{"nrhp_refnum":"79002973","name":"Stinson, John R., House","other_names":["Belle Fry Gaines House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"313 W. Austin St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Marshall","county":"Harrison County","state":"TX","lat":32.546049108000034,"lon":-94.37010848199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-11-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story wood frame house with a double gallery at 313 W. Austin Street, Marshall, Harrison County, Texas, built about 1876 by a contractor named Mr. Fortson as a wedding gift for John R. Stinson and his bride.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is architecturally significant as an elegant transition-period design that blends the formal dignity of Greek Revival with the more elaborate ornamentation of the Victorian style. Its grand proportions reflect the prosperity returning to Marshall in the 1870s after the Civil War. It is also tied to prominent local figures, including Belle Fry Gaines, who lived there for almost seventy years.","narrative":"Built about 1876 at 313 W. Austin Street in Marshall, Texas, this two-story wood frame house was a wedding gift from Joe Callaway to his daughter Sallie and her husband, John R. Stinson, a merchant and later mayor. Contractor Mr. Fortson built it. The house combines Greek Revival and Victorian features: a symmetrical front facade and ionic columns on a double gallery sit alongside slender turned balusters, two-over-two windows and jigsaw-cut brackets. A projecting central bay uses wood blocks laid to resemble cut stone. Inside, twelve-foot ceilings, carved wooden cornices and several working fireplaces survive. The Stinsons sold it in 1909 to Walter and Belle Fry Minton. Belle, later Mrs. Gaines, opened an antique shop there in the 1930s and lived in the house until her death in 1978. The house is valued mainly as a well-preserved example of the shift between two architectural styles in post-Civil War Texas, and it remains little altered since a 1903 rear addition.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Contractor Mr. Fortson","architectural_style":"Transition between Greek Revival and Victorian","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in a good state of repair and remarkably unaltered since a 1903 addition; the form lists it as unoccupied and states it was for sale.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.648865-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/5/9725/40972505/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/79002973.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002973/cb82c80381-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002973/cb82c80381-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Renelibrary","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JohnStinson1.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Renelibrary</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JohnStinson1.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972505","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107321519"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/harrison-county/stinson-john-r-house-79002973/"}