Richard Newton Goode
Charter Member of Waco 92 Charter Member of Marshall #22 Texas Ranger Founding Board Member of Waco Masonic Institute(Now TCU) Mayor of Waco 1862-1864
Richard Goode was born in Tennessee about 1812. He may have lived in Mississippi during the 1840s before coming to Texas with his brother, N.M. Goode.
For a while, Goode lived in Marshall where he was a charter member of Marshall Lodge #22 and owned a law practice. In 1948, Goode served on a committee for the General Land Office of Texas and as a representative of Harrison County. He also represented Marshall Lodge in Austin at the Texas Grand Lodge Convention in 1848.
In 1852, Goode’s name can be found on most of the important things happening in Waco. Primarily, he worked as a lawyer and judge but he found his way into most of the city’s affairs. He was appointed by the court as Overseer of the Waco-Belton Road, took part in the chartering of Waco Masonic Lodge, and was among those selected on a committee by the lodge charged with forming the Waco Masonic Institute which oversaw the creation of a college for women and a high school for men. Through the years, that school evolved into what is now Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. Also in 1852, Goode served on Shapley Ross‘ Ranger Patrol Company in Beat 1.
In 1854, Goode was selected to the committee charged with devising the plans for a new jail for McLennan County. A year later, we find he was serving on E.J. Gurley’s Ranger Patrol. goode was still practicing law and at that time, his law partner was Nicholas Battle. From 1862 to 1864, Goode was the mayor of Waco. This is remarkable considering Goode was known to be a Union sympathist and was against the Confederate cause. Still, the people of Waco(almost entirely Confederate supporters) elected him to lead the city.
Goode’s name is on an 1869 city map. It shows him owning a tract of land along the Brazos on the north side of the Indian Spring right about where Indian Spring Middle School was eventually located. For a number of years, there was a ford there by which people were able to bypass the Suspension Bridge and avoid paying the tolls. Many members of Waco Lodge tried to convince him to close it but he refused. After his death, his daughter sold the property and the Waco Bridge Company finally closed up the ford.
His home was a two-story brick house at 2nd & Jefferson on one corner of the property mentioned above.
He died in Waco about 1873.