{"nrhp_refnum":"74002072","name":"Anderson Historic District","other_names":["Fanthorp","&amp","Alta Mira"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Anderson and environs","address_restricted":false,"city":"Anderson","county":"Grimes County","state":"TX","lat":30.484109751000034,"lon":-95.98579360701589,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-03-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district covering the small East Texas courthouse town of Anderson in Grimes County, formerly known as Fanthorp and Alta Mira, with buildings dating from the 1830s through 1891 across about 2,200 acres.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that Anderson's history spans the whole period of Anglo settlement in Texas. A late nineteenth-century economic decline left many intact structures from the pre-Republic, Republic and statehood periods. It was a mercantile center and stage-line crossroads, and it has a courthouse square that the form calls unique in Texas.","narrative":"Anderson, in Grimes County, Texas, is a small courthouse town that grew from the earlier mercantile settlement of Alta Mira. Henry Fanthorp built his log inn there in 1834, and the town was laid out in 1846 when Grimes County was formed. It was named for K.L. Anderson, vice president of the Republic of Texas, who died at the inn. Surviving buildings include the 1891 brick courthouse, the expanded Fanthorp Inn, the Greek Revival Baptist Church of 1853-55, and a cluster of Palladian-style houses, one built for signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence Dr. B.B. Goodrich. The courthouse square is described as Welsh in design, with streets meeting at the courthouse. Anderson prospered as a stage-line crossroads and trade center until the railroad reached Navasota in the late 1850s. Economic decline afterward left its appearance largely unchanged since about 1900, which is why the district was recognized for its architecture, commerce and early Texas community history.","period_of_significance":"19th Century","architect_builder":"Fanthorp Inn built by Henry Fanthorp (1834)","architectural_style":"Mixed: Edwardian-Victorian courthouse, Greek Revival church, Palladian residences, log inn","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition marked fair and altered, original site; the form says the town has remained virtually unchanged since about 1900 and that a historical foundation has been established to preserve it.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.380055-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/2/9722/40972202/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/74002072.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002072/602e9f73a0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002072/602e9f73a0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fanthorp_inn_texas_2008.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Larry D. Moore</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fanthorp_inn_texas_2008.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972202","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q57273490"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/grimes-county/anderson-historic-district-74002072/"}