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COLLIN COUNTY FARM

Historical marker (1988)
Hardin Blvd. S of Virginia, McKinney

COLLIN COUNTY FARM

AS EARLY AS 1858 COLLIN COUNTY
HAD A SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING
RELIEF TO ITS INDIGENT CITIZENS.
THIS PROPERTY WAS ACQUIRED IN
1886 AND BECAME KNOWN AS THE
COUNTY FARM. STRUCTURES WERE
BUILT OVER THE YEARS TO HOUSE
THE RESIDENTS, WHO HELPED MAIN-
TAIN THE FARM. IN THE 1920S THE
AUTHORITIES BEGAN HOUSING COUNTY
PRISONERS HERE IN SPECIAL GUARDED
FACILITIES. ALSO LOCATED ON THE
FARM WAS A PAUPERS’ CEMETERY,
WHICH IS STILL MAINTAINED BY
THE COUNTY. THE COLLIN COUNTY
FARM CEASED OPERATIONS IN THE
1950S.


COLLIN COUNTY FARM

Historical marker application
In 1874 Collin County decided to provide for the indigent of the county, when the County Commissioners bought land from Latitia James for a “poor house and pauper purpose.” In 1878 the commissioners bought the farm of Robert and Mary McLarry for a county poor farm for twelve hundred dollars. Between the time of these two land purchases the commissioners accepted bids for taking care of the paupers. The first person whose bid was accepted was N. W. Moreland in 1877. He also had his bid accepted for 1878. For the next fifteen years the records of the county commissioners court continued to list bids of people for “keeping the poor farm.”
...the county commissioners decided in 1886 to purchase 336 3/4 acres of land from Ethelred and Arrena Whitley for $5734.75. Mr. Whitley and his family had come to Collin County in about 1848 as Peters colonists and this land was part of the 640 acres he received as a colonist. The land is located on the waters of Wilson Creek about 4.5 miles west fro McKinney...
The same year (1885) that the county purchased the Whitley land for a county farm, Robert R. and J. R. Sinclair had their bid accepted “for superintending the county farm.”... The first salary mentioned for the man who lived on and ran the farm for the county was that of T. M. Faulkner, who made $33.33 a month in 1888.
...some time in the 1920s the county started sending to the farm offenders who had been convicted of misdemeanor violations. There is evidence that by 1922 men were kept locked in a small building behind the main house.

Collin County Farm Cemetery
 

Places Index

Recommended citation: 
 
"Collin County Poor Farm - Places, COLLIN COUNTY HISTORY," 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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Last modified: March 27, 2004
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