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Sweetwater Commercial Historic District

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1860s–1930s. Approximately bounded by Ash, Cedar, E. 1st, and E. 5th sts.

Noteworthy structures in the historic district include the former First National Bank (now law offices) at 101 E. 3rd Street, built in 1886, but remodeled into a Beaux-Arts classical design in the 1920s. On the opposite corner at 301 Oak Street, the two-story, red brick and cast-stone R. L. Adkins Corporation Building was constructed as the Texas Bank and Trust Company Building (1923, George Burnett). The R. A. Ragland Building (1901, 1906; 115 E. 3rd) is a two-story rusticated stone block building that demonstrates the survival of the stone vernacular of West Texas into the twentieth century. Attorney R. A. Ragland’s Colonial Revival house (1906), with its two-story-high portico on paired Ionic columns, is located just east of downtown at 610 E. 3rd; it now accommodates the Pioneer City County Museum.

At 201 E. 3rd is the Classical Revival U.S. Post Office (1932) from the office of James A. Wetmore, Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury. A Montgomery Ward store (1928; 401 Oak Street) reflects the standardized details in glazed terra-cotta and green tile that established the firm’s corporate imagery, but even more impressively than usual at this corner site with two facades. The Art Deco Texas Theater (1937, W. Scott Dunne; 114 E. Broadway Street) is enlivened with brightly colored decoration, a marquee, and a vertical sign.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

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Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Sweetwater Commercial Historic District", [Sweetwater, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-02-SL1.

Print Source

Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains, and West, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019, 390-391.

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