Pennybacker-Campbell-Wommack House
Palestine, Anderson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
"Silk Stocking Row" Victorian residence built in 1890. Noted as family home of Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker (1861-1938), teacher, author of widely-used school history of Texas, first Texan President General Federation Women's Clubs. Purchased 1900 by Thomas M. Campbell (1856 - 1923), famous lawyer, banker, Governor of Texas in 1907-11. Enlarged by Gov. Campbell, house is now property of great-grandson, Drew Wommack, Jr. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1969
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1890 on Palestine's fashionable "Silk Stocking Row," this Victorian residence was home to Anna Pennybacker, a teacher and author whose school history of Texas shaped generations of students and who became the first Texan to lead the General Federation of Women's Clubs. In 1900 it passed to Thomas M. Campbell — lawyer, banker, and governor of Texas from 1907 to 1911 — who enlarged the house. It remained in his family for generations afterward.
Why it matters
Under one roof the house links a pioneering woman of letters and civic leadership with a Progressive-era governor, two threads of the Texas public life at the turn of the century.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Anna Pennybacker
- · Thomas M. Campbell
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of St. Mary's Academy
Palestine, TX
When the railroad reached Palestine, it brought Catholic workers who wanted religious schooling for their children, and in 1882 Mother St. Andrew Felton sent three Sisters of Divine Providence from Castroville to found St. Mary's Academy. Beginning in a three-room frame schoolhouse, the sisters taught basic subjects alongside religion, French, and elocution before the growing school moved to this site and expanded with wings holding classrooms, dormitories, and a chapel. It served day and boarding students until the high school closed in 1949 and the school shut permanently in 1966.
Mary Kate Hunter
Palestine, TX
Born near Palestine in 1866, Mary Kate Hunter trained as a classical pianist in the United States and Germany and taught generations of local children, but her lasting work was preserving her region's past. A charter clubwoman and delegate to the first Texas Federation of Women's Clubs, she organized local history societies and conducted dozens of oral-history interviews with early settlers. A committed suffragist, she founded and led the Palestine Equal Suffrage Association and held statewide office, and at her death in 1945 she left her vast records to the public library.
Roy B. Wallace
Palestine, TX
Roy B. Wallace, born in Limestone County in 1901, earned a music degree from Baylor and began teaching in 1932 before becoming band director at Palestine's Reagan Junior High and, in 1942, the Palestine High School Band. Under his baton the band won first-division sweepstakes honors fourteen of his nineteen years and performed at events from a 1946 Texas A&M game to the 1950 Cotton Bowl. Named the state's bandmaster of the year in 1960, he pioneered using recordings in rehearsal and a broadcast "Radio Band," and was later inducted into the Texas Bandmasters Hall of Fame.
Palestine High School
Palestine, TX
Palestine's public school system dates to 1881, and after early classes at the old Palestine Female Institute, voters approved a bond in 1915 for a new high school in a newly created park. Designed by Fort Worth architects Sanguinet & Staats in a Tudor Gothic style of brick and limestone, the reinforced-concrete building opened with a small faculty and graduated its first class in 1917. Later a junior high and elementary school, it was named for Texas statesman John Henninger Reagan before becoming a museum and cultural center.