Frisco

Frisco is a city in Collin and Denton counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and about 25 miles (40 km) from both Dallas Love Field and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Its population was 200,509 at the 2020 U.S. census.

Frisco was the fastest-growing city in the United States in 2017, and also from 2000 to 2009. In the late 1990s, the northern DFW suburban development tide hit the northern border of Plano and spilled into Frisco, sparking rapid growth into the 2000s. Like many of the cities in Dallas’s northern exurbs, Frisco serves as a bedroom community for professionals who work in DFW. Since 2003, Frisco has received the designation Tree City USA from the National Arbor Day Foundation.

The United States Census Bureau defines an urban area of northern Dallas-area suburbs that are separated from the Dallas–Forth Worth urban area, with McKinney and Frisco as the principal cities: the McKinney–Frisco, TX urban area had a population of 504,803 as of the 2020 census, ranked 83rd in the United States.

When the Dallas area was being settled by American pioneers, many of the settlers traveled by wagon trains along the Shawnee Trail. This trail became the Preston Trail, and later Preston Road. With all this activity, the community of Lebanon was founded along this trail, and was granted a U.S. post office in 1860.

In 1902, a line of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway was being built through the area, and periodic watering stops were needed along the route for the steam locomotives. The current settlement of Lebanon was on the Preston Ridge, and was too high in elevation, so the watering stop was placed about 4 miles (6 km) to the west on lower ground. A community grew around this train stop. Some Lebanon residents moved their houses to the new community on logs. The new town was originally named Emerson, but the U.S. Postal Service rejected the name as too similar to another community, Emberson, in Lamar County.

In 1904, the town’s residents chose “Frisco City” in honor of the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway. This name was later shortened to Frisco.

Frisco has many retail properties, including Stonebriar Centre, a 165-store regional mall; IKEA, a furniture store with an area of 28,800 m2 (310,000 sq ft); and The Star, the headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys. Retail establishments and restaurants line Preston Road, one of the city’s major north–south traffic arteries.

Frisco took a different economic track than many surrounding cities, electing to use a fractional percent of local sales tax to fund the Frisco Economic Development Corporation (FEDC) rather than Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), the regional transportation body. The effectiveness of the FEDC, whose primary purpose is to reallocate such tax dollars to commercial ventures, is a matter of public debate.

Frisco Square, a mixed-use development, became the new downtown along with the city hall. Frisco Square has about 250 rental residential units, seven restaurants, about 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) of commercial office space, and a few personal-service locations. The major development in the project is the new city hall, main library, and public commons. A Cinemark theater opened in 2010. In 2012, a hospital, Medical City Plano-Frisco, was built north of the theater.

Frisco hosts the Museum of the American Railroad, which is based out of the Frisco Heritage Museum while construction on a separate museum complex continues. The nearby Discovery Center features an art gallery, a black-box theater, and the National Videogame Museum.

Frisco Square hosts a variety of events throughout the year including Arts in the Square, Music in the Square, and the annual Christmas in the Square holiday light show (the largest choreographed lights and music show in North Texas). The city hall also hosts a Music in the Chamber concert series in the city council chamber.

Venues

The Ford Center at the Star is a 12,000-seat indoor stadium. The 91-acre Dallas Cowboys project “The Star” includes the team’s headquarters and training facilities, including the Ford Center, where the Cowboys practice and Frisco ISD high school teams practice and play on a rotating basis. It is on Gaylord Parkway, one block west of the Dallas North Tollway. Multiple professional teams have made their home at the Ford Center, including the Texas Revolution of Champions Indoor Football and the Dallas Rattlers of Major League Lacrosse.

Riders Field, a 10,316-seat baseball stadium, hosted its first baseball game on April 3, 2003. BaseballParks.com named it the best new ballpark that year, and it received the 2003 Texas Construction award for Best Architectural Design.

Toyota Stadium, which opened in 2005 as “Pizza Hut Park”, is a 20,500-seat stadium. It is primarily used as a soccer stadium by FC Dallas, but also hosts concerts and high school and college football games, including the NCAA Division I-AA (FCS) college football championship starting in 2010 and the NCAA Division I (FBS) Frisco Bowl starting in 2017.

The Comerica Center (formerly Dr Pepper Arena), a combination hockey and basketball venue, is the home of the Texas Legends of the NBA G League and the Frisco Fighters of the Indoor Football League, and a practice facility for the Dallas Stars of the NHL.

The Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) moved their corporate headquarters to “The Star” in Frisco in time for the 2016 NFL football season; the complex opened in June 2016. Built in partnership with Frisco ISD, which contributed $30 million to building the Ford Center at the Star in lieu of a dedicated third football stadium, Frisco ISD has held high school football games at the Ford Center since it opened.

Multiple professional indoor football teams have previously been based in Frisco, including the Frisco Thunder of the Intense Football League and the Texas Revolution of Champions Indoor Football.

In 2020 a new Indoor Football League expansion franchise, the Frisco Fighters, debuted with home games to be played at Comerica Center. After the Fighters’ 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team played its inaugural home opener on June 5, 2021. In their first year of operation, the Fighters clinched a playoff berth, advancing as far as the IFL semifinal game against the eventual 2021 United Bowl champion Massachusetts Pirates.

The Dallas Stars National Hockey League team is headquartered in Frisco, and practices at the Comerica Center. The Texas Tornado of the North American Hockey League had been based in Frisco since the fall of 2003, and shortly afterward the league moved its main offices to Frisco. In the 2013 off-season, the Texas Tornado relocated to North Richland Hills, Texas. The league relocated its offices in 2018.

FC Dallas (formerly the Dallas Burn), a Major League Soccer team, moved its home to Pizza Hut Park (now Toyota Stadium) near the corner of the Dallas North Tollway and Main Street in August 2005. A major international youth soccer tournament, the Dallas Cup, is hosted in Frisco each year and draws teams from around the world. The National Soccer Hall of Fame is co-located with Toyota Stadium.
The Frisco RoughRiders, the Double-A Minor League Baseball affiliate of the Texas Rangers in the South Division of the Texas League, play in Frisco at Riders Field.

The Texas Legends, affiliated with the Dallas Mavericks, are members of the NBA G League and play at Comerica Center.

On November 16, 2017, Major League Lacrosse announced it would be moving the Rochester Rattlers franchise to The Ford Center at the Star in Frisco for the 2018 season as the Dallas Rattlers. The Rattlers folded after the 2019 season.

The Southland Conference, an NCAA Division I athletics organization, relocated its headquarters to Frisco in 2006. On February 26, 2010, Pizza Hut Park (now Toyota Stadium) was announced as the host of the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly NCAA Division I-AA) championship game, formerly held in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Huntington, West Virginia. The first matchup, hosted by the Southland Conference, was played January 7, 2011.

Others

Frisco also has an Olympic-sized, state-of-the-art natatorium. The Frisco Baseball and Softball Association was established in 1984. The Frisco Football League is an organized recreational league that allows children to play football before entering football in the school district. The Flagfootball4fun Flag Football League (FF4FUN) is an organized recreational youth flag football league. The sports entertainment conglomerate Dude Perfect is in Frisco.

The Frisco Athletic Center features 18,000 square feet (1,700 m2) of indoor aquatics elements and about 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) of outdoor aquatic features. It features exercise equipment, basketball courts, and group exercise classes.

On January 11, 2023, Universal Parks & Resorts announced a “new concept”-styled theme park to be constructed in Frisco.

Primary and secondary

Most of Frisco is in the Frisco Independent School District (Frisco ISD), with some parts of the city extending into the Lewisville Independent School District, Little Elm Independent School District, and Prosper Independent School District. Lewisville ISD operates one elementary campus in the city while Prosper ISD operates an elementary school, a middle school, and Rock Hill High School, a high school within the Frisco city limits.

Frisco ISD has 12 high schools 17 middle schools and 43 elementary schools, and 3 special programs centers. Most Frisco ISD schools are within the Frisco city limits, but some are in adjacent suburbs, such as Plano. All Frisco high schools compete in UIL Class 5A, with the exception of Panther Creek High School, which competes in Class 4A.

The Frisco ISD Early Childhood School is available for children ages three and four who meet eligibility requirements for Headstart, Prekindergarten, or Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities.

At the Frisco ISD Career and Technical Education Center, high school students can experience and try different careers, from veterinary work to advertising and graphic design.

Higher education

The Texas Legislature designated Collin College as the community college for the municipality of Frisco as well as all of Collin County. The Preston Ridge campus of the community college district opened on Wade Boulevard in Frisco in 1995. Amberton University has a local campus on Parkwood Boulevard north of Warren Parkway. In 2008, Frisco ISD opened the Career and Technology Education Center.

The University of Dallas moved its Carrollton campus to Frisco. UT Arlington has a professional MBA campus in Frisco. The University of North Texas core MBA courses can be taken at the Frisco campus.