Murphy Community

Murphy was primarily an agricultural community from 1880 to 1970, thriving in farming and ranching because of its location in the Blackland Prairie with tall grasses, black fertile soil, and abundant rainfall. Its first settlers arrived in the early 1840s from Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, North and South Carolina, and Virginia, seeking cheap land and a better way of life. The community was named Murphy in 1888 when William Murphy gave right of way to the St. Louis Southwestern Railroad, though the City of Murphy was not officially established until 1958. The founding pioneer families were the Maxwell, McMillen, and Murphy families, who established an agricultural community. Before the Civil War, several merchandising families arrived and remained in the community well into the 1980s. As the community grew, general stores and schools were built, and the last Old Murphy Grocery survived until the late 1980s. In 1938, the Old Murphy School was established, and after it was consolidated into the Plano Independent School District in 1950, it was revitalized as a community and recreation center. By 1970, the population had dwindled dramatically as the agrarian lifestyle changed with the development of urban areas, but it rose again in the 1980s when Murphy became a suburb of the Dallas Metroplex.

Murphy, Texas · United States