HistoricSiteMarkers
Progressive & Modern Era

1911 McKinney Post Office

McKinney, Collin County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Designed by architect J. H. Suttle, the 1911 McKinney Post Office is a characteristic and well-preserved example of an Italianate post office. The tile roof, ornamental columns, eaves and window configuration are common to the American post office after 1910. These elements and the three-bay arched recessed entry define the facade. The fourth post office to serve the area, the structure was deeded to Collin County by the federal government in 1959 and in 1982 became a Collin County museum. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1997

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Designed by architect J. H. Suttle and built in 1911, this was the fourth post office to serve McKinney and a polished example of the Italianate style favored for federal buildings of the era. Its tile roof, ornamental columns, and three-bay arched entry mark it as a small-town civic landmark. Deeded to Collin County in 1959, it became a county museum in 1982.

Why it matters

Early-twentieth-century post offices were among the most visible symbols of the federal government in small-town America, and their architecture lent civic dignity to Main Street.

Own a business near here? Add it to the map.

Related people

  • · J. H. Suttle

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

Ambush at McKinney

McKinney, TX

In the depths of the Great Depression the Barrow Gang—infamous for Bonnie and Clyde—terrorized the region, but two other members, Raymond Hamilton and Ralph Fults, were just as dangerous. In 1935, after Bonnie and Clyde were dead, the pair robbed the Beaumont Armory and stashed the loot near McKinney. Returning to collect it that February, they were ambushed by Collin County officers at a culvert north of town; though Hamilton was shot, both escaped, ditching their stolen Ford coupe in Weston.

Allen

Allen, TX

Fertile prairie and reliable water had drawn settlers here since the 1840s, but Allen truly began in 1876 when the Houston and Texas Central Railroad built a water stop on Cottonwood Creek and platted a town, naming it for railroad founder Ebenezer Allen. In 1878 an outlaw gang said to be led by Sam Bass robbed the depot in what is often called Texas's first successful train robbery. Interurban electric rail arrived in 1908, and late-century growth in the Dallas metroplex swelled the town past 19,000.

Wilson Creek House

Celina, TX

W. W. Wilson, an employee of the Cotton Belt Railroad, moved to Plano in 1901, married Alice Bell, and in 1903 had this turn-of-the-century home built on Avenue K. Its fish-scale shingling and Victorian details sheltered the Wilsons and their three children for decades. After changing hands several times, the house was moved to its present site in 1976 and honored as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.

Prosper United Methodist Church

Prosper, TX

This congregation traces its roots to 1899, when Methodist trustees near Rock Hill bought land for a new church, Smith's Chapel. When the whole settlement moved a mile north in 1902 to reach the railroad and the new town of Prosper, the congregation voted to move with it, renaming itself Prosper Methodist Episcopal Church. Outgrowing its frame building, the church laid the cornerstone of its present sanctuary in 1923.