Founded in 1848

McKinney, one of the oldest towns in North Texas, was named for Collin McKinney, 

a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.

For the first 125 years of its history McKinney served as the principal commercial center for the county. 

The county seat provided farmers with flour, corn, and cotton mills, cotton gins, a cotton compress and cottonseed oil mill, as well as banks, churches, schools, newspapers, and, from the 1880s, an opera house. Businesses also came to include a textile mill, an ice company, a large dairy, and a garment-manufacturing company.

McKinney was also home to James W. Throckmorton, the 11th governor of Texas and a U.S. Congressman.

Below is a photo I took yesterday of the historic Collin County courthouse that is now home to the 

McKinney Performing Arts Center (MPAC) 

and the center of historic downtown McKinney, a charming shopping destination.

A random fact you might not have known:

In 1908 McKinney banned elephants on the town square after a circus parade damaged the newly-bricked streets.