S. D. Heard
The Dedication Ceremony for the Heard-Craig House and its club facilities will be held this Friday at 6:00 p.m., according to Trustees of the Heard-Craig Woman’s Trust who will host the ceremony.
This dedication date is even more significant in that it will be held on the birth date of the late Katherine Heard Craig, founder of the Heard-Craig Woman’s Trust.
Mrs. J. C. Erwin, Jr., Chairman of the Board of Trustees will act as Mistress of Ceremonies, with Rev. James W. Storey, Pastor of the late Katherine Heard Craig, offering the prayer of dedication....
Brief History of the Heard-Craig House by Evelyn Searcy and John L. McCraw, Jr.
“Since it’s desirable that future generations know somewhat of the houses and customs of yesteryear I would like the old home help unchanged as much as is possible with its new use as a club house.”
So Katie Heard Craig, the daughter of the builder, S. D. Heard, instructed the Trustees of the Heard-Craig Woman’s Club Trust regarding the Heard-Craig House, 205 West Hunt, McKinney, Texas.
The Heard-Craig House is situated two blocks northwest of the town square, southwest of the intersection of Hunt and Church Streets, on Block 12, Lots 85, 86, 87, and 88 of the William and Margaret Davis Survey, Abstract No. 248, Collin County, Texas.
This portion of McKinney was titled and is known to the present day, as “The Old Donation Survey.” The Collin County Courthouse was erected in the center of the survey, and its limits extend equal distances from the courthouse in all directions. In 1860, on the southern portion of the Heard-Craig tract, the Sawyer and Fisher stage line operated their McKinney station. The stage route was from Bonham to Waco by way of McKinney, Dallas, and Waxahachie.
On March 25, 1875, V. B. Wilkerson, for the consideration of one thousand dollars, sold this site and adjoining land to Stephen Dudley Heard and John S. Heard, his brother.
Earlier in 1873, S. D. Heard and J. S. Heard entered the general merchandising business under the firm name of “J. S. & S. D. Heard.” “Their line of merchandising covered a wide field of the necessities of life in the County during that early period such as family groceries, farm implements, and vehicles, harness, and saddles and dealing in cotton, buying and selling that chief farm product in the agricultural life of this section of the state.”
“In the 1880's they built the ornate brick building that housed McKinney’s opera house on the floor above one of their mercantile stores. The opera house became the hub of McKinney’s social life.”
The highly successful partnership continued for over thirty years and on August 14, 1897, as a part of the partition, J. S. Heard conveyed to S. D. Heard the site on which the house is located.
Stephen Dudley Heard was a native of Crawford County, Arkansas. He was born on November 1, 1847, the son of Charles C. Heard and Henrietta D. Heard. When a lad of only sixteen, he came to McKinney and attended local private schools. Later he was graduated from Texas Military Institute at Bastrop, Texas. On June, 1879, he married Lilly Dale Snapp, the daughter of William Delaney Snapp, the first mayor of McKinney.
“He was one of the organizers, directors, and officials of such important enterprises as the McKinney Compress Company, The McKinney Cotton Oil Mill, Flouring mills at McKinney and elsewhere; the Texas Cotton Mill at McKinney, vice-president of the Farmer’s Bonded Warehouse Company; director of the Collin County National Bank.”
In 1903, Stephen Dudley Heard was honored by being included in the Houston Post publication of the Men of Texas.
In his death, September 9, 1926, he was described by Tom W. Perkins, then the Mayor of McKinney, as being “A pioneer giant in business and industrial building in McKinney and Texas,” and that, “Probably no man ever lived in our city who built more in a business and industrial way than Stephen Dudley Heard.”
S. D. Heard was a devout member of the First Presbyterian Church of Mckinney and a staunch financial supporter of Presbyterian educational institutions of Texas. He aided materially in the endowment of Austin College, Sherman Texas, in the form of fellowships to that institute.
The present structure in not the first S. D. Heard home on the site. The original structure was a small wooden cottage located on the east side of the lot just north of the present barn This cottage served as the family residence while the present house was under construction. The present house was designed by noted architect, J. E. Flanders of Dallas, Texas, and built in 1900 by Hamilton & Martin, contractors of McKinney....
In 1932, Mrs. Thomas E. Craig (nee Katheryn Florence Heard) inherited the Heard-Craig House, its accompanying buildings and all of Block 12 from her mother, Lilly Snapp Heard, who died February 12, 1932.
Mr. and Mrs. T. E. Craig lived in the house, until Mrs. Craig, the survivor of the marriage, expired on December 9, 1970. She bequeathed her home, The Heard-Craig House, all of Block 12 and a generous endowment to the club women of McKinney for cultural and education pursuits....
“Since 1971 Mrs. [Dale Heard] Lambert, granddaughter of the Stephen Dudley Heards, has worked tirelessly in transforming the stately old residence from a home into a club house without altering its original Victorian beauty....”
This dedication date is even more significant in that it will be held on the birth date of the late Katherine Heard Craig, founder of the Heard-Craig Woman’s Trust.
Mrs. J. C. Erwin, Jr., Chairman of the Board of Trustees will act as Mistress of Ceremonies, with Rev. James W. Storey, Pastor of the late Katherine Heard Craig, offering the prayer of dedication....
Brief History of the Heard-Craig House by Evelyn Searcy and John L. McCraw, Jr.
“Since it’s desirable that future generations know somewhat of the houses and customs of yesteryear I would like the old home help unchanged as much as is possible with its new use as a club house.”
So Katie Heard Craig, the daughter of the builder, S. D. Heard, instructed the Trustees of the Heard-Craig Woman’s Club Trust regarding the Heard-Craig House, 205 West Hunt, McKinney, Texas.
The Heard-Craig House is situated two blocks northwest of the town square, southwest of the intersection of Hunt and Church Streets, on Block 12, Lots 85, 86, 87, and 88 of the William and Margaret Davis Survey, Abstract No. 248, Collin County, Texas.
This portion of McKinney was titled and is known to the present day, as “The Old Donation Survey.” The Collin County Courthouse was erected in the center of the survey, and its limits extend equal distances from the courthouse in all directions. In 1860, on the southern portion of the Heard-Craig tract, the Sawyer and Fisher stage line operated their McKinney station. The stage route was from Bonham to Waco by way of McKinney, Dallas, and Waxahachie.
On March 25, 1875, V. B. Wilkerson, for the consideration of one thousand dollars, sold this site and adjoining land to Stephen Dudley Heard and John S. Heard, his brother.
Earlier in 1873, S. D. Heard and J. S. Heard entered the general merchandising business under the firm name of “J. S. & S. D. Heard.” “Their line of merchandising covered a wide field of the necessities of life in the County during that early period such as family groceries, farm implements, and vehicles, harness, and saddles and dealing in cotton, buying and selling that chief farm product in the agricultural life of this section of the state.”
“In the 1880's they built the ornate brick building that housed McKinney’s opera house on the floor above one of their mercantile stores. The opera house became the hub of McKinney’s social life.”
The highly successful partnership continued for over thirty years and on August 14, 1897, as a part of the partition, J. S. Heard conveyed to S. D. Heard the site on which the house is located.
Stephen Dudley Heard was a native of Crawford County, Arkansas. He was born on November 1, 1847, the son of Charles C. Heard and Henrietta D. Heard. When a lad of only sixteen, he came to McKinney and attended local private schools. Later he was graduated from Texas Military Institute at Bastrop, Texas. On June, 1879, he married Lilly Dale Snapp, the daughter of William Delaney Snapp, the first mayor of McKinney.
“He was one of the organizers, directors, and officials of such important enterprises as the McKinney Compress Company, The McKinney Cotton Oil Mill, Flouring mills at McKinney and elsewhere; the Texas Cotton Mill at McKinney, vice-president of the Farmer’s Bonded Warehouse Company; director of the Collin County National Bank.”
In 1903, Stephen Dudley Heard was honored by being included in the Houston Post publication of the Men of Texas.
In his death, September 9, 1926, he was described by Tom W. Perkins, then the Mayor of McKinney, as being “A pioneer giant in business and industrial building in McKinney and Texas,” and that, “Probably no man ever lived in our city who built more in a business and industrial way than Stephen Dudley Heard.”
S. D. Heard was a devout member of the First Presbyterian Church of Mckinney and a staunch financial supporter of Presbyterian educational institutions of Texas. He aided materially in the endowment of Austin College, Sherman Texas, in the form of fellowships to that institute.
The present structure in not the first S. D. Heard home on the site. The original structure was a small wooden cottage located on the east side of the lot just north of the present barn This cottage served as the family residence while the present house was under construction. The present house was designed by noted architect, J. E. Flanders of Dallas, Texas, and built in 1900 by Hamilton & Martin, contractors of McKinney....
In 1932, Mrs. Thomas E. Craig (nee Katheryn Florence Heard) inherited the Heard-Craig House, its accompanying buildings and all of Block 12 from her mother, Lilly Snapp Heard, who died February 12, 1932.
Mr. and Mrs. T. E. Craig lived in the house, until Mrs. Craig, the survivor of the marriage, expired on December 9, 1970. She bequeathed her home, The Heard-Craig House, all of Block 12 and a generous endowment to the club women of McKinney for cultural and education pursuits....
“Since 1971 Mrs. [Dale Heard] Lambert, granddaughter of the Stephen Dudley Heards, has worked tirelessly in transforming the stately old residence from a home into a club house without altering its original Victorian beauty....”
