{"nrhp_refnum":"90001870","name":"Belton Farmers' Gin Coop","other_names":["#1"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"219 S. East Ave., Building 4","address_restricted":false,"city":"Belton","county":"Bell County","state":"TX","lat":31.05492114900005,"lon":-97.46285440899999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-12-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2-story, rectangular brick cotton gin at 219 S. East Avenue in Belton, Bell County, Texas, built in 1927 beside Nolan Creek near the central business district and the Bell County Courthouse.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a rare surviving brick cotton gin in Central Texas, where most gins were frame buildings. It is tied to the cotton industry that anchored Belton's economy from the late 19th century until the Great Depression. It also represents the utilitarian agricultural processing buildings of the cotton boom years.","narrative":"Built in 1927 by an association of local cotton farmers, this two-story brick gin occupies a site beside Nolan Creek at the southeast corner of Belton's central business district. It replaced an earlier gin that apparently burned in the 1920s, on ground that had held other cotton processing structures, including a mill lost to fire in 1891. The building has load-bearing common bond brick walls on a concrete foundation, a hipped sheet-metal roof with a small cupola, and steel casement windows. A covered driveway with three loading bays on the north side carries a 1953 sign. Bell County was an important cotton-producing area, and Belton served as its center for processing, commerce and shipping. Most gins in Central Texas were frame buildings clad in wood or sheet metal, which makes this masonry example unusual. The county's cotton industry collapsed in the 1930s and 1940s, and the gin is one of the few survivors of the many cotton businesses that once shaped the town's economy. It is vacant, and most equipment is gone.","period_of_significance":"1927 - 1940","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"No style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Closed sometime after World War II and vacant for some years; in fair condition, with most processing equipment removed.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:21.468736-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/99/9682/40968299/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/90001870.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001870/d530583ad4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001870/d530583ad4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Belton_Farmers_Co-op_Gin_Belton_Texas_2020.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Larry D. Moore</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Belton_Farmers_Co-op_Gin_Belton_Texas_2020.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40968299","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110001542"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/bell-county/belton-farmers-gin-coop-90001870/"}