{"nrhp_refnum":"74002088","name":"Bivins House","other_names":["Bivins Library"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1000 Polk St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Amarillo","county":"Potter County","state":"TX","lat":35.20316098300003,"lon":-101.83854778199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-12-31","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Literature","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story-and-attic brick mansion with limestone trim at 1000 Polk Street in Amarillo, Potter County, Texas, whose construction began in 1904 for rancher Lee Bivins and his wife Mary Elizabeth Bivins.","why_significant":"The house was the home of the Bivins family, prominent in the early ranching of Texas and the Southwest, and has long been one of the showplaces of the Panhandle. Lee Bivins was a leading cattleman, landowner and civic figure who served as mayor of Amarillo. The house is also a West Texas version of late Georgian Revival design with Edwardian touches.","narrative":"Built from 1904 and taking eighteen months to finish, this brick mansion at 1000 Polk Street in Amarillo has limestone trim, a hipped roof with a balustraded deck, and a two-story pedimented portico with composite columns. Its design is a West Texas take on late Georgian Revival, mixed with Edwardian bay windows, leaded glass and rusticated stone. It was the home of Lee Bivins and Mary Elizabeth Bivins. Lee Bivins built up ranch holdings across Texas and New Mexico, owned roughly 500,000 acres, and was regarded as the largest individual cattle operator in the world. He also held large natural gas acreage, served as county commissioner, and was in his fourth year as Amarillo's mayor when he died in 1929. Mary Bivins supervised the construction, replaced workers during a labor dispute, and painted the dining room murals. She later founded a foundation that built a home for the elderly and left the house to the City of Amarillo in 1951, which operates it as a memorial library.","period_of_significance":"20th Century (specific date 1904)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"West Texas version of late Georgian Revival, with Edwardian bay windows, leaded glass and rusticated stone trim","criteria":[],"status_note":"Excellent and unaltered condition on its original site; owned by the City of Amarillo and operated as the Mary E. Bivins Memorial Library.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.974883-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/6/9732/40973206/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/74002088.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40973206","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110000655"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/potter-county/bivins-house-74002088/"}