City of Wylie

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the City of Wylie, out in Collin County. Now, before there was a Wylie, there was a Nickelville. And before there was a Nickelville, there was just land.

Rich, dark, Blackland Prairie land sitting on the west side of the east fork of the Trinity River, with water running plentiful and the soil ready to work. Word got around. Pioneers started arrivin in the early 1850s, drawn by that river, that soil, and the offer of land grants from the Peters Colony.

You can't blame them. Good land has a way of calling people. By 1883, the community had itself a post office, and that post office carried the name Nickelville.

Right next door sat a drug store. Two years on, by 1885, Nickelville had grown into something worth talking about: three churches, the post office, a hotel, and the Nickelville school. Not bad for a settlement on the frontier edge of Collin County.

But then came the railroad, and the railroad, as it always did, changed everything. In 1886, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe railroad company laid its tracks. Just a half a mile north of Nickelville.

Half a mile. Close enough to matter, far enough to make a point. The town moved to meet those tracks.

That same June, the name changed too. Wylie, they called it, in honor of Colonel W.D. Wylie, the railroad right-of-way agent.

New location. New name. New momentum.

New businesses followed fast, along with a steady flow of railroad employees. In 1887, the town incorporated and held its first mayoral election. The winner was John Howard Picket, who came straight out of the old Nickelville community.

Something fitting about that, the first mayor of Wylie bein a man from the town that Wylie replaced. The very next year, the St. Louis and Southwestern Railroad began its own construction in Wylie.

Two railroads now. The marker puts it plainly: both railroads drastically changed the economy and landscape of the area, increasing agricultural production and spurring business growth. When you've got two rail lines runnin through your town, the world starts movin your direction.

And the land kept delivering. Come the 1920s, onions became a staple crop in Wylie. Not just a popular crop.

A legendary one. Wylie eventually earned the title, Onion Capital of the United States. Say that out loud and let it sit a moment.

The Onion Capital of the United States, right there in south central Collin County. The decades kept adding chapters. Clothing manufacturing brought more economic life.

The completion of Lake Lavon in the 1940s added another draw. Then came a highway connecting Wylie to Dallas and Garland, and with that road came more people, more growth, more of everything. And then, in 1981, the TV series Dallas began filming in Wylie.

A town that started as a prairie settlement next to a river had become, among other things, a backdrop for one of the most watched television programs in the country. The marker sums it up with a line that earns its place: the location of Wylie and its appealing resources have attracted residents since the mid-nineteenth century. From Peters Colony land grants to television cameras, Wylie has always had something worth coming for.

What the marker says

Located in south central Collin County, Wylie and Nickelville began as settlements on the west side of the east fork of the Trinity River. Pioneers began arriving in the area in the early 1850s, attracted by the plentiful water supply from the river, the productive soil of the Blackland Prairie and the offer of land grants by the Peters Colony. By 1883, a post office named Nickelville opened next to a drug store and, by 1885, there were three churches, the post office, a hotel and the Nickelville school. The town moved to a new location in 1886 when the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe railroad company tracks were constructed just a half a mile north of Nickelville. That June, the name changed to Wylie in honor of colonel W.D. Wylie, the railroad right-of-way agent. The town quickly began to grow with new businesses and a steady flow of railroad employees. In 1887, the town incorporated and elected the first mayor, John Howard Picket from Nickelville. The next year, the St. Louis and southwestern railroad began construction in Wylie. Both railroads drastically changed the economy and landscape of the area, increasing agricultural production and spurring business growth. In the 1920s, onions became a staple crop in Wylie, eventually garnering the title, "Onion Capital of the United States." Clothing manufacturing, the completion of Lake Lavon in the 1940s and the construction of a highway connecting Wylie to Dallas and Garland led to more growth in the area. In 1981, the TV series Dallas began filming in Wylie. The location of Wylie and its appealing resources have attracted residents since the mid-nineteenth century.