Corsicana or Sherman? (Dallas, Austin, McKinney: sales, rental, crime rate)

[pioneer8]

Hi Everyone, Can anyone tell me about Corsicana or Sherman TX? Just a general description and your own feelings about these cities in TX. We might be relocating there (temporarily) and would like to know what the areas are like- positive and negative. Thank you.

[dallastexan]

Sherman is definitely the more progressive of the two, Corsicana is and old oil town with a lot of crime and little progress. Sherman has a lot of medical facilities and is more dynamic. It's also closer to the N. Dallas suburbs and therefore more growth and nicer feel.

Corsicana is about 50 miles south of Dallas, Sherman about 50 north.

[pioneer8]

Tell me this though. We would only be there for a year and are iterested in a house rental (good safe) - Not necessarily close to anything except my husbands job. After a year, we will be moving to our more permanent destination. When you say crime in Corsicana... What to what exactly are you referring? I really appreciate your time. I know I'm not giving you very much to go on.- We are just looking for a safe and clean place to live for " a minute". We never rent, so this is going to be unusal for our family. Hope you're still there DallasTexan

[momof2dfw]

If you like fruit cakes, then Corsicana is the place for you. And I mean the type you eat not the people.

I'd have to second the motion for Sherman. Sherman is also home to a college so you may be able of find a rental a little bit easier there than Corsicana. Corsicana is on that edge of East Texas, not quite the Piney Woods but close. My b-i-l recently got transfered to Sherman and he commutes from McKinney. Said the commute is not bad since he is going against the traffic. While everyone else is trying to go towards Dallas in the mornings he takes a left. Hwy 75 aka Central Expwy is only 4 lanes (2 each way) from Allen on up North so it does bottleneck. There are a lot of people that live in the Sherman area that commute to Dallas. Same for Corsicana but more of the "white collar" in Sherman.

Now, is your husband going to be working IN Dallas or the Dallas area? If so in what part? That could make a HUGE difference in his commute. There is going to be more traffic on 75 going South from Sherman then there is from Corsicana.

[pioneer8]

Thank you momof2dfw. If his promotion brings us there... It will be right in Sherman I believe. We did drive through there one day a few months ago and I can see what you mean by rental possibilities with the college and all. That's funny about fruit cakes... Do they HAVE a lot of fruitcake (the kind you eat) there??? Why? Just curious. We'll probably take a drive there but I really did hope to get many opinions. Thank you again.

[momof2dfw]

Yes, they really do HAVE fruitcake in Corsicana that you eat. They are world famous for it. You have not heard? of the Collin Street Bakery? They do make other things but fruitcake is BIG!!! I've literally had to go there w/ my mother to get them some fruitcakes. Here is their website.
http://www.collinstreet.com/pages/about_us

Another place up out of Greenville, Tx on Hwy 30 is Mary of Puddin Hill. They make things out of chocolate. Like big dollhouses and stuff. Bizarre but they do. They also do lunches and stuff.

[momof2dfw]

Here is a snippet from their website:

Texas Fruitcake & Pecan Cake From Corsicana, Texas
Our family-owned-and-operated bakery, located just 50 miles south of Dallas, Texas, has been baking the world-famous DeLuxe Fruitcake for over 110 years.

The DeLuxe Texas Fruitcake or Pecan Cake you order today is still baked true to the Old-World recipe brought to Corsicana, Texas from Wiesbaden, Germany in 1896 by master baker Gus Weidmann. He and his partner, Tom McElwee, built a lively business in turn-of-the-century Corsicana which included an elegant hotel on the top floor of the bakery. Many famous guests enjoyed their fine hospitality including Enrico Caruso, Will Rogers, John J. McGraw, "Gentleman Jim" Corbett and John Ringling.

In fact, the bakery was thrust into the mail order business when Mr. Ringling's circus troupe, upon tasting the mouth-watering DeLuxe Texas Fruitcake, Pecan cake asked to have these Christmas Cakes sent to family and friends throughout Europe. And so began an international Christmas gift tradition.

We are mail order specialists, and whether your order is for one cake or 1,000, we make sure it is sent exactly as requested. Many years of experience, coupled with our decorative holiday tin and protective shipping carton, ensure your gift will arrive in perfect condition anywhere in the world, fresh delivery guaranteed.

The Collin Street Bakery Story

For true fruitcake connoisseurs, 1896 was a banner year for it marked the first year of the Original DeLuxe, "that famous Corsicana, Texas Fruitcake." The grand-tasting DeLuxe, whose recipe had traveled 6,000 miles from Wiesbaden, Germany, was introduced to this little Texas town by a gentle German baker named August Weidmann. And if history had left the rest to



Gus, this cake's reputation might never have got past the city limits. Happily, though, history brought him a wealthy partner and master salesman named Tom McElwee.


The shy, perfectionist Gus Weidmann ran his little kitchen in this newly formed Collin Street Bakery and made ready for the busy Christmas seasons. At the same time, Tom McElwee was sending out letters, making sales trips, and lining up an ever-growing list of Bakery

customers. They made a nice team and enjoyed such success that their once anonymous DeLuxe Texas Fruitcake and Pecan Cake became a delicacy to be sought after by folks from every corner of the globe.


In 1906, after outgrowing the original Collin Street Bakery in its tenth year, Tom and Gus put up a structure of such ambitious size that Tom was able to make its whole second floor into an elite private hotel. Only a flamboyant patron of the Corsicana Opera House could have pulled it off. One like Tom, who was accustomed to attracting the nation's

best performers to this oil and rail center, home of the first two oil strikes west of the Mississippi. Interestingly, Mobil and Texaco were both founded here in Corsicana! Tom formed instant friendships with the visiting celebrities and made sure that every guest who boarded the outbound train had an extra cake in his travel trunk.


Will Rogers Folks who worked at the Bakery then remember getting glimpses of Will Rogers, Enrico Caruso, "Terrible Tempered" John McGraw and "Gentleman" Jim Corbett. They remember the great John Ringling and tell of the afternoon when Ringling's whole circus traipsed over and ordered Christmas cakes for circus friends in every corner of the world (the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus buys DeLuxe Fruitcakes to this day!). It brought a few nostalgic sighs when Tom McElwee's glamorous diggings were transformed, room by room, into an arena



of executives and clerks and jangling phones. But prosperity clears its own path. The Collin Street Bakery was getting waist-deep in a new and thriving mail-order business.

Though Tom McElwee and Gus Weidmann died less than a year apart, the management of the Collin Street Bakery passed smoothly into experienced hands. Nothing fundamental in its operation has changed. Cakes are still baked to order and shipped direct from Corsicana, Texas. And our Bakery officers still personally handle every order the Bakery receives. Moreover, the present-day operation is far from lacking in color and drama. This year alone we will ship Texas Fruitcakes, pecan cakes, and other delicious pastries to 196 foreign lands.

[pioneer8]

Wowee! What a way to add a new dimension to the regular "crime rate/weather... question/ answer thingy". Famous for fruitcake. Very funny. They make it sound really irresistable... Even I want some fruitcake and I don't even care for it! Thanks for that!

[zacksnana]

Pioneer8:
My husband and two daughters moved here in 2001 (Allen, TX) north of Dallas and south of Sherman. While both Corsicana and Sherman are nice towns with lots of unique characteristics there are many burbs of Dallas with just as much, maybe more to offer.
I think which town you prefer would depend on your age and whether or not you have children. I don't know when you are planning to move but I think you would benefit from visiting the web sites of these two towns' Chambers of Commerce. The Allen C of C was very helpful to us when we were looking for a place.

I love Corsicana's Fruit Cakes!

Sherman is more progressive. They do actually have a mall and a lot of the newer restaurant chains, Austin College, Sam's Club and a movie theater. They also have a lot of historical homes. Not to mention it is only 15 minutes from Oklahoma.


Good Luck!
ZacksNana

[Billy444]

Corsicana doesnt have the crime rate of most cities in the state, though compared to like Faifield and smaller communities in the tri county area it does. I would still feel safe walking at night through Corsicana.

The reason I don't like it is because I'm Catholic and this is an Evangelical area, what you would call The Bible Belt. The Catholic church here doesnt appeal to me personally, if feels a little too protestant, almost like Lutheran (just my opinion though).