Local History: 'Father' of Richardson, Texas, was from Cape Girardeau County

Today Richardson, Texas, is an inner suburb of north Dallas. However, the town was in rural Dallas County when the Houston and Texas Central Railroad built a depot and established it. A primary landowner selling land for the town was William J. Wheeler, who earlier spent 16 years living in Cape Girardeau County.

Born in Warren County, Kentucky, on May 20, 1820, Wheeler married Sarah Waller on March 9, 1850, and made his living as a carpenter in Warren County. Either business was good or the couple inherited money because they purchased 280 acres when they moved to Cape Girardeau County in 1852. The land lies a few miles north of Millersville along present-day Route B.

Sarah died between late 1858 and late 1859, and Wheeler married a young widow, Fanny W. (Thompson) White. Fanny came to Cape Girardeau County with her widowed mother Sarah and siblings in the late 1840s and married Charles White in 1850. The new Wheeler family included five Wheeler children and three White children; William and Fanny later had three additional children.

William prospered, and his real estate and personal property totaled $12,500 by 1860 ($476,000 in 2024). About half of that, though, was the value of four slaves. The Wheelers remained in Cape Girardeau County through the Civil War, although it appears William served in no military units for either side. William and Fanny moved to Texas in 1868 along with the families of several of his in-laws. Wheeler shortly purchased substantial acreage in Dallas County, and his net worth in 1870 was $6,293, mostly in land.

He and Fanny sold the right-of-way and 20 acres to the H. & T.C. Railroad, which combined it with 81 acres sold by Bernard Reilly to establish Richardson. The railroad allowed Wheeler two lots in Richardson — one for a storehouse and one for his dwelling. He later sold the second story of the storehouse to the local Masonic Lodge (No. 457).

Wheeler served as a trustee for Mount Cavalry Baptist Church when it built its house of worship in Richardson. The Wheelers deeded land for a school, the Patron’s Institute, Breckinridge Grange Hall and a Disciples of Christ church.

In 1882, the Wheelers moved with their son, Walter, to Denton, Texas, where they opened a store. The store and other local businesses burned in 1892. Wheeler’s insurance only covered half the loss, but he rebuilt anyway. A second fire in 1895 repeated the loss, but then he had adequate insurance.

The Wheelers visited Richardson one last time in August 1897, shortly before Fanny’s death. William survived her by nine years, passing away Nov. 6, 1906.

Although William J. Wheeler lived a comfortable life, he told a newspaper reporter late in life that years before he had purchased land near Brandon, Texas, at $3 per acre, then gladly sold it for $4.50 an acre. He told the reporter, “Now it is worth from $40-$50 an acre. If man’s foresight was only clear enough, how easily he could make fortunes.”