It was a massive pecan tree at the corner of what would become Travis and Lamar streets, and it was symbolic of all that Sherman’s earliest settlers hoped the town would become – unfettered growth and prosperity, deeply rooted families capable of sustaining the inevitable rough times, and a community with residents as hard as hardwood and as welcoming as shaded grass. Around that square grew a downtown that served as the epicenter of a booming cotton industry that rivaled any city in the South. And around that downtown grew a city that became one of the largest and most culturally advanced towns anywhere in the Lone Star State. They called Sherman “The Athens of Texas,” and there at the heart of it all was the courthouse square – Sherman’s Acropolis. The center of county governance, of area commerce, and of north Texas culture, the square developed and evolved and all the time served as the metaphorical tree trunk supporting the city's branching growth in both population and economy. Sherman transitioned seamlessly from an agricultural economy to an industrial one in concert with the nation at large. When a large employer like Birge-Ford Cotton Company went broke, there was a modern employer like Pool Manufacturing stepping in to pick up the slack. With jobs in abundance, Sherman kept its path of growth, with downtown leading the way. The population reached 17,000 in 1940, among the 18 largest cities in the state. The 1950s and 60s saw more industrial growth, with companies like Texas Instruments, Kaiser Aluminum and Johnson & Johnson broadening and expanding the city’s industrial job base. As 1970 dawned a new decade, the arrival of the Sher-Den Mall was emblematic of the population shift toward suburbia, as the city added housing to the west and north, and industry to the south in the newly created Blaylock Industrial District. The 80s saw the addition of corporate mainstays like Douglass Distributing, Sunny Delight and Presco, while the 90s brought white collar jobs in the form of Globitech and MEMC. Since the turn of the century, the city of Sherman has continued to grow in population and add jobs at a frenzied pace. Tyson Foods became the city's largest employers when it arrived in 2006, bringing more than 1,500 jobs at its 537,000-square-foot warehouse on the city's south side in Progress Park. The 2000s also meant a fundamental shift in the way Sherman funded city government. The development of Sherman Town Center and Sherman Crossroads outdoor retail centers positioned the city as a regional destination for shopping, drawing people from several counties in two states, and generating tens-of-millions in sales tax income for the city each year. That income, combined with fiscally disciplined city governance, means Shermanites pay among the lowest property taxes in the entire state of Texas. After adding a clean-burning natural gas power plant operated by Panda Power Funds to its industrial portfolio in 2014, the city of Sherman is currently on the precipice of an economic explosion. The city is undertaking a massive expansion of its water treatment plant, which will position Sherman as an exporter of drinking water and provide the civic income to keep utility rates low. And as Sherman accelerates its growth across a broad spectrum of indicators, downtown has once again emerged as a major hub for dining, shopping and entertainment. New businesses such as 903 Brewers, the Old Iron Post bar and restaurant, Willie Jim's Pie Company, and Bean Me Up coffeehouse have injected an infusion of excitement to compliment mainstays like Fulbelli's fine dining and A Touch of Class Antique Mall. So while the old pecan tree at the corner of Lamar and Travis may be long gone, the roots of Sherman are as strong as they've ever been. And now more than ever, those roots are bearing beautiful fruit.
