Although this website allows visitors to take a virtual tour of the park, nothing beats an actual visit! From time-to-time over the years I have conducted actual on-site tours of Fair Park for various organizations, including the Dallas Historical Society and Dallas County Community College District. I would be happy to conduct a tour for your organization or business. You may contact me for more information at texian1846@yahoo.com. To sample my style, I invite you to view a portion of KERA-TV's Art and Seek program, where I conduct a mini-tour of the park

Tour No. 1: "The Historic Heart"

The "Historic Heart" of Fair Park is located on the westernmost portion of an eighty acre parcel sold to the Dallas State Fair and Exposition Association by Dallas banker and civic booster William Henry Gaston in 1886. This is the original core of the park. For more than a hundred years it has been the site of its principal exposition buildings. Although nearly all the earliest structures are no longer standing, subsequent construction for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition has left it the most aesthetically pleasing portion of the grounds. Learn more...

Tour No. 2: Civic Tract

On 30 acres of land (formerly a residential area called "Buzzard's Gulch") stands a collection of museums and former exhibit buildings, almost all of which were constructed in 1935-1936 and opened in time for the Texas Centennial Exposition. Here you will find the buildings that comprise the Museum of Nature and Science, the Dallas Aquarium, the Dallas Garden Center, the Fair Park bandshell, and the studios and offices of city-owned Radio Station WRR. At the time the area was first developed, it was called the "Civic Tract," a good enough name for our purposes here, although it seems to have fallen out of use over the years. Learn more...

Tour No. 3: Amusements and Agrarian Area

The Agrarian Area encompasses the buildings where agricultural products and farm animals are displayed and placed in competition each year at the State Fair. The Amusements Area includes the Cotton Bowl stadium and the Midway. Learn more...

Tour No. 4: "Gone, But Not Forgotten"

Given that Fair Park is more than one hundred years old, it should come as no surprise to learn that many of the buildings that once stood there are gone.Learn more...