McKinney Commercial Historic District

Downtown McKinney's commercial core is a 12-block, 21-acre district in Collin County, Texas, organized around the Old Collin County Courthouse. Of 99 buildings, 62 contribute to its historic character. Most are brick commercial buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The railroad reached McKinney in 1872 and set off a building boom that replaced frame structures with brick and stone and brought the town to about 4,400 residents by 1900. The district shows no single style. It includes the 1880 Italianate limestone jail by architect F. E. Ruffini, the 1883 Bingham Building with its cast-iron columns, the 1911 Second Renaissance Revival Post Office, the 1918 Central National Bank Building with Art Deco teller windows, and the 1922 remodeled Dowell Building, described as a rare Texas example of the Commercial style. Alterations since the 1930s have mostly affected storefronts and interiors, leaving rear walls largely untouched.