Farmersville

Farmersville made its living by getting things onto trains. The Handbook of Texas says that in its early days the settlement was a major railroad shipping point for cattle and bois d'arc posts. Cotton, corn and maize followed, then onions and cantaloupes, and dairies were established. In 1935 the town began an annual Onion Festival, which was suspended during World War II. In the fall of 1980 it started Old Time Saturday, a day to remember when the country went to town every Saturday. The town also became a charter member city of the North Texas Municipal Water District.

What the plaque says

Farmersville Originated 1849 as a settlement on the Jefferson-McKinney Road, and near Republic of Texas National Road. Named by pioneers for their chief occupation. After 1854, the Yearys and their neighbors of Sugar Hill (2 mi. NE) began relocating here. Dr. H.M. Markham, practicing here by 1855, is said to have been Collin County's earliest physician. The First Methodist Church was organized in 1856. William Gotcher on March 4, 1859, donated land for the public square. A school was operating as early as the 1860s. The First Baptist Church was organized on May 14, 1865. Town was incorporated on June 2, 1873. First mayor: John S. Rike. Aldermen: James Church, Ben King, John Murchison, Tom Tatum, John P. Utt. Marshall: Jeff Hines. Institutions of 1880s still in operation include Farmersville "Times" and the First National Bank. As town became a trade center, agriculture kept pace. Farmersville in 1930s was known as the "Onion Capital of North Texas", annually shipping over 1,000 carloads of onions. Along with some small industry, cattle, cotton, and maize crops remain important. Audie Murphy, the most decorated American hero of World War II, had been a resident of Farmersville before he entered the United States Army. (1973)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary — 14 mi
  A 289-acre sanctuary in McKinney that Bessie Heard founded at the age of 80, with five habitats, a 50-acre wetland and 6.5 miles of trails.
• Audie Murphy / American Cotton Museum — 16 mi
  A Greenville museum of Hunt County's military heroes, including Audie Murphy, and of cotton, which keeps the engine of what it says was the world's largest inland cotton compress.
• Rockwall County Historical Foundation & Museum — 17 mi
  A small museum in Harry Myers Park that keeps the evidence on Rockwall's rock wall, sandstone dikes that geologists call natural and folk tales call built.

More markers nearby

• First National Bank of Farmersville — 0.4 mi
• Audie Murphy's Homecoming, June 15, 1945 — 0.5 mi
• Gussie Nell Davis — 0.6 mi
• First Methodist Church of Farmersville — 0.6 mi