{"nrhp_refnum":"66000807","name":"J A Ranch","other_names":["Goodnight Ranch"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Palo Duro Canyon","address_restricted":false,"city":"Palo Duro","county":"Armstrong County","state":"TX","lat":34.81691965050004,"lon":-101.18850788415514,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1960-12-19","areas_of_significance":["Commerce"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The J A Ranch headquarters is a ranch complex of nine major buildings in Palo Duro Canyon, Armstrong County, Texas, covering roughly 20 acres within a nominated area of about 40 acres. The buildings date from various periods, beginning with the ranch's earliest years under Charles Goodnight.","why_significant":"The headquarters is presented as the site most fitting to represent Charles Goodnight's contributions to the cattle industry. From here between 1879 and 1889 he managed the J A enterprise with backing from John G. Adair. Under his management the ranch grew to 700,000 acres and 40,000 cattle.","narrative":"Set in a wide stretch of Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle, the J A Ranch headquarters is a complex of nine major buildings built over several periods. The centerpiece is the ranch house, which joins an early log cabin to a larger stone section with a frame second story. Nearby are a bunk house dating from about 1878, a former post office, stone corrals and stables, and ranch hands' houses. Some later twentieth-century buildings, such as a garage and a trail bosses' house, are not considered contributing. The ranch matters because of Charles Goodnight, a pioneer cattleman who blazed major cattle trails and became an authority on the industry. He managed the J A from 1879 to 1889 for investor John G. Adair, and during those years the ranch grew to 700,000 acres and 40,000 cattle. The headquarters remains an active working ranch.","period_of_significance":"1879-1889","architect_builder":"Charles Goodnight","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Still a large, active ranch; the ranch house was recently refurbished and altered, and the form lists the property as occupied, in agricultural use, with some modern buildings that do not contribute.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.869692-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/87/9708/40970887/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/66000807_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000807/6f6e23b732-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000807/6f6e23b732-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Giersch, Guy R., creator","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Southeast_elevation_-_J_A_Ranch_Headquarters,_Main_House,_Paloduro,_Armstrong_County,_TX_HABS_tx-3530-A-2.tif\" rel=\"noopener\">Giersch, Guy R., creator</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Southeast_elevation_-_J_A_Ranch_Headquarters,_Main_House,_Paloduro,_Armstrong_County,_TX_HABS_tx-3530-A-2.tif"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40970887","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JA_Ranch","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6107749"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/armstrong-county/j-a-ranch-66000807/"}