The cover photo of the plan was a close up of James Bell’s hand-scribed rock. The house was touted for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. After more than 150 years, the land and the home, built in the days of Abraham Lincoln, were sold to the City of Plano in 2009 for development as a park.Ī vision of the park with the house as a key feature was presented to the city in a draft plan in 2012. The original western entry to the farm was around the corner from old Yeary Road. The traditional entrance to the farm was relocated to 5400 Windhaven, north of the farm. The Dallas North Tollway extended its reach in the 1990s just a half mile west of the old house. The rural setting around Collinwood Farm morphed to paved roads and large tracts of single family homes. the original cypress boards are visible beneath the cedar shingles // photo courtesy of the Collinwood Consortium PRESENT DAY Bell’s autograph remained a focal point above the wooden mantel. Despite modernization of the kitchen and the addition of a sunroom, square nails and wooden pegs still spoke of the early construction, as did the narrow back staircase and wide plank floors. Great memories were made for the children and grandchildren of both the owners and the caretakers of the home. Summers were spent fishing and riding horses while the pecan trees planted west of the house grew large. The homestead was kept in the family for some fifty years as an occasional retreat from the city. The Sowells were Texas pioneers in their own right with direct ties to the Alamo and the lawmen we know as Texas Rangers. The Sowell family bought the land and the Collinwood house in the mid 1950s. a 1958 photo of the Collinwood home showing the breaking wave trim design // photo courtesy of the Collinwood Consortium Historians suspect both houses were designed by one of the Mathews, well-known homebuilders of their time. Carpenter house built in Plano in the same era. That trim matches the style used on the R.W. A photo from 1958 shows the former wave design. Although the old house displayed its faux New England look, one section of the “breaking wave” trim still adorned the eastern façade, but was later replaced with the less ornate type still seen on the home. When the last private owner purchased the farm in 1956 they named it Collinwood. The old house was disguised to look much newer. The owners in the 1940s added cedar shingles over the cypress boards, as well as second story dormers. The land and the house were sold to a Highland Park family, who in turn sold it to their neighbors in the 1940s as a rural summer home. During the late 1930s, farms west of Plano changed hands frequently due to the depression. The old homestead along the creek, referred to as the White Rock house in Lizzie’s diaries, was passed down to Clinton and Nannie Kate Haggard’s daughter Annabel Aldridge and then to granddaughter Emma Kendrick. The Haggard, Lunsford, Mathews and Carpenter families made up a sizeable portion of our early settlers. He married Nancy Katherine (Nannie Kate) Lunsford, and they expanded and called the old house home until around 1884. Elizabeth (Lizzie) Carpenter was Nannie Kate’s half sister and wrote about their pioneering experiences moving from Kentucky to the frontier North Texas in diaries kept for several decades. Haggard bought the property from the Fox brothers in 1862 for twice what the brothers had paid. The next owner was Clinton Shepard Haggard. James Bell’s inscription dated 1861 // photo courtesy of the Collinwood Consortiumįrom those rather humble beginnings, a larger two story house was built. Less than 100 years later, that same rock was moved to a place of prominence over the hearth and surrounded by modern bricks. Bell apparently assisted in the construction of the Fox house when he carved his name and the date on a cornerstone of white rock. When James Bell arrived with his haul of wood in 1861, local boys were already signing up to fight for Texas in the War Between the States. Originally a log cabin built in the first days of Plano’s settlement, the home along White Rock Creek was enlarged into a planked house by owners Julian and Charles Fox in the 1850s. The nearest neighbor was well out of sight. A high point along the Shawnee Trail was the perfect site for this pioneer home. Teams of oxen powered Bell’s wagon for the days-long trip and would have appreciated a drink from this fresh water source. His wagon, filled to the brim with cypress boards from Jefferson, Texas, pulled up to a home along White Rock Creek. James Bell was a freighter, hauling logs and boards to frontier settlements in North Texas in the days before the Civil War.
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