Page 24 - Plano, TX Heritage Preservation Plan

1840-1872: PLANO’S EARLY YEARS

This period is defined by the arrival of Plano’s first settlers, mostly of the Peters Colony, until the arrival of the H&TC Railroad. The
community is mostly scattered farmsteads, although the beginnings of Downtown Plano begin to take shape as the post office is
established in the cabin of William Forman.
“Here was a land such as few had
ever seen, a land that every foot
was tillable as it could be plowed to
McBAIN the very beds of streams, a land of

JAMESON (1840) plentiful rainfall and a yearly grow-
Plano’s first known settler ing season of nine months. Truly a
comes to Plano stockman’s paradise.”
- R. W. Carpenter (1852)
MUNCEY INCIDENT (1844)
McBain Jameson and the Russell
family are found brutally Post Office established in PLANO IS
murdered in front of their William Forman Cabin
homestead. According to Plano (1851) FOUNDED
lore, the attack was the last (1852)
Indian raid in Collin County and After the name Fillmore was
terrified the local population for rejected, residents decide to
years to come. name the city ‘Plano,’ which
Rowlett Creek they believed to be the Spanish
Baptist Church word for “plain.”
1840 1842 1844 1846 1848 1850 1852 1854 1856
Republic of Texas (1836-1845)

First Methodist Church
is established in the Spring Creek
Baptist Church
Russell home.
Baccus Plano Mutual
Texas
becomes the Routh Cemetery, although located in
28th State (1845) modern day Richardson, is the resting
COLLIN COUNTY place of many early Plano citizens.
ESTABLISHED (1846)

PETERS COLONY (1841)
Many of Plano’s first settlers came
from Kentucky and Tennessee. This is largely
attributed to the Peters Colony, an empresario
land grant company headquarted in Louisville,
Kentucky that granted 320 acres per single
man or 640 acres per family to settle in North shawnee trail
Texas. The Peters Colony was successful in
attracting new residents to Texas by praising Following the traces of a pre-historic bison path along the White Rock
the area’s climate and fertile soil. Escarpment and later used by Native Americans, the Shawnee Trail was
a major route for driving cattle to northern markets as well as immigrants
coming to Texas. Sculptures depicting cattle drives along the Shawnee Trail
can be visited today in the Baccus Plaza in Legacy Town Center.

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24 CHapter 3: history of plano November 2018