A Brief History of Plano, Texas

Plano was originally established by several settlers from Kentucky and Tennessee in the early 1840’s. A sawmill and a gristmill built by William Foreman and his family were responsible for the initial growth in Plano. The settlement was almost called “Fillmore,” in honour of the then-President Millard Fillmore, but was instead named Plano, which was thought to mean “plain” or “flat” in Spanish, a reference to the surrounding terrain.

Plano developed as a successful farming community, but began to falter with the Civil War. Afterwards, Plano began to grow again, aided by the completion of the Houston and Texas Railroad in 1872. It was incorporated as a city in June 1873. A major fire in the central business district in 1881 destroyed many of the original buildings, 51 in total. These were replaced by more modern buildings, however, and Plano continued to boom throughout the 20th century. In the 1980’s, Plano continued to thrive when many major corporations made their headquarters there.

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