{"nrhp_refnum":"90001899","name":"Belton Yarn Mill","other_names":["#37","Griggs International,Inc."],"category":"building","location":{"address":"805 E. Fourth St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Belton","county":"Bell County","state":"TX","lat":31.057887735000065,"lon":-97.45442300099995,"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 limestone industrial building with a low-pitched side-gabled roof and a small 1-story extension on the north side, at 805 East Fourth Street in Belton, Bell County, Texas. It was built in 1900 as a cotton yarn mill.","why_significant":"The nomination ties the mill to the cotton industry that shaped Belton's economy from the 1880s to the 1920s (Criterion A, Industry). It also presents the building as an intact turn-of-the-century industrial structure with distinctive heavy ashlar limestone construction (Criterion C, Architecture). Early industrial buildings of this kind are described as rare in Central Texas.","narrative":"Built in 1900 at a cost of $65,000, the Belton Yarn Mill is a two-story limestone factory on East Fourth Street in Belton, Texas. A group of local businessmen funded it to add manufacturing to the cotton trade and processing already active in Bell County. The mill began operating in 1901 with 3,200 spindles and 100 looms, then switched to yarn production and expanded to 7,000 spindles. It closed after the financial panic of 1907, stood empty for nine years, and reopened under a group from North Carolina. It apparently ran through the 1920s and closed when the county's cotton industry collapsed. The building is built of large rough-cut limestone blocks in irregular ashlar courses, with large multi-pane metal windows and segmental-arched portals for moving materials. Though unadorned, its heavy masonry is notable. It survives as one of few remaining cotton processing buildings in Belton and a rare early industrial structure in Central Texas.","period_of_significance":"1900 - 1940","architect_builder":"Unknown; the builder was most likely a local contractor","architectural_style":"No style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Historic and current function are both listed as a manufacturing facility. The original spinning machinery has been removed, but the building is described as largely intact.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:21.635192-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/1/9683/40968301/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/90001899.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001899/c07823a24c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001899/c07823a24c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Belton_yarn_mill_2013.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_yarn_mill_2013.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40968301","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110001559"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/bell-county/belton-yarn-mill-90001899/"}