William Madison McDonald
Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(June 22, 1866 - July 4, 1950) Born in Kaufman County, William "Gooseneck Bill" McDonald became active in politics in 1890. His ability to unite Black and White voters led to his prominence as a leader of the "Black and Tan" faction of the Republican Party. He remained influential, serving as a delegate to many state and national conventions, until the decline of the Republican Party in Texas in the early 1900s. Also active in black Masonic societies, he served as state secretary for 47 years. He moved to Fort Worth in 1906, founded the Fraternal Bank and Trust Company, and was a prominent civic leader. (1982)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born in Kaufman County in 1866, William "Gooseneck Bill" McDonald entered politics in 1890 and rose to lead the "Black and Tan" faction of the Texas Republican Party, prized for his ability to unite Black and White voters. He served as a delegate to numerous state and national conventions and was a Black Masonic leader for 47 years. After moving to Fort Worth in 1906 he founded the Fraternal Bank and Trust Company and became a leading civic figure.
Why it matters
McDonald's career illuminates the political power and economic institution-building of Black Texans in the decades before the civil rights era.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
William Madison McDonald was born in 1866, a year after the Civil War ended, just as formerly enslaved Texans were claiming citizenship and the vote for the first time. Reconstruction had opened the door to Black political participation, and in Texas the Republican Party was where that participation happened.
By the time McDonald entered politics in 1890, the ground was shifting under him. Within the Texas Republican Party, a mostly Black and interracial faction known as the "Black and Tans" was struggling against a "lily-white" faction that wanted to push Black members out of leadership. At the same time, across the South, poll taxes and other restrictions were steadily taking the vote away from Black citizens.
In the early 1900s the Republican Party lost most of its remaining power in Texas, and the state became firmly one-party Democratic. For Black Texans, the political doors that Reconstruction had opened were closing. Many community leaders turned their energy to building institutions of their own: lodges, churches, businesses and banks.
People & events
McDonald was born in Kaufman County on June 22, 1866, and became active in politics in 1890. He was widely known as "Gooseneck Bill." Accounts of how he got the nickname vary, and it's best taken as the kind of colorful name politicians of that era often picked up.
What made him stand out, according to the marker, was his ability to bring Black and White voters together. That skill made him a leader of the Black and Tan Republicans, and he served as a delegate to many state and national party conventions. In an era of hardening segregation, a Black Texan helping shape a major party's decisions was remarkable.
When the Republican Party declined in Texas, McDonald didn't fade away. He had long been active in Black Masonic organizations and served as their state secretary for 47 years, an extraordinary record of steady leadership. In 1906 he moved to Fort Worth and founded the Fraternal Bank and Trust Company, and he became one of the city's prominent civic leaders. He died on July 4, 1950.
Its place in the American story
McDonald's life spans the long arc between emancipation and the modern civil rights movement. His story shows that Black Southerners did not simply disappear from public life when Reconstruction ended. They organized, bargained, built coalitions, and fought for a place in national politics for decades.
His move from party politics to banking and fraternal leadership reflects a wider pattern of the Jim Crow era. When the ballot was taken away, many Black Americans built economic and social institutions that gave their communities capital, mutual aid and leadership training. Fraternal orders and Black-owned banks were central to that effort.
Those institutions helped lay the groundwork for the civil rights struggles of the mid-20th century. When you look at McDonald's career, you're seeing one of the earlier chapters of that larger American story.
If you visit
This marker is in Fort Worth, a city whose past is more varied than its cowtown image suggests. McDonald's story is a reminder that Fort Worth was also home to a strong Black business and civic community in the early 20th century.
Take a moment to think about the dates on the marker. He was born in 1866, the year after the war, and died on Independence Day, 1950. His lifetime ran from Reconstruction almost to the start of the modern civil rights movement.
If you're exploring Fort Worth's history, this marker adds a chapter many visitors miss. It pairs well with time spent learning about the city's African American heritage and the broader story of Black political life in Texas.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · William Madison McDonald
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Hagar Tucker
Fort Worth, TX
Born into slavery in Kentucky in 1842 and emancipated in 1865, Hagar Tucker became Fort Worth's first African American policeman when he was appointed a "special policeman" in 1873. He was among the first Black residents of the county to register to vote, yet the era's limits were stark: paid separately from white officers, he could patrol only Black neighborhoods and served only a short time. He later worked other jobs and lived with his wife Amy and their three daughters.
Douglass and McGar Parks
Fort Worth, TX
From the late 1800s through the 1920s, amid Jim Crow segregation, Douglass and McGar parks gave Fort Worth's African Americans rare recreational ground. In 1895 Black entrepreneur Thomas Mason and partners bought land in the Trinity River bottoms that became Douglass Park — named for Frederick Douglass — which hosted annual Juneteenth celebrations drawing thousands and served Black churches and the Prince Hall Masons. When crowds for Negro-league baseball outgrew it, games moved to the nearby ballpark renamed McGar Park; flooding and industrial development erased both by the late 1920s.
St. Andrews United Methodist Church of Fort Worth
Fort Worth, TX
Fifteen men and women organized St. Andrews in 1888, growing a Fort Worth congregation that repeatedly lent its buildings for public schooling — including classes for an early Black public school. In 1950 the church acquired the 1904 James E. Flanders-designed Missouri Avenue building, and longtime pastor the Rev. Leonard L. Haynes became the first African American on the Tarrant County Junior College board as it integrated in the 1960s.
Terrell Heights
Fort Worth, TX
Platted in the late 1880s and knit together by early streetcar lines, Terrell Heights became one of Fort Worth's premier African American neighborhoods. Banker William Madison "Gooseneck Bill" McDonald bought lots here and financed homes for Black families—doctors, dentists, educators, ministers, and laborers among them. Residents like NAACP leader Dr. George D. Flemmings and businesswoman Lucille Smith made the neighborhood a center of Black civic and professional life through the desegregation era.