Site of Elm Saloon
McKinney, Collin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Elm Saloon opened about 1883 in a 2-story frame building at this site owned by T.O. Bower. According to an 1884 newspaper story gunfighter Frank James was arrested for his involvement in a fight in the Elm Saloon. By 1892 the saloon, named for a large elm tree near its entrance, was housed in a one-story stone structure. The saloon was located next to McKinney's only railroad passenger depot and by the early 1900s had become a local landmark known variously as the Elm Saloon, Rock Front Saloon, and Old Rock Saloon. The saloon was closed in 1902. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
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.
Why it matters
A railside saloon like this one was the rough social hub of a young Texas town, where the mingling of travelers, commerce, and Wild West legend played out in daily life.
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Related people
- · Frank James
- · T. O. Bower
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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.
Collin County
McKinney, TX
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.
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.
John Faires House
McKinney, TX
Built in 1854 by John Faires, a Tennessee man who had reached the young town of McKinney only three years earlier, this Greek Revival home reflected the skills that made him valuable on the Texas frontier. Faires kept a blacksmith shop nearby, working metal and wood with a craftsman's hand — a talent still visible in the hand-chiseled front door. The house stayed in the Faires family for more than a century, until 1975.