Plano, TX news and local guide

The Houston and Central Texas Railway reached the town in 1872, and Plano was incorporated in 1873. It had more than 500 people by 1874. In 1881 fire destroyed most of the business district, but the town rebuilt and prospered through the 1880s. That year the city also took charge of its public schools, the beginning of today's Plano Independent School District. Growth was slow for decades, from 1,304 people in 1900 to 3,695 in 1960. Then public works projects, and a tax change that removed the farming community from the town, set off a boom. The population reached 17,872 in 1970 and about 72,000 in 1980, and the flat land, grid layout and planning helped sewers, schools and streets keep up. In the 1980s J.C. Penney, Frito-Lay and other large companies moved their headquarters to Plano. By 1990 it had 128,713 people, far more than the county seat, McKinney. Plano was named an All-America City in 1994 and passed 222,000 people by 2000, one of the largest suburbs of Dallas. Sources Wikipedia: Plano, Texas