Frankford

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passing it along. Out here in Collin County, there's a stretch of land — three acres of old wagon yard, five acres of church ground, three acres of cemetery — that holds the memory of a town most folks have never heard of. The town of Frankford.

And like a lot of Texas stories, it starts with one family and a road. In 1852, W.C. McKamy and his family moved to Texas and settled near a place called Indian Springs.

Now, Preston Road ran right through that country, and settlers were moving along it in a steady stream — wagons loaded, families dusty, everybody needing something. The McKamys were ready for them. They sold firewood and water.

Simple as that. But some of those settlers, well, they stopped moving. They stayed.

And little by little, a town grew up around Indian Springs. They called it Frankford. At its height, Frankford was no flyspeck on the map.

The town had a steam grist mill, a corn mill, a cotton gin, a blacksmith shop, two general stores, and three churches. Eighty-three residents called it home. The post office stood right at what is now the intersection of the Dallas North Tollway and Hilton Head Drive — which, if you're driving it today, you'd have no idea you just passed through a town that once had all that going on.

And then there was the White Rock Masonic Lodge. Organized in 1858 over at Walnut Grove, it relocated in 1872 to a building in Collin County, on what is now the northwest side of the Frankford cemetery. That hall became the fraternal, religious, and educational center for miles around.

People came from all over. It was the kind of place a community leans on. A church building went up on the cemetery grounds in 1880.

The tornado took it. Destroyed it outright. But here's the thing — some of the wood from that original church made it into the Frankford church that stands there now.

The old building is gone, but pieces of it are still holding the new one together. Something to sit with. Frankford might have kept right on growing, except for what didn't happen.

The railroad came through — and it didn't come through Frankford. The line went through Addison instead. In a place and time where the railroad was everything, being bypassed was a quiet kind of death sentence.

By 1907, even the Lodge Hall had packed up and moved to Addison. The town of Frankford no longer existed. The larger landowning families — the Cooks and the McKamys — they stayed on, tending to what remained.

And in 1948, the Frankford cemetery association was incorporated to help maintain the cemetery, making sure that patch of ground still has someone looking after it. Three acres of wagon yard. Five acres of church ground.

Three acres of graves. That's what's left of a town that started because a family sold firewood and water to strangers on a road — and some of those strangers decided to stay. Frankford didn't survive the railroad.

But it hasn't entirely gone, either.

What the marker says

The site of the former town of Frankford consists of the three-acre wagon yard, five-acre Frankford church area and three-acre cemetery. The town of Frankford grew around Indian Springs after W.C. McKamy and his family moved to Texas in 1852. They sold firewood and water to settlers moving along Preston Road. Some of these settlers stayed at Frankford, creating the growing town near Indian Springs. The Frankford Post Office stood at the intersection of the Dallas North Tollway and Hilton Head Drive. At its height Frankford had a steam grist mill, corn mill, cotton gin, blacksmith shop, two general stores and three churches, with 83 residents. In 1858, the White Rock Masonic Lodge was organized at Walnut Grove, and in 1872 moved to a building in Collin County, located on what is now the northwest side of Frankford cemetery. The hall became the fraternal, religious and educational center for miles around. A church building was also erected on the cemetery grounds in 1880, only to be destroyed by a tornado. Some of the wood in the current Frankford church came from the original church. The end of Frankford came with the growth of the railroad. The line bypassed Frankford and instead went through Addison, eventually prompting the move of the Lodge Hall to Addison in 1907. The town of Frankford no longer existed, though the larger landowning families like the Cooks and McKamy’s remained. In 1948, the Frankford cemetery association was incorporated to help maintain the cemetery.