{"nrhp_refnum":"90000468","name":"Blue Bell Creameries Complex","other_names":["#339"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"602 Creamery","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brenham","county":"Washington County","state":"TX","lat":30.166601593000053,"lon":-96.39020154499997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-03-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An agricultural processing complex covering about half a city block in southeast Brenham, Washington County, Texas, along the Southern Pacific railroad tracks. Its anchor is a 1-story stuccoed Art Moderne building of about 1935, surrounded by additions and utilitarian buildings.","why_significant":"The complex is significant under Criterion A as the largest regional agricultural processing plant based in Brenham. It began in 1907 as the Brenham Creamery Company and shifted to ice cream in 1911. It is tied to the local context of community development and regional expansion, 1870-1941.","narrative":"Blue Bell Creameries Complex occupies roughly half a city block in southeast Brenham, Texas, bounded by South Kober, South Washington and Creamery Streets and the Southern Pacific tracks. Its main building is a five-bay, one-story stuccoed structure in Art Moderne style, dating from around 1935, with a curved projecting front, glass blocks, multi-light casement windows and stepped parapets. Around it stand utilitarian one- and two-story buildings from about 1940, industrial equipment from about 1950, and two large metal-sided buildings from about 1970. The business started in 1907 as the Brenham Creamery Company, processing surplus local cream into butter, and turned to ice cream as its main product in 1911. That year it bought the site of the old American Cotton Company and adapted the buildings already there. Regarded as the best known of the area's agricultural processing facilities, it was listed for its role in local community development and regional expansion between 1870 and 1941.","period_of_significance":"1907-1941","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Art Moderne","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Still used for agricultural processing, with additions made through about 1970.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:21.540591-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/3/9706/40970603/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/90000468.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000468/df2349ce15-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000468/df2349ce15-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Renelibrary","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BlueBellIceCream1_(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:BlueBellIceCream1_(1_of_1).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40970603","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110000067"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/washington-county/blue-bell-creameries-complex-90000468/"}