Collin County
McKinney, Collin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Formed from Fannin County. Created April 3, 1846. Organized July 13, 1846. Named in honor of Collin McKinney 1766-1861, land surveyor, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, member of Congress, Republic of Texas, member of the Texas Legislature. County seat, Buckner, 1846-1848 McKinney, since. (2,5 mi. S McKinney, US Hy 75)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Carved from Fannin County and created in April 1846, Collin County was named for Collin McKinney — land surveyor, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and member of the Congress of the Republic of Texas. The county seat began at Buckner in 1846 before moving to the town of McKinney, also named for him, two years later. The county was organized in the same summer it was created, just as Texas was joining the United States.
Why it matters
The county's founding and its namesake tie the map of North Texas directly to the men who declared and governed the independent Republic of Texas.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Collin McKinney
Related events
- · Texas Declaration of Independence
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
1927 Collin County Courthouse
McKinney, TX
Collin County was formed in 1846, and after a sparsely attended 1848 election held in bad weather, McKinney became its permanent county seat. A limestone Victorian courthouse with a mansard roof rose on the square in the 1870s, but by the mid-1920s it was overcrowded and failing. A sweeping 1927 renovation stripped the mansard roof, added a story, and recast the building in classical revival style—the 'Temple of Justice' that served the county until 1979.
Old Collin County Courthouse
McKinney, TX
Collin County was carved from Fannin County in 1846 and named for Collin McKinney, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. After the county seat moved to a more central site donated by William and Margaret Davis, the growing town of McKinney replaced two wooden courthouses with this substantial stone building, completed in 1876 to a design by Sherman architect Charles Wheeler and celebrated with a grand ball. Enlarged in the 1920s and used as a courthouse until 1979, it endures as a symbol of the county's early growth.
First United Methodist Church of McKinney
McKinney, TX
This McKinney congregation began humbly in 1851 as a mission of the Dallas Circuit, meeting in the county courthouse, a Masonic hall, or a shared union building before it built a home of its own in 1876. Becoming an independent station in 1879, it completed the ornate sanctuary that still stands in 1901, only to lose its original steeple to high winds in 1954. It remains the city's last elaborate turn-of-the-century church building.
Site of Elm Saloon
McKinney, TX
The Elm Saloon opened around 1883 in a two-story frame building beside McKinney's only railroad passenger depot, taking its name from a large elm near the entrance. According to an 1884 newspaper account, the gunfighter Frank James was arrested over a fight at the saloon, adding a note of frontier notoriety to its history. Rebuilt in stone by the 1890s and known variously as the Rock Front or Old Rock Saloon, it remained a local landmark until it closed in 1902.