The headquarters of the SMS Ranches was an elegant one-story classical building with a retail space (now altered) facing the public square and the ranch headquarters behind facing E. McHarg. The Abilene-based architects used local, high-quality Lueders gray limestone to detail an arcade of Tuscan pilasters with a plain entablature, cornice, and parapet. The three end bays on the E. McHarg side fronting the ranch offices are of dressed stone, with Palladian-motif windows, now with aluminum window frames. Despite the later alterations, the continuous entablature and cornice and fine proportions present a harmonious composition and appropriately convey a conservative yet sophisticated image of the Swenson ranching enterprise, one of the greatest in the state.
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Swenson Land and Cattle Company Building
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