{"nrhp_refnum":"79003026","name":"Brown, J. T., Hotel","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"E. Decatur St","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chico","county":"Wise County","state":"TX","lat":33.29395533600007,"lon":-97.79592737199994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-10-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A wood-frame hotel on East Decatur Street, one block east of the public square in Chico, Wise County, Texas. J.T. Brown built the first section in 1888 and added an eastern section in 1898.","why_significant":"The hotel is presented as a good example of the lodging once found in many small Texas towns around the turn of the century. It is a fine but simple late Victorian structure with many decorative gables. It has served as a social and community center for Chico throughout its history, and it was restored as the town's 1976 Bicentennial project.","narrative":"Located one block east of the public square in Chico, Texas, the Brown Hotel is a wood-frame lodging house built in stages. J.T. Brown, the founder of the town, built the first section in 1888 using lumber hauled by wagon from Dallas. In 1898, five years after the Rock Island Railroad reached Chico, an eastern addition larger than the original was added. Its gables with decorative shingle work give the simple late Victorian building much of its character. The hotel was a major social center for the community, and traveling salesmen made it their headquarters. A banker bought it around 1908 and lived there until 1965. In 1976 local groups raised funds to buy and restore it as the town's Bicentennial project. Today it serves as a community center with a public library, meeting spaces for clubs, senior luncheons and museum displays upstairs.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"J.T. Brown","architectural_style":"Late Victorian","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in good, sound condition with some repairs needed. It is used as a community center with a public library, meeting rooms and second-floor museum displays.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.952071-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/29/9740/40974029/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/79003026.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003026/c149082ace-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003026/c149082ace-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Renelibrary","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_Hotel_Chico_Wiki_(1_of_1).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:Brown_Hotel_Chico_Wiki_(1_of_1).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40974029","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107319235"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/wise-county/brown-j-t-hotel-79003026/"}