DUANE
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Duane's take
The marker tells it this way, and I'm just passing it along the road to you. Out here in Collin County, there's a house that's been standing since 1894, and if walls could talk, these ones have earned the right. It belongs, or belonged, for a good long while, to William Clinton Thompson.
Clint, his people called him. And Clint, along with his wife Anna Belle Wofford Thompson, was not the kind of man who blended into the background. Prominent newspaper owners.
Civic leaders. The sort of couple a town builds itself around. When they decided to put down roots in a permanent way, they bought land to do it on, and they bought it from Clint's own father, Dr.
Francis M. Thompson, a noted developer right there in McKinney. Kept it in the family from the ground up, you might say.
On that land, in 1894, they raised this house. Now, it isn't just any house. Architects and historians will tell you it's a fine example of late-nineteenth century vernacular form with Queen Anne stylistic influences.
What does that mean out on the open road? It means shingle work that catches your eye. It means classical columns standing at attention.
It means an elaborate roofscape that looks like somebody was showing off just a little, and getting away with it. The kind of craftsmanship that makes you slow the truck down. The Thompsons held onto that house.
Generation to generation, the family kept it, right up until 1979; eighty-five years of the same name on the deed. That's not just ownership. That's a statement.
Some things in Texas, it turns out, are built to last.
What the marker says
William Clinton (Clint) Thompson, and his wife Anna Belle (Wofford), prominent local newspaper owners and civic leaders, built this house in 1894 on land purchased from Clint's father, noted McKinney developer Dr. Francis M. Thompson. The house is a good example of late-19th century vernacular form with Queen Anne stylistic influences including shingle work, classical columns, and elaborate roofscape. The house remained in the Thompson Family until 1979. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1994