McKinney
McKinney, Collin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Founded 1845 by Collin McKinney, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. In Civil War, Gen. J.W. Throckmorton (later a governor of Texas) organized McKinney's Co.K, 6th Texas Cavalry, an outstanding confederate fighting unit. Manufacturing, trade and hospital center. 1963
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
McKinney was founded in 1845 and named for Collin McKinney, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence—the same man who gave his name to the surrounding county. During the Civil War, future Texas governor J. W. Throckmorton raised Company K of the 6th Texas Cavalry here, a well-regarded Confederate unit. The town grew into a center of manufacturing, trade, and medicine for the region.
Why it matters
The town links the birth of the Texas Republic to the Civil War through the men who shaped both, tracing North Texas's rise from frontier to regional hub.
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Related people
- · Collin McKinney
- · J. W. Throckmorton
Related events
- · Texas Declaration of Independence
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Governor James Webb Throckmorton
McKinney, TX
Born in Tennessee in 1825, James W. Throckmorton came to the Texas frontier as a boy in 1841, served as a young hunter and scout, and fought in the Mexican War before turning to law and politics. Though he defended the right of secession, he was one of only seven delegates to vote against leaving the Union in 1861, then served the Confederacy during the war. Elected governor in 1866, he was removed the next year by General Philip Sheridan as 'an impediment to Reconstruction,' and later returned to serve in the U.S. Congress.
Pecan Grove Memorial Park
McKinney, TX
This ground began as a Republic of Texas land grant in 1845, just four years after Dr. William E. Throckmorton led his family from Tennessee to found the first permanent settlement in the area. By the 1850s it held its first burials, and public ownership followed in 1870; a shady stand of trees gave the place its name. Among those honored is Dr. James Webb Throckmorton—Confederate general, Governor of Texas, and long-serving congressman.
Young Cemetery
Plano, TX
Sam and Patience Young came to Collin County from Illinois in 1842, part of a wave of Midwestern settlers drawn to North Texas farmland. Young bought land, founded a school, and opened this cemetery when Patience died in 1847. Eleven pioneer families rest among its fifty-one known graves, including veterans of both the War of 1812 and the Civil War.
Site of Wilmeth-McKinney Homestead
McKinney, TX
When J.B. and Nancy Wilmeth staked out 320 acres of untouched Collin County prairie in 1846, Texas had been a U.S. state for less than a year and the frontier was still raw. Their two-story home became a hub of pioneer life—a place of worship for the First Christian Church congregation J.B. organized, and a free school he and his children taught for nearly four decades. J.B. helped choose the county seat and served as district clerk and county judge, while marriages knit his family to that of Collin McKinney, the county's namesake and a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.