DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker at the site of Buckner tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, every good Texas story starts with somebody movin' from somewhere else, and this one's no different. John — known to everybody as Jack — McGarrah, along with his wife Polly and the whole family, pulled up from Tennessee in 1842 and put down roots right here in what would become Collin County.
Jack was the third settler in the whole county. Third. You can almost feel the quiet out here — just wind, grass, and the occasional question of who those first two settlers were.
Jack wasn't the type to sit still. He opened a trading post, bartering for hides and furs, which was about as practical a business as you could run on the edge of settled Texas. But commerce had to wait, because while Jack and his men were in the very act of building a family fort — not finished, mind you, mid-construction — they had to stop and defend themselves from roaming hostile Indians.
That's not a metaphor. The man was literally buildin' the walls and also fightin' for his life. Collin County had itself a founding father with his hands full.
Then comes April 3, 1846. The Texas Legislature creates Collin County official-like, and in that same breath, they draw up a rule: the county seat, to be named Buckner, must sit no more than three miles from the geographic center of the county. No more, no less.
Buckner townsite was laid off right here in McGarrah's settlement, which made a certain kind of sense — Jack had already done most of the heavy liftin'. Now here's where it gets lively. On the Fourth of July — and you couldn't pick a more fitting day — citizens gathered here and elected their first county officials.
While they were at it, full of patriotic spirit, they also raised a military company for the Mexican War. September 21st brought an auction of Buckner town lots, and by November 25th of that same year, 1846, the post office opened. And who was named postmaster?
Jack McGarrah. The man just kept adding titles. Buckner was hummin'.
It had county officials, a post office, a postmaster with a trading post pedigree, and a story worth tellin'. Everything was going just fine. And then somebody did the math.
By 1848, somebody looked up from their surveying equipment and noticed — quietly, perhaps with a wince — that the Buckner townsite was sitting outside the legal limits for the county seat. Outside. The very rule the Legislature had written, that three-miles-from-center requirement, Buckner didn't meet it.
All that town-buildin', all those elections and auctions and post office appointments, and the seat was in the wrong spot. The Legislature ordered another election and named the new county seat McKinney, honoring early settler Collin McKinney, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. And then came the part that is either impressive or heartbreakin' depending on your disposition: the residents moved their homes and other buildings — physically moved them — three miles east to McKinney.
And Buckner? The townsite that had county officials, a Fourth of July celebration, a military company, an auction, a post office, and Jack McGarrah? It reverted to agricultural land.
The grass grew back. The county seat moved on. And Jack McGarrah, who came all the way from Tennessee to be the third settler in Collin County, built a fort while defending it, opened a trading post, served as postmaster, and anchored a town that the map eventually erased — well, he was here.
Right here. That's worth stoppin' for.
What the marker says
John (Jack) and Polly McGarrah and family came to this site from Tennessee in 1842. The third settler in present Collin County, McGarrah opened a trading post to barter for hides and furs. While in the act of building a family fort, he and his men had to defend themselves from roaming hostile Indians. The Texas Legislature created Collin County on April 3, 1846, directing that its county seat, to be named "Buckner", would be no more than three miles from the geographic center. Buckner townsite was soon laid off here in McGarrah's settlement. On the Fourth of July, citizens met here and elected their first county officials. They also raised a military company for the Mexican War. On Sept. 21 there was an auction of Buckner town lots; on Nov. 25, 1846, the post office opened, with McGarrah as postmaster. By 1848 it was noticed that Buckner townsite was outside the legal limits for the county seat. The Legislature ordered another election and named the new county sear "McKinney", honoring early settler Collin McKinney, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Residents moved their homes and other buildings to McKinney (3 Mi.E), and Buckner townsite reverted to agricultural land uses. (1978)