’s center closer to the railroad. Richardson was chartered in 1873, and the town was named after railroad contractor E.H. Richardson. In 1908, the Texas Electric Railway an electric railway know as the Interurban, connected Richardson to Denison, Waco, Corsicana and Fort Worth. In 1910 the population was approximately 600. A red brick schoolhouse was built in 1914. The schoolhouse is now the administrative office for the Richardson Independent School District. In 1924 the Red Brick Road, the present-day Greenville Avenue, was completed. The completion of the road brought increased traffic, population and property values. The town incorporated and elected a mayor in 1925. In 1940 the population was approximately 740.
After World War II the city experienced major increases in population, which stood at approximately 1,300 by 1950. Throughout the 1950s the city continued to see growth including the opening of the Collins Radio Richardson office, the Central Expressway, a police department, shopping centers and many homes. Texas Instruments opened its offices in Dallas on the southern border of Richardson in 1956. This was followed by significant gains in land values, population and economic status. In the 1960s Richardson experienced additional growth including several new parks, facilities and the creation of the University of Texas at Dallas within the city limits. By 1972 the population was approximately 56,000. Residential growth continued through the 1970s and slowed in the 1980s. Commercial development increased throughout the 1980s which increases throughout the 1990s was primarily from development of the northeast part of the city.
By 2002 Richardson had four Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) light rail stations and had built the Eisemann Center for Performing Arts and Corporate Presentations and the adjacent Galatyn Park urban center, which has a two-acre public pedestrian plaza, a luxury hotel and mixed-use development. Economy and development The city has experienced a surge of mixed-use development, suburban infill and transit-oriented development, predominantly on the city’s eastern side.
Richardson is a city in Dallas and Collin County and has a total area of 28.6 square miles. Approximately two-thirds of the city is in Dallas County, with the northern third of the city in Collin County. The cities of Dallas and Plano border most of Richardson with a few exceptions. The Lake Highlands area of northeast Dallas borders Richardson to the south, North Dallas is to the southwest, Far North Dallas is to the west, West Plano is to the northwest, East Plano is to the north, the city of Murphy is to the northeast, Sachse is to the east, and Garland is to the southeast.
