{"nrhp_refnum":"90001858","name":"Ferris School","other_names":["Fourth Ward School"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"411 Gibson","address_restricted":false,"city":"Waxahachie","county":"Ellis County","state":"TX","lat":32.386512124000035,"lon":-96.84355313899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-12-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Ferris School, also called Fourth Ward School, is a two-story brick public school built in 1911 at 411 Gibson in Waxahachie, Ellis County, Texas.","why_significant":"It is the product of a significant early 20th-century building program by the public school district, reflecting the town's growth and the rising importance of public schools over private academies. It is also the best-preserved of Waxahachie's historic school buildings, following the traditional plan and simple form of early 20th-century public school design.","narrative":"Ferris School, also known as Fourth Ward School, is a two-story brick school built in 1911 at 411 Gibson in Waxahachie. It has load-bearing masonry walls, a square plan and a symmetrical facade centered on a large arched entry. Other features include a hip roof with gables, box eaves, brick cornice piers rising through the roof, a square cupola, stone sills and 6/6 double-hung wood windows with transoms. Original interior woodwork and pressed metal ceilings survive. The school was part of a significant building program by the public school district in the early twentieth century, a time when the town was growing and public schools were becoming more important than private academies. It is considered the best-preserved of Waxahachie's historic school buildings, following the traditional plan and simple form of early public school design. It stands on its original site northwest of the central business district, near an old cotton textile mill, and is now used for offices.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Present condition is described as good; the building is currently used as offices and still has its original interior woodwork and pressed metal ceilings.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:21.310938-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/38/9691/40969138/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/90001858.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001858/1e05c1111d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001858/1e05c1111d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Renelibrary","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FerrisSchool1_(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:FerrisSchool1_(1_of_1).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40969138","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110001960"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/ellis-county/ferris-school-90001858/"}