Irving was founded in 1903 by J.O. "Otto" Schulze and Otis Brown. It is believed literary author
Washington Irving was a favorite of Netta Barcus Brown, and consequently the name of the town site, Irving, was chosen. Irving began in 1889 as an area called Gorbit, and in 1894 the name changed to Kit. Irving was incorporated April 14, 1914, with Otis Brown as the first mayor. By the late 19th century, the Irving area was the site of
churches, two
cotton gins, a
blacksmith shop and a general store. The Irving district
public school system dates to the 1909 establishment of Kit and Lively schools. Population growth was slow and sometimes halting, with only 357 residents in 1925, but a significant increase began in the 1930s. By the early 1960s, the city had a population of approximately 45,000. A number of
manufacturing plants operated in Irving, along with
transportation,
retail and
financial businesses. The
University of Dallas in Irving opened in 1956, and
Texas Stadium was completed in 1971 as the home field of the
Dallas Cowboys. The
Chateau Theater opened in 1964 as part of a chain of premium, dollar, and drive-in theaters that stretched across North Texas and Oklahoma.
Delta Air Lines Flight 191 crashed in Irving on August 2, 1985. Irving's population reached 155,037 in 1990 and the United States Census Bureau estimated 236,607 residents in 2016, a 3.5 percent population increase over 2013 census estimates. In 2011, the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas opened. Four years later high-school student
Ahmed Mohamed was the subject of a
hoax bomb incident which ignited allegations of
racial profiling and
Islamophobia from many media and commentators. In 2019, Irving completed its construction of an entertainment district in Las Colinas with the opening of the Westin Irving Convention Center Hotel. The entertainment district also includes the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas and the Toyota Music Factory, an entertainment complex with numerous restaurants, an Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, the Texas Lottery Plaza open-air performance stage and the Pavilion at the Toyota Music Factory concert venue. On May 8, 2020, the city's local poultry plant run by
Westfield, Wisconsin-based Brakebush Bros. Inc reported 40 cases of
COVID-19 among its workers during the
2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic. In 2025, the Irving City Council enacted a slew of restrictions and regulations on apartment buildings in the city with the goal of discouraging increases in apartments. ==Geography==