Wylie, Texas History and Information

Starting out

  Wylie was organized in the early 1870s and originally called Nickelville, reportedly after the name of the first store.

Location

  It is 1207 miles from Wylie to Washington DC and 202 miles from Wylie to the Texas state capital, as the crow flies. Wylie is positioned 33.04 degrees north of the equator and 96.51 degrees west of the prime meridian. In regular terms, that means you should find Wylie pretty close to the intersection of CR 389 and 78.

  In 1886 the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway laid tracks a half mile north of the original townsite. Within a year the businesses of Nickelville had moved to take advantage of the railroad and had named their new location Wylie, in honor of W. D. Wylie, a right-of-way agent for the railroad.

Through Time

  That same year Wylie, had given itself its name, had established a post office branch and incorporated, choosing an alderman form of government. Two years later the St. Louis Southwestern Railway reached the town. The two railroads and the rich agricultural region of the Blackland Prairies contributed to the town's growth. Wylie had a population of 400 in 1890 and 773 in 1900. Before 1920 the community had over thirty-five businesses, including two banks, a school, and a weekly newspaper. Unlike many rural Texas communities, Wylie grew during the Great Depression years, reaching 914 residents by 1940. In part this was a result of increased dairy farming to meet the demands of nearby Dallas. Following World War II the population continued to increase. The construction of Lake Lavon five miles north of town and the selection of Wylie to house the offices of the North Texas Municipal Water District, designed to provide water for towns in four counties, pushed the population to 1,804 in 1960.