{"nrhp_refnum":"78002998","name":"Main Building, Blinn College","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"804 College Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brenham","county":"Washington County","state":"TX","lat":30.159685050000064,"lon":-96.40527877499994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-12-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Main Building of Blinn College at 804 College Avenue, Brenham, Washington County, Texas, a red brick classroom and office building designed in 1906 by Charles H. Page & Bro. of Austin and built by C. W. Raper of Houston.","why_significant":"It is the oldest and historically most important structure of Blinn College, which the nomination calls the state's oldest continuously operating two-year institution. From 1906 to 1962 it housed virtually all of the college's classrooms, offices and facilities. It also reflects the school's origins as a German-language Methodist institution and its later growth into a public college.","narrative":"Sitting on a small hill in Brenham, the Main Building is the visual focal point of the Blinn College campus. Designed in 1906 by Charles H. Page & Bro. of Austin and built by C. W. Raper of Houston for $28,750, it is a red brick structure with two towers on the south front, tile roofs and Spanish Revival touches blended with plain commercial design. It replaced an earlier wooden building that had been judged inadequate, at a time when the school's Methodist owners considered moving it to another town. Until 1962 it held nearly all of the college's classrooms and offices. Blinn began in 1883 as Mission Institute to train ministers for German-speaking Methodists in central Texas, and later became the first county-owned junior college in Texas. The building survives as the college's oldest structure, although its auditorium was converted to classrooms and its windows were replaced in the 1960s. It still serves administrative and teaching uses and holds a small museum.","period_of_significance":"1906","architect_builder":"Charles H. Page, Austin - Architect; C. W. Raper, Houston - Contractor","architectural_style":"Spanish Revival combined with turn of the century Texas Commercial architecture","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still used for administrative offices and instruction and includes a small museum; structurally sound except for roof problems.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.038698-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/38/9739/40973938/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/78002998.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002998/5e7b66835b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002998/5e7b66835b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Renelibrary","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BlinnCollegeAdmin.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:BlinnCollegeAdmin.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"90000446","name":"Blinn College","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/blinn-college-90000446/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40973938","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q112181302"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/washington-county/main-building-blinn-college-78002998/"}