24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in Wylie, TX

Wylie began in the early 1870s as Nickelville, reportedly named after its first store, and moved half a mile north when the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway arrived in 1886.

The city incorporated in 1887 and was renamed for Lieutenant Colonel William D. Wylie, a railroad right-of-way agent and Civil War veteran; a second railroad, the St. Louis Southwestern, reached town two years later.

Wylie sits between two lakes - Lavon Lake and Lake Ray Hubbard - and about 40% of the city's total area is actually water.

Onions were Wylie's cash crop in the 1930s and 1940s, and the town earned the nickname 'Wide Awake Wylie' in the late 1940s and 1950s because its businesses stayed open until midnight for late-night socializing.

The construction of Lavon Dam and Reservoir five miles north of town, and Wylie's selection as home of the North Texas Municipal Water District offices, pushed its population to 1,804 by 1960.

Unlike many rural Texas towns, Wylie actually grew during the Great Depression, thanks to dairy farming that supplied nearby Dallas.

Wylie exploded as a Dallas suburb in the 21st century, jumping from 15,132 residents in 2000 to 41,427 in 2010 and 57,526 at the 2020 census, with growth spreading the city from Collin County into Dallas and Rockwall counties.

The 2020 census counted 17,957 households in Wylie, and more than half of them had children under 18 living at home.

On April 11, 2016, a hailstorm dropped softball-sized hail on Wylie, damaging an estimated 80% of the city's homes and causing more than $240 million in damage; a tornado had also ravaged downtown on Mother's Day in 1993.

Most Wylie students attend Wylie Independent School District campuses, which by 2025 included three high schools, and Collin College opened a Wylie campus in August 2020 built to serve up to 7,500 students.