Gooseneck Bill McDonald
Gooseneck Bill McDonald was born William Madison McDonald (June22, 1866-July 5, 1950)
Gooseneck Bill McDonald was born on June 22, 1866, at College Mound, Texas in Kauffman County. His father had been a slave.
Gooseneck Bill McDonald was elected to the State Republican Executive Committee in 1892. He was chosen to lead Texas Republican Party in 1897 .
He was active in the Republican Party for 30 years and led the”Black and Tan” faction. Gooseneck Bill McDonald was a delegate to many Republican National Conventions.He was given the nickname “Gooseneck Bill” by a Dallas Morning News reporter because of the shape of his neck at the 1896 Republican National Convention.
Gooseneck Bill McDonald moved to Fort Worth in 1906. He built the Fraternal Bank and Trust Company in 1912. The bank was located at 401 E. Ninth Street. The bank was successful and survived the Great Depression. The bank provided loans to African American entrepreneurs during the segregated era.
According to a 1984 Fort Worth Star Telegram story, Mc Donald was “Ft. Worth’s first black millionaire”. He lived in a 12 room mansion on Terrell Avenue His home “rivaled any in Fort Worth at the time.”
Gooseneck Bill McDonald was elected Grand Secretary of state’s black Masonic Lodge in 1889. A book about him titled “A Man and His Work” was published in 1929.
McDonald also donated property for the YMCA in 1944. The site was later named in his honor. From the Metropolitan YMCA website:
In 1903, the first Negro YMCA branch in Fort Worth was organized, and in 1919 the branch became a part of the Fort Worth YMCA. The branch was renamed the McDonald YMCA in 1944 when Bill “Gooseneck” McDonald, a well-respected African-American businessman, donated a building which was used from 1944-1971. The McDonald YMCA moved to its current location in 1971.
In 1920, Gooseneck Bill McDonald built the Jim Hotel at 413 East Fifth Street in Fort Worth. The hotel was named after his late wife, Jimmie Strickland. According to the Texas State Historical Society,
“ music lovers headed for the Jim after midnight to listen to “real jazz” in the College Inn. They often stayed for early-morning jam sessions with such musicians as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Billy Eckstine, Ella Fitzgerald, Lowell Fulson, Errol Garner, Woodie Herman, Al Hibbler, Earl “Fatha” Hines, Billie Holiday, the original Inkspots, Louis Jordan, B. B. King, Andy Kirk, George E. Lee, Pigmeat Markham, Bennie Moten, Red Nichols and his Ten Pennies, the Andrews Sisters, King Oliver, Buddy Rich, Art Tatum, Sara Vaughan, Joe Venuti, Fats Waller, Chick Webb, Paul Whiteman, Mary Lou Willliams, Lester Young, and Trummy Young.”
Gooseneck Bill McDonald died in Fort Worth on July 5, 1950. His sole survivor was his fifth wife, Maypearl Holley McDonald. His son, William Madison McDonald, Jr., died some thirty years prior. McDonald and his son are buried in Trinity Cemetery in north Fort Worth.
- References
“McDonald, William Madison”. Handbook of Texas. http://207.200.58.4/handbook/online/articles/MM/fmc45_print.html. Retrieved October 10, 2010. - “William Madison McDonald”. Forney Historic Preservation League. http://www.historicforney.org/archives/markers.html. Retrieved October 10, 2010.
- Barr, Alwyn (2004). The African Texans. Texas A&M University Press. p. 32. ISBN 1585443506 . Retrieved October 10, 2010.
- Cheryl L. Simon, “JIM HOTEL,” Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/xdj01), accessed June 19, 2011. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. report an error
- Paul D. Casdorph, “MCDONALD, WILLIAM MADISON,” Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fmc45), accessed June 18, 2011. Published by the Texas State Historical Association
Memorial Day & GOP History
The first Memorial Day observance was in New York in 1866. U. S. Senator John Logan (R-IL) In 1868, as head of a Civil War veterans organization, proclaimed that Americans should honor
fallen servicemen by decorating their graves with flowers. That year, five thousand people attended the first ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery. The principal speaker
was future president James Garfield (R-OH).
Logan was the GOP’s Vice Presidential Nominee in 1884 and served in 1868, as one of the managers in the impeachment of President Andrew Jackson. Logan is credited with Memorial Day becoming an annual event.
President Richard Nixon (R) signed the legislation making Memorial Day a national holiday in 1971.
This Memorial Day, we must remember the ultimate sacrifice made by so many to give us the liberty andfreedom we enjoy. More than 1.5 million brave men and women actively serve in
our military and fight around the world to protect our great nation from those who would do us harm. Every day, heroic and selfless acts are made by these
servicemen and women on our behalf.
We thank them and also keep their families and friends back home in our thoughts and prayers
Why is the tax deadline different this year?
Tax Time
The Compensated Emancipation Act was signed into law by Republican President Abraham Lincoln on April 16, 1962. This Act freed about 3100 slaves in the nation’s capitol city. This predated the Emancipation Proclamation which was signed by President Lincoln on January1, 1863.
From 1866-1901 the day was commemorated with a parades and speeches. The celebration resumed in 2002, although it was not made an official city holiday until 2005. In recent years the focus of the celebration has shifted to include support for District of Columbia statehood.
A statue was erected in the city’s Lincoln Square in 1876. President Grant and many members of Congress were present for the dedication by Frederick Douglas. Congress appropriated $3000 to pay for the base of the statuebut the remaining $18,000 was donated by freed slaves.
Reagan shot 30 years ago today
Today marks the 30 year anniversary of the day President Ronald Reagan and two others were shot by John Hinkley, Jr. outside a Washington hotel.
In the moments immediately following the incident it was not believed that the President had been harmed . While in route to the White House, Jerry Parr noticed that the President’s color had turned gray. He ordered that the President be taken to George Washington University Hospital. Parr’s quick thinking, likely saved President Reagan’s life that day.
Republican Party Birthday
On March 20th in 1854 the first meeting of the Republican Party took place in a small schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. Former members of the Whig Party met to establish the Republican Party to oppose the spread of slavery.
This first meeting was prompted by the introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska bill by Democrat Senator Stephen Douglas in January 1854.The bill permitted the extension of slavery beyond the limits established in the Missouri Compromise. When the bill passed in the Senate, Alvin Earle Bovay of Ripon, Wisconsin called a meeting of 53 voters in the little white schoolhouse to organize a new party. Years later Bovay recalled: “We went into the little meeting, Whigs, Free Soilers, and Democrats. We came out Republicans, and we were the first Republicans in the Union.”
The first national meeting of Republicans was held on February 22, 1856 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the name “Republican” was adopted.
Texas House passes Resolution honoring Reagan
President Ronald Reagan in Irving, Texas 1982 Courtesy of the Reagan Library
The Texas House met today and passed HR 213 authored by Rep. Ken Paxton (R-McKinney)
and Rep Bill Zedler (R-Arlington) marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ronald Reagan
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, February 6, 2011, marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ronald Reagan, and this date provides a welcome opportunity to honor the legacy of the nation’s 40th president; and
WHEREAS, Born in 1911 in Tampico, Illinois, Ronald Wilson Reagan first made his name as a film actor and later becam president of the Screen Actors Guild; in 1966, he was elected governor of California, and ably served in that office until 1975 and
WHEREAS, Following his victory in the 1980 presidential election, Mr. Reagan began his tenure as the nation’s chief executive; faced with a range of daunting challenges that included high unemployment, inflation, and the ongoing cold war with the Soviet Union, he introduced a bold agenda that emphasized economic growth and lower taxes along with the establishment of a strong
national defense; the success of President Reagan’s initiatives helped renew the nation’s self-confidence, and in 1984 he was elected to a second term, winning office by one of the largest margins in the history of presidential elections; and
WHEREAS, The president’s final four years in office were highlighted by his efforts to bring about a major revision of the tax code and his continuing efforts to champion government accountability; moreover, U.S. forces were used to target international terrorism as part of the president’s quest to achieve “peace through strength”; this same initiative led to important breakthroughs in U.S.-Soviet relations and contributed to the ultimate downfall of the U.S.S.R.; and
WHEREAS, A legendary president who helped lead the nation through a period of dramatic change and expanding prosperity, Ronald Reagan had a positive and enduring influence on the course of U.S. history, and it is indeed appropriate to reflect on hisadmirable service to his fellow citizens on the anniversary of his birth; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 82nd Texas Legislature hereby pay tribute to the life of President Ronald Reagan on February 6,2011, the 100th anniversary of his birth.
Remembering Ronald Reagan on his 100th Birthday
Today is the 100th Birthday of our 40th Preseident, Ronald Reagan.
Reagan Quote of the Day
President Ronald Reagan -Courtesy of the Reagan Library
“We the people” tell the government what to do, it doesn’t tell us. “We the people” are the driver, the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world’s constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which “We the people” tell the government what it is allowed to do. “We the people” are free.-Ronald Reagan
