The History of McKinney, Texas
McKinney and its county both carry the same man's name, and he was a big deal: Collin McKinney helped write and sign the Texas Declaration of Independence. The town he lent his name to spent most of its life as a courthouse square on the prairie, dignified and slow. Then the growth wave that remade Collin County reached it, and McKinney became one of the fastest-growing cities in America — while somehow keeping the best old downtown in the metro.
Naming a County Seat (1846–1900)
Collin County was carved out of Fannin County in 1846 and named for Collin McKinney, a surveyor and legislator who had signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. The county needed a seat near its geographic center, and after a vote — a sparsely attended one, held in bad weather, with only eleven ballots cast — the site that became McKinney won out in 1848. The Texas Legislature named the town for Collin McKinney too. It grew as a farming and trading center on the Blackland Prairie, and the limestone courthouse that rose on the square in the 1870s was, for a time, said to be the tallest building in Texas north of San Antonio.
The Courthouse Square (1875–1980)
The heart of McKinney has always been its square. The 1870s courthouse was drastically remodeled in 1927 into the restrained brick landmark that still anchors downtown, and around it grew the shops, banks, and cafes of a classic county seat. When county government finally outgrew the old building and moved out in 1979, McKinney did something smart: instead of letting the historic courthouse rot, it eventually restored the building into a performing-arts center. That instinct — keep the old bones, put them to new use — is why McKinney's downtown survived when so many others were bulldozed.
The Boom (1990s–Today)
For most of its history McKinney was a modest town in Dallas's far orbit. Then Collin County exploded, and McKinney exploded with it — repeatedly ranking among the fastest-growing cities in the United States and blowing past 200,000 people. Subdivisions and corporate campuses filled the prairie north and west of the old center. But the historic downtown square, with its restored courthouse and brick streets, stayed the soul of the place — a genuine sense of history that the newer boomtowns around it can't buy.
Timeline
1846
Collin County is created and named for Collin McKinney, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
1848
The town of McKinney is established as the county seat and named for the same man.
1875
A limestone courthouse rises on the square, reputedly the tallest building in Texas north of San Antonio.
1927
The courthouse is remodeled into the brick landmark that anchors downtown today.
2006
The historic courthouse reopens as the McKinney Performing Arts Center.
Notable People
Collin McKinney
Surveyor, legislator, and one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence, for whom both the city and Collin County are named.
FAQ: History of McKinney
Both the city and Collin County are named for Collin McKinney, a surveyor and legislator who was one of the signers of the 1836 Texas Declaration of Independence.
McKinney was established as the seat of Collin County in 1848, a couple of years after the county itself was created in 1846. It grew from a prairie courthouse town into one of the fastest-growing cities in the country.
The old Collin County Courthouse on McKinney's downtown square, built in the 1870s and remodeled in 1927, served county government until 1979. It was later restored and reopened in 2006 as the McKinney Performing Arts Center.
McKinney chose to protect and repurpose its historic square rather than tear it down, restoring the old courthouse and keeping the brick-street downtown intact. That's given the fast-growing city a genuine sense of history unusual among Collin County boomtowns.
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