Travel guideHistorySightsNightlifeMap

Plano History, Texas

The history of Plano is quite interesting as it has gone through various events and changes over the long period of time.

In the early years of 1840, many settlers came to Plano and the surrounding areas. With the opening of some small scale industries like sawmill, gristmill and stores, more people began to shift to this area. Mail service were soon established and the name of the city was selected by the locals after rejecting several names including naming it to the honor of then-president who was Millard Fillmore. The city was named as Plano after adopting the Spanish word “flat” which passes a reference to the terrain of the city. The new name was also accepted by the post office and thus Plano was born.

In 1872, the Houston and the Texas railroad were completed and it greatly helped the city to grow by increasing the population of the city to more than 500 by the end of 1873. It was also in 1873 that the city was officially incorporated. A tragic disaster occurs in 1881 and it was a wild fire that raged around the central business district. Most of the buildings were destroyed by the fire however, the rebuilding work soon followed. In 1895, the Plano Independent School District which was an independent association was formed.

The population of the city grew slowly at first reaching 1,304 by 1900 and from then it increase to 3,695 in 1960. However, by the end of 1970, a number of public work projects and a modification in the taxes helped the farming community of town to move to the city thereby increasing its population. The population was over 17,872 and by early 1980’s, the population exploded to 72,000 people at the end of the year.

In mid 1980’s, many large corporate companies started making their headquarters in

Plano. Corporations like JC Penney and Frito-Lay began to operate their business providing job opportunities to many of the citizens. The population of the city had reached 128,713 by 1990 and in 1994, Plano get the recognition as an All-America City. Today, the suburban sprawls are pushed beyond the city as a step to stabilize the population. The city cannot be expanded further in area as it is locked by other municipalities and there remains little undeveloped land within the city limits. The population was estimated as 250,096 as per the record of 2005.

email to a friendAsk our travel experts a question about Plano