Aron-Harris House
McKinney, Collin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Designed by Putnam Russell, an architect from New York, this house was constructed in 1889 for local merchant Morris Aron and his wife Henrietta. In 1897 the home was purchased by Plummer and Josie Harris and it remained in their family until 1951. The Queen Anne styling features intricate ornamentation and a corner turret with a bell-shaped roof. The interior includes ornate woodwork and marble detailing. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1980***
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1889 for merchant Morris Aron and his wife Henrietta, this McKinney house was designed by New York architect Putnam Russell in the exuberant Queen Anne style. Its corner turret with a bell-shaped roof, intricate exterior ornament, and interior marble and woodwork announced the prosperity of the town's commercial class. The Harris family bought it in 1897 and kept it for more than half a century.
Why it matters
Ornate merchant homes like this one are the built legacy of the Gilded Age boom that transformed North Texas railroad towns into confident commercial centers.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Morris Aron
- · Plummer Harris
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Charles P. and Sallie G. Heard Home
McKinney, TX
In the cotton-rich Blackland Prairie of North Texas, merchant and cotton broker Charles Heard and his wife Sallie built this ornate residence at the height of the Victorian era. Completed in 1893 to a design by architect John Martin, its Queen Anne and Eastlake flourishes—the elaborate porch and intricate woodwork—advertised the prosperity that cotton brought to McKinney. Known locally as philanthropists, the Heards kept the house in the family into the 1970s.
J. D. Stiff Home
McKinney, TX
When dry-goods merchant John David Stiff built this McKinney residence in 1893, he gave it the flourishes of the Queen Anne style then fashionable across small-town America — paired dormers and delicate fish-scale shingling that signaled a prosperous merchant on the town square. The house stayed in the Stiff family for nearly eighty years, until 1971, before being recognized as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Burton House
McKinney, TX
Completed in 1910 for business and civic leaders Newton A. and Laura Wallace Burton, this one-story house was designed by architect J. E. Cooper in an eclectic blend of bungalow, classical revival, and American foursquare styles. A wraparound porch on Doric columns, shingled hip dormers, exposed rafter ends, and stained-glass transoms give it its distinctive character. It stands as a fine example of early-20th-century Texas residential architecture.
E. A. Newsome House
McKinney, TX
In 1895, at the height of the Victorian building boom that reshaped North Texas county seats, financier and philanthropist Edward A. Newsome raised this grand two-and-a-half-story home for his wife Laura and their family. With its high ceilings, ornate woodwork, majestic stair landing and panels of cocoa (solar) glass, the house became a center of McKinney's social life. It passed through several owners—including the Murphy family in 1966—yet survives as a distinctive architectural landmark.