HistoricSiteMarkers
Reconstruction & Gilded Age

Law Office of James W. Throckmorton

McKinney, Collin County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Texas Governor (1866-1867). Front remodeled but interior unchanged. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1966

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

From this McKinney law office practiced James W. Throckmorton, who served as governor of Texas in 1866 and 1867 during the fraught early years of Reconstruction before military authorities removed him from office. The building's front has been remodeled, but its interior survives much as he knew it. It stands as a tangible link to Texas politics in the turbulent aftermath of the Civil War.

Why it matters

The office roots the national struggle over Reconstruction in a single Texas town, where a wartime generation's leaders tried to govern a defeated South.

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Related people

  • Β· James W. Throckmorton

Themes & tags

Civil WarLandmark

Nearby & related markers

James Waller Thomas House

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Built about 1868 by civic leader James Waller Thomas for his family of thirteen, this modest Collin County house began as a single room and has changed little since 1902, preserving original flooring, chimney, and rough-hewn timbers from before rail service reached North Texas. Thomas also edited and published the county's first newspaper, and his outspoken support for the Union and for the rights of Black settlers made him enemies β€” the site witnessed an attempt on his life during the turbulent Civil War and Reconstruction years.

Waddill-Morris Homesite

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Kentucky-born Judge R.L. Waddill arrived in the young town of McKinney in 1853 with his stepson George S. Morris, buying land and putting down deep roots as the Collin County seat took shape. A circuit-riding district judge, Waddill also made an early gift to local education by building a schoolhouse in his own backyard and importing a teacher from West Virginia. The family's story stretches through the Civil War β€” Morris served in the Confederacy β€” and the home built after a fire remained in the family for over a century.

Dulaney Cottage

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Dr. Joseph E. Dulaney (d. 1877), a Confederate Army surgeon, came to McKinney after the Civil War and married Lucy Ann Field (1844–1941), daughter of Collin County pioneers. In 1875 he built this Victorian cottage, notable for its many gables and fine porch detailing. Lucy lived here until 1910 with children including Joseph Field Dulaney, a pharmacist who later donated land across the street for a public library.

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