About Us

Gulledge Elementary, an exemplary school, was named for early Plano pioneer Joe H. Gulledge.

Joe H. Gulledge was born in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, on November 25, 1857. After losing everything in the Civil War, his family moved to Texas and settled in Lewisville. Gulledge began his career in the mercantile business with Addison E. Graham. In 1882, the two formed a partnership and moved to Plano, where they opened the A. Graham and Company store.

By 1884–1885, the store became known as Graham and Gulledge and was located one door west of the southwest corner of Main Street (now Avenue K) and Mechanic Street (now 15th Street). The store remained at that location, although much of the business district was destroyed by the fire of 1895. After the fire, Graham and Gulledge dissolved their partnership, and Gulledge established his own business, the J.H. Gulledge store, in downtown Plano. In the rebuilt location, his business flourished and became one of the largest dry goods establishments in Collin County.

Gulledge remained a leading Plano merchant until 1918, when he sold his business to Thompson and Hudson. From 1921 to 1931, he served as president of the Plano National Bank, retiring when the Plano National and Farmers National Banks merged on January 1, 1931. He was a member of Masonic Lodge No. 768 and the Plano Fishing Club.

In 1888, Gulledge married Linna Orvilla Barnett, daughter of George W. and Letitia Forman Barnett. They had four children. Vivian, born July 21, 1889, was a teacher whose career was spent at the Hockaday School in Dallas. Aline, born in June 1891, married I.D. Newsome of McKinney; their daughter, Vivian Rhea Newsome, passed away on August 2, 2001, at the age of 95. Joe Harold, born in December 1894, died during a typhoid fever epidemic in Plano in 1913. George Davis, born July 13, 1897, died in 1899.