Palestine, Anderson County
Built in 1849 by Judge Alexander E. McClure (1815 - 1870), who came from Tennessee to Texas in 1840 and lived for a number of years at Old Fort Houston. Judge McClure was the first district clerk in Anderson County, co-owner of the "Trinity Advocate," and one of the most prominent lawyers in East Texas. The house was purchased from the McClures in 1884 by Zachariah Aycock McReynolds (1846 - 1928), who immigrated to Texas in 1875 from Adairsville, Georgia. He was a Confederate veteran who had fought in the sieges at Vicksburg and Atlanta in the Civil War, 1861-1865. About 1890 the house was remodeled using the old timber, including well preserved hand-hewn sills. From 1880 to 1908, Z. A. McReynolds held the offices of district clerk, county clerk, county judge, tax collector, and postmaster. In 1934 Colonel Godfrey Rees Fowler (1876 - 1958) and his wife Ella Sue (McReynolds) returned to Palestine to retire to her old family home. Colonel Fowler was a grandson of Judge John H. Reagan (first Texas Railroad Commission chairman). Fowler had fought in the Spanish-American War, the Philippine insurrection, the Nicaraguan uprising, and World War I. The McClures and McReynoldses have been the only property owners since 1848. (1970)