First Christian Church of Plano

William Forman's land became a town, and the Handbook of Texas explains how it got its name. Forman bought Sanford Beck's survey in 1851, built a general store and other businesses, and opened a post office in his home. When the community applied for its own post office in 1852, it considered Forman and Fillmore, for the president. Postal authorities approved Plano, Spanish for flat, a name Dr. Henry Dye suggested because he understood it to mean plain, his description of the surrounding terrain. The town was platted and incorporated in 1873.

What the plaque says

First Christian Church of Plano Kentucky natives William and Ruth Forman moved to Texas in 1846, and acquired land that included the future location of Plano. The Forman's daughter Letitia married George Barnett in 1853. The Barnetts bought land northwest of Plano along Spring Creek. The First Christian Church was established in the mid-1850s on the Barnett farm. A small frame building served as both a school and church, with traveling ministers serving the church. In 1873, another church building was erected on the corner of East 16th Street and Avenue G in Plano. The structure consisted of one large room with a center aisle, coal oil lamps, and a single table serving as both a pulpit and communion table. During the fifty-year period from 1899-1949 called the "Golden Age" by the members, the church experienced significant growth and a larger structure was built at East 15th Street on the corner of Avenue H. In later years another sanctuary was needed to accommodate continued growth. An active part of the community since its beginnings, the congregation maintains an outreach program and administers scholarships that benefit the citizens of the area and beyond. (1996)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary — 11 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.
• Rockwall County Historical Foundation & Museum — 16 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.
• Fair Park — 17 mi
  The State Fair of Texas grounds since 1886, where the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition left one of the country's greatest concentrations of Art Deco exposition buildings.
• African American Museum, Dallas — 17 mi
  Founded in 1974 at Bishop College, a free Fair Park museum holding the Sepia photograph archive, African art and A. Maceo Smith's papers, and the story of the Hall of Negro Life.

More markers nearby

• Shiloh Baptist Church — steps away
• Plano Cemetery — 0.3 mi
• First Baptist Church of Plano — 0.4 mi
• Plano Mutual Cemetery — 1.2 mi