Frisco, Texas

• 1. Introduction

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  Frisco, Texas was recorded in the 2020 census with a population of 200,509, making it one of the largest cities in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. But just two decades earlier, fewer than 34,000 people lived there. How does a place grow by nearly six times in a single generation? What turns a railroad watering stop into a city of two hundred thousand? And what does it mean to build a community so fast that the rules for governing it have to be rewritten almost every decade? Those are the questions at the heart of Frisco's story. The city's name itself is borrowed from a railway line, its downtown was built around a sports complex, and its library houses a full-size Tyrannosaurus skeleton. The answers to those questions are stranger, and more specific, than you might expect.

• 2. From Lebanon to Frisco

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  Wagon trains moving along the Shawnee Trail first established a community called Lebanon in this stretch of North Texas, and that settlement earned a U.S. post office in 1860. For four decades, Lebanon sat on Preston Ridge and went about its business. Then the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway arrived. In 1902, the railway, nicknamed "the Frisco," was laying track through the area and needed periodic watering stops for its steam locomotives. The problem was elevation. Lebanon sat too high on the ridge, and water for locomotives required lower ground. Engineers placed the watering stop about 4 miles to the west, on flatter terrain. A community grew around that stop, and some Lebanon residents literally moved their houses to the new settlement, rolling them on logs to their new location. The town was first called Emerson, but the U.S. Postal Service rejected that name as too close to a community called Emberson in Lamar County. In 1904, residents voted to call their home "Frisco City" in honor of the railway that had pulled them westward. The name was later shortened to Frisco, and the city hall that would eventually govern 200,000 people traces its civic identity back to that naming vote.

• 3. The Growth Surge

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  In the late 1990s, suburban development pushing north from Dallas reached the top of Plano and kept going. That pressure spilled into Frisco and ignited growth that would make it the fastest-growing city in the United States in 2017, a distinction it had also held from 2000 to 2009. The numbers are striking. In 2000, the population was 33,714. By 2010, it had climbed to 116,989. By the 2020 census, it stood at 200,509, representing a jump of more than 83,000 people in a single decade. The city fits a pattern common to Dallas's northern exurbs: professionals who work in the broader Dallas-Fort Worth area, roughly 25 miles from both Dallas Love Field and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, seeking homes in communities to the north. Frisco accommodated that demand at a pace few cities anywhere in the country could match. By 2020, the McKinney-Frisco urban area, which the Census Bureau treats as distinct from the main Dallas-Fort Worth urban area, had a combined population of 504,803, ranking 83rd among urban areas in the United States.

• 4. Sports as Infrastructure

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  Riders Field hosted its first baseball game on the 3rd of April 2003, and BaseballParks.com named it the best new ballpark in the country that year. That early investment set a tone. Toyota Stadium, which opened in 2005 under its original name Pizza Hut Park, seats 20,500 and serves as the home ground for FC Dallas of Major League Soccer; it also hosts the Football Championship Subdivision college football championship, which moved there starting in January 2011 after years in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Huntington, West Virginia. The National Soccer Hall of Fame is co-located at the stadium. Then there is The Star. The Dallas Cowboys moved their corporate headquarters to Frisco in time for the 2016 NFL season, and the complex opened in June 2016. Frisco ISD contributed $30 million toward building the Ford Center at the Star, a 12,000-seat indoor stadium, in exchange for the right to hold high school football games there. The PGA of America also established its headquarters in Frisco as part of a mixed-use development that includes the Omni PGA Frisco Resort. Comerica Center, formerly Dr Pepper Arena, houses the Texas Legends of the NBA G League and the Frisco Fighters of the Indoor Football League, and serves as the practice facility for the Dallas Stars of the NHL. In April 2011, Men's Journal named Frisco the Best Place to Raise an Athlete.

• 5. Economy and Self-Governance

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  Frisco made a deliberate choice when it came to sales tax revenue. Rather than directing a fraction of local sales tax to Dallas Area Rapid Transit, the regional transportation body, the city chose to fund the Frisco Economic Development Corporation instead. That corporation channels those tax dollars toward commercial ventures, a strategy whose effectiveness remains a matter of public debate. The results are visible in the city's commercial landscape. Stonebriar Centre, a 165-store regional mall, anchors retail alongside an IKEA with a footprint of 28,800 square meters. The Star complex houses the Dallas Cowboys' headquarters. Frisco Square, the mixed-use development that became the new downtown alongside city hall, holds around 250 rental residential units, seven restaurants, and about 40,000 square feet of commercial office space. As of 2023, Frisco Independent School District was the largest employer with 8,799 employees, followed by the City of Frisco itself with 1,738. T-Mobile USA, Keurig Dr Pepper, and Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America also appear among the top employers, pointing to the diversity of the corporate base. Median household income, estimated at $100,868 in 2010, had grown to $116,884 by 2019. Gearbox Software, the video game developer, also maintains its offices in Frisco.

• 6. Governing a Fast City

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  Frisco voters adopted their first home-rule charter in 1987. Since then, residents have amended it three times: in May 2002 they approved 19 propositions, in May 2010 they approved 14, and in May 2019 they approved 24. A Charter Review Commission recommended an additional 14 propositions in May 2014, but those were never placed on the ballot. The city operates under a council-manager structure, with a mayor, six at-large council members, and an appointed city manager. Term limits cap service at three three-year terms. Remarkably, Frisco has had only two city managers across its modern history: George Purefoy, who served for over 34 years before retiring in 2022, and his successor Wes Pierson. According to the city's 2010 financial report, total assets at that point stood at $1.647 billion against $753.1 million in liabilities, with $159.3 million in cash and investments. The city joined the North Central Texas Council of Governments as a voluntary member to coordinate regional decisions with neighboring municipalities. In the 2022 gubernatorial election, Frisco returned a Republican majority with 53.07% of the vote, while the Democratic candidate received 45.86%.

• 7. Culture, Memory, and the Future

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  The Museum of the American Railroad operates out of the Frisco Heritage Museum while a dedicated museum complex is under construction. The nearby Discovery Center includes an art gallery, a black-box theater, and the National Videogame Museum. Frisco Square hosts recurring public events including Arts in the Square, Music in the Square, and Christmas in the Square, described as the largest choreographed lights and music show in North Texas. The Frisco Public Library moved out of city hall in March 2023, into a converted warehouse building that ranks as the sixth-largest library in Texas. Its most talked-about feature is a full-size Tyrannosaurus skeleton named Rexy. The city has also been home to notable figures in entertainment and sport: Maelyn Jarmon won the 16th season of The Voice; King Diamond, the Danish heavy metal musician and vocalist of Mercyful Fate, has a connection to the city; and the sports entertainment group Dude Perfect operates out of Frisco. In 1978, the first season of the television series Dallas was filmed at the Cloyce Box Ranch in Frisco, using the house on site as the Ewing family home. That house burned down during renovations in 1987, and the steel skeleton still stands on the property now known as Brinkmann Ranch, the largest family-owned estate in Frisco. On the 11th of January 2023, Universal Destinations and Experiences announced plans for a new-concept theme park in Frisco called Universal Kids Resort.