Nickelville

Nickelville, one of the earliest settlements in southern Collin County, was a half mile south of what is now Wylie near the East Fork of the Trinity River. Settlers began arriving in the area in the early 1850s, attracted by the plentiful water supply from the Trinity, the productive soils of the Blackland Prairie, and the offer of land grants by the Peters Colony. Soon after, a community was organized and named Nickelville, supposedly after a nickel store operated by one of the settlers. Within a decade the settlement had become an education and trade center for area farmers. By 1885 three churches, a post office, a hotel, and the Nickelville Academy served an estimated population of seventy-five. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe line laid tracks about a half mile north of the community in 1886, and that year the Nickelville post office was moved to Wylie. Around 1887 Nickelville joined the nearby communities of Eureka, Lone Elm, and St. Paul to form the town of Wylie on the new railroad line.