County history Farming in Collin County
Collin County was always an agricultural county. Some of the early crops were wheat, wool, cotton, onions, corn and bois d’arc. Grist mills were common.
At the time when cotton was king, each town had at least one cotton gin. There was a cotton mill in McKinney. Today there are no cotton gins left in the county. The last one, which was located in Prosper, closed around 2010.
Many towns had flour mills. McKinney had White Billows Flour. Prosper had Prosper Flour.
Princeton and Farmersville were known for their onions and had onion sheds. The Collin County Sweets were mild onions, popular for their sweet flavor.
Princeton and Clear Lake shipped bois d’arc blocks to Dallas to "pave" its streets. They also shipped the seeds to the Midwest so they could grow hedgerows.
Collin County was also known for its fine mules, which were used to plow the fields. Today, generally, cattle are raised on the east side of the county, and horses on the west side.
For many years, grains were the main crops in the county. The eastern side of the county also grew peanuts.
At the time when cotton was king, each town had at least one cotton gin. There was a cotton mill in McKinney. Today there are no cotton gins left in the county. The last one, which was located in Prosper, closed around 2010.
Many towns had flour mills. McKinney had White Billows Flour. Prosper had Prosper Flour.
Princeton and Farmersville were known for their onions and had onion sheds. The Collin County Sweets were mild onions, popular for their sweet flavor.
Princeton and Clear Lake shipped bois d’arc blocks to Dallas to "pave" its streets. They also shipped the seeds to the Midwest so they could grow hedgerows.
Collin County was also known for its fine mules, which were used to plow the fields. Today, generally, cattle are raised on the east side of the county, and horses on the west side.
For many years, grains were the main crops in the county. The eastern side of the county also grew peanuts.
1850s Collin County
Ever wonder what Collin County was like when the first settlers came here? We know that geographically the eastern side of the county was wooded and the western side was grassland. Many of the early settlers had land on both sides of the county. The grasslands did not have to be cleared for farming. The settler could have crops the very first year. However, wood was very vital for the early settlers. It was needed for construction as well as cooking and heating. Game was plentiful. Settlers talked of standing in their front doors and shooting bear and deer. The creeks were noted for their crystal clear water and their white-rock banks. There are 2 creeks in Collin County named White Rock Creek, one of which starts around Frisco, traveling southeast and eventually forming White Rock Lake in Dallas County. All of Collin County’s early settlers were farmers, some branched out into other things, but they still had to grow their own food.
I recently received a copy of a letter mailed October 3, 1852, from McKinney. The writer, Susan P. Stone, a young wife who was a fairly new Collin County resident, was describing Collin County to her family back home in Gallatin, Sumner County, Tennessee. Many of Collin County’s early settlers came from that section of Tennessee.
Mrs. Stone calls Collin County “this beautiful country.” She states that she can’t imagine going back to Tennessee “to clime over them old poor hills and be always stumping my toes again the rock and guming my clothes with red clay.” Obviously she had not been outside around here after it rains. “I never expect to see old Tennessee again.”
Susan states: “This is a great country and people raise plenty to eat. It is the greatest place for vegetables I ever saw. I have seen beets that after they was sliced, one slice would cover a large plate and watermellons that I could not lift off the ground. We have turnips so large that I cant find nothing large enofe to wash them in without taking the washtub. I have a cucumber laid up for seed. It is so large that one slice around would cover a large breakfast plate. The sweet potatoes is fine. One will do my family all day and some left at knight. ...they had cabbage heads so large that after the green leaves was trimmed they would not go in a washtub. You may think these tails too great to be true but believe what I tell you.”
I have trouble believing that the vegetables were as large as she is saying. The beets and cucumber would have to be 12" in diameter. I don’t know the size of a washtub, but it must be about 24" in diameter. It is interesting to see the variety of crops, too. I would have thought that 1852 was a little early for such diversity.
Susan adds: “I still have as much life and fun as ever....I am very buisey in the week weaving me some cotton dresses. It is eight hundred and very tedious to weave. I wanted to get that done and weave another piece again pappa gets here then I will be ready to talk with them all winter.”
This wonderful letter was donated to the Harrington Library, along with a transcription, if you want to read it. Susan sounds like really vivacious person.
Here is a male perspective on the county. On June 3, 1859, John Pendleton wrote a letter to his brother back in Virginia. “I will try to give you a description of Collin Co., as fare as I have Sean for beauty and Soil it cannot be beat on earth the Prairies lies high and just rolling enough to drain the water off betwen the branches of the Sabine. The Prairies is about ½ mile wide and on the branches timber enough to answer the demands of the country. These branches run up to the divide between the Sabine and Trinity rivers and Some of them is from ½ mile to 50 miles in length. These Prairies are covered with grass that looks like a wheat field with numerous heards of cattle and deer. Some times can be Sean twenty in a gang. The Prairies at this Season of the year is over Spread with flowers of every tint and hue. The land is all taken up in Collin Co., but a plenty for Sale....There is allway a Pleasant air stiring on the Prairies though verry Sultry in the timber. Our wheat harvest is over here and the people is generally done laying by their corn and better looking corn I never saw grow out of the ground.” The Pendletons lived in the area just northeast of Farmersville. John Pendleton was an early preacher in the area, although he came to the county for the land, not to start a church.
The early Collin County farmers were always talking about how fertile the soil was and what large harvests they had. By 1859 all of the land in the county was already “taken up.” In 15 years the county had gone from no residents to all of the land being owned by someone. The 1850s were a time of very rapid growth and prosperity for the county. It was a time when the pristine prairies were turned into farm land.
Ever wonder what Collin County was like when the first settlers came here? We know that geographically the eastern side of the county was wooded and the western side was grassland. Many of the early settlers had land on both sides of the county. The grasslands did not have to be cleared for farming. The settler could have crops the very first year. However, wood was very vital for the early settlers. It was needed for construction as well as cooking and heating. Game was plentiful. Settlers talked of standing in their front doors and shooting bear and deer. The creeks were noted for their crystal clear water and their white-rock banks. There are 2 creeks in Collin County named White Rock Creek, one of which starts around Frisco, traveling southeast and eventually forming White Rock Lake in Dallas County. All of Collin County’s early settlers were farmers, some branched out into other things, but they still had to grow their own food.
I recently received a copy of a letter mailed October 3, 1852, from McKinney. The writer, Susan P. Stone, a young wife who was a fairly new Collin County resident, was describing Collin County to her family back home in Gallatin, Sumner County, Tennessee. Many of Collin County’s early settlers came from that section of Tennessee.
Mrs. Stone calls Collin County “this beautiful country.” She states that she can’t imagine going back to Tennessee “to clime over them old poor hills and be always stumping my toes again the rock and guming my clothes with red clay.” Obviously she had not been outside around here after it rains. “I never expect to see old Tennessee again.”
Susan states: “This is a great country and people raise plenty to eat. It is the greatest place for vegetables I ever saw. I have seen beets that after they was sliced, one slice would cover a large plate and watermellons that I could not lift off the ground. We have turnips so large that I cant find nothing large enofe to wash them in without taking the washtub. I have a cucumber laid up for seed. It is so large that one slice around would cover a large breakfast plate. The sweet potatoes is fine. One will do my family all day and some left at knight. ...they had cabbage heads so large that after the green leaves was trimmed they would not go in a washtub. You may think these tails too great to be true but believe what I tell you.”
I have trouble believing that the vegetables were as large as she is saying. The beets and cucumber would have to be 12" in diameter. I don’t know the size of a washtub, but it must be about 24" in diameter. It is interesting to see the variety of crops, too. I would have thought that 1852 was a little early for such diversity.
Susan adds: “I still have as much life and fun as ever....I am very buisey in the week weaving me some cotton dresses. It is eight hundred and very tedious to weave. I wanted to get that done and weave another piece again pappa gets here then I will be ready to talk with them all winter.”
This wonderful letter was donated to the Harrington Library, along with a transcription, if you want to read it. Susan sounds like really vivacious person.
Here is a male perspective on the county. On June 3, 1859, John Pendleton wrote a letter to his brother back in Virginia. “I will try to give you a description of Collin Co., as fare as I have Sean for beauty and Soil it cannot be beat on earth the Prairies lies high and just rolling enough to drain the water off betwen the branches of the Sabine. The Prairies is about ½ mile wide and on the branches timber enough to answer the demands of the country. These branches run up to the divide between the Sabine and Trinity rivers and Some of them is from ½ mile to 50 miles in length. These Prairies are covered with grass that looks like a wheat field with numerous heards of cattle and deer. Some times can be Sean twenty in a gang. The Prairies at this Season of the year is over Spread with flowers of every tint and hue. The land is all taken up in Collin Co., but a plenty for Sale....There is allway a Pleasant air stiring on the Prairies though verry Sultry in the timber. Our wheat harvest is over here and the people is generally done laying by their corn and better looking corn I never saw grow out of the ground.” The Pendletons lived in the area just northeast of Farmersville. John Pendleton was an early preacher in the area, although he came to the county for the land, not to start a church.
The early Collin County farmers were always talking about how fertile the soil was and what large harvests they had. By 1859 all of the land in the county was already “taken up.” In 15 years the county had gone from no residents to all of the land being owned by someone. The 1850s were a time of very rapid growth and prosperity for the county. It was a time when the pristine prairies were turned into farm land.
