DUANE
Duane's take
The way I tell it, I'm drawing straight from the official marker on the James Waller Thomas House in Collin County — so let's let the record speak. Somewhere around 1868, a man named James Waller Thomas raised a house in Collin County, North Texas. One room.
That was it. One room for a family of thirteen. Now, you might let that number sit with you for a moment — thirteen people, one room — and understand right away that Thomas was not a man who did things halfway, even when the materials were modest.
And modest they were. This was before the railroad came through, so Thomas built with what early settlers of North Texas had on hand — what the land and their own hands could provide. Rough-hewn timber for the foundation and the roof decking.
A brick chimney rising up against the sky. Solid flooring underfoot. Vernacular, the historians call it — meaning it belongs to its place and its time, no pretense, no imported flourish.
Just a house built to last. And last it did. Remarkably, that house has not been substantially modified since 1902.
The flooring, the chimney, the timber work — still there. You're looking at the same bones Thomas put in the ground. But here is where the story turns, and you'd best pay attention.
James Waller Thomas wasn't only a builder and a father. He was an early civic leader in Collin County, and he was the editor and publisher of the county's first newspaper. That is a powerful position — the man who decides what gets printed, what gets said, what the county reads over breakfast.
And Thomas used that position to express support for the Union and for the rights of Black settlers. During the Civil War and Reconstruction, those were opinions that did not sit well with everyone in North Texas. Not by a long shot.
So someone — unknown to this day — made an attempt on Thomas' life. Right there at that house. One room, a brick chimney, a family of thirteen, and the weight of an entire county's politics pressing down on a man who refused to go quiet.
The attempt failed. The house still stands. The original elements are still right where Thomas put them, carrying every year since 1868 without complaint.
Some houses hold families. Some hold history. The James Waller Thomas House, it turns out, holds both — and the courage it takes to say an unpopular thing and mean it.
What the marker says
THIS VERNACULAR STYLE HOUSE WAS BUILT c. 1868 BY JAMES WALLER THOMAS, AN EARLY CIVIC LEADER IN COLLIN COUNTY, FOR HIS FAMILY OF 13. ORIGINALLY A ONE-ROOM RESIDENCE, THE HOUSE HAS NOT BEEN SUBSTANTIALLY MODIFIED SINCE 1902. IT REFLECTS THE MODEST HOMES BUILT BY EARLY SETTLERS OF NORTH TEXAS WITH MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES AVAILABLE PRIOR TO THE ARRIVAL OF RAIL SERVICE. ORIGINAL ELEMENTS INCLUDE THE FLOORING, BRICK CHIMNEY, AND ROUGH-HEWN TIMBER FOUNDATION AND ROOF DECKING. THIS IS ALSO THE SITE OF AN ATTEMPT ON THOMAS’ LIFE BY AN UNKNOWN PERSON, LIKELY DUE TO HIS ROLE AS EDITOR AND PUBLISHER OF THE COUNTY’S FIRST NEWSPAPER WHEREIN HE EXPRESSED SUPPORT FOR THE UNION AND THE RIGHTS OF BLACK SETTLERS – OPINIONS UNPOPULAR WITH SOME DURING THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK – 2011