John Neely Bryan built the first cabin on the side of the Trinity River in 1841 and by 1845, when Texas was admitted to the Union, Dallas County and the town of Dallas were established, taking their name from President James K. Polk's vice-president George Mifflin Dallas.

Dallas Then and Now uses vintage photographs chosen from nearly a million cataloged in the Dallas Public Library from the early days of photography up until the 1960s. The landmarks, architecture, street scenes, stores, businesses, schools and fairgrounds of yesteryear are revisted to see what has been preserved or what stands in their place today.