A Guide to the History of Richardson, Texas: Tours

A Tour of Richardson's Historic Heart

106 E. Main
Author photo taken January 2022.

This building was reportedly constructed in 1908, but in historical terms, the site upon which it sits is even older. In fact, it's the oldest settled spot in Richardson. In 1868, after William J. Wheeler, one of the "Founding Fathers" of Richardson, came to Texas from Missouri, he purchased a portion of the William Dye Survey, where he built a storehouse and a residence. In 1873 he sold a strip of land across his property to the Houston & Texas Central Railroad and also 20 acres of the land that became part of the new town of Richardson. (A man named Bernard Reilly also sold land for the townsite to the railroad.) In 1874, when the railroad began selling town lots, the first buyer was a man named Thomas L. Frank, who bought Lot No. 10, Block 4, which is now 100 East Main Street. Frank did not own it very long though. On June 3, 1875, it became the property of J. T. Jeffries of Dallas, and sometime after that, in either 1875 or 1876, William J. Wheeler purchased it from Jeffries. At some point, one of the first three owners (most likely Wheeler) built a two-story-tall storehouse on the site.

In 1877, Wheeler sold the upper portion of his storehouse to the local Masonic Lodge, to use for meetings, and in 1882, he sold the ground floor store to his stepson, Arthur R. White. At that time, the front of the building faced Central Street (now Texas Street) and the railroad tracks, on the other side of which the new depot, built in 1872-1873 stood. That same years (1882), White went into partnership with Joseph M. Howe and purchased the adjoining lot, No. 9, from the H&TC. Although the pair had another two-story building constructed on the site, they never had the deed recorded (a fact that was recorded in another deed regarding Lot No. 9 in 1920).

In 1892, lightning struck the former Wheeler storehouse and set it on fire. The fire spread and all four buidlings seen in the overlaid vintage photo below were destroyed, along with their contents valued at thousands of dollars. From all accounts, they were soon rebuilt. For that reason, it's not certain whether the vintage photo below, overlaid on a photo taken of the same site in 2022, was taken before or after the fire.

Central Steet-Texas Street
Author photo overlaid with vintage photo courtesy Richardson Public Library.

In 1918, Lots 7 through 10 in Block 4 were sold to the firm of McKamy & Reddick, who operated a grocery store on the site. In 1929, the property was purchased by Lillie Ragdale, who sold it in 1939 to J. R. Strange, who sold it to Faye Strange in 1941, who sold in 1944 it to the Kelley Brothers, who operated a meat storage locker service there. In 1946, the Kelley's sold it to Fred P. Winkler, who operated a grocery called the Country Store and a frozen food storage locker service.

In 1962, the Country Store went out of business and was replaced by the Ratliff Electronics School. About 1965, Don McCord Music, which previously did business at 111 E. Main, moved into this building. In the 1980s, it was Richardson Trophy. It is presently occupied by A to Z Printing.

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Below: The historic heart of Richardson, from an 1878 map, showing this location (in light blue).

1878 map of the historic heart of Richardson