Garland, Texas map
32.91° N · 96.64° W · Dallas County · Rowlett Creek · Central Time
Garland is the thirteenth-largest city in Texas and the northeastern quarter of Dallas County. It is one of the few big Texas suburbs with a working downtown square, a light rail line and a heavy manufacturing base at the same time — and it is the only one that owns its own electric utility. Its eastern edge runs into Lake Ray Hubbard.
Centered near the square. I-635 clips the southwest corner, the Bush Turnpike crosses the north, and Lake Ray Hubbard fills the map to the east.
Where Garland is in the metroplex
Garland sits about 15 miles northeast of downtown Dallas, with Richardson to the west, Plano and Murphy to the north across the Collin County line, Sachse and Rowlett to the east, and Mesquite to the south. Rowlett Creek and Duck Creek drain the city southeast into the East Fork of the Trinity River, which is the arm that was dammed to make Lake Ray Hubbard.
The town exists because of a fight over a railroad depot. Two rival settlements, Duck Creek and Embree, sat a mile apart where the Santa Fe and the Missouri–Kansas–Texas lines crossed in the 1880s; the dispute was settled in 1887 when a single post office was placed between them and named for Augustus H. Garland, then the U.S. Attorney General. The merged town incorporated in 1891, and the square that grew around the crossing is still the center of the old city.
The square, the lake and the industrial side
Downtown Garland is a genuine courthouse-style square around Fifth and State streets, even though the county courthouse is in Dallas. The 1941 Plaza Theatre anchors one corner, the Granville Arts Center sits a block away, and the DART station is on the north side, which makes this one of the few suburban squares in Texas you can reach by train.
East of the city, Lake Ray Hubbard is a City of Dallas water-supply reservoir impounded on the East Fork of the Trinity in the 1960s. Garland's boundary extends into the water, and the shoreline parks and boat ramps along Lakeview Parkway are the city's main recreation frontage. Between the square and the lake lies the industrial half of Garland: plants, warehouses and rail spurs along Miller Road, Forest Lane and Shiloh Road, served by Garland Power & Light, a city-owned electric utility that has supplied Garland for about a century.
The northeast corner of the city is the newest part. Firewheel grew up around the President George Bush Turnpike after the toll road reached this side of the metroplex, with a large open-air shopping center and municipal golf courses on the old Rowlett Creek uplands. From there the turnpike swings southeast, crosses the northern arm of Lake Ray Hubbard on a causeway and drops into Rowlett, which is the quickest way from Garland to I-30 and the Rockwall side of the lake.
Highways and rail
- I-635 / LBJ Freeway – crosses the southwest corner; west to Richardson and DFW Airport, south to Mesquite and I-30.
- SH-190 / President George Bush Turnpike – toll road across the north side; west to Plano and Carrollton, southeast to Rowlett and I-30.
- SH-78 / Garland Road–Lavon Drive – the diagonal through the city; southwest to Dallas and White Rock Lake, northeast to Sachse and Wylie.
- SH-66 / Lakeview Parkway – east across Lake Ray Hubbard to Rowlett and Rockwall.
- Loop 12 / Northwest Highway – enters from Dallas and ends at SH-78 in south Garland.
- DART Blue Line – light rail from downtown Dallas with stops at Forest/Jupiter and Downtown Garland, continuing east to Rowlett.
Areas and neighborhoods
| Area | What's there |
|---|---|
| Downtown square | Plaza Theatre, Granville Arts Center, city hall, the Downtown Garland DART station |
| Firewheel | Northeast Garland at the Bush Turnpike: Firewheel Town Center and the municipal golf courses |
| Duck Creek | The older creek corridor and its greenbelt trail running through the middle of the city |
| Embree / Travis College Hill | Early neighborhoods immediately around the square |
| South Garland | Postwar subdivisions between Broadway and I-635, plus South Garland High and the hospital |
| Industrial district | Manufacturing and distribution along Miller Road, Shiloh Road and Forest Lane |
| Rowlett Creek Preserve | Mountain-bike trail system in the creek bottoms on the east side |
| Lake Ray Hubbard shore | Boat ramps and shoreline parks along SH-66 where the city meets the reservoir |
Distances from Garland
| City | Road miles | Route |
|---|---|---|
| Mesquite | 10 | I-635 S |
| Plano | 15 | SH-190 W |
| Dallas | 17 | I-635 W / US-75 S |
| McKinney | 30 | SH-78 N / US-75 |
| Irving | 25 | I-635 W |
| Fort Worth | 50 | I-635 W / SH-183 |
| Tyler | 95 | I-30 E / I-20 |