DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's my telling of the official marker for the Ammie Wilson House, straight from the record as the Texas Historical Commission set it down. Now settle in, because this one's got roots that run deep into Collin County soil. Hunter T. and Mary A.
Farrell built this Victorian home back in 1891. And when I say Victorian, I mean the real article, the kind of substantial house that said something about who you were and what you'd built in a late nineteenth-century agricultural community. This wasn't a rough-hewn homestead.
This was a statement. The Farrells put up something that typified the best of what folks out here were raising alongside their crops and cattle. Then life kept moving, as it does.
In 1934, Mrs. Farrell made a decision: she gave her daughter Ammie Wilson a life tenancy in the property. Now a life tenancy is exactly what it sounds like: the place was Ammie's for as long as she drew breath.
And Ammie Wilson, born in 1880, would draw that breath all the way to 1972. She had time to make something of it. With the steady support of her husband, Dudley Wilson, Miss Ammie (and that's what folks called her, Miss Ammie) turned her attention to Hampshire sheep.
Prize-winning Hampshire sheep. We're not talking a ribbon here and there. We're talking trophies, plural, and a reputation that spread well beyond the county line and brought wide renown to the city of Plano.
The house that Hunter T. and Mary A. Farrell built to stand for something in 1891 wound up standing for something else entirely: a woman who took what she was given and made the whole city proud.
What the marker says
Hunter T. and Mary A. Farrell built this Victorian home in 1891. It typified the substantial houses of the late 19th century in this agricultural community. In 1934 Mrs. Farrell gave her daughter Ammie Wilson (1880-1972) a life tenancy in the property. With the support of her husband, Dudley Wilson, "Miss Ammie" raised prize-winning Hampshire sheep. Besides her trophies, she brought wide renown to the city of Plano. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1978