History and art combine in Echowave, an interactive sculpture installation nestled in the heart of downtown Plano. One of many stops on the self-guided Plano Art Walk, the art piece consists of four painted steel sound waves placed between the colorful letters P L A N O attached to a large brick wall.

Located on the southeast corner of K Avenue and 15th Street, each of the “waves” corresponds with an audio segment representing historical events in Plano. For example, one audio recording covers the founding of the fire department while another discusses Plano’s name and origins.

The artist, Milan Bender, lives in Dallas and is known for repurposing and upcycling "trash" into art. Some of the audio segments are narrated by locals, such as Deputy City Manager Sam Greif and former mayor Harry LaRosiliere.

In 1895, the Collinsworth family were visited by a traveling salesman that wasn’t feeling well. Unfortunately, their guest was infected with smallpox, a disastrous condition caused by the deadly variola virus that killed 400 million people in the 20th century alone.

One of the Collinsworth daughters was the first to succumb to the fatal disease, but as more relatives arrived to pay their respects, more became ill and died. Approximately 10 members of the Collinsworth family passed away, as doctors were unable to adequately treat the disease.

The small outbreak also prompted the city of Plano to pass a resolution mandating smallpox vaccinations. Located not far from Barney Smith's Toilet Seat Art Museum and Texas Triffid Ranch, as many as thirty members of the Collinsworth family are believed to be buried in Collinsworth Cemetery, although today only six headstones are visible.

In 1836, enticed by the new Republic of Texas’ offer of free land to settlers, Samuel Young drove an oxcart from Illinois to Plano with his wife and two children. Four years later, the family constructed The Samuel Young House. For more than 90 years, the eldest Young daughter, Gladys, lived in the house without any plumbing or electricity.

Today the house, which is a late example of the Gothic Victorian three-gable style, is a living history site that represents the Texas Blackland Prairie region. It is part of the Heritage Farmstead Museum, a 4.5-acre historic farm complex that has been recognized by the Plano Landmark Association and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Young House features many pieces of original Victorian furniture, notably a Bell telephone from the turn of the century and an original Sanger Bros. Victrola. You can tour the house, as well as another historic house within the Farmstead Museum, on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

Plano has a long, proud history of trains and railways stretching back more than 110 years. Nowhere better displays this past than the Interurban Railway Museum, located downtown.  The railway operated here for 40 years from 1908 to 1948; now, the old train station is managed by the Plano Conservancy for Historic Preservation, but includes more than just train history. 

There’s also an Interactive Electricity Room, which teaches kids basic physics using high-voltage visualizations such as electrical generators, magnets, and battery circuitry; a display that describes how Plano evolved from a prairie to a booming suburb; and an exhibit on local Native American history. You’ll want to step inside the museum’s standout exhibit, Railway Car 360, an 111-year-old railway car that once transported people to areas outside Plano. In 1914, it was transformed into a mobile post office and remains the last living example of a Texas Electric Rail Post Office car. 

The museum is free, and holds story time for children Friday mornings at 11 a.m.

Downtown Plano is just large enough to get lost in, which makes it an ideal location for a walk. While wandering around, you’ll encounter a series of seven sculptures called Rhythmic Illuminations. Crafted from aluminum by Colorado-based sculptor Joshua Weiner, each piece reflects a different aspect of the local arts scene, like singing, dancing, and musical instruments. One sculpture boldly features the word “Plano,” evoking the famous “LOVE” pop art by Robert Indiana. But viewed from another angle, these structures may appear just like abstract shapes. Getting the full experience requires getting up close.

What’s more Texan than cattle? The Texas Longhorn is a hybrid steer characterized by its massive horns, and at Baccus Plaza in Northwest Plano, you can find nineteen of them, not to mention three cowboys, all of them made of bronze. The scene depicts a cattle drive along the Shawnee Trail, one of the main routes vaqueros (Spanish for “cow herders”) would take before and after the Civil War.

These vaqueros would drive millions of cows all the way to places like Missouri, and the trade helped boost Texas’s economy after the war. Known as “The Trails in Legacy,” the sculptures are by Robert Summers, a native Texan known for his bronze works across the Lone Star State.  Nearby the plaza are a number of other interesting landmarks, including Baccus Cemetery, one of the oldest cemeteries in Collin County, which dates back to 1847.