The downtown area of McKinney is now an outdoor plaza, where you can enjoy early
morning coffee, lunch, or a special dinner, as you watch the shoppers and traffic go by.

 

"The First Saturday In October"

 

by: Bobby McDonald

 

Today, outdoor cafes in McKinney's downtown have replaced
the mercantiles and general stores, that once occupied the courthouse square.

 

Editor's Note....The following is a story I was told while sitting on the downtown square in McKinney, Texas, on Saturday, October 2nd (the first Saturday in October, 2010, as I enjoyed the scenery around the newly refurbished downtown area. The gentleman and I sat in the comfort of the open plaza, enjoyed coffee, and he related the way it "use to be" in McKinney and the Collin County area. Much the same scene unfolded all across Northeast Texas, in towns, when cotton was "King."

 

"We were blackland sharecroppers," explained the elderly gentleman sitting at the same table with me, enjoying a cup of coffee and cinnamon roll. "We had our own crop of cotton, that we'd plant, chop, and pick, and then to 'make ends meet' we'd start the cycle of going from farm to farm pickin' cotton for other farmers, as day labourers. Dad always told us if we'd 'keep at it' until the first Saturday in October, we'd go to McKinney and buy our school clothes and shoes. So, us kids always looked forward to the first Saturday in October, as a holiday!"

 

 

"I was one of seven kids, fifth in line, and the entire family worked out on the farm, from sun-up until sundown!" continued the man. "We knew what hard work was all about. That's all we ever knew!"

"Dad always said he never planted more cotton than his wife and kids could take care of, but there were some years we wondered if we'd ever get it all picked!" explained the man. "And, back in the 30's and 40's it didn't bring much per pound. We'd about make enough to cover the grocery bill we had charged at the general store, and the note on the crop at the bank, and some years we'd be flat broke, after just that was paid off. And, of course, in some of those lean years, we didn't even make enough to get that done! We come up pretty hard!"

 

 

"But, by the family pickin' cotton for other folks and Mama savin' all of her egg money, we'd get our school clothes bought, with the little cash we saw!" he said. "Now, mind you, it wasn't school clothes like kids have now days, it was just overalls, work shirts, and a pair of work shoes. But, by the time October got here, it was about time for some cooler weather and that was the time we'd quit goin' barefooted, at least when we went to school."

"I had twin sisters, five years older than me, Ida Mae and Iris. They're both in the nursing home now, but back in the war years, they were intent on having a new calico dress made and pressed, so they could come to town on the first Saturday of October, and impress the boys!" he recalled. "The town of McKinney, right here on his square, was like a carnival, on Saturdays. Folks, like us would come from Floyd, Howe, Tom Bean, Princeton, Caddo Mills, and just about any little wide-space in the road to have cotton ginned, buy groceries, necessities, and to visit with all the other folks that were doing the same thing. This town square would be full of people, and in October was about the only time that we had any cash money, all year!"

 

 

"It was nothing unusual to see 'Mr. Sam,' Sam Rayburn, home from Washington, making his rounds and shaking hands, as he made his way around the town square. Then, he'd step up high on a platform and start tellin' everybody what all was happening in Washington D.C. and around the world," continued the gentleman. "Mr. Sam would be tellin' us about how the electricity was goin' to make it out to our house. We prayed for 'electric lights!' We all thought that would be the greatest day in our lives, when electric lights made it out to our house!"

 

 

 

"Folks would 'hang on' to every word Mr. Sam had to say," related the gentleman, as he pondered days of yesteryear. "We were 'starving' for news, many of us with brothers in the war, fightin' the Germans and Japs!"

"My oldest brother, Ed, was in the Army and we'd get letters with maybe half the writing 'blacked-out' and we'd sit by the coal-oil lamp and read and re-read everything that he wrote, until we almost wore-out the letter," explained the gentleman. "We were fortunate that Ed made it back home, 'cause Lord there were many of 'em that didn't. And, we all shouted with joy when Ed wrote us about seein' Audie Murphy, 'cause Audie was from this part of the country and everybody's hero, in the war!"

"Long about dinner, our whole family had bought all the school clothes, spent all the money we had, and we met back at the car, where Mom or Dad one would have bought some bologna and onions and we'd make sandwiches and wash 'em down with a soda pop or water from the burlap water jar, Mom had in the front floor-board of the car," explained the gentleman, as he gazed out across the square. "Most time it was water, but sometimes, if we were lucky, Dad would 'spring' for some soda pops!"

 

 

"And the afternoon was spent roaming around town, for me and my brother, Andy, who was two years older than me," reflected the gentleman. "There was always a 'pick-up' baseball game goin' on, down that street there, in an open lot. Andy was really good at baseball, so we'd always spend the afternoon playin' baseball with boys from all across the area."

"Tired and dirty from sand-lot baseball, it was time to go to the picture show that late afternoon, and we'd saved our dime that would get us in the show, buy us a popcorn, and soda pop, and we'd watch some Western 'shoot'em up,' the rest of the afternoon," continued the gentleman. "They really weren't that good of movies, but we thought they were and before it really got started good, you could tell how it was going to end!"

 

 

 

 

 

"Yep, it's been almost 70 years, since I was coming to downtown McKinney, as a child and this square was full of people. Lots of water has run under bridge since then, but they were happy times, and I'll always remember, the first Saturday in October, as a sort of holiday!" reflected the gentleman. "We've got lots more money now and can pretty well buy anything we want, like this coffee, that costs 15 times what it cost to get into the picture show, but sometimes I wonder if we're any better off, than we were back in those days, when things were much more simple!"

"By the way, I forgot to tell you 'bout Dad buyin' us a big ol' orange pumpkin and us taking it home with us, cutting it open, and Mom scraping out the seed and most of the flesh for a couple of pumpkin pies, and then us carving a face in it," inserted the gentleman, as got up from the table. "Then, we put a tallow candle in it and glowed on the front porch of that old ramshackled sharecropper house, almost 'til Halloween!"

 

 

 

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