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    McKinney
    McKinney
    McKinney
    Ebook186 pages1 hour

    McKinney

    By Ryan Barnhart and Ryan Estes

    ()

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    About this ebook

    McKinney's very first settlers began arriving from Kentucky, Arkansas, and Tennessee in the early 1840s. Collin County was created by the Texas legislature on April 3, 1846, and due to a provision violation requiring the county seat to be within 3 miles of the center of the county, McKinney replaced Buckner as the seat in 1848. The vote deciding the new seat, however, went in McKinney's favor primarily because flooding kept many citizens from casting ballots. On March 16, 1848, the state legislature passed an act to name the new town in honor of Collin McKinney, one of five original draftees of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Today McKinney is one of America's fastest growing cities and has seen a population boom from approximately 16,000 residents in 1985 to more than 120,000 in 2010.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439641545
    McKinney
    Author

    Ryan Barnhart

    Author Ryan Barnhart, an English teacher at Liberty Christian School, partnered with historian Ryan Estes, a Texas history teacher at McKinney’s Evans Middle School, to compile this impressive photographic history of McKinney’s past. Using images from the Chestnut Square Organization’s archives, the book also features photographs from private collections, including those of Ridgell McKinney, the great-great grandson of Collin McKinney. Proceeds from sales of the book benefit the Chestnut Square Organization.

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      Book preview

      McKinney - Ryan Barnhart

      project.

      INTRODUCTION

      The original settlers of the area now known as McKinney began arriving from Kentucky, Arkansas, and Tennessee in the early 1840s. Vast amounts of free land brought the pioneers west, and upon arrival, they built log houses on the prairies and dug wells for drinking water. A short time later, the area was named Peters Colony after one of the original colonizers, William S. Peters. Peters Colony was an empresario (land agent) grant from the Republic of Texas in 1841 and consisted of much of today’s Collin, Denton, Grayson, and Tarrant Counties. Through the land grant the early settlers received a maximum of 640 acres per family or 320 acres for a single man. They also received gunpowder, shot, and possibly assistance in building a log cabin on their land.

      Collin County was created by the Texas Legislature on April 3, 1846, and named after Collin McKinney, a land surveyor, pioneer, and legislator originally from New Jersey and then Virginia and Kentucky. The little town of Buckner, which was located near the Third Monday Trade Days market on U.S. Route 380, served as the county seat of Collin County for about two years and grew up around a store and trading post owned by John McGarrah. McGarrah also served as the postmaster in Buckner when the U.S. government put a post office in his store. John L. Lovejoy also owned and operated a store near McGarrah’s in Buckner.

      On January 12, 1848, however, the recently formed First Legislature of Texas determined that all Texas county seats must be within 3 geographic miles of the center of the county. A committee to select two new county seat sites consisted of Denton Darby, John Fitzhugh, William McKinney, James L. McReynolds, and J. B. Wilmeth. The two choices for county seats were the current location of McKinney and an area along Sloan Creek in present-day Fairview.

      It rained hard for several days surrounding the election, and the East Fork of the Trinity River and Wilson Creek severely flooded and kept many inhabitants south and east of the area from voting. The area now known as McKinney won the election, and records show that only 11 people voted in the election primarily because of the inclement weather conditions. Many in the area assumed that the new town would also be named Buckner, but on March 16, 1848, the state legislature passed an act to name the new town in honor of Collin McKinney.

      William and Margaret Davis owned approximately 3,000 acres of land in Collin County, and on March 24, 1849, the deed was finalized for them to donate 120 acres to the town of McKinney. However, an agreement was reached with the Davis family for the land one year before it was officially deeded, thus on May 3, 1848, Lovejoy hired James L. Reed and Manse Wilmeth and their teams of oxen to drag his store from Buckner to the northwest corner of the McKinney square. As a result, the actual birthday of McKinney is celebrated on the third day of May each year. A courthouse and other little businesses were positioned on the square, and by 1850, more than 300 people lived in the little frontier town of McKinney. In the late 1850s, McKinney was reincorporated and the boundaries were established by a vote.

      When the Houston and Texas Central Railroad arrived in McKinney in 1872, the population began to grow along with the town. Another railway, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, began running through McKinney in 1881. The Texas Electric Railroad (the interurban) connected Dallas to Denison through McKinney from July 1, 1908, to December 31, 1948.

      Hundreds of men arrived in McKinney to build up the roadbeds and lay rails for the railroad companies during these years. Many of the men stayed in tents at a park in east McKinney, and they brought a rough lifestyle with them to McKinney, as there were more than 20 saloons around the square at that time. But with the railroad, farmers could ship their crops across the country, and the latest advancements arrived in McKinney via train as well.

      Cultural advancements also led to the progression of McKinney during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Heard Opera House opened on Louisiana Street in 1885. Buffalo Bill, along with Annie Oakley, brought his Wild West–style show to McKinney in 1894. The Ringling Brothers Circus and the Barnum and Bailey Circus both toured through McKinney in the early 1900s. Parks and fairgrounds were opened to add more pleasure to the lives of McKinney residents.

      In an effort to further civilize McKinney, an election was held in 1902 to enforce a dry community, and progress continued. The first automobile arrived in McKinney in 1903, and local banker T. T. Emerson was the first McKinney resident to purchase one a short time later. Roads around the square were paved in 1908, and electric lights were installed around the square in 1912. By the end of 1912, more than 4,500 people called McKinney home.

      World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II had an effect on McKinney as well as every other town across America. Numerous McKinney men were sent away to the wars, and the Great Depression put many out of work. But through WPA programs, schools were built, and the McKinney economy picked back up in the 1940s. For instance, the U.S. Army built the Ashburn General Hospital in 1943, and assistance for schools like J. L. Greer Elementary was provided.

      Possibly the greatest tragedy to hit McKinney occurred on May 3, 1948, the 100th anniversary of the city, when a massive tornado swept through the southern portion of the town, causing approximately $2 million worth of damage to homes and businesses and killing three people.

      By 1953, the population of McKinney increased to more than 10,000 residents and continued to grow steadily over the next 30 years, reaching around 16,000 people by 1985. But over the next 25 years, McKinney witnessed a population expansion that only few American cities can rival. By the early 21st century, McKinney’s population had exceeded 54,000 residents, and by 2010, McKinney’s population more than doubled, swelling to

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