Collin County Was Named for a Signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence

The Texas Legislature created Collin County on April 3, 1846. About 150 people lived there at the time. The county was named for Collin McKinney. He signed the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836. He is credited with insisting that as new counties were laid out in North Texas, their boundaries should be drawn in straight lines. The city of McKinney, the county seat, shares his name.

McKinney became the county seat in 1848. It replaced the original seat at Buckner, which was too far from the center of the county. In 1849, landowner William Davis donated 120 acres for the McKinney townsite. The first settlers were mostly small farmers from the upper South. They grew wheat and corn near creek bottoms. The area never developed a plantation economy. There were no rivers that could carry crops to distant markets.