Collin County Farm

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, most folks rolling through Collin County are thinking about where they're headed next, not about what the county was doing for its most vulnerable people way back in 1858. But that's exactly where this story starts: 1858, and Collin County already had a system in place for providing relief to its indigent citizens.

Not every county was thinking that far ahead that early, so right away you know there's something worth paying attention to here. The property itself came later. The county acquired it in 1886, and it became known simply as the County Farm.

Plain name. Serious purpose. Over the years, structures went up to house the residents; people who, in turn, helped maintain the farm itself.

There's something quietly dignified in that arrangement, working the land that sheltered you. Then came the 1920s, and the County Farm took on another dimension entirely. Authorities began housing county prisoners here, in special guarded facilities set apart from the rest.

So now you've got this one piece of land holding two very different kinds of lives side by side: the indigent residents and the incarcerated, each behind their own kind of circumstance. And there was one more thing on that farm. A paupers' cemetery.

Still maintained by the county to this day. Think about that for a moment; the people who lived out their final years on that land never left it entirely. Collin County is still keeping that ground.

The County Farm itself ceased operations in the 1950s. The buildings quieted. The fields went still.

But that cemetery remains, tended and remembered, which means the story of the Collin County Farm isn't entirely past tense. Some stories just refuse to close.

What the marker says

As early as 1858 Collin County had a system for providing relief to its indigent citizens. This property was acquired in 1886 and became known as the County Farm. Structures were built over the years to house the residents, who helped maintain the farm. In the 1920s the authorities began housing county prisoners here in special guarded facilities. Also located on the farm was a paupers' cemetery, which is still maintained by the county. The Collin County Farm ceased operations in the 1950s.** (1988)***