Browse Items (153 total)

  • Creator is exactly "MCKinney Public Library System Staff"

Saloon Tour - Prohibition

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Saloons and drinking were controversial in McKinney. As early as 1887, citizens began voicing their dislike of both. Prohibition speeches were delivered on the Courthouse steps. Opinion statements from both sides were published in the newspapers. In…

Saloon Tour - Parlor Saloon

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On April 3, 1890 the Democratic Newspaper (I don't believe there was a Republican Newspaper) reported a story of gunfire and near misses! Todd Warden and John Campbell had gotten into an argument for some unknown reason. Later in the day they both…

Saloon Tour - Rambo's Saloon

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Captain Roy Hall gives us a glimpse inside Rich Rambo’s saloon. In 1952, Hall wrote an article for The Courier-Gazette remembering the time he went into Rambo’s saloon as a boy with his father. He describes Rich as the “prince among gentlemen” for…

Saloon Tour - The Rock Saloon

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According to the Collin Chronicle Newspaper the first homicide in McKinney was in 1854 at the Rock Saloon. Joe Peak had been drinking a little too much. So the bartender called the Justice of the Peace, Alf Johnson. After Johnson arrived it is…

Saloon Tour - Stiff's Saloon

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On the morning of February 13th, 1902, Walter Howell discovered that G.A. Stiff’s saloon had been robbed overnight according to the Democrat newspaper. Howell found a wire screen had been pulled loose and a stick used to prop open the window.…

Saloon Tour - Token for Ware's

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Tokens were commonly used in advertising companies during this time period. This token is good for one drink at Jim Ware's Saloon.

Saloon Tour - Escapee Drinks

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“Saturday afternoon about 4 or 4:30 o’clock every prisoner in the Collin County Jail made his escape,” opens the Democrat newspaper article. On October 13, 1898, while the sheriff was in Dallas, prisoners A.P. Ritchie and Jim Lawrence led the…

Saloon Tour - Bomb Story

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In 1909, the McKinney Courier-Gazette recounted a story of a bomb and a surprise. The newspaper article prints the tale told by Yancy Powell about some mischievous lads, who weren’t vicious but always looking for opportunities to play pranks. Powell…