History
Rowlett Creek Cemetery
In 1836 Dr. Daniel Rowlett (1786-1848), a Kentuckian, came to Texas with his wife and six other families. Rowlett, a physician, lawyer, surveyor, and politician, settled near present Bonham. He located much of his large 1838 land grant in the fertile area along present Rowlett Creek.
History
Saigling House
The Houston & Texas Central Railroad brought access to agricultural markets and growth to Plano in the 1870s. Celestine (Pillot) (1854-1932) and Charles Frederick (C.F.) (1840-1906) Saigling moved from Houston to Plano in 1881 to pursue business opportunities in Plano and north Texas. C.F. Saigling was an active community and civic leader during his time in Plano. He established the C.F.
History
Scott Cemetery
Established on the land of area pioneer James Preston Scott, this cemetery dates to the 1850s. The first person buried here was Scott's granddaughter, Mary C. Taylor (1852-1854), child of Scott's daughter Tabitha and her husband A.J. Taylor. Of the over 200 burials here, at least 30 are unmarked, including those of two family slaves, Jake and Rhoda, buried in the northwest corner of the graveyard.
Architecture
Scott-Barker House
Probably erected in the 1870s, this house was already standing when prominent Melissa merchant Louis A. Scott and his new wife Louise (Allen) purchased the property in 1880. The Scotts sold the house in 1901, and in 1903 it was purchased by Hugh M. and Fannie Barker. A 1921 tornado devastated the town but took only a chimney from this house, which the Barker's daughters occupied for 85 years.
History
Sherley, A. & Bro. Hardware Store
Lewis and Paulina Sherley moved to north Texas from Kentucky about 1853. When the town of Anna was established in 1872, their grandsons, brothers Andrew and Fred Sherley, opened a hardware store. In 1894 they built this structure to house the business. It remained in the family after the store closed in 1979.
History
Site of Buckner
John (Jack) and Polly McGarrah and family came to this site from Tennessee in 1842. The third settler in present Collin County, McGarrah opened a trading post to barter for hides and furs. While in the act of building a family fort, he and his men had to defend themselves from roaming hostile Indians.
History
Site of Collin McKinney Homestead
Collin McKinney, a delegate to the General Convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos who helped draft the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico and later the Constitution of the Republic of Texas, settled in this area about 1846. On July 10, 1848, McKinney bought the Rob Whitaker survey around this site from Anna Whitaker, paying $500 for 640 acres.
History
Site of Elm Saloon
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.
History
Site of Lebanon
Settlers traveling to this area of Texas after it opened for settlement as part of the Peters Colony found free land, clear spring water and plenty of timber. Those who decided to stay named it Lebanon and began to establish homes and farms. On March 1, 1860, the U.S. Postal Service granted a post office to Lebanon, with Phillip Huffman serving as first postmaster.
History
Site of Muse Academy
A native of Virginia, James S. Muse (1804-1878) prospered as a hemp grower in Missouri before coming to Texas with his wife Margaret Slaughter. He bought 320 acres and built this house in 1858-59. In one wing which was later removed, he opened Muse Academy, also known as Mount Pleasant High School. A lay preacher in the Christian Church, he was also a Greek and Latin scholar.
History
Site of Rock Hill
Probably named for the white rock escarpment on which it was built, Rock Hill was established by December 1854 when John Moore became its first postmaster. By the early 20th century the town boasted two schools, four churches, three doctors, a grist mill, general store, cotton gin, blacksmith, drugstore, dry goods and grocery and a population of 115. In 1902 the St.
History
Site of Wilmeth-McKinney Homestead
Joseph Brice (J.B.) Wilmeth (b.1807) and Nancy Ferguson (b.1807) were married in Tennessee in 1826. They settled here on 320 acres of virgin prairie in 1846. They began to farm their land and soon built a grand two-story family home at this site. Elder J.B. Wilmeth, along with pioneer settler Collin McKinney, established Collin County's First Christian Church at Liberty in 1846. J.B.
History
Site of World War II Prisoner of War Camp
Here in 1941, with the Hon. Sam Rayburn, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, in attendance, a migratory labor camp was dedicated. With the coming of World War II later in the decade, however, federal officials converted the site for use as a camp to hold German prisoners of war. While here, the German soldiers worked on Princeton area farms, providing valuable labor assistance.
History
St. Paul
Located in South-Central Collin County, St. Paul is one of the oldest communities in the county. The name of the town comes from the St. Paul Catholic Church, which was established in 1856 and located in the area. At one time, the community was known as dump. In the late 1800s, St.
History
Stiff Chapel Cemetery
Jesse Stiff (1796-1871) came to Texas from Virginia in 1835 and settled on several thousand acres of land in this area. His brother, Louis, arrived in 1849, and a community known as Stiff Chapel developed around their homesteads. In 1847, Jesse's son, James, died while serving as a Texas Ranger. He was buried near his father's house on land that later was deeded as the Stiff Chapel Cemetery.
History
Stony Point Church and Cemetery
In the 1870s and 1880s the pioneer settlement of Stony Point was a thriving agricultural community with a cotton gin, general store, gristmill, molasses mill and school. On August 17, 1878, area residents formed the Stony Point Baptist Church. Five years later A.J. Scribner and R.N. Coffey donated land to the church which now comprises part of the burial ground. In 1887 J.C.
History
T. J. Campbell House
Pioneer home of T.J. Campbell. Built in Lebanon, Tx., on Preston Road, 1869. Moved to Frisco to be on railroad and mail line, 1902. Constructed of lumber hauled by wagon train from Jefferson. Has cypress siding and windows. Gingerbread added after move. The Campbell family, pioneer merchants, served this area of Collin County from 1869 to 1910.
History
Taylor House
Built in the 1860s, the structure originally stood across the street from the site. It was sold in 1868 to Armistead Joshua Taylor (1840-1888), a cabinet maker. He married Tabatha Jane Scott, daughter of Collin County pioneer Preston Scott. The tailors operated the house as an in for traveling salesman or drummers.
Transport
Texas Electric Railway Station
Built in 1908 by the Texas Traction Company (Texas Electric Railway after a merger in 1917), this station served passengers and freight customers of the company's North Texas routes. The wood frame passenger depot and the attached brick freight/electric transformer section remained in use until 1948, when the rail system declined in favor of automobile travel.
Architecture
The Ammie Wilson House
Hunter T. and Mary A. Farrell built this Victorian home in 1891. It typified the substantial houses of the late 19th century in this agricultural community. In 1934 Mrs. Farrell gave her daughter Ammie Wilson (1880-1972) a life tenancy in the property. With the support of her husband, Dudley Wilson, "Miss Ammie" raised prize-winning Hampshire sheep.
History
The Birthplace of Rebekah Baines Johnson
Joseph Wilson Baines (1846-1906), son of minister editor-Baylor University President George W. Baines, settled in Collin county in 1867. He taught school and in 1869 married Ruth Huffman, daughter of a physician of the Peters Colony. Baines read law under ex-governor James W.
History
The Shawnee Trail
In 1838 the Republic of Texas Congress appropriated money for construction of a north-south road opening the northern Texas area to trade. The project leader, Colonel William G. Cooke, followed an existing Indian trail which reached from the Red River to Austin. A supply fort established on the river near the trading post of Holland Coffee was named for Captain William G.
Architecture
Thomas and Mattie Brown House
William Thomas Brown (1848-1907), a native of Illinois, married Martha (Mattie) J. Housewright in 1871. They moved to Wylie shortly after its establishment on a newly constructed railroad line from Paris to Dallas built by the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad company in 1886. Thomas and his business partner John H.
History
Thompson Cemetery
Collin county pioneer Abner Thompson came to this area about 1850 and settled on land that was originally part of the Silvester Williams Survey, deeding a portion of it to be used as a cemetery. The first burial, that of Thompson himself, took place in 1852. His grave is marked with two large square stones which have deteriorated through time and have become nearly illegible.
History
Van Winkle Cemetery
This burial ground has served the residents of Climax since the mid-1800s. The Climax community dates to 1851, when Williams Warden, a farmer from Missouri, settled here with his family. The rural community grew and by the 1890s, it had two cotton gins, a grain elevator, a school, a church, a blacksmith shop and a general store.
Elsewhere in Texas
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