Originally named Cynthia Ann, Dallas not only changed its name but moved its townsite as well. First situated on the highlands on La Creole opposite its present location, where it was settled in 1852, it found the existing water supply insufficient for an ambitious town and moved bodily a distance of a mile or so, in 1856. The county in which it was the principal settlement having been named for President Polk, it seemed only fair that the town should bear the name of Vice-President Dallas. [1]
Charles Henry Carey, History of Oregon, Author's Edition, The Pioneer Historical Publishing Company, Chicago-Portland, 1922.