Richardson is a city in the Texas state of the United States, located in the counties of Dallas and Collin. The city has a total population of 119,469 people as of the most recent United States census, which was conducted in 2020. Richardson is a Dallas suburb that is located in the city's inner suburbs. In addition to the University of Texas at Dallas and the Telecom Corridor, which has a large concentration of telecommunications enterprises, it is home to the Dallas International Airport. The city of Richardson has much more than 5,000 businesses that operate within its 28 sq miles (73 km2), including several world's largest telecommunications & networking companies, including AT&T, Verizon, Cisco Systems, Samsung, ZTE, MetroPCS, Texas Instruments, Qorvo, and Fujitsu, as well as smaller startups. Richardson's major employer is the insurance business, which includes the headquarters of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, a regional hub for GEICO, regional offices for United Healthcare, and one of State Farm Insurance's three national regional hubs, all of which are situated in the city.
During the 1840s, settlers from Kentucky and Tennessee began arriving in the Richardson region. It was around the current location of Richland College that the town grew during the 1850s and into the 1860s. An underground railroad was constructed northwest of the original settlement after the Civil War, repositioning the village's centre closer to the train. Richardson was established in 1873 and named for Alfred S. Richardson, the secretary of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad, who served as the town's first mayor.
The Texas Electric Railway, sometimes known as the Interurban, was established in 1908 to link Richardson with Denison, Waco, Corsicana, and Dallas. The population was roughly 600 people in 1910. The Richardson Independent School District's administrative office is housed in a 1914 red brick schoolhouse that was constructed of local brick. Construction of the Red Brick Road, which is now known as Greenville Avenue, was finished in 1924. As a result of the road's construction, traffic, population, and property prices have all grown. In 1925, the town became established and elected a mayor. The population was roughly 740 people in 1940. In the aftermath of World War II, the city had significant population growth, reaching a peak of roughly 1,300 people by 1950. Throughout the 1950s, the city had considerable expansion, which included the establishment of the Collins Radio Richardson headquarters, the Central Expressway, a police station, retail malls, and a large number of residences. In 1956, Texas Instruments established its headquarters in Dallas, at the southern edge of Richardson. This was followed by large increases in the value of land, the population, and the overall economic situation. In the 1960s, the city of Richardson underwent considerable expansion, which included the construction of numerous new parks and facilities, as well as the establishment of the University of Texas at Dallas inside its borders. By 1972, the city's population had reached roughly 56,000 people. Residential development continued during the 1970s and 1980s, although decreased in the latter decade. Throughout the 1980s, there was an upsurge in commercial development. According to the 1990 census, the city of Richardson had a population of 74,840 people. Throughout the 1990s, the city's population increased mostly as a result of construction in the northeast section of the city. In 1996, the city of Buckingham was incorporated into the city of Richardson after being totally encircled by the city for many years.