Old Settlers Park

The picnic ground also saw the county's first auto race. A Collin County calendar compiled on the Collin County History site records that on August 24, 1905 the first auto race in the county was staged at the picnic, with a winning speed of forty miles an hour. The same calendar dates the first Confederate and Old Settler picnic to August 11, 1883, notes a Firemen's Band picnic at the Old Fairgrounds on June 27, 1902 and records an Old Settlers Picnic in McKinney on August 16, 1903. A related page adds that fairs ran until the 1950s.

What the plaque says

Old Settlers Park Site of all Collin County Fairs and Ex-Confederate - Old Settlers picnics, this land first housed a fair in 1858. The fair was held each year, usually in autumn, except during the Civil War years. In 1883, the Ex-Confederate-Old Settlers Picnic Association began to hold their annual picnic across the street from "the old fair grounds." They continued to meet on this site, buying the land for themselves in 1912 and 1924. The County Fair was a showcase for agriculture, livestock, handicrafts, and culinary delights. Riding competitions were held in the grandstand; it is said that Frank James once won first prize. As many as 15,000 people a day visited the picnics in the 1910s and 1920s, many camping around the park. Political speakers were scheduled all day, and contests included three-legged races and storytelling. In early years there were balloon ascensions; later, an air show astonished the crowds. Like the fair, the picnic featured a midway of rides and games. The last picnic was held in 1941, when the last Confederate veterans in Collin County were too old to attend. The last County Fair was held in 1965, but the park continues to serve the community as a part of the McKinney Parks and Recreation Department. (1997)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary — 2.7 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 — 21 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

• The Birthplace of Rebekah Baines Johnson — 0.6 mi
• Collin County — 0.7 mi
• Waddill-Morris Homesite — 0.8 mi
• Fanny Finch Elementary School — 1.0 mi