McKinney Texas

McKinney is essential a Northern suburb of Dallas, but has a rich history and a historic downtown to prove it. Right now, McKinney claims to be the fastest growing community in Texas, and from all the construction we’ve witnessed, we could not challenge that claim.

We walked historic downtown McKinney, surrounding the 1846 Colin County Courthouse. We learned that when the state was established, they tried to organize the creation of counties to be logical. We learned that they attempted to make counties about 1,000 miles square. The tried not to use natural boundaries like rivers, rather the borders were N/S or E/W. The county seat was required to be within 3 miles of the geographic center of the county. There was no town that would meet the rule here, so a town was established. Colin McKinney was a notable Texan worthy of remembrance, so the county was named Colin County, and the seat was named McKinney.

We strolled all the massive Victorian homes that surrounded the central downtown area. The roads were so narrow that most had to be one-way streets. Parking was tough, but the town worked hard to have lots available with plenty of 3-hour free parking available.

We had a wonderful BBQ lunch at Hutchins, supposedly the best BBQ in North Texas for decades. It was set up like Rudy’s, basically just buying meats by the pound, and all kinds of sides available. The only downside was that they had no Shiner Bock to go with the BBQ.

We visited Chester Square, where a local nonprofit has collected some vintage structures that otherwise would have been lost. We strolled through the oldest home in McKinney, built in 1850. We also saw the birthplace of the mother of Lyndon Baines Johnson, although it was a bit sad to see the status of the property currently.

Our personal favorite was this small sign outside a barber shop in downtown McKinney. We think it speaks for itself.

Talk to you soon!