The Trinity River was previously identified as the stream that the Caddo called Arkikosa in Central Texas and Daycoa nearer the coast.

In 1690 Spanish explorer Alonso de León named it, "La Santísima Trinidad" ("the Most Holy Trinity").

The Trinity flows southeast from Dallas across a fertile floodplain and the pine forests of eastern Texas.

Roughly 65 miles (105 km) north of the mouth on Galveston Bay, an earthen dam was built in 1968 to form Lake Livingston.

[11] Original federal plans called for building 36 locks and dams from Trinity Bay near Houston to Dallas.

The DFE Project is under construction and is helping to fulfill their mission, as directed by Congress in cooperation with the city of Dallas.

It is helping to lower flood risk, and provide ecosystem restoration and recreation to the citizens of Dallas.

The Trinity River Vision lays the groundwork to enable Fort Worth's central business district to double in size over the next forty years.

The construction forces of the Texas & Pacific worked feverishly to safeguard the long trestle carrying their tracks across the stream.

Suddenly, this whole structure turned on its side down-stream, broke loose from the rest of the track at one end and swung out into the middle of the current and began breaking up, first into large sections and then into smaller pieces, rushing madly along to some uncertain destination.

[Approximately half a dozen of the workmen fell into the torrent at this point; exaggerated reports of their drowning swept the city.

[14] After the disastrous flood, the city's citizenry wanted to find a way to control the unpredictable Trinity River and to build a bridge linking Oak Cliff and Dallas.