Wylie, Texas
Home of the Wylie Pirates
Wylie is located northeast of Dallas. In 1961, it was located entirely in Collin County, but now it's city limits extend into neighboring Dallas and Rockwall counties. In 1960, the population was around 1800. Today it is near 60,000.
Members of the Wylie High School Class of '61 saw the beginning of the Wylie's growth but were lucky enough to experience some of the small-town flavor publicized by the Wide-Awake Wylie sign posted on Hwy 78. In the mid-50's Saturday nights on main street usually began with sodas or malts at the drugstore, followed by a walk down the street to the movie theater. After the movie strolling around town was the norm. After the movie theater closed its doors for good, activity on main street dwindled to nonexistent, and by the 60's teens were driving to Garland or other nearby cities for entertainment.
Few of the stores and businesses that were in downtown Wylie in the 50's and 60's are still there today. Johnson's Factory is now used by the First Baptist Church as an event center. Ballard Street Cafe is now located where Wil-Bar Grill used to be, and the bank is on the opposite end of the street from where it was then. The Wylie Pharmacy (Buster's), Western Auto, Blackmon's Super Market, and Douthitt's Variety Store are gone, and grocery stores have moved to other parts of town. Boutiques and specialty shops now fill those empty spaces, and while Wylie is not the same as it was, it continues to maintain some of the feeling that Wylie had back in the 60's.
Around 1960
2021
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Prices have changed, too!
