How did FRISCO get to be so big so fast??? (Dallas: transplants, real estate)

[By~Tor]

Back in 1985 when I graduated Newman-Smith HS in Carrollton, Frisco was this huge patch of horse pasture with a few Dairy Queens to break up the monotony..... kinda' like Hebron, but with a little more business in it....

NOW, Frisco has ballooned into its own huge city!... and with only 121 and the Toll Road as the main arteries (and Preston, I suppose).... how in the blue hell did this tremendous growth occur there, when nearby Plano, Carrollton and Lewisville have somewhat stagnated???

[Lakewooder]

It's just the next progression of white flight/suburban sprawl - crime and deficits are up in Plano, Carrollton and Lewisville. The houses aren't NEW. The white kids might have to go to school with minority children!

Same thing when Plano was farms and Richardson was hot. Remember when all the Real Estate ads said "RISD" which was code for "white"?

[Acntx]

When cities become built out, the next community further out typically begins to grow rapidly. This is occurring all over the DFW area. Once Plano had grown into a large city and developed most of its land, the spillover went into Frisco.

[momof2dfw]

Hello fellow green and gold alum........... there are a few of us lurking around here.


I remember going up to Frisco HS, "Home of the Coon's" back in the late 70's early 80's for events. It was WAY OUT THERE as was Plano Sr HS. How did it grow so fast? Several factors:

1. Migration to the state of Texas and the Dallas area from transplants in high cost of living states.

2. These transplants could NOW buy a "brand new" house for the first time ever. Unlike where they came from where house prices were thru the roof even in the 90's compared to the Texas market.

3. Why settle for a used ranch in the "inner city" or an older burb when one can have BRAND NEW SHINY!

4. The commute was not considered long as they were used to much longer commutes to be able to afford even an inkling of what NEW Frisco had to offer.

5. The city leaders ALLOWED development. Unlike Carrollton. I don't know how much you remember about the supposed mall coming to Carrollton back in the 80's but it never happened because the city leaders fussed too much w/ the developers. Even today it is still the same. They are fussing over a new Super Target and just may lose it as well.

6. Plano kept building NORTH instead of towards the open lands of the East. Soon they ran out of land to build on so the developers moved on to Frisco.

7. Large Corporate Campus locations nearby. Back when EDS was ready to expand into a HUGE "corporate campus" the only place pretty much with enough land and at a reasonable price was further out away from the city of Dallas. They were pretty much landlocked at the corner of Hillcrest and Forest. Pretty soon other corporations followed and then the developers went crazy building housing close by for all of these workers.

8. Remember all of the car dealers that used to be along the Dallas North Tollway? None of them are there anymore. They all moved further north to much larger land parcels in order to build BIGGER and BIGGER. Not all of them survived this move (H.B.O.). They left paid off land and buildings for newer, fancier digs and higher land prices.

I still say the two biggest factors are the people moving to Texas finally believing they could buy a brand new house AND the city leaders of Frisco ACTIVELY SEEKING development and encouraging it instead of throwing up roadblocks.

[Lakewooder]

I wonder how many on here know what you mean by H.B.O.?

Now if they had just stayed in their original location....

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

I wonder how many on here know what you mean by H.B.O.?

Now if they had just stayed in their original location....

Back then all one had to say was, "Henry Butts" and people knew exactly what you meant. Then they built the Taj Mahal. Really, to this day I personally think that is the most garish building I've ever seen. Wonder how many people don't realize they send their kids to a private Christian school that once housed a car dealership The kids are learning Math in a service bay......

I was just reflecting on all of those car lots as we were going down the tollroad the other day. Some spots are still empty. I even made a comment about missing the chalet type booths at the end of the tollroad.

[Lakewooder]

I am picturing a 1981 Cutlass...

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

It's just the next progression of white flight/suburban sprawl - crime and deficits are up in Plano, Carrollton and Lewisville. The houses aren't NEW. The white kids might have to go to school with minority children!

Same thing when Plano was farms and Richardson was hot. Remember when all the Real Estate ads said "RISD" which was code for "white"?

As a Caucasian I find this post personally offensive.

People of every skin color, ethnicity, race, religion, cultural background, what ever you wanna call it move to the suburbs for one simple reason...its "NEW".

Frisco is not all "White" like you make it out to be. White people do not flee from an area simply because someone of a different skin color happens to move next door. If that were the case do you think Frisco would have the sizable Asian & Hispanic population it has? I was watching the Dallas news just the other night & saw a highly educated Black female doctor that lives in Frisco.

Your kind of attitude is the reason racial segregation still exists to this day.

[Grainraiser]

Metro Matt there is some truth to what Lakewooder says. White flight was a huge in the 70's The move out of neighborhoods in droves when schools became segregated. We were the second black family to move in our neighborhood in 1968. By 1970 the neighborhood was 98% black. Whites moved to burbs in droves. As he stated Richardson was the first burb to be the it place. New businesses sprouted up and things started moving north. To Plano's credit the city planners did a outstanding job and getting companies to move to the city. My dad use to drive us to McKinney in the 70's and rent a motel room so that we could watch the Dallas Cowboys on TV. The games were blacked out in the city. Driving to McKinney was like driving to the country. I purchased my first car from HBO. In fact my salesman was the son of Hayden Fry and it was his very first sale. I worked out in Addison out toward the Airport. The tollroad turned into Dallas parkway and it was one lane. The only place to buy something to eat was a lone Stop & Go. Things have really changed over the years.

[Big G]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

As a Caucasian I find this post personally offensive.

People of every skin color, ethnicity, race, religion, cultural background, what ever you wanna call it move to the suburbs for one simple reason...its "NEW".

Frisco is not all "White" like you make it out to be. White people do not flee from an area simply because someone of a different skin color happens to move next door. If that were the case do you think Frisco would have the sizable Asian & Hispanic population it has? I was watching the Dallas news just the other night & saw a highly educated Black female doctor that lives in Frisco.

Your kind of attitude is the reason racial segregation still exists to this day.

+1.

Racism may be the reason all the whites moved from Dallas to Richardson, but it's certainly not the reason folks go from Plano to Frisco.

There are a lot of things you could trash Frisco (and Plano) for, but racism isn't one of them. Methinks Lakewooder is blinded by his distaste for all things suburban.