Toadsuck

Toadsuck, originally called Toadsuck Saloon, later became part of Collinsville in western Grayson County. Settlers arrived in the area in the late 1850s, and in 1869 a townsite was surveyed near Toadsuck Saloon, then located a half mile southeast of what is now the site of Collinsville. The town of Toadsuck took the name of the saloon. It may have been named by John Jones, an early settler and mill owner, after the city of Toadsuck, Arkansas. According to legend, the name was originally a reference to men consuming liquor until they swelled up like toads. However, the word "suck" was also commonly used in the region as a term for a whirlpool in a river. Hence, the town name may have simply meant "toad whirlpool." In 1869 William (Alfalfa Bill) Henry David Murray, who later became a notable Oklahoma governor, was born in Toadsuck. The Texas and Pacific line was built within three quarters of a mile of Toadsuck in 1880, and by 1887 most of its businesses and residents had moved to the tracks. The railroad town was named Collinsville when it was incorporated in the 1890s.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.