McKamy Spring
Richardson, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Before any European or American settlers entered Texas, Native American tribes passed through the Richardson area and likely camped around what is now known as McKamy Spring. These tribes met with settlers, one of the friendliest being the Yoiuane (later absorbed by the Tonkawa), Comanche, Kickapoo, Seminoles and Cherokee around North Texas may have also used McKamy Spring, one of the few natural above-ground springs still in existence in the area. The early American settlement of Breckenridge, which preceded Richardson, made frequent use of the spring then known as Bowser Spring. After a railroad line was built nearby, Breckenridge faded away, as the new town of Richardson was built closer to the railroad. By 1925, the town became officially incorporated, with Thomas McKamy as its first Mayor. Thomas Franklin McKamy was born in Carrollton in 1889. His family owned and operated a drug and general merchandise store in Richardson. After his father’s death in 1907, McKamy and his brother took over the business. McKamy expanded into ownership of other businesses in the area. McKamy came to serve various positions in the local government, including Mayor. He drew from Bowser Spring to supply water to the drills in constructing wells and other eater systems in the town. The spring also supplied water for machinery in the construction of the US Highway 75 Central Expressway. He later purchased the land around the spring and built a home there in 1953. The spring became renamed as McKamy Spring, and Thomas McKamy himself placed a marker there to acknowledge the original Native Americans who likely used this spring. (2015)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Long before European or American settlers reached North Texas, Native peoples camped around the natural spring now called McKamy Spring, one of the few above-ground springs still surviving in the area. Early settlers of Breckenridge—the community that preceded Richardson—used it as Bowser Spring until the railroad drew the town elsewhere. Richardson's first mayor, Thomas McKamy, later drew on the spring to supply water for wells and even the construction of the Central Expressway, bought the surrounding land, and placed a marker there honoring the Native Americans who had used it before him.
Why it matters
McKamy Spring connects the Indigenous history of North Texas to its settlement and modern growth, a single water source that served Native travelers, frontier settlers, and a twentieth-century highway alike.
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Related people
- · Thomas Franklin McKamy
Themes & tags
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