{"nrhp_refnum":"98000693","name":"Post Office-Palestine","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"101 E. Oak St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Palestine","county":"Anderson County","state":"TX","lat":31.762877612000068,"lon":-95.63108021199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-06-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick Beaux Arts post office at 101 E. Oak Street in downtown Palestine, Anderson County, Texas, designed by James Knox Taylor of the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of the Supervising Architect. The original nomination gave 1907 as the construction date; a later amendment corrected it to 1911-12.","why_significant":"The building is nominated at the local level under Criterion C as a noteworthy example of early 20th century institutional architecture in Palestine. Beaux Arts was a rare style in Texas, and the building contrasted with the Romanesque Revival, Italianate and Queen Anne buildings downtown. It reflects the prosperity that followed the arrival of the railroad and remains a landmark.","narrative":"Standing on a corner lot at East Oak and North Sycamore streets, this two-story post office is one of the largest buildings in downtown Palestine. Designed by James Knox Taylor of the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of the Supervising Architect, it has a formal cross-axial plan, a limestone foundation, brick walls over a metal frame, round-arched ground-floor openings and a low hipped metal roof with brackets. The original nomination dated it to 1907, but later research showed it was built in 1911-12, with 1907 marking the land purchase. Beaux Arts design was uncommon in Texas, and the classical detailing set the building apart from the Romanesque Revival, Italianate and Queen Anne architecture around it. It reflected the prosperity brought by the railroad. The post office moved to a new building in 1964, and the structure later passed to Anderson County, which uses it for offices and the county historical commission.","period_of_significance":"1907-1908","architect_builder":"Taylor, James Knox","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Beaux Arts","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Good condition; houses Anderson County government offices and the county historical commission. Postal operations moved out in 1964.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.459006-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/62/9678/40967862/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/98000693.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98000693/502e6cdba4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98000693/502e6cdba4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Michael Barera","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palestine_August_2017_04_(Post_Office_and_Federal_Building).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Michael Barera</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:Palestine_August_2017_04_(Post_Office_and_Federal_Building).jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100007058","name":"Palestine New Town Commercial Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/palestine-new-town-commercial-historic-district-100007058/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40967862","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110001119"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/anderson-county/post-office-palestine-98000693/"}