The settlement was named by two of the original settlers - William Pickney Chapman & John Hendrex - after the chief occupation of many of the residents.

On March 4, 1859, William Gotcher donated land for the public town square, now the anchor of Farmersville’s commercial district.

[citation needed] Institutions from the 1880s that are still in operation include the Farmersville Times, the oldest newspaper in Collin County,[9] and the First Bank (now Independent Financial), as well as the two churches mentioned above.

On June 15, 1945, Audie Murphy, the most decorated combat soldier of World War II, came home to a hero's welcome in Farmersville.

Thousands of celebrants filled the square to listen to him speak, and the event was noted in the July 16, 1945 edition of Life Magazine.

[11] On May 8, 2021, in honor of Audie Murphy and on the 76th anniversary of VE Day - commemorating the end of fighting in the European Theater of Operations during World War II - a "Sister City Pact" between Farmersville and Holtzwihr, France was signed.

[12] This ceremony was to cement the common bond between the two cities and recognize Murphy's heroism at the Battle of Holtzwihr on January 26, 1945.