FAIRES HOUSE
Historical marker, 1984.
JOHN
FAIRES HOUSE
THIS HOME WAS CONSTRUCTED IN
1854 BY JOHN FAIRES (1801 - 1878), WHO HAD
COME TO McKINNEY FROM TENNESSEE
THREE YEARS EARLIER. NEAR HIS HOME
HE BUILT A BLACKSMITH SHOP, WHERE
HE WORKED SKILLFULLY WITH METAL
AND WOOD. THE HAND CHISELED FRONT
DOOR OF FAIRES’ HOME REFLECTS
HIS WOODWORKING CRAFTSMANSHIP.
THE GREEK REVIVAL STYLE HOUSE,
ORIGINALLY LOCATED ONE BLOCK
WEST, REMAINED IN THE FAIRES
FAMILY UNTIL 1975.
FAIRES HOUSE
Dallas Morning
News, August 13, 1998, by Adrian Schofield.
HERITAGE GROUP CAMPAIGNS TO SAVE McKINNEY HOUSE
Funds sought to fix termite, foundation problems.
McKinney – After withstanding everything the world could
throw at it for nearly 150 years, the Faires House is now facing destruction
from within.
The oldest house in McKinney – and one of the oldest in Collin County – needs
$40,000 in repairs to remedy termite and foundation damage.....
The Greek revival house is names for John Faires, a blacksmith from Tennessee
who built the house in 1853. He hauled pine from nearby Jefferson for its
clapboards. Mr. Faires went on to build several bridges in Collin County....
In 1864, it was on the firing line of the only Civil War action fought in
McKinney, when William Clarke Quantrill and his guerilla force skirmished with
local Sheriff James L. Reed. Two bullets from this fight were discovered in the
foundations of the house in 1980.
In 1871, the Faires House was linked to the murder trial of Stephen Ballew, the
first white man to be legally executed in Collin County. The jury was
sequestered in the house for two weeks.
The house was scheduled for demolition in 1980 to make way for a new Collin
County courthouse. Faires descendant David Bell donated it to the [Heritage]
Guild, which moved it and another house across the road to Chestnut Square....
Surname Index
Recommended Citation:
"John Faires House,
EARLY SETTLERS OF COLLIN COUNTY." Collin County, Texas History
and Genealogy Webpage by Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries, Inc., <http://www.geocities/genfriendsghl>
[Accessed Fri February 13, 2004 ].
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