And the modern city may be the best chapter yet. Garland today is one of the most diverse communities in Texas — with deep Hispanic roots and one of the region's most vibrant Vietnamese communities, whose markets and kitchens have become a destination in their own right. Lake Ray Hubbard brings sails, boat ramps, and shoreline parks to the eastern edge; Spring Creek Forest Preserve keeps a rare stand of old-growth Blackland forest; and the old square downtown — with the Plaza's neon glowing — hosts the city that two feuding depot camps accidentally built together.
Garland is one town made from two — a Dallas County city on the old Blackland Prairie, fifteen miles northeast of downtown Dallas, that began its life as a pair of feuding railroad camps glaring at each other across a mile of black dirt. Today it is one of the largest cities in Texas: a manufacturing powerhouse of the Metroplex, home to one of the most diverse communities in the state, with Lake Ray Hubbard on its eastern shore and a square downtown that remembers where it all started. One post office, two stubborn towns, and a name nobody could argue with — that is Garland.
Why People Visit Garland Texas
- Stroll the historic downtown square and the restored Plaza Theatre (1941).
- Get out on Lake Ray Hubbard for boating, sailing, and shoreline parks.
- Walk the old-growth bottomland of Spring Creek Forest Preserve.
- Ride the wooded singletrack at Rowlett Creek Preserve.
- Shop and gather on the historic downtown square, with the Plaza Theatre marquee glowing over it.
