Historic Downtown Richardson, Texas

Come see the place where Richardson, Texas was born in 1873 and where almost everything important to its growth and development took place during its first full century

Historic Downtown Richardson was "born" in 1873 when the Houston & Texas Central Railway constructed a depot near where the DART tracks now cross East Main Street and the railroad began selling town lots the following year. Although none of the original wood frame commercial buildings (with the exception of one that was covered with brick) are still standing, a few that were constructed of brick during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are still standing, largely in the 100 block of East Main Street. Until the mid-1950s, and even for a little while afterward, this was the place where area farmers brought their cotton to be ginned, where townspeople and farm folk all did their shopping, where people embarked or disembarked from journeys on the train or Interurban electric railrway, where the vote to incorporate was taken in 1925, where the City of Richardson had its first city hall, where the town's annual community fair and other events were held, where people came to get their mail, where all the first city services operated from, and where all the town's newspapers were published. In short, this is the "historic heart" of Richardson. Come explore it in this interactive tour!