Farmersville originated in 1849 as a settlement on the Jefferson-McKinney Road and near the Republic of Texas National Road, and pioneers named it for their chief occupation. After 1854, the Yearys and their neighbors of Sugar Hill, 2 miles northeast, began relocating there. Dr. H. M. Markham, practicing there by 1855, is said to have been Collin County's earliest physician. The First Methodist Church was organized in 1856. On March 4, 1859, William Gotcher donated land for the public square. A school was operating as early as the 1860s, and the First Baptist Church was organized on May 14, 1865. The town was incorporated on June 2, 1873, with John S. Ride as first mayor, James Church, Ben King, John Murchison, Tom Tatum, and John P. Utt as aldermen, and Jeff Hines as marshal. Institutions from the 1880s still in operation include the Farmersville Times and the First National Bank. As the town became a trade center, agriculture kept pace. In the 1930s, Farmersville was known as the Onion Capital of North Texas, annually shipping over 1,000 carloads of onions, along with some small industry. Cattle, cotton, and maize crops remain important. Audie Murphy, the most decorated American hero of World War II, had been a resident of Farmersville before he entered the United States Army.