The northwestern part, stretching from the far west El Paso to the Texas Panhandle in the north and to Fort Worth in the east, was identified with area code 915, while area code 214 was assigned to the northeastern part of the state, roughly from a line just west of Dallas to Waco, to the borders of Arkansas and Louisiana.
Despite the growth of the Dallas metropolitan area in the second half of the 20th century, this configuration remained in place for thirty six years.
The 1990 split was intended as a long-term solution, but within five years 214 was close to exhaustion due to the rapid growth of the Metroplex as well as the popularity of cell phones, fax machines and pagers.
Area code 469 was introduced on July 1, 1999, in an overlay plan for most of the eastern portion of the Metroplex.
Since 2000, 214 and 972 have served as overlays for portions of eastern Tarrant County (Arlington, Bedford, Euless, Grapevine, Southlake, and Colleyville) which are closer to Dallas.