1911 McKinney Post Office

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, McKinney had itself a post office situation, and by 1911, they weren't foolin' around anymore. Architect J.

H. Suttle put his name on something meant to last, and friend, it lasted. What Suttle designed was a characteristic and well-preserved example of an Italianate post office, and you can still see exactly what that means if you walk up and look at it.

The tile roof. The ornamental columns. The eaves and that particular window configuration: all of it common to the American post office after 1910.

And then there's the facade, defined by a three-bay arched recessed entry that just says, without raising its voice, this is a serious building. Now here's the part that tells you something about this structure's staying power. It wasn't McKinney's first post office.

Wasn't the second, either. This was the fourth post office to serve the area, which means three others came before it and, well, didn't quite make the long haul. This one did.

The federal government eventually deeded the structure to Collin County in 1959, and by 1982 it had become a Collin County museum. A building that once sorted letters is now sorting history. I'd say J.

H. Suttle built better than he knew.

What the marker says

Designed by architect J. H. Suttle, the 1911 McKinney Post Office is a characteristic and well-preserved example of an Italianate post office. The tile roof, ornamental columns, eaves and window configuration are common to the American post office after 1910. These elements and the three-bay arched recessed entry define the facade. The fourth post office to serve the area, the structure was deeded to Collin County by the federal government in 1959 and in 1982 became a Collin County museum. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1997