History
Originally called El Ranchito de Las Colinas ("the Little Ranch of the Hills"), Las Colinas was developed in 1972 by cattle ranching millionaire Ben H. Carpenter. It was one of the first planned communities in the United States and was once the largest mixed-use development in the South, with a land area of more than 12,000 acres (49 km2). Urban planners were consulted to lay out the entire town, an undertaking that predated later projects in Plano, Allen and other suburbs.
During the 1980s building boom, Las Colinas became a popular location for relocating companies and office developers, attracting many corporations—including the global headquarters of four Fortune 500 companies and offices of more than 30 others, such as Exxon Mobil Corporation, GTE Telephone (now Verizon), Kimberly-Clark and Associates Corp. In 1985, the first sign of financial trouble appeared at Las Colinas due to a real estate market crash.
However, another 6,500,000 square feet (604,000 m2) of office space was built in the late 1990s boom. Residential real estate prices also rose steadily.
Read more about this topic: Las Colinas
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“Those who weep for the happy periods which they encounter in history acknowledge what they want; not the alleviation but the silencing of misery.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“Perhaps universal history is the history of the diverse intonation of some metaphors.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)