Richardson is considered a suburb of Dallas and is situated within the county of Dallas. The Telecom Corridor, a vast technology center filled with several prominent technology businesses, is located here. Some of the more known businesses comprise Ericsson, Nortel, Tellabs, AT&T, Texas Instruments and Alcatel-Lucent.
The area of around Richardson City was inhabited in the beginning by the Comanche and the Caddo tribes. During the 1840s, the area was then settled by pioneers from Tennessee and Kentucky. It wasn't until after the Civil War that a railroad was constructed within the region. William J. Wheeler was the man who gave the piece of land that will ultimately become Richardson. He declined the opportunity for the city to be named after him, so it was named after a railroad contractor, E.H. Richardson.
The city of Richardson was given a charter during 1873. The very first telephones and electric lights were introduced to the city in the year 1910. The very first schoolhouse was constructed in 1914 and is presently utilized as the Richardson Independent School District administrative offices. Prior to World War II, the population was roughly 740. It exponentially expanded after that. During the year 1954 the U.S. Highway 75 opened, that resulted in Richardson transforming from a city of agriculture to a city rich in shopping centers and houses.
In the Telecom Corridor is the location for numerous technological corporations and is the place of the The University of Texas at Dallas. The university has lots of courses in engineering, cognitive sciences, natural sciences, and computer science, in addition to its graduate programs in international management, economics, and political economy. Students have the opportunity to acquire master degrees in addition to be admitted into doctoral programs. The world famous Alan G. MacDiarmid Nano Tech Institute is located at the university.
The most recent depression that was felt within many parts of the US, from the years 2005 to 2009 did not have the same effects within Richardson City. The city had in reality, seen an increase within the economy during those years. Property value increased from $8.3 billion to $9.5 billion and the sales tax collection went from $21 million to $24.7 million.
The largest office campus development during the past 25 years is a 15 story, 1,000,000 square foot regional head office. Over 3,100 people are working at this location. There have been some other main relocations or corporate expansions within the city, like MetroPCS, Bank of America Financial Services, Fujitsu Transaction Solutions, Halff Associates and Yahoo!.