Waddill-Morris Homesite
McKinney, Collin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Kentucky native Judge R.L. Waddill (1811-1865) came to McKinney with his stepson, George Shackelford Morris, in 1853, five years after the town had been established as the Collin county seat. The two men bought large tracts of land in town, built a home, and then brought the remainder of the family to settle in McKinney. The family included Judge Waddill's wife, Sarah, and their children R.L., Joe, Ben, Gaston, and Fannie. During the late 1850s, Judge Waddill made a major contribution to the field of education in McKinney by erecting a schoolhouse in his backyard and hiring a teacher from Bethany College in West Virginia to teach the children in the area. Waddill had a law practice in town and served as district judge, riding his circuit on horseback, from 1860 until his death in 1865. This home was constructed for the Waddill-Morris family after a fire destroyed their original house. George S. Morris, who served in the Confederacy during the Civil War and later studied law, served as a deputy county clerk in McKinney and as administrator of the Waddill-Morris Estate. This house has remained in the family for more than one hundred years. (1985)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
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 — Morris served in the Confederacy — and the home built after a fire remained in the family for over a century.
Why it matters
The homesite captures how frontier professionals like Waddill personally founded the courts and schools that civilized a raw county seat, and how the Civil War touched even settled Texas families.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · R.L. Waddill
- · George Shackelford Morris
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
John S. and Rachel W. Heard House
McKinney, TX
John Spenser Heard, an Arkansas native and Confederate veteran, joined his family in McKinney about 1865 and married Rachel Wilson in 1884. Business success let the couple support many local causes and, in 1921, build this grand classical revival home designed by the Dallas firm Ye Planery, with towering Corinthian columns and a dentiled pediment. The house remained in the Heard family until 1987.
Law Office of James W. Throckmorton
McKinney, TX
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.
Davis House
McKinney, TX
Built between 1897 and 1908 for Judge Harvey Louis Davis and his wife Emma, this Transitional-style McKinney residence mixes Prairie-influenced and Classical detailing, from a Sullivanesque frieze to fluted Corinthian porch columns. The Davis family was steeped in public life, counting two county judges, a district attorney, a county commissioner, a postmaster, and a schoolteacher among its members. Across three generations who lived here for ninety-one years, the family gave Collin County a cumulative ninety-five years of public service.
James Waller Thomas House
McKinney, TX
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 — the site witnessed an attempt on his life during the turbulent Civil War and Reconstruction years.