{"nrhp_refnum":"01001002","name":"Strain Farm-Strain, W.A., House (Boundary Increase)","other_names":["W.A. Strain House"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"400 Lancaster-Hutchins Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lancaster","county":"Dallas County","state":"TX","lat":32.59094169100004,"lon":-96.75697398335758,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-09-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Conservation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A rural farm district of about 163 acres surrounding an 1896 farmhouse complex at 400 Lancaster-Hutchins Road in Lancaster, Dallas County, Texas. It expands the 2-acre area listed in 1978 as the W.A. Strain House.","why_significant":"The farm is nominated under Criterion A in Agriculture and Conservation at the local level. Ellis Strain used it as a demonstration farm under the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, building soil conservation terraces from about 1930 and trying new crops and livestock breeds. The terraces and contoured fields survive largely as they appeared in 1942 aerial photographs, making them early local examples of erosion control on blackland prairie.","narrative":"This 163-acre farm in Lancaster, Dallas County, surrounds an 1896 farmhouse complex that was listed in 1978 on a 2-acre tract. The expanded area protects the landscape around the house: terraced and contoured fields, a trench silo, a windmill and well site, a ca. 1900 barn, and archaeological remains of a wagon dump and a chicken house destroyed by a 1994 tornado. A 1920 brick garage and an old millstone within the original tract are also counted. The farm matters because Ellis Strain, working with Dallas County extension agent A.B. Jolley, built soil conservation terraces from about 1930 to curb erosion left by decades of cotton growing and tenant farming. He also grew award-winning hybrid corn and raised special livestock breeds for neighbors to observe. Aerial photographs from 1942 show the terraced fields much as they look today, set apart from surrounding rectangular fields. The farm was one of few known demonstration farms in the county between 1930 and 1950.","period_of_significance":"1896-1951","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"No style","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Still a working farm; the 1896 farmstead largely remains in operation, and some barns and fields continue in agricultural use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.313587-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/33/9716/40971633/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/01001002.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01001002/a5ee301139-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01001002/a5ee301139-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Renelibrary","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Strainhouse1.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Renelibrary</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Strainhouse1.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971633","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._A._Strain_Farm%E2%80%93Strain_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16900796"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/dallas-county/strain-farm-strain-w-a-house-boundary-increase-01001002/"}