{"nrhp_refnum":"96000132","name":"Terlingua Historic District","other_names":["Big Bend","Chisos Mining Camp","Quicksilver Mining District"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"7 mi. W of jct. of TX 118 and TX 170","address_restricted":false,"city":"Terlingua","county":"Brewster County","state":"TX","lat":29.32064981700006,"lon":-103.61592020322956,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-03-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Community Planning and Development","Industry"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district covering most of the Big Bend quicksilver mining town of Terlingua on State Highway 170 in southern Brewster County, Texas, with 97 contributing buildings, ruins and archeological sites from the Chisos Mining Company camp.","why_significant":"The district preserves the 1903-1943 mining camp of the Chisos Mining Company, with its stone and adobe workers' houses, dugouts, and company buildings such as the Perry Mansion, store and theater, school and church. The buildings show how housing was segregated by race and how builders used scarce local materials in an arid, isolated setting. The nomination ties the camp to Howard Perry's development of the Chisos Mine and to the Terlingua quicksilver district.","narrative":"Terlingua Historic District takes in most of a former quicksilver mining town in southern Brewster County, Texas. It contains 97 contributing resources tied to the Chisos Mining Company camp, which operated from 1903 to 1943. The district includes dugouts cut into an arroyo, one- and two-room limestone houses where Hispanic miners and their families lived, and adobe buildings used by Anglo workers and managers. Larger adobe structures include the Perry Mansion, built in 1906 by mine owner Howard Everett Perry, the Chisos Store and Theater, Perry School, and St. Agnes Catholic Church. Builders relied on local limestone, mud and scarce lumber, and used double roofs, thick mud roofs and thatch ramadas against the heat. Housing followed racial lines, a pattern visible in building forms and materials. Many stone houses and adobe ruins are deteriorated, though the stone houses are described as generally stable. The district was listed for what it preserves of this isolated desert mining community.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Howard Everett Perry (mine owner who built the Perry Mansion, 1906); Chisos Mining Company","architectural_style":"No style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Current functions are listed as outdoor recreation and vacant/not in use; stone houses and adobe ruins are described as deteriorated, with adobe ruins in rapid deterioration.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.873486-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/94/9713/40971394/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/96000132.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971394","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q109999576"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/brewster-county/terlingua-historic-district-96000132/"}