Where Collin County History Comes Alive!
Step back in time with a visit to Chestnut Square Historic Village. Sitting on 2.5 shaded acres just two blocks south of the historic downtown McKinney square, Chestnut Square provides an opportunity to step back in time and regain a sense of community. With ten structures dating from 1854 to 1930, the Village offers docent led tours, facility rentals, a wedding venue, living history demonstrations and community events like the #1 Farmers Market in Texas and the Killis Melton Ice Cream Crank-Off.
Everyone is welcome at Chestnut Square!
Your tour guide will take you back in time, excite you, and inspire you. Tours are fun for all ages.
The mission of The Heritage Guild of Collin County is to:
Celebrate Community. Preserve History. Inspire the Future
The Heritage Guild of Collin County achieves this mission by:
- Hosting community events that bring people together to celebrate Collin County’s heritage.
- Maintaining buildings, artifacts and grounds that show how people lived during a key period in Collin County history (1850-1940).
- Providing educational programming to demonstrate how people lived from 1850-1940.
- Supporting Collin County and McKinney in achieving a community that owns its unique history in stewardship for the future.
The History of The Heritage Guild of Collin County
Chestnut Square Historic Village is a collection of six historic homes, a replica of a one-room school house, chapel and store on 2.5 acres just south of the downtown McKinney square. The grounds also include a blacksmith shop, smoke house, and a reception house and reception gardens. The buildings include period artifacts showing how people lived in Collin County from 1854-1940. The Heritage Guild of Collin County oversees Chestnut Square Historic Village.
In November of 1973, Joan Palmer Hughston organized a small group of women to preserve a sample of McKinney’s historic heritage. Those in attendance at that first meeting were Joan’s mother-in-law, Margaret Hughston, Martha Schubert, Frances Caldwell, Nan Dyer, Irene Hay Thomas, Frieda Comegys, Lucy Burkett and Ethel Holt.
Their first project was to host a Christmas tour of homes. Margaret Hughston’s home on Howell Street represented A Children’s Christmas. Joan Hughston’s home on Louisiana depicted A Victorian Christmas. Ethel Holt showed her farm house as A Farm Christmas. Martha Schubert’s represented A Family Christmas and Nanette Boyd’s home depicted A Modern Christmas. That first Christmas Tour was a huge success.
The financial rewards enabled the group to purchase the Dulaney home and the adjacent Dulaney cottage on Chestnut Street. These homes became the foundation of what we today call Chestnut Square Historic Village.
In 1974 the Heritage Guild of Collin County was formed to perpetuate the preservation of Chestnut Square Historic Village. The spirit and dedication of our founders still serves as a beacon as we continue to build a living portrait of McKinney and Collin County.
The Buildings of Chestnut Square
315 S. Chestnut St.
McKinney, TX 75069