Ranald McDonald House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it its full due. Somewhere along the Trinity River, a man named Ranald McDonald put down roots, and those roots held for a long, long time. Born in 1846, he married Mollie Turner after 1876.

Mollie, born in 1857 and passing in 1919, was the daughter of an early Trinity pioneer, which means when Ranald McDonald settled on his land along that river, he was marrying into the history of the place itself. He wasn't just passing through. He was planting.

Then in 1890, he bought this particular lot, and he didn't build it himself. He hired a man named John Denton Gibbs to erect a Victorian structure, the kind that stands on stone piers, like it's got its feet planted and it is not going anywhere. And for a man who kept bees, honey, buggies, and wagons, that kind of sturdy permanence seems about right.

Ranald McDonald lived until 1931. Let that settle. Born in 1846, still here in 1931.

The Trinity River kept flowing, and so did he. But the story doesn't end with Ranald. His son Alexander, who would pass in 1944, became the second owner of that house, and Alexander had ideas.

He built a power plant right there on the property, and that power plant gave Trinity its first electrical system. The son of a beekeeper brought the town its first electric light. That Victorian house on stone piers is still standing, and now you know exactly what it's standing for.

What the marker says

Married after 1876 to Mollie Turner (1857-1919), daughter of an early Trinity pioneer, Ranald McDonald (1846-1931) settled on his land along the Trinity River. He bought this lot in 1890 and hired John Denton Gibbs to erect this victorian structure, which stands on stone piers, McDonald kept bees, honey, buggies, and wagons. His son Alexander (d. 1944), the second owner of the house, built a power plant on this property to provide Trinity's first electrical system.